BSOD linked to ntoskrnl.exe and possibly RAM issues
BSOD linked to ntoskrnl.exe and possibly RAM issues
Beginning two days ago, my computer would stay online for no more than an hour before crashing with a BSOD and then restarting. At times it wouldn't even boot at all. I found that many of these problems were linked to ntoskrnl.exe, occasionally other system files too. Searching the web suggested a possible driver problem, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly which driver was responsible. I refreshed the chipset driver, graphics driver, Ethernet port driver, and updated the BIOS—still nothing changed. The only change that helped was turning off XMP, since I didn’t see any BSOD when it was disabled. This made me think my RAM or motherboard might be the culprit. I recalled using Windows to Go for several hours after the issue started, even with XMP enabled, but it still refused to boot until secure boot was turned off. I have two 8GB RAM sticks in dual-channel; I tried running one at a time to test which one caused the problem. Sadly, both sticks triggered BSODs within ten minutes. To summarize: most minidumps point to ntoskrnl.exe. Several drivers and BIOS updates didn’t resolve the issue. With XMP off, no BSOD appeared (in Windows 11), but it did appear when secure boot was active. I don’t have previous minidumps saved, though they’re missing from the folder. Here are my system details: CPU – Ryzen 5 3600; GPU – GTX 1080 MB; RAM – G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 3200MHz 8GB x 2; OS – Windows 11 Home, build 22000; Storage – Samsung 980 Evo.
Just a brief note: the Windows to Go feature stopped working after a short period. I managed to use it once more, but it crashed right after five minutes. Looks like a fortunate break for me!
I understand this discussion is quite outdated, but I’ll share my last thoughts in case others face similar challenges. The issue involved my CPU, a Ryzen 5 3600 that’s been running for just over five years. Swapping it out resolved the problem.