Not totally sure if its the right area to post this.Sorry if its not.
Just experienced a big problem and feel somewhat lost.

After 3 hours playing the graphics became weird,the game didn't freeze,but everything went wrong.I decided to close the game with the task manager.As the desktop was back I got a blue screen with the following error message:
PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
And a reboot.
Don't know if it could be a problem with my pc,or just a conflict between files...If its just awful or awfully awful!

I have windows xp and recently purchased new powerful hardware for the sims 3 (It was a choice:ie no trip during the summer!)
Graphic card: Geforce GTX 280
Ram: 3GB
Processor: Intel core 2 quad Q 9550 2,83GHz

N.B I have installed all hacks (with Delphy's and HP's Monkey),including the Awesome hack.Launch the game with S3.exe.
Didn't play with simmies.Was busy decorating a house with the designer tool.Have added tons of patterns created ingame.
I am worried 'cause I don't know if I can relaunch the game without any risk for the pc.

Would be grateful for your help.Thanks in advance.Hugs.

That's a computer problem. It means your computer tried to transfer data between your RAM, Graphics card, and HDD, but it couldn't. It could mean that one of those three things are defective or have driver/controller issues. Try updating your graphics and chipset (motherboard) drivers. Graphics can be downloaded here:http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us I am not able to determine your chipset from the information you gave. I need either the manufacturer and model of the computer in the case it is a prebuilt from a mainstream company like Dell, or the manufacturer and model of the motherboard in the case that it is a custom build.

You should test your RAM too. Download and burn this program to a CD: http://www.memtest.org/ Restart your computer and boot from that CD. You want to watch it for at least one complete pass, but generally I leave it on overnight for several hours just to be sure. -Once You Get An Error, TURN IT OFF- Once RAM goes it can go fast and it can take other things with it. If you watch it for like 10-15min and no errors you can walk away and let it do the rest of the scan. Even one error means your RAM is not stable. If you have a custom build then this may mean you need to set the RAM manually in BIOS, or it could just be bad RAM. If it's a prebuild, then you prob have bad RAM or that it's not compatible with the system. Some prebuilds are picky and don't like higher performing RAM. In either case, if you can an error pull everything but one stick out. Test one stick at a time to determine if the problem is isolated to one stick.

Test your HDD by using the Error Scan tab on this program: http://www.hdtune.com/ DONT do a quick scan and DONT try to do other things while it's scanning. Just let it complete the scan on its own.

Dear Callistra,thank you so much for your quick reply and for your help,greatly appreciated. I have to re-re-read carefully what you told me to do.

My pc is a custom built (in last January),not by me (would be unable),but by a little company in my hometown.Every component is new,except the sound card and the DVD driver.

Motherboard:All I found is:
Bios: Phoenix Technologies.LTD ASUS P5N-D ACPI BIOS Revision 0601.05/06/08

I am very weak at hardware maintenace.Unable to do anything with motherboard or bios(would be as dangerous as trying to update my own brain..)
My best hope is to updatde the graphics drivers,I didn't do it since I got this new graphic card.Just because of being lazy.I'll do it after posting.
I'll check the harddrive too,but did it recently and it was ok.
And I'll try the memtest.
Not sure at which point I have to call "my" computer guys.

Problem is: The crash occured after a long playing time and maybe nothing will happen if I just play during an hour...

Huge Thanks to you.Big hugs.

It's good you got a local company that can help you with more complicated stuff.

Here's your motherboard drivers: http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_winxp_15.25.html

We might also want to test for overheating, but for now work your way through that stuff. You've got hours worth of stuff to test, so lets wait and see what it reveals first. In the meantime, prob best not to play the Sims 3 until you complete the couple of tests and update the drivers.

Thank you for the precious link.
I would not be surprised if my pc had a overheating problem,found it somewhat loud while playing Sims 3....
After asking the computer company for help hope everything will be fixed and I will be able to tell you what was wrong.
Huge Thanks to you.