I can't open the sims4, it eventually shut down mid loading and the EA app pop up instead. I tried every methods. It starts happening after July 23rd 2026. The contact button is useless and takes me to an AI chatbot.
Plique_a_jour If you haven't already, please try playing in a clean user folder. Move the entire Sims 4 folder out of Documents > Electronic Arts and onto your desktop. When you launch the game, a clean folder will spawn with no content. (Your saves and other content will be intact in the folder you've moved but temporarily unread by the game.) Don't add anything to the new folder yet; just start a new save and see how it runs, that is if you can get that far.
If you still can't play, please provide a dxdiag. Click Windows key-R, enter dxdiag in the run box, wait for the scan to finish, click "Save all information," and save the file to your desktop. From there, you can attach it to a reply using the paper clip (Attachment) icon included with the other formatting buttons.
Hello I tried the methods you shared and still can't play, here's the file
Plique_a_jour A component of Killer network software is crashing repeatedly. While the dxdiag doesn't indicate whether this is happening while you're trying to open Sims 4, it's certainly possible given the number of crashes. So please open the Task Manager and end any tasks that have Killer or Rivet in the name before you try to play. They'd likely be in the background processes list.
Please also update your laptop's Nvidia graphics driver. Your current version is from 2021, and the newest one Dell offers for your system is from 2022, but Nvidia has one from last month:
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/details/272769/
Run the installer as an admin: right-click the download and select "Run as administrator." Restart the laptop afterwards and before trying to play.
If neither of these steps makes a difference, please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor. Click Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day. Today is on the right.
Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to open Sims 4, after you installed the new driver. If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here. If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.
Hello, I followed your guidance and now the situation has slightly changed, EA app doesn't pop right after the sims shut down but the sims still fail to load properly and shut the tab on its own. On the later art, here's the information.
Source
Killer xTend Utility Service
Summary
Stopped working
Date
7/28/2026 3:24 PM
Status
Report sent
Description
Faulting Application Path: C:\Windows\System32\drivers\RivetNetworks\Killer\xTendUtility.exe
Problem signature
Problem Event Name: BEX64
Application Name: xTendUtility.exe
Application Version: 2.0.11.0
Application Timestamp: 6059636c
Fault Module Name: xTendUtility.exe
Fault Module Version: 2.0.11.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 6059636c
Exception Offset: 000000000004b74d
Exception Code: c0000409
Exception Data: 0000000000000007
OS Version: 10.0.26200.2.0.0.768.101
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: bad7
Additional Information 2: bad7c2d739989af01db367808a764922
Additional Information 3: 5e0e
Additional Information 4: 5e0ee54cd54cb046bf6432ca86fb23bf
Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID: 2f1c5d81cee667970224b9a2404f61e9 (1307373898359071209)
Plique_a_jour This is the same Killer service that was crashing before, so it's apparently still running. If you can't figure out which process to end in the Task Manager, the Details tab lists everything running by the name of the .exe, so you can look for xTendUtility.exe and kill it from there.
Hello, I cannot find the thing with the same name you mentioned and now the crash has returned to like the beginning which is that the sims4 was forced close and EA app pops up instead. It has been a big while that I can't access the sims4 at all.
Plique_a_jour Sorry for the late reply; I've been away from the forums for a bit. Please try playing in a clean boot (not a clean install of Windows, just a way to disable background services). It's possible that the problem service is part of another application and therefore not easy to find.
The one service to leave enabled is the EABackgroundService, which the EA App needs in order to run. Disable the rest as described.
When you reboot your computer, go through the Task Manager's background processes list shutting down any service that doesn't absolutely need to be running, for example anything from MSI Afterburner to RGB software might still be enabled. If you accidentally kill a critical process and it doesn't restart on its own, just reboot your computer again.
Don't open anything other than Sims 4 and the EA App while testing, not even a browser window.
If this helps, you can selectively reenable services until you find the culprit, then either leave that disabled or (if it belongs to an app you want to keep using) let me know what it is so we can try to fix the underlying issue.
If the game freezes or crashes in a clean boot, please try again, except with your computer offline. You can sign into the EA App and put it in offline mode, then disable wifi and/or disconnect the ethernet cable before pressing Play.
