PC crash due to Windows issues - frozen system, blue screens, unexpected restarts - how should I handle it?
PC crash due to Windows issues - frozen system, blue screens, unexpected restarts - how should I handle it?
Hello. I'm at my absolute wit's end with issues with my PC and could use some serious help from someone with expertise.
I built my system from scratch about 2 years ago, and it's worked brilliantly most of that time. Specs are an MSI X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI motherboard, a Ryzen 5800X CPU, an RTX 3080 GPU, 2 sticks of 8GB Kingston Fury RAM, a bequiet! 850W Platinum PSU, a Samsung 970 EVO 1TB NVMe SSD (boot drive), a 2TB Samsung 870 QVO SSD and a 4TB Seagate Barracuda HDD.
I recently updated to the newest BIOS for my motherboard, and all was well afterwards. However, today I attempted to turn on the PC to discover
3 major issues.
1) This issue I've actually had on and off for a few months now. When turning the PC on, it will often get to the Windows boot screen (with the spinning circle) and then freeze, needing to be powered off. This only happened occasionally before - but now it's happening almost every single boot. It even freezes attempting to enter Automatic Repair or trying to boot into USB drives.
2) When I do make it through the boot screen, Windows will immediately bluescreen with the error BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO every single time. I looked into this error and it seems related to registry corruption. I've been trying to reinstall Windows but doing so with problems 1 and 3 is extremely difficult.
3) When I do make it into tools like Automatic Repair or an installation drive, the computer will sometimes randomly reboot. I managed to make it into Windows on one instance earlier on, and found the error in Event Viewer from the reboots to be along the lines of: "Critical hardware error occurred - Core Processor - Bus/Interconnect Error".
I've tried the following exhausting list of things to fix this issue (the ones here that require me to log in to Windows were tried before it became nearly impossible to do so, when trying to fix problem 1):
Changing power plan in Windows and turning off fast startup
Changing various BIOS settings (fast memory boot, secure boot, underclocking various components, etc.)
Updating the BIOS
Resetting the CMOS Battery
Running DISM, sfc /scannow, and CHKDSK, all of which find no issues
Running a drive diagnostic on my NVME SSD through my BIOS, which finds no issues
Updating my graphics drivers
Checking Device Manager for incompatible/outdated/faulty drivers
Unplugging all non-essential peripherals and trying different ports for them
Making sure all cables and components in and out of the PC are secure and firmly in place, and giving it a good clean
Turning on Safe Mode boot (makes no difference)
Opening BIOS before booting (this helped in the past but no longer makes a difference)
Checking boot priorities in BIOS
Running Startup Repair (doesn't seem to find or fix anything)
Checking temperatures in BIOS and with Afterburner (all are healthy and normal)
Using an installation drive to attempt to reinstall Windows (as said above, I have not successfully managed to do this yet due to the problems)
It's worth mentioning that when in Windows the computer runs flawlessly outside of these issues - there are no signs of faulty hardware even at high load outside of these problems.
I am fairly convinced at this point, after trying everything I can imagine on the software side, that this is a hardware problem - but based on the wide range of problems occurring, I have no idea which piece of hardware is most likely to be the culprit. Most of my warranties have recently ended and I don't have the money to replace every single piece of hardware - so narrowing down potential problem pieces would be extremely helpful.
I plan on running some tests and diagnostics tomorrow (e.g using memtest from a USB to see if I can determine whether the memory is the culprit), but if I don't find anything I'm about to concede and just send it to a repair shop. Any help, advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Did you recreate your bootable USB installer to check for a faulty installer for your operating system? Also, where did you obtain the installer from? You should ensure all drives are disconnected except the one you plan to install the OS on, to avoid data transfer.
I recreated the installation drive from the beginning using my laptop. As mentioned, reinstalling the OS is proving quite challenging due to the frequent reboots and boot freezes, but I plan to continue tomorrow and will disconnect the other drives.
