My game has been crashing every 30-90 minutes after launching due to an Error 138 Access Violation. For some context I have just redownloaded WoW recently (11/27) to play the new expansion and 2 of my friends have also had a similar issue. One of them was able to fix the error by factory resetting their PC but that is not an option for me.
Error log: https://pastebin.com/ZJU0xZbN
DxDiag: https://pastebin.com/wZumLPi5
MSInfo: https://pastebin.com/7NV3QvN5 Was too large to pastebin the whole thing so I removed everything after the first 10 entries in the [Windows Error Reporting] section.
I have done the following to try and resolve the issue but have found no luck:
Removed all addons
Deleted cache and WTF
Updated to latest NVidia drivers
Clean uninstalled Nvidia driver with DDU and then clean installed an older Driver
Set Bnet Launcher and Wow.exe to run as admin
Disabled any excessive programs on start-up
Ran a scan and repair
Made sure no overlays are active
delete any and all folders in the follow locations
WTF Folder in your blizzard folder
AppData Folders
Local delete â (Blizzard and Battle.net folders)
LocalLow Delete â (Blizzard and Battle.net folders)
Roaming Delete â (Blizzard and Battle.net folders)
Under ProgramData delete - > (Blizzard and Battle.net folders)
Reset the user interface to make sure your files and addons are not corrupted.
Updated drivers and operating system to resolve any compatibility issues.
Update or temporarily uninstall any security programs, which may mistakenly identify the login module as a security threat.
Changes to the software settings on your video card drivers may cause crashes or performance issues. Reset your video driver settings to correct this problem.
Run ScanDisk and defragment your hard drive to try to repair any bad sectors.
Added WoW as exclusion in Windows Defender + Firewall
Exiting BNet after I open WoW
Ran a scan with MalwareBytes
Disabled XBOX Game Bar, Gaming services, Capture, and âGame Modeâ in windows settings
For a brief time I thought the issue was fixed after disabling Riot Vanguard, Shadowplay overlay, and the Xbox services in the background through task manager but I eventually ended up crashing with the same error a little later. Just for some reason, I didnât crash in the playthrough (which was over 90 minutes) right after I disabled those background processes. Though I have been crashing again on all play sessions after that
I do also have an active ticket that is awaiting a response from support.
If there is anything else I can provide, please let me know
I definitely try to cover my bases with research, where I fall short is being able to make sense of, or troubleshoot, with the actual error file itself unfortunately lol
Discord Overlay Off: https://imgur.com/a/HXYNGW2
Screenshot just so you can confirm if its disabled correctly.
I thought I had already disabled that but to make absolutely sure, I enabled then disabled again and restarted discord. I also exited BNet entirely and restarted it and opened WoW fresh. If this doesnât work Iâll try to post a new error file. Which is actually something else thatâs irking me about this crash, it doesnât always give me an error. Sometimes it just closes, sometimes it gives me a windows message saying something like âWoW.exe has stopped workingâ with a button that says âClose programâ.
Based on what you described, we need to test WoW by itself with no other programs running. You mentioned disabling excessive programs but in this case, letâs try disabling all startup programs temporarily. The most recent error logs are also still showing addons. They could be getting reinstalled by another program such as Overwolf or TSM.
After disabling those startup programs, letâs try renaming the WTF, Interface and Cache folders, such as by adding â.oldâ to the end of the names. If this works, you can try moving the addon folders back one at a time and retesting WoW to make sure everything is working.
If not, please provide a new error log and MSinfo so we can continue investigating.
Confirmed there was no new error file created. Will attempt again to see if I can get an error file crash.
and @Zenlaka
I will attempt that again and see. You are correct, there are addons again because I attempted this fix by removing all addons, shutting down Overwolf and Curseforge, and renaming the WTF, Interface, and Cache folders by adding âOldâ at the end but I still crashed with the same error. I concluded off of that attempt that the addons werenât the problem and I reinstalled them but I will attempt doing it again to, at the very least, provide an error log file
Edit: Game crashed after 49 minutes and 44 seconds after playing with no addons following all the steps provided by Zenlaka. Again not a error message crash, just World of Warcraft has stopped working, close program as shown in the imgur screenshot
With the Dragonflight update your HDD E:\ MB2000EBZQC drive wouldnât be supported, can you try reinstalling the game to C:\Program files(x86) folder then retesting.
