Need assistance interpreting the dump files from three BSODs?
Need assistance interpreting the dump files from three BSODs?
Here are some notes about the situation.
Early BSOD occurred while sleeping, battery was dead, suggesting it didn’t hibernate properly and performed erratic actions before failing. Checked the error log, realized a small hibernation file size might be the cause, so increased it to 100.
The next day it didn’t trigger a BSOD during hibernation, so I continued using it. Around half an hour later, another BSOD appeared. Tried to capture a screen shot with my phone but it vanished before I could take one. Now I’m worried about missing backups and used a drive instead. Another BSOD happened about ten minutes later. Eventually managed to back it up, though this took hours.
Lately I’ve been using the computer for about a month in October. Upgraded RAM to 32GB, replaced my C drive with a larger one and mirrored it. Noticed some black liquid metal areas (common issue with ASUS ROG STRIX G15 Advantage laptops). He re-applied the liquid metal and didn’t mention it was his first time. Thermal performance was poor when I returned, and he also had bare spots, so repairs were needed.
Reviewed the second bug report—it could point to faulty drives, RAM, or thermal paste. I’ve been monitoring temperatures closely and haven’t seen any problems. The CrystalDisk tool shows no bad or pending sectors on either drive. ASUS’ diagnostic tool says everything is normal.
I paid half the cost of the laptop in October and am now very anxious about needing to repeat this process. If anyone can interpret these details and suggest possible causes, it would help me decide the next steps.
Edit – I forgot to mention he spent hours on the phone with ASUS trying to update the BIOS, but they couldn’t resolve it. They suggested I return it for repair, and I’ve heard many negative stories about ASUS RMA. I chose not to go through that process. It’s BIOS 311 at the moment.
Welcome to the forums, new member!
ASUS ROG STRIX G15 Advantage edition
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The current BIOS is 311. It’s BIOS 311 at the moment.
ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition | Laptops | ROG Global
rog.asus.com
The most recent BIOS update is 331. #11 isn’t shown on their page unless you’ve mistakenly shared another model.
If you've experienced BSODs, there should be minidumps in the folder C:\Windows\Minidumps. Please upload everything you find.
I haven't been a fan of adjusting the hibernation file size. Honestly, if your system drive is too small for a hibernate file, you should use a larger drive or stop using hibernation altogether. It really should match the amount of RAM you have installed. And if you've upgraded your RAM without reinstalling Windows (which seems to be your case), then I'm not surprised there was a hibernation BSOD.
I suggest turning off hibernation (powercfg -h off) which will remove the existing hiberfil.sys file, and then re-enabling it (powercfg -h on) to create a fresh hiberfil.sys. If you prefer a more cautious method, restart between turning it off and on.
When you upgraded the RAM, did you verify the following?
- The new RAM units had identical part numbers to the existing ones.
- Both the new and old RAM are listed in the QVL for your motherboard.
You mentioned the builder swapped your C: drive and 'mirrored it for me'? I think you mean they cloned it, so you didn't need a full reinstall. Disk cloning isn’t always 100% reliable. In your situation, I’d (and always would) perform a complete reinstall of Windows. I value your effort to save time, but if you aim for a stable and dependable system, a clean install after changing the system drive is a better choice. This raises some doubts about the current condition of your drive.
I’m also concerned about whether overheating from poor paste jobs might have damaged the CPU. Have you checked the temperatures? I recommend downloading HWMonitor (free), expanding the CPU temperature section, and capturing two screenshots: one showing the system idle completely, stopping all unnecessary processes, and another with maximum load.
The minidumps might provide more insight.
I understand this isn’t a solution for you, but based on what you’ve shared about the builder, I wouldn’t place too much trust in them.
Is this the correct line? 311. Yes, it’s not the latest update. That was what I intended to clarify. I hesitated to make the change myself, so they asked me to handle it at the computer place. He mentioned it kept failing and even after calling ASUS for hours, they couldn’t resolve it. They told me I’d need to return it for repair if I wanted it fixed. So I’m still stuck on 311 at the moment. He didn’t explain why it was failing, only that it did.
There were four (?) files in the minidump directory and a single large “memory.dmp” file outside. I transferred everything to a folder on my desktop and compressed them. Did they all upload correctly this time?
Here it is once more, just the minidumps this time! I hope that works.
