My stats show that I have no outstanding bounties. I finished the drinking contest and woke up in the temple in Markarth. A guard approached me and we engaged in an endless loop of me trying to pay him off (about 460g) or going to jail ... nothing worked. I finally had to ESC out and reload to an earlier time.

I keep getting this too when I'm in the reach.

I think it has to do with the cidna mine quest.

I have no bounty in Markarth, and the guards leave me be. I accidentally picked up a silver ingot, and the guard comes down for a posted 25 bounty. I figure, no prob, I'll tell him I'm the Thane, or pay him to look the other way. He tells me I'm charged with murder and conspiracy, and I can't get out of it as Thane. I couldn't pay my 0 bounty, which doesn't even match the bounty I was listed with, and I had to reload.

If you have done the forsworn conspiracy Markarth will be bugged for you from that point there after until Bethesda fixes it for us. Some people can go into the city and be fine but if they commit a crime they start the whole loop all over again, others cant go back to the city at all.

so they still have'nt fixed that yet. i had to restart the game because of a bounty i could'nt pay off. and quests that could'nt finish. so i wont be starting that quest again

Ill be brief, to get rid of this bug.

Finish Cidna Mine quest so it doesnt occur again!!!
then do the Civil war or MQ and change the owner of Markarth from either imperials or stormcloaks. << This can be done twice using the 2 methods.

Do you have any more detail to this? I have the hostile Markath guard bug. Tried all the other fixes, then tried completing the entire Imperial civil war quest line, I took Ulfric's head myself. On returning to Markath they are still hostile; are there some steps to follow? Thanks.