Wouldnât be supported? I can possibly download it on my SSD (C:) but I do not have a lot of available space on there. Currently I completely uninstalled WoW and BNet and cleared all the folders from programdata, local, locallow, roaming, and made sure its folder was no longer in C:\Program files(x86). I redownloaded BNET and am currently redownloading WoW back onto the E:\ drive after repairing my Windows System Files using the following steps:
Click Start.
Type cmd.
Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator.
Type DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth and allow the DISM to update.
In the Command box, type sfc /scannow and press Enter.
Follow the prompts to check the integrity of your files.
These are the results of the test/repair: https://imgur.com/a/trS87GX
Judging from that test, there was some corrupt files in my OS that were able to be repaired so I will let the reinstallation to the E:\ drive complete and see if it works now. If it does not I will then install it on the C:\ drive
For clarification to my comment. Dragonflight only supports SSD internal storage. When reviewing the E:\ driveâs MB2000EBZQC model name, came up as an 7.2K HDD. That plan works for me though.
That seems pretty limiting so thatâs unfortunate! Regrettably though my game crashed again after the reinstall to the E:\ drive so I donât have much of a choice but to attempt it. No error on this crash either, same as my last 2 crashes, though Iâm not even sure if there is any significance in it crashing with no error sometimes (other than the issue of there not being an error log). In any case, I am now downloading it to C:\Program files(x86) so fingers crossed it was the drive I had it installed on that was the issue
EDIT: There has been another crash with an error log but I cannot make a new post until someone else replies Can someone reply so I can post the update I have in a new post?
Yes I did, I had this copied from when I attempted to post yesterday:
Crashed again but this time there finally was an error!
As @Zenlaka suggested I have disabled ALL startup programs as well as removed all addons. As @Zuvykree suggested I also performed a complete + clean uninstall of BNet and WoW, deleting all Blizzard, BNet, & WoW folders in all of their locations. I then reinstalled both BNet and WoW onto my SSD C:\ drive.
Here is the important information:
New Error Log: https://pastebin.com/nN8gjcQ0
New MS Info: https://pastebin.com/FwB8q7ZX
New DxDiag: https://pastebin.com/TP1fHJnk
I did also notice this line in the error log: Line 67. Virtual Memory: 0.00 MB
I found in another forum post for a separate but similar issue where a user advised the poster to check if they have changed their Virtual Memory settings and had them check this location:
Using those instructions I ended up here: https://imgur.com/a/NLY6ZEz
Should I change anything in these settings or are they as they should be?
Let Windows run the show with the Virtual Memory - should be a checkbox somewhere for that. I donât remember the layout for Win10. Win11 layout is different.
I see a Nvidia camera dll. high on the loaded modules when the game crashes. Makes it a suspect. Looks like you have GeForce Experience installed. Letâs get rid of GeForce Experience.
You used to be able to uninstall from Control Panel > Programs and Features.
If not DDU has a setting under options to clean that out. Think it is set on by default. Might reinstall the graphics driver using custom settings - only the Graphics driver. No Geforce.
The issue here is the Error 138 is a âI dunnoâ error. We are looking for clues. Error 132 usually points to something more specific.
Did you try playing while in a Selective Startup state? Zuvykree linked the support page for that.
Yes in that imgur screenshot of the Virtual Memory settings there is a checkbox that says âAutomatically manage paging file size for all drivesâ and I checked that box. I do already have my C:\ drive set to âSystem Managedâ so I believe Windows is already automatically setting the virtual memory for that drive but I will try this checkbox and see if it helps.
