All kinds of BSOD - I don't think it's RAM

[pedrom90]

I'm a little stuck with this one...I got a BSOD after trying to (safely) shutdown the PC. I think it said Update and shutdown - but I never got far enough to see if it was actually updating.

I now get constant BSOD at different boot stages. Either before getting to login screen, or moments after logging in. I took out the GPU and DDU'd the drivers, but no change. I ran memtest with no errors found. It boots fine in Safe Mode. I tried recovering to old windows state but get BSOD during recovery. Also tried doing a fresh win10 install via USB but I get BSOD during initial setup in the stages before it even formats the drive and installs.

Various BSOD include:
page_fault_in_nonpaged_area (most common)
irql_not_less_or_equal
ntfs.sys

I get that these would typically point to bad ram, but memtest reveals nothing. I've tried swapping sticks and trying them individually in each slot, but I still get BSOD. Do I need to run memtest in all these configurations? I've only run it once with both sticks in. Could the M.2 be causing issues like this?

1.5 years old
Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core
MSI H110I Pro Mini ITX LGA1151
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133
Samsung PM951 M.2 256GB SSD
Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit

Thanks in advance
Ped

 

[t53186]

Try booting from a WIN 10 USB and restore or reset the install. This might help as well https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options

Or this https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14238/windows-10-troubleshoot-blue-screen-errors

 

[pedrom90]

Try booting from a WIN 10 USB and restore or reset the install. This might help as well https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options

Or this https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14238/windows-10-troubleshoot-blue-screen-errors

Thanks for the reply, but like I already said:
"I tried recovering to old windows state but get BSOD during recovery. Also tried doing a fresh win10 install via USB but I get BSOD during initial setup in the stages before it even formats the drive and installs."

 

[t53186]

Try booting from a WIN 10 USB and restore or reset the install. This might help as well https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options

Or this https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14238/windows-10-troubleshoot-blue-screen-errors

Thanks for the reply, but like I already said:
"I tried recovering to old windows state but get BSOD during recovery. Also tried doing a fresh win10 install via USB but I get BSOD during initial setup in the stages before it even formats the drive and installs."

 

[t53186]

Then I would start by removing all peripherals, nothing plugged in, minimum configuration (least amount of ram to boot), move the GPU to another slot, reset bios to defaults, then try booting from the WIN 10 USB stick. Maybe even put in a hard drive or SSD for testing, yes M.2 can be flaky and we always recommend against using them as a boot drive.

Really is no point trying to troubleshoot anything else until you can at a minimum boot and run an intall.

 

[pedrom90]

Then I would start by removing all peripherals, nothing plugged in, minimum configuration (least amount of ram to boot), move the GPU to another slot, reset bios to defaults, then try booting from the WIN 10 USB stick. Maybe even put in a hard drive or SSD for testing, yes M.2 can be flaky and we always recommend against using them as a boot drive.

Really is no point trying to troubleshoot anything else until you can at a minimum boot and run an intall.

Ok thanks. I have already removed the GPU completely and cleaned the drivers, and I have nothing else plugged in apart from keyboard and mouse. I updated the mobo BIOS to the latest. I have tried only 1 RAM stick but I still get BSOD and can't recover/fresh install.
I guess I'll just have to try and find an old HDD to test and remove the m.2 drive temporarily?
Is there any particular reason why m.2 are flaky for boot drive? I've not heard this before.

 

[johnbl]

you should provide the windows diagnostic memory dump.
from c:\windows\minidump directory

they are large files so you will have to copy them to a cloud server like Microsoft onedrive or google docs, share them for public access and post a link.

 

[pedrom90]

you should provide the windows diagnostic memory dump.
from c:\windows\minidump directory

they are large files so you will have to copy them to a cloud server like Microsoft onedrive or google docs, share them for public access and post a link.

Unfortunately I can't access them as I just get BSOD before I can get into Windows. Can't even seem to load Safe Mode either now. It doesn't respond to my keyboard on the boot selection menu (4 for Safe Mode, 5 for Safe Mode with networking, 6 for....etc)

I've taken the m.2 boot drive out and put in an old trusty HDD (know to be working) but I got two "critical_process_died" BSODs before getting into Windows. Might try recovery on that too, just to be sure.

Running another memtest with just one module as we speak.

Any other ideas?

 

[pedrom90]

Memtest with one ram module came back clean. No errors.
Old HDD seems to be working, but need to reinstall windows to be sure, as quite a few basic drivers aren't installed.

 

[t53186]

Memtest with one ram module came back clean. No errors.
Old HDD seems to be working, but need to reinstall windows to be sure, as quite a few basic drivers aren't installed.

Good to hear, just take it a step at a time when reinstalling drivers, hardware, etc, the problem may reappear at any time and it's helpful to know exactly what was done last to assist troubleshooting.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

 

[pedrom90]

Memtest with one ram module came back clean. No errors.
Old HDD seems to be working, but need to reinstall windows to be sure, as quite a few basic drivers aren't installed.

Good to hear, just take it a step at a time when reinstalling drivers, hardware, etc, the problem may reappear at any time and it's helpful to know exactly what was done last to assist troubleshooting.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

Still getting random BSOD's after all. Mainly page_fault_in_nonpaged_area. This is with clean OS install, new PSU, RAM and motherboard. No GPU - just bare minimum setup.

My last guess is the CPU. I've ordered a new one and will see if that fixes it. I've also ordered a new SSD and GPU to be sure they are ok.
I'm starting to think there was perhaps a power surge which has damaged multiple components.
Once I replace the CPU and SSD, it will literally be a new PC lol. So if I still get BSOD - I'm completely lost...