Question BSOD after installing wifi USB adapter

Mar 2, 2023
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My motherboard doesn't have onboard wifi and I have been using an Ethernet cable running through the house for a couple years but decided to try a wifi adapter. It was a TP Link 1800. Immediately upon using the setup installer and restarting to finish the installation I started getting blue screens. It started off by saying it was missing some kernel and now I am getting winload.efi is missing or corrupted. This happens every time it tries to restart so I can't update anything or reset windows. Sometimes after manually shutting off and powering on the PC it will actually boot up into windows normally. I have already went back a month using a restore point option, it hasn't helped. I got a blue screen during that but when the PC finally booted into windows normally it said the restore point was successful. I've already unplugged the adapter and uninstalled the program (the restore point was before this too). I found a few articles saying this is a known problem when booting from an SSD and booting into command prompt to change/fix the BCD but that did not help either it said access denied when I entered the second of four command prompts that were listed. At this point it might be easier to just do a clean install of windows 10 but I can't even get the USB to boot properly to do it. I've spent 7 hours now with these blue screens and powering off and on the PC trying startup repairs which fail and recoveries which also fail so I'm sort of at a loss. My bios version is really out of date but at this point I don't know if it's even safe to try to update that since windows is so unstable.

I'm on an Asus b450f gaming mb (think it said version 2605 when I checked bios)
Ryzen 5 3600
Gigabyte 6700xt (installed 2/1/23)
Tforce ram 2x8 in slots 2 and 4
Windows 10 on SSD with HDD for storage
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I'm on an Asus b450f gaming mb (think it said version 2605 when I checked bios)
If you're on 2605, you have BIOS updates pending;

after installing wifi USB adapter
Make and model of your USB adapter?

Can you get into BIOS and remain there indefinitely? Speaking of platforms, what is the make and model of your PSU and it's age?
 
Mar 2, 2023
8
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Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I'm on an Asus b450f gaming mb (think it said version 2605 when I checked bios)
If you're on 2605, you have BIOS updates pending;

after installing wifi USB adapter
Make and model of your USB adapter?

Can you get into BIOS and remain there indefinitely? Speaking of platforms, what is the make and model of your PSU and it's age?

Yeah, I can get into Bios and it lets me stay there. When I exit out of bios it generally lets me into windows as well (not every time but it seems to be most times). It's mainly whenever it is restarted (rather than powered down) it throws blue screens. I didn't know if it was safe to update the bios version with windows acting this way so I haven't attempted it. The wifi adapter was a Tp-Link ax1800 and the PSU is Corsair 650 bronze (idk the exact model, I'm not home to check but it's from 2012). I don't use this PC much at all. It might have like 50 hours on it since I rebuilt it in 2020 but I recently upgraded the graphics card to use it more.
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Corsair 650 bronze
Corsair is the brand of the PSU while 650 is the advertised wattage of the unit. Bronze is the advertised 80+ efficiency rating. What is the model of the unit? By any chance is it a green label CX650 unit?

The wifi adapter was a Tp-Link ax1800
That's not an adapter, it's a wireless router...unless you're referring to another model.
 
This is the wifi adapter
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0B5YPK9L1?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

There isn't a green label on the psu, it's gold.
is this the same device?
here is the current driver
Download for Archer TX20U Plus | TP-Link
Published Date: 2023-02-08

note: I would disconnect the device from your machine, boot into windows, start control panel, device manager find the menu item to show hidden devices, and turn it on. then Look at the device list for any greyed out devices and delete the.
now install the driver for the new device.
reboot and see if the machine seems ok, then plug in the new device and see if it starts correctly, reboot and see if you get a bugcheck.

Note; sometimes you have to update the bios to get power management and usb fixes. Also you have to install cpu chipset drivers for some usb fixes. Any usb device will depend on these fixes.
 
Last edited:
Mar 2, 2023
8
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is this the same device?
here is the current driver
Download for Archer TX20U Plus | TP-Link
Published Date: 2023-02-08

note: I would disconnect the device from your machine, boot into windows, start control panel, device manager find the menu item to show hidden devices, and turn it on. then Look at the device list for any greyed out devices and delete the.
now install the driver for the new device.
reboot and see if the machine seems ok, then plug in the new device and see if it starts correctly, reboot and see if you get a bugcheck.

Note; sometimes you have to update the bios to get power management and usb fixes. Also you have to install cpu chipset drivers for some usb fixes. Any usb device will depend on these fixes.

I had already installed the most current driver for the wifi adapter and the chipset etc. All drivers were updated when I installed the new GPU a month ago. The wifi adapter had been uninstalled and I did a system restore point prior to posting on here and it didn't help. The only thing I haven't done is the bios but I'm really doubting it has anything to do with it since the wifi adapter had been uninstalled and the PC was rolled back a month and that didn't solve anything.
 
I had already installed the most current driver for the wifi adapter and the chipset etc. All drivers were updated when I installed the new GPU a month ago. The wifi adapter had been uninstalled and I did a system restore point prior to posting on here and it didn't help. The only thing I haven't done is the bios but I'm really doubting it has anything to do with it since the wifi adapter had been uninstalled and the PC was rolled back a month and that didn't solve anything.
might want to pick up the bios update.

ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING BIOS 5003
Version 5003
11.12 MB 2023/02/06
"1. Update AGESA version to ComboV2PI 1208

AGESA is responsible for the initialization of the CPU cores, chipset, main memory, and the HyperTransport controller

bios update is the best place to get these fixes, if you do not install it then the system will use the microsoft specific cpu dll to override cpu microcode.
(assuming you do not have amdryzendriver.sys installed then the microsoft dll will not run)
bios update should go with the cpu chipset update since they need to match.
 
Mar 2, 2023
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might want to pick up the bios update.

ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING BIOS 5003
Version 5003
11.12 MB 2023/02/06
"1. Update AGESA version to ComboV2PI 1208

AGESA is responsible for the initialization of the CPU cores, chipset, main memory, and the HyperTransport controller

bios update is the best place to get these fixes, if you do not install it then the system will use the microsoft specific cpu dll to override cpu microcode.
(assuming you do not have amdryzendriver.sys installed then the microsoft dll will not run)
bios update should go with the cpu chipset update since they need to match.

Oh alright, I'll try to do that next time I turn it on see if it helps. I'm just paranoid about updating bios and completely bricking the board.
 
Mar 2, 2023
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the bios update should work (assuming you are not overclocking, I would turn off overclocking before the update)

if you have a minidump for the bugcheck, I can take a quick look.

No I don't do any overclocking. The only thing I ever did in bios was enable the profile for the ram speeds to run correctly. I don't have a minidump for the bug check, how do I get that for the next time it happens? I did take a couple pics of the error screens I was getting but it started giving different error codes each time it blue screened and would shut itself off while I was trying to Google the error codes.
 
minidumps should be located in c:\windows\system32\minidump directory

if your system is set to make a kernel dump it would be in c:\windows\memory.dmp file

the system should make a minidump file unless there is a problem with the storage, or a power problem that resets the CPU.

sometimes you can find dumps that are done by windows error reporting and live debugging by starting cmd.exe as an admin then run
cd c:\
dir /s *.dmp

this will search your drive from dmp files and tell you the directory they are stored in. if you have windows error reporting turned on the dumps get debugged and windows updates might send a updated file.

note: make sure you have plenty of disk space for a memory dump. make sure your pagefile.sys is large enough. (Generally, old rule was 1.5 times the amount of physical RAM. most people use much less now. 16 gb would be ok for virtual memory)

if a file is not being created, you would update the cpu chipset driver and any special storage drivers. Maybe run crystaldiskinfo.exe to look at the drive health and firmware version.
 
Last edited:
Mar 2, 2023
8
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minidumps should be located in c:\windows\system32\minidump directory

if your system is set to make a kernel dump it would be in c:\windows\memory.dmp file

the system should make a minidump file unless there is a problem with the storage, or a power problem that resets the CPU.

sometimes you can find dumps that are done by windows error reporting and live debugging by starting cmd.exe as an admin then run
cd c:\
dir /s *.dmp

this will search your drive from dmp files and tell you the directory they are stored in. if you have windows error reporting turned on the dumps get debugged and windows updates might send a updated file.

note: make sure you have plenty of disk space for a memory dump. make sure your pagefile.sys is large enough. (Generally, old rule was 1.5 times the amount of physical RAM. most people use much less now. 16 gb would be ok for virtual memory)

if a file is not being created, you would update the cpu chipset driver and any special storage drivers. Maybe run crystaldiskinfo.exe to look at the drive health and firmware version.

I've not been able to check for this yet, however, I have flashed bios. I used the ez flash 3 utility in the bios menu but the only version of bios it was willing to install was version 4007 so still a bit behind. Not sure if this one is needed before some of the others can be installed or what. When I exited bios after the update was completed I got a blue screen and when the PC restarted it said repairing c drive. It says 100% complete but it's still sitting in that screen with the spinning dots. I'm going to let it sit for a while and hope it sorts itself out. It's actually not done this yet so I am hopeful that this means there is some progress. I've read about other people being stuck on this screen and having to manually power down then they get stuck in a loop of this. If the pc comes back up should I try to update bios further? I'll have to try to find a flash drive since it's not giving me an option in the ez flash menu to update the bios further.
 
Mar 2, 2023
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Update: it's been restarted twice. Once when doing an optional windows update and once when reinstalling the AMD software and there hasn't been a blue screen either time. After I manually shut off the PC when it was stuck on 100% for the automatic repair when it came back on it gave a blue screen, shut off and then said scanning for repairs so I left the room thinking it was stuck in a loop. When I came back in it was booted into windows. I think updating the bios fixed something. Should I leave it on the current bios or update it to the newest version at this point since it seems to be working?
 
Update: it's been restarted twice. Once when doing an optional windows update and once when reinstalling the AMD software and there hasn't been a blue screen either time. After I manually shut off the PC when it was stuck on 100% for the automatic repair when it came back on it gave a blue screen, shut off and then said scanning for repairs so I left the room thinking it was stuck in a loop. When I came back in it was booted into windows. I think updating the bios fixed something. Should I leave it on the current bios or update it to the newest version at this point since it seems to be working?
generally, you would want to update to the most current (non beta) bios version. lots of updates to patch security bugs in the CPU also some driver updates depend on bios versions.