When I rolled back to an older NVidia driver I did use DDU to completely remove my driver and GeForce Experience. I was still crashing after I tried that but this was when the game was on my HDD (E:\ drive) so Iâm attempting it again. I have now used DDU to remove GeForce Experience and my driver again, and I then installed the most current Nvidia driver without GeForce Experience and I clean installed it as well.
I have heard that said in other forum posts about this error so that is why I am willing to keep attempting things and providing error logs. Iâd rather not format my PC but if there is no other option and I can find a way to not lose my files while doing it I can do that too. Just want to try anything else I can first.
And yes I have been playing in Selective Startup, all my startup programs are disabled.
I will see if the game crashes again now that I have gotten rid of GeForce Experience and set the Virtual Memory to automatic, and if it does I will add an edit to this post or a reply if possible
Thank you again Tratt, and you too Zuvykree & Zenlaka, for working with me on this
EDIT: So update, it did indeed crash again with error 138. Didnt crash for almost 3 hours this time but ultimately it did crash. Will pastebin the error log and MSInfo again
Go ahead and paste the crash Dranakyuyek. Iâm going to read back through all of this later. See what we can try next. One thing - have you ever had any 3rd party antivirus installed on that machine. Avast - AVG - McAfee - Norton etc.
New Error log: https://pastebin.com/MBpMTTpy
New MSInfo: https://pastebin.com/9SfkS2CV
Iâve had this machine since about 2015 when I made it and Iâve just added upgrades over the years so I donât exactly recall. I donât believe so, thereâs a small possibility sometime in the early years when I didnât know as much about computers that I did. As far back as I can remember Iâve just used Malwarebytes and Windows defender.
I have used this machine for work form home jobs and they had us use globalprotect, which I initially thought was the issue as my 2 friends who had the same error issue also had to use it for work from home jobs. I was able to completely get rid of it off my machine and thereâs no trace of it now and I still crash so I guess it wasnât the issue.
Also I donât know if this would matter but Iâm kind of grasping at straws at this point LOL I did change my System Name (DESKTOP-CD5HVKD in that MSInfo pastebin) recently. Canât see that messing anything up but just trying to remember things that Iâve done with this PC since I last played WoW
Punkbuster: Was a rough one to track down how to uninstall but I did it.
BattlEye: Uninstalled via Uninstall_BattlEye.bat located in Fortnite\FortniteGame\Binaries\Win64\BattlEye
Easy Anti-Cheat: The only way to uninstall it, it seems, is to use their tool located in a games folder that uses it and uninstall it from the separate games you have, which I did for all the games listed so I believe itâs done
Uncheater: Looks like this was PUBGs anticheat or their old anticheat. I found the folder labeled Uncheater and it contained a file called âucldr_battlegrounds_glâ. The closest thing I could find to remove the service was a reddit post which provided these instructions: âsc delete ucldr_battlegrounds_glâ in elevated command prompt. Then you can delete Program Files\Common Files\Uncheater folder if you want. Followed these steps and deleted the associated folders so I believe its uninstalled.
LogMeIn: I uninstalled this a while back but there was some residual folders hanging around and it is still visible in the Programs & Features uninstall section of Control Panel. When I try to uninstall it here it gives the message: This action is only valid for products that are currently installed. That being the case I tracked down the remaining folder and deleted it. Was not able to locate the LogMeIn folder in Registry Editor.
Afterburner: Uninstalled via Programs & Features
RivaTuner: Uninstalled via Programs & Features
Will restart my PC tonight and try running WoW tomorrow morning to see if we made headway. Going to go to sleep now as it is almost morning here so I will post an update tomorrow if I have crashed again or not (likely in an edit to this message if no one replies after this).
Edit: New MSInfo after computer restart just to be thorough: https://pastebin.com/tvZzjEwr
Sounds good! Iâll post an updated fresh MSInfo too because I did end up crashing again. That way you have the MSInfo from the same time the crash occurred. It crashed fairly quickly, only took around 15 minutes for this crash.
New 138 Error: https://pastebin.com/6gA7q1Rf
New MSInfo: https://pastebin.com/v8FVVkhB
Can someone reply so I can post the update I have in a new post?