Why is my computer showing a blue screen with an error code?
Why is my computer showing a blue screen with an error code?
Hello everyone, I've been getting BSOD for a few months now mostly because of ntoskrnl.exe (+416980). It doesn't matter if the PC is idle or not. Sometimes it happens during shutdown or restart, maybe once per day or more. Here are my minidumps: https://ufile.io/f/kvoic The first BSODs were about MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. Then there was a lot of different causes. So I ran memtest86 on my G.Skill RAMs, and basically stopped after just few minutes because of too many errors. (I tried with and without XMP). I thought the RAM had the problem, so I returned them for repair. They sent me new ones. At the same time, I bought other RAM so I could run my build. Those were 2x Patriot 8GB DDR4 2666MHz CL19. (I checked those with memtest86 and there was no problem). When the new G.Skill RAMs arrived, I ran a test again right away and everything looked clear (after just a few tests). But nothing fixed it; I kept getting BSOD every single day. I ran memtest on my g.skill again and got errors. I reinstalled the Patriots and ran memtest for about 12 hours with no errors. As days passed, I kept having issues even though I didn't see any errors during all those tests. I started wondering if this was a motherboard memory chip issue or because the G.Skill RAMs are higher speed maybe that's why? My next steps were to reinstall Windows on a new disk, so when the problem started I had Windows 10 and now I have Windows 11 installed on the new drive while keeping the old one as storage. The problems keep happening. At this point: I changed the RAMs, installed Windows 11 on a new drive, updated every single driver (even using third-party apps to do that), ran SFC, ran driver verifier, but didn't see anything specific in the minidumps anymore. I tried to fix it but nothing has made sense up until now. My next step was to replace my GPU with an older one again from Nvidia. I really would appreciate any help if you can explain what is going on here. Thank you in advance for any tips and let me know if you need more information. CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 360 RAM: 2x Patriot 8GB DDR4 2666MHz CL19 Previous RAM: F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC (G.Skill) SSD/HDD: Apacer AS2290Q4U 1TB (nvme) were windows installed. Samsung SSD 970 EVO (nvme) WDC WD10EZEX 1 TB (sata) Samsung SSD 840 EVO (sata) GPU: MSI RTX 2070 SUPER Ventus OC PSU: B-quite OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Professional (x64) Build 22631.2715 minidumps -> https://ufile.io/f/kvoic
Have you looked at those RAM sticks to make sure they are on your motherboard QVL list? If not, they might still work, but it is better to buy tested RAM so there are no worries about compatibility. Those five dumps could point to RAM problems: two of them fail with a 0xC000005 code because the memory is invalid, and the other four have bugs like MEMORY_MANAGEMENT or DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION when they try to manage page tables. The last one uses a bugcheck (argument 1 equals 1) that needs full kernel dumps to fix; since those were later overwritten by BSODs, we can't see them. Let's set RAM aside for now because it seems unlikely...
Have you looked at your RAM sticks to make sure they match what is on your motherboard list? If not, they might still work, but checking before buying is always a good idea so you don't get in trouble later. The five files you sent could actually mean the RAM isn't working properly; two of them cause errors when the computer tries to find an old memory spot (code 0xC000005), and the other two crash because it cannot manage new pages being added to memory (a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error). The last one says something went wrong with a command processor, but that kind of message needs more detailed information from the computer's core to understand fully.
Let's look at the hard drive for now instead of the RAM, since there is not much evidence pointing to it being the main problem (though you should still check your RAM list). The drive looks like an NVMe SSD because I saw you use Samsung Magician software on it, so that seems likely. There are three more crash messages where the hard drive was used and they didn't cause a memory error; these all happened when trying to read or write data from the storage drive, and three of them show the same file (nfts.sys) in the crash message. This file is part of Windows's file system driver. The other two crashes happen during page table operations, which involves moving space around on your hard drive.
If we ignore the RAM for now, there are strong signs that this could be a hard drive issue. You didn't say which drive has the active Windows 11 system running, but it is bad practice to have two copies of Windows installed on different drives at the same time, and this can cause all kinds of problems. I would strongly suggest using an old Windows 10 installation while you work through these issues because Windows 11 is a new version for you and could bring more trouble if something goes wrong. If possible, reinstall Windows 10 on a different drive than the NVMe one you are currently using. Even though Samsung Magician said it was good, our analysis suggests there might be some doubt about that since the evidence points otherwise.
Ideally, I want to know which drive used as the main system drive in those five files removed from your computer while we test with Windows 10. If you get more crashes using an old installation on a different drive (with the NVMe one taken out) please download a tool called V2 log collector here and upload the file it creates. This will give us all the data we need to figure this problem out properly.
First of all, thanks for your reply. About those drives: the 970 was the old one with win10 installed. Now it's being used for steam games. The new drive is an Apacer, and it has win11 on it. I never ran both operating systems at the same time on two different active drives. Both the SATA drivers were always storage only. RAMs: Rookie mistake, just checked both vendors and both kits are not on my motherboard's QVL list. I will remove the old drive (970 EVO) from the system but keep win11 for now to see what happens. If that doesn't work, I'll reinstall win10 again on the new Apacer drive and check. Finally, I will try installing QVL RAMs at the end just to be sure. Thanks again and I'll keep updating this thread if it fixes the issue; maybe someone else can find it helpful too.
You do not need two operating systems running together for your computer to get into trouble. All you really need is for multiple drives to be trying to run at once, and each of those drives needs its own operating system attached to it. Only one drive in a whole computer should ever have an operating system installed on it.
After I took out my Samsung 970 EVO, it still started crashing but just as MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. Then I took out one drive at a time, starting with the WD and then the Samsung. The last thing happened about 18 hours ago and nothing has crashed so far. So keep watching. Right now I only have one drive left which is an Apacer. Basically, those three latest dumps were made after I started taking drives out. Here are them: https://ufile.io/f/fd4nb
By the way... is this power supply unit (PSU) quiet? If so, what wattage does it have? What about its age and condition—is it original to the build, brand new, refurbished, or used? Has it been heavily gaming-edited, video editing done on it, or even mining bits?
Yeah sorry I forgot to say that: be quiet! Straight Power 11 Platinum 850W was bought on 10/10/2020 and it was brand new, original to build. I just use it for gaming sometimes but not something heavy like video editing or mining.
It crashed again. Here is my latest crash file: 120623-6625-01.dmp from ufile.io. You can get this dump for free right now on ufile.io without signing up or seeing annoying pop-up ads. Right now, I only have one hard drive left. The only thing I can do is try reinstalling Windows 10 just to see if that fixes things for now.
The link probably needs to be downloaded first. Go check Reliability History/Monitor or Event Viewer for any error codes, warnings, or messages that show up right before or when you hit the BSODs (Blue Screen of Death). Take pictures and post them here using imgur.com. Start by looking at Reliability History/Monitor; it's easier to use than Event Viewer. The timeline view helps spot patterns, but Event Viewer takes more time to figure out.
My guess is that your power supply unit might be getting old or tired. It could no longer handle the peak power demands of all your drives. You should look for a few different errors and a lot more errors appearing over time. If you take out some drives, crashes stop happening. But if you put them back in, the crashes start increasing again—that points to the PSU being the problem.