I’m completely uncertain about what he did during the RAM upgrade, but it seems he was willing to give me my money to mirror my old drive while also upgrading the RAM. It’s likely he didn’t actually perform a fresh installation, which is disappointing because I was confident I could install it myself. I only asked him to do it so I could have a backup, and now I’m forced to erase everything. It’s a complete waste of my money. I even installed the heatsink and thermal pads myself before he put it in. A fresh install will only clear the drive windows, right? Not the one in the other slot?
I really used up those 32 gigabytes of RAM quickly and decided to upgrade to 64, so I bought a new kit. When I install it this time (this one DIY), I’ll run a fresh Windows installation and compare the drives. I still have the original ones. I wasn’t aware of this QVL thing or the part numbers… Are you assuming it’s quad channel and I added two more to the original ones? It’s dual channel, so we replaced everything with the new unit. Do the part numbers still need to match if you’re swapping them? I checked my laptop on Crucial’s compatibility chart and went by that. Ugh. It’s better to find out now than after I install it.
I’ve been tracking my temperatures since getting the laptop, using CoreTemp. I set it to alert me if temps rise above 85. During idle it usually stays in the low to high 30s, and during gaming it goes into the mid to high 70s or sometimes spikes to 86-87 briefly, but rarely for long. There was one game I got that wasn’t optimized and kept hitting 96+ on the main menu, which actually caused the laptop to shut down. That was the first time I saw such high temps or had it shut down because of overheating. It made me decide to have him test the liquid metal just to be safe, and that’s when we found the weak spots on the CPU and GPU (waiting patiently for the class action against ASUS because it was a major oversight). I also know he was trying to force the game to behave like mine and caused those shutdowns repeatedly. I played that game much longer than usual. I don’t know if that’s enough to cause damage. After his poor thermal handling, I couldn’t open any game without it shutting down, so I didn’t use it at all before he fixed it.
Regarding trustworthiness, I’m already looking for a different place to bring it here. It’s tough in my area. We’re all in the same forest. That place was an hour’s drive away, but it had great reviews. (I know it’s not about skill) One day after he got the computer, he took my full name from my Microsoft account and found me on Facebook… I was immediately worried about my decision—and really glad I bought a laptop without a webcam. My impression of their professionalism fell completely apart after that. From a technical standpoint, I think he overstepped and should have warned me he was beyond his capacity. He spent nearly a month on it. I noticed silver smudges on the outside when I got it back. I can’t imagine what that could be except liquid metal. I haven’t opened it yet… Based on the current temps, it seems like he corrected his mistake. It’s back to normal.
I use a good fan tray for gaming, so it rarely reaches 80—often 55-75 depending on the game. But I can download the app you mentioned if you think it’s better than CoreTemp? I wish it would show GPU temperature too, since that’s one I rarely see. Only CPU is listed. But I keep the app open 24/7.
This is idle with no tray fan.
It reached 86 without my tray fan while I was tweaking the BIOS for my motherboard number. I had to search online, didn’t realize BIOS displays it under load but apparently it does. That’s the highest I’ve seen since I got it back. He ran that game again before returning it, and later found out he actually played several other games too. I’m not sure if I paid him for that time or not. He said the temps stayed around 90 but didn’t get high enough to shut it down anymore. I didn’t try it myself, so I’m scared of that game now. Haha.
I don’t understand why my “first draft” without the links and my “final draft” ended up together again. My bad. I was constantly checking the forums while typing and probably made a mistake. Forgive me. I’m trying to figure this out as I go back and forth.
I now have the minidumps, thank you. Based on the dumps I think the most likely cause of these BSODs is your NVMe drive. Two of the dumps (021024-9390-01.dmp and 020824-11281-01.dmp) fail with a 0xC0000185 exception code, that's a
the I/O device reported an I/O error
exception. In the first of those dumps the error seem to occur during the nt!MiWaitForInPageComplete function call and whilst waiting for a read from the system drive. The other dump seems to have been buffering data read in from the network, but it fails whilst reading pages from the system drive.
Another dump is a CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED and they are almost always hardware related. Typically it's RAM that causes these BSODs but it could be the system drive also - although there is no evidence of that in this dump. However, the dump does seem to be corrupted somehow, the debugger fails to load it fully, and that too suggests a system drive issue perhaps.
The fourth dump is an INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR, indicating that
the system failed to complete a power transition in a timely manner
. That's also almost always a hardware problem. It's not possible from this dump to identify what failed the power transition.
