Help with issues like system freezes or BSODs
Help with issues like system freezes or BSODs
You've experienced repeated system crashes primarily while gaming, beginning with audio glitches and progressing to a BSOD after about 1-10 minutes. The issue seems tied to high SSD usage, though no processes were consuming significant space. Read/write speeds appeared zero, yet the drive was at full capacity. A screenshot shows read/write rates at 0/0, suggesting no activity despite claimed usage. No crash logs are available, but a future log could help. Possible causes include hardware stress, power issues, or driver conflicts. Consider checking for overheating, updating drivers, and testing with different storage media if possible.
Current SSD firmware updates, newest motherboard BIOS versions, latest driver releases, and specifications are available.
Took some time to return from the holidays and gather the information. The SSD firmware is up-to-date (verified using Samsung Magician). The BIOS is also current. Drivers are too general—could you help focus them? Relevant specs: SSD – Samsung 980 Pro 2TB, Mobo – MSI X570-A Pro, CPU – Ryzen 7 5800X3D, PSU – NZXT C850, GPU – RTX 3090. The system behaves similarly each time: when SSD usage hits 100% but reads/writes stay at 0, it freezes. Open RAM items work briefly; anything needing disk freezes immediately. It rarely triggers a BSOD, just a frozen screen. I’m wondering if the SSD is failing despite good SMART data and no dead sectors, or if there’s a Windows issue, or perhaps a PSU problem—since PSU issues can affect performance in unexpected ways, especially given a similar experience reported online.
List the components for your graphics card, motherboard chipset (from AMD), soundcard, network card, USB controller, and any hardware or peripherals. Verify with Hard Disk Sentinel. Test the CMOS battery voltage using a battery tester, multimeter, or voltmeter.
Visit C:\Windows\Minidump to see if any minidump files exist. If present, return to the Windows directory and move the entire Minidump folder to the Downloads folder (use your desktop if needed). Compress the copied folder and include it in a post. Follow instructions carefully—Windows doesn’t allow changes there. If no dump files are found, storage appears less likely, which raises suspicion. SMART functionality has been significantly reduced on NVMe drives and is largely ineffective. I’m not aware of any tool that can consistently identify faulty NVMe drives. Do you recall any specific BSOD messages if you don’t have dumps? The error codes suggesting storage problems are WHEA_Uncorrectable_Error, Kernel_Data_Inpage_Errror, Unexpected_Store_Exception, and Critical_Process_Died. These can indicate storage issues, though they also signal other problems.
Thanks for sharing! The only minidump I see is from October, and I'm sending the full folder. My guess suggests it's not connected to other issues—this supports my belief that the drive freezes when writing or reading data. It’s interesting considering how SMART updates affect NVMe storage. I’ve used this drive a lot for everything from media editing to game installations; it’s been around about two years now. The 2TB drive is usually around 80% full, sometimes even higher. Reads and writes handle massive amounts—about 41 TB each. It hasn’t broken down much lately. Minidump.zip
The dump file appears to resemble storage data. Currently it's freezing, so we have limited logs to review. We can examine Event Viewer instead. Faulty NVMe drives frequently trigger WHEA errors. In Event Viewer, navigate to Windows Logs → System. On the right side, choose Filter Current Log. From the Event Sources dropdown, pick WHEA-logger. If available, highlight it and right-click to save. Share it using the same method you applied to previous dumps. Keep in mind Samsung offers a 5-year warranty on these drives—consider that if you plan to replace it.
Thanks for your feedback. It's been a while since I replied. Among the 39,745 events, none matched the WHEA-logger filter. Appreciate you sharing the 5-year warranty details—I wasn't informed about that. Likely I'll attempt an RMA for the drive now, as all my crucial files are elsewhere and reinstallation should be straightforward.
I tried to provide an update and track down the problem. The main concern was the Corsair iCUE software. For more than a year, it kept trying to auto-update itself, eventually removing itself completely from my system. Leftover files and registry entries blocked installation or uninstallation. Thanks to support on Reddit, I managed to boot into Safe Mode, remove four folders and two registry keys, and finally get a clean install. Still, whenever iCUE attempted an update, it would trigger the same cycle. Eventually, I discovered an option to turn off automatic updates. It seems the software might try to update itself when the SSD is locked, causing crashes. I’m not sure if the failure was due to the SSD or the update process, but this issue definitely didn’t stop me. TL;DR: steer clear of Corsair iCUE or disable its auto-updates if you encounter problems. I’ve learned a lot from this investigation. EDIT: After a month, no system freezes have occurred. Before disabling updates, crashes happened regularly every few days. Now I’m convinced it was the cause.