Issue with your PC, unsure of the next steps.
Issue with your PC, unsure of the next steps.
Hey everyone, I’m facing some issues with my PC and I’m not sure how to fix it. I’ll walk you through what happened and what’s been happening now. A few days back, my Windows SSD (850 EVO, 500GB) kept running at full capacity, which made Windows behave extremely poorly. I tried restarting, ran diagnostics, used software to check SSD health and it reported everything was fine. Then I bought a new SSD for Windows, installed the drivers, and everything worked for a short time. But then my monitor went dark during a Dota 2 match, and the MOBO displayed a white LED indicating a VGA fault. I double-checked the graphics card installation, but it still wouldn’t work. I moved it to the PCIE slot 2, but nothing changed. Later, I connected the GPU via HDMI cable, and now the monitor works, though Windows is still broken. I had to reinstall Windows again, applying drivers and GFX software. I was considering switching back to a display port cable to test, and it did work. After about 40-50 minutes, I encountered a BSOD with an unusual error code. Restarting the PC fixed it, but after a few hours I got another BSOD—this time related to a kernel security check failure. After that, I ran a RAM diagnostic test and a CPU stress test, both passed without issues. I’m really unsure what else to do, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, I added a Dropbox link with the dump files for reference. For some reason, when I opened perfmon/report, it opened Resource Monitor and kept showing data for hours without progress. Here’s the PC specs: i9-9900k z390 - E gaming motherboard, Nvidia RTX 1080, 32GB Corsair RAM, 1 SSD (500GB), 1x M.2 SSD (1TB), 1x HDD (2TB), PSU is EVGA Supernova G2.
Hi @alinashul, sorry to hear about your hardware issues. The BSOD you mentioned suggests a faulty driver, likely the GPU driver. Please review your Event Viewer logs—Windows Logs, then System—and filter by right-clicking on System. Select only Warning, Error, and Critical entries, and capture a screenshot before your last crash. Look for any errors or warnings related to Display or nvlddmkm. Let me know your findings!
Ooof, there are many disk warnings here. I’d run the chkdsk /scan command in Command Prompt to check for issues. If it shows errors, I’d use chkdsk /f /r to fix them. You can also try fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo with the rootpath, or fsutil dirty query with the volumepath. Be sure to back up any important data before proceeding, just in case. This should help protect your hard drives and keep things safe.
I received my new SSD on Windows yesterday. I ran a scan with chkdsk to check all my storage devices, including the M2 SSD and two HDDs, and everything was error-free.
Hi @alinashul, thank you for clarifying. I noticed from your earlier message that you also have two HDDs, which might explain the errors in your event viewer. It seems these drives could be contributing to the disk activity you're seeing. However, your point about the SSD usage is valid—checking Task Manager and sorting by Disk Usage should reveal which apps are consuming the most space. More details would help pinpoint the exact cause. EDIT: Also, your CPU temperatures are higher than expected. When you captured screenshots with HWMonitor, were the HDDs idle or were other processes running in the background? Also, are you experiencing high CPU usage yourself?
Is the HW Monitor capturing a screen while the system operates? Is this happening during idle or while active tasks? If your CPU is operating at 81°C at idle, that’s a significant concern. Kernel errors might stem from a defective CPU or insufficient RAM. Overheating can trigger shutdowns or bluescreens. If this occurs at idle and your CPU has been running hot, it’s likely the heat is building up during gaming or prolonged use, which could lead to hardware damage. Address this promptly. Regarding drivers, ensure they’re installed via Windows Updates or manually from the manufacturer’s site. If only updates are used, it may result in incorrect or outdated drivers. Also, verify if any BIOS updates are available since you haven’t updated your system’s BIOS before.
Hello, thank you for the update. The CPU temperature wasn<|pad|>, it was due to running a stress test in CPU-Z while working on this topic. Regarding the drivers, I visit the manufacturer's site and download everything. Then I install GFX experience and update the latest GPU driver.
That's helpful to hear. You don't seem to be experiencing the exact BSOD message at all, right? This would really make a difference. You referred to a KERNEL security check failure in your earlier message, which points to a driver problem as I discussed before. In your recent reply, you installed the GeForce experience alongside your driver. Did you run DDU in safe mode with Fast Startup and Automatic Windows Driver install turned off? Using a stale driver could definitely cause these issues. Running DDU in safe mode will clear not just the old drivers but also any REG keys, which might be the source of your problems. I’ve had some trouble with Nvidia drivers lately, so it’s not uncommon.