I've chosen to tackle problem 3 immediately, before dealing with the other issues, because the computer suddenly restarted during another chkdsk process. It seems okay now that it was in a scanning stage, but if it were to restart unexpectedly during a Windows install or another repair, it could damage one of my drives.
I've attempted several steps using the recovery USB to identify the cause (all actions performed from the recovery drive):
sfc /scannow reported an error stating "Windows Resource Protection could not perform the action specified," which means it won't work here either.
I ran chkdsk on all three drives just to be safe, but no errors or bad records were detected—though it failed to write to the event log.
Attempting any repairs via normal Automatic Repair has completely failed.
DISM operations triggered an initialization error. I logged the results to the USB drive and reviewed them (pastebinned here).
The random reboots aren't happening on the recovery USB when using repair tools, which gives me some confidence this isn't a hardware problem—though it probably is. Now it's time to reinstall Windows again.
Progress!
I discovered and followed this guide to attempt fixing the Boot Manager. Now, when I power on, instead of just seeing a BAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG_INFO error followed by a reboot, I encounter a blue recovery screen that informs me the OS failed to start and provides options like checking UEFI settings or launching recovery tools. I can now tackle this from a different perspective.
Edit (to avoid spam):
The boot issue appears to have lessened, possibly due to corrupted UEFI/Boot Manager files.
I’ve turned on boot logging and saved the boot log using Command Prompt – it’s available here.
Other than a few drivers that don’t start, which might be normal, nothing seems clearly suspicious.
Did you disconnect all other drives and keep them disconnected until Windows is fully restored and stable, except for the one you're installing Windows on? They advised this for two reasons: 1) to remove other drives as possible causes of the issue, and 2) to avoid any corruption spreading to your boot drive. If everything stays connected, all the effort might end up in vain.
Taking out the drives didn't help at all. Reinstalling Windows seems like a hopeless task due to the constant rebooting problems. I've been working for hours, but each time I set up the installation, the computer restarts. I've recreated the USB drive to rule out a random error; still nothing changes. I'm worried something is wrong with the hardware.
Since you've done all that let's start from the ground and go up.
1) Unplug anything and everything except keyboard, mouse, monitor, and power cord. Leave them all unplugged for now. If you can get away with it, unplug your network cable too.
2) Internally, disconnect all your storage options EXCEPT for the drive that you're going to be installing Windows on. Leave those unplugged as well. Even disconnect them at the motherboard level if you can. Go ahead and disconnect the power cables from them too (just in case something is going wonky with your PSU).
3) Remove 1 stick of memory leaving the stick in that is furthest from the CPU mount.
4) Try installing Windows from the USB again, get it to the first screen and let it sit. Don't touch nothing and see if it restarts, BSODs, etc.
5) When, and if, it does restart, power it off, pull the DIMM out that was in and swap it for the other one, do the same thing over again.
6) If you don't get reboots from either DIMM, you know neither are to blame for the issues.
7) Unfortunately, we have no way of removing the GPU and eliminating it as your CPU doesn't support integrated graphics BUT all your tests passed so I doubt there is anything wrong with it.
8) If all that still doesn't produce reboots, get Windows reinstalled, and slowly start re-introducing everything one at a time, allowing time between each addition to see if it triggers something.
So I took everything off except the keyboard, mouse, monitor and power supply, and completely separated my other two drives from anything. Sadly, I'm still experiencing random reboots while trying to reinstall Windows. I've tested both RAM sticks but haven't had success. It's also worth noting that when the PC restarts, it does so smoothly—not abruptly, which suggests the power supply unit isn't the problem.
I've also ruled out the GPU since I made sure it was properly seated and I haven't noticed any display issues after a few days of gaming. Given that I've used this PC for gaming recently without any screen problems, I think the CPU is unlikely to be the cause. However, since the motherboard has been reliable in most situations, it's possible there could be an issue there.