Sudden STC or BSOD on MSFS launch, every time. No changes - ay advice?

[RomanDesign]

Brief description of the issue:

I didn’t update any drivers recently, and nothing else has changed. Windos Update did 2 .NET updates but nothing else…

MSFS worked fine up to today, almost never I had CTD before. Suddenly today it’s CTD when selecting a CYOW airport to start. Rebooted, launched again - BSOD (I haven’t see that one in a long while). Removed everything from community folder, just in case (because that’s the only thing that changed, as I’m working on an airport), but still every single time it’s either CTD or BSOD. Everything else works fine, so it’s not my PC. Any ideas?

[RomanDesign]

I just noticed that Windows Update must have updated 3080 driver for me without asking to version 460.89 !!! I was running 456.30 as supposedly best for VR. This may be connected. Will downgrade and test…

[RomanDesign]

That didn’t really help. I cen get into the first few seconds of the flight, that the whole PC freezed. Tried again, either that or CTD. Weird…

[Brettp101]

A bsod means there is definitely something going on with your system. Remove any overclocks if you have them for a start and make sure all drivers are up to date.

[MichaMMA]

Yes… the issue-reporting points to an issue with the system.
Reason for BSOD is in most cases a hardware issue or realy faulty drivers ( or also possible an older windows version ).

Thus… please give us informations about your system. Possible overcloacking… Connected devices. etc. Also installed drivers ( e.g. windows does NOT install own nvidia drivers if you have installed the nvidia drivers ) and which Windows Version you have ( e.g. strange that you mention 2 .NET updates , possible give us Update Number )… Just informations with which we can work… ( “I have CTD/BSOD” is bit less info )

Also a good starting point might be to execute a windows-check ( dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth ; sfc /scannow ).

PS:

@RomanDesign

Everything else works fine, so it’s not my PC.

forget this assumption

[RomanDesign]

Window is 20H2 latest version. It’s my main workstation, so system is constantly being use in very intensive tasks. Also VR gaming (Alyx, Medal of Honor etc.). And as I’m a MSFS Third Party developer and I’ve created 2 airports and now I’m working on CYOW Ottawa, I heavily use MSFS to work on my scenery. It was always stable, for months now. I only had a couple of CTDs in all that time. Suddenly yesterday I can’t even launch a flight successfully, not even once. There is definitely a problem. The only changing factor may be Windows Updates, which just do their stuff when they want to.

Latest update is KB4598242 which refuses to work, it just says it can’t install after 100% with a non-descript error. I downloaded it stand-alone, and it ends up with “some updated were not installed” as well.

I also played with SMT in BIOS, enabling it again, because without SMT my PC would not sleep (sleep modes not available with SMT disabled, which is a known thing ).

And yes, my system is oveclocked, but it’s rock-solid, and of course I haven’t changed anything lately, besides the Windows Updated. I’ve been using the same oveclocking for almost a year, I’d know if there is a problem by now It’s liquid-cooled 3700X @ 4.3Ggz. Hard overclock in BIOS, no software involved, always stable. Also, 3080 is a bit overclocked, but I disabled it and still the same problems.

BSOD is very weird, because this literally never happens. Nothing in my nomal usage can totally hang Windows 10 or cause BSOD. And yesterday I saw it maybe 8 times.

Log entry for the last error:
Faulting application name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.12.13.0, time stamp: 0x5fda3fe4
Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.19041.546, time stamp: 0x43cbc11d
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000000016e60
Faulting process id: 0x1410
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6ec8c76ef13eb
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\ucrtbase.dll
Report Id: 9136d1ef-0d6a-4d42-bca7-f6675cc25e64

Another:
Faulting application name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.12.13.0, time stamp: 0x5fda3fe4
Faulting module name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.12.13.0, time stamp: 0x5fda3fe4
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000209a375
Faulting process id: 0x3db4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6ec76f5e383d7
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Report Id: 6ec2ad60-fed9-4f6c-9a79-b443fe4a7596

Another:
Service cannot be started. System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at SetupAfterRebootService.SetupARService.OnStart(String[] args)
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)

Faulting application name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.12.13.0, time stamp: 0x5fda3fe4
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00007ffa01000001
Faulting process id: 0x3fe8
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6ec74b956a38d
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: aef6ac16-b41c-444e-9d56-67df3d04deba
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