In summary, there certainly seems to be some sort of hardware issue with this laptop. I'd query the NVMe drive based on these dumps. It may just need removing and re-seating. That often fixes many niggly problems.
To answer your RAM questions, quad-channel motherboards are rare and expensive, your laptop will be dual-channel. Even so you should not mix RAM because the timings of all sticks need to match - even across different channels. I notice that in these four dumps you only have the two Crucial 16GB sticks installed (the CT16G4SFRA32A.C8FE) so we can discount mixed RAM as the cause in these BSODs.
I have very little confidence in the ability of the person who put this laptop together for you. If there is any way you can return it and get your money back I would do so.
I mean, ASUS put it together. The shop changed the drive, ram, and liquid metal. The rest is just factory-made ASUS. I got it in 2021, so my warranty ended in 2022. Should I assume it can’t be fixed myself now, or should I still try the earlier suggestions? It might not hurt to give them another shot and open it up to check for obvious issues. I spent over 700 dollars plus a tip at the previous repair shop for those changes. The laptop was originally 1,500 with the original parts. I’m concerned about repeating the mistake and ending up with a new laptop instead. 🥺
Should I look for another repair service and have them diagnose it right away? Plus, if the part that failed was one of the three replaced less than four months ago, I’d probably want to discuss the cost with them.
Thanks for the help! It’s useful to know what I’m dealing with before making more expensive choices.
And according to the information I've observed, the issue likely lies with one or more of these devices. First, turn off hibernation entirely. Launch a command prompt and run the following command...
powercfg -h off
If the problem persists, it's probably related to RAM. It seems you might have replaced the original RAM with new ones. You could try swapping out the existing RAM for the ones you purchased. If the issue continues, it's less likely to be a RAM problem—though if they aren't recognized by the system, there will always be uncertainty.
I'm still worried about Windows being cloned instead of installed fresh. I've encountered numerous issues from cloning that didn't behave as expected. You have two options here...
Back up everything and perform a clean installation of Windows onto that drive.
Begin Windows in Safe Mode and check if the BSODs continue.
When I mean a clean install, it involves:
Booting from a USB with the latest Windows 11 installation files (use create installation media).
Choosing a custom install.
Removing all UEFI partitions on the drive.
Highlighting the unallocated space and clicking Next. The installer will handle the rest.
After the setup, repeatedly run Windows Update until no updates are detected.
Then, verify in Device Manager that no devices appear with a yellow triangle and a black exclamation mark next to them. If any do, explore 'view optional updates' for compatible drivers and install them.
Now test the system,
BEFORE doing anything else,
to determine if you can trigger a BSOD.
If you run Windows in Safe Mode...
Safe Mode runs a minimal version of Windows with only essential services and drivers active.
No additional drivers are loaded (except for networking), so most devices won't function properly—or at all. Your display will appear low resolution since you're using the basic Windows driver.
You won't be able to play games or perform useful tasks in Safe Mode. It's mainly for testing whether hardware is causing the BSODs.
Stay in Safe Mode for as long as possible, but avoid letting it shut down, sleep, or hibernate.
If the system still BSODs, freezes, or crashes in Safe Mode, it strongly suggests a hardware issue.
I understand now. I assumed it could refer to any hardware rather than a specific job. I planned to replace the RAM sticks once I swapped them, but I’ll keep them just in case they’re the issue. They’re available for return. I turned off hibernate today, as I haven’t used it since then. I’m a bit nervous about it. I’m shutting it down now when I finish, having used it a few hours daily without any new blue screens. Just organizing and deleting files, so usage is minimal.
I’ve got the new RAM now! I’ll make sure to note the motherboard model when opening it and verify it with both kits. I checked the BIOS, but that section for the motherboard wasn’t present, so I’m still unsure about that detail. Perhaps it’s because my BIOS is outdated. Once I confirm the new RAM works, I’ll install it following a tutorial and double-check the SSDs to ensure they’re in good condition. I’m not sure where the liquid metal is located, but I’ll look up a guide and try to inspect it safely if it seems safe.
Next, I’ll proceed with the Windows installation. I just want to double-check once more so I don’t make a mistake. My E drive in the adjacent slot will not be wiped—only the Windows drive. I’ve backed up my most important data from E, though I might run out of space backing up the entire drive later.
If things go wrong, I found another computer shop about two hours away instead of one. They have six times more positive reviews and offer free diagnostics. If needed, I’ll have a place to take it. Thank you for your help! I’ll make sure to follow up with an update on my progress.