Faulting application name: FlightSimulator.exe, version: 1.12.13.0, time stamp: 0x5fda3fe4
Faulting module name: MicrosoftGeospatialTiles.dll, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x5f2e0260
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x0000000000330bc4
Faulting process id: 0x3414
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6ec740e73c1ba
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\FlightSimulator.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\MicrosoftFlightSimulator\MicrosoftGeospatialTiles.dll
Report Id: 38d70911-9e9e-4039-a093-7509fb8ecb27

Service cannot be started. System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at SetupAfterRebootService.SetupARService.OnStart(String[] args)
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)

[RomanDesign]

@MichaMMA

windows does NOT install own nvidia drivers if you have installed the nvidia drivers

This is incorrect. I have definitely NOT installed later Nvidia drivers after downgrading to 457.30, yet there were new drivers installed. I had the same happening on my media system with 3D projector - I suddenly lost 3D a while ago, turned out Nvidia pulled 3d support at some point, and windows quietly updated drivers without my knowledge. Took hours to troubleshoot.

[MichaMMA]

@RomanDesign

KB4598242

this is not a .NET update ( January 12, 2021—KB4598242 (OS Builds 19041.746 and 19042.746) - Microsoft Support ). The update error points again to an issue with your system.

More hints related to your system and the BSOD I can’t give… What can I do if your system is bolled proof.

@RomanDesign

And yes, my system is oveclocked, but it’s rock-solid,

Related to the CTD I’am sure that you have already noticed this thread:

Constant CTD after update 1.12.13.0

yes… this is to much. For lot of users with less that 32Gig RAM it was helpfull to set a overall-memory by around 32 Gig… Therefore e.g. the recommentation with 16Gig RAM: virt. mem 4min/20max. With already 64Gig RAM, you can simple set 1Gig Min / 4 Gig Max and you will never see that more as 1Gig is used I read in meanwhile lot’s of threads and it comes more often on top what we already mentioned and what you also find out: the network related settings makes trouble. Some users hav…

Otherwise there exist also forum-threads about “ucrtbase.dll” and bit older threads about “MicrosoftGeospatialTiles.dll”

[RomanDesign]

Thanks for trying to help. I think I got to the issue! Out of desperation I decided to update the motherboard BIOS to the latest version form 5 days ago. Updates it had didn’t look relevant but why not. And when I booted to BIOS I noticed that the CPU clock multiplier has reset itself to a totally weird value of 40.5 ! I can say 100% positive that I didn’t do it. The OC I set manually in BIOS was 43 (so I get 4.3Mhz core clock). So 40.5 is a weird setting which is not a default and not a proper OC. How the hell it reset itself I Don’t know, probably a BIOS but. But after flashing the new BIOS and manually going through all the settings again to my tested and stable OC settings, MSFS has booted up without CTD again and I can work on my scenery again.

So it was a correct assumption that it’s hardware-related. Core freq messes up with RAM and PCI etc., so a weird setting of 40.5 was good enough to boot and work until stressed. Then it BSOD or CTD. So if anyone finds this post with a similar problem - make sure you check your BIOS for spontaneous changes. My MB is Asus Prime x570-p

[MichaMMA]

thanks for reporting back.

therefore we try to point to the most probable causes so that users can re-check it. We not mean this in bad way

I had a similar expericane with an ASUS BIOS update ( not same setting ) and since this I allways re-check all settings after the update is done.

[RomanDesign]

Funny thing is it wasn’t after update. I don’t trust BIOS to keep or restore settings between versions, so after the last flash, I went in and manually set everything, and verified it. So I’m sure it was on 43, not 40.5 (also it’s not a typo one can make). And everything also worked fine for 2 weeks after the last update. It just reset itself for some reason. Go figure…

[MortThe2nd]

@RomanDesign

And everything also worked fine for 2 weeks after the last update. It just reset itself for some reason. Go figure…

BIOS will often revert itselft back to defaults after a hard crash (maybe recovered when you weren’t at the PC after a hard crash? Don’t know). Still doesn’t make sense it would revert to a value of 40.5, since that doesn’t sound like a default BIOS setting.

[RomanDesign]

Yes, doesn’t make sense, and it was the only setting that has changed. Anyway, it’s working great now. If it happens again I know where to look…