[SOLVED] BSOD at least once a day, can't seem to find a fix

Jan 8, 2021
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My System:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3500X
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
RAM: 2 X 8GB KLEVV BOLT X DDR4-3200 MHz XMP 2.0 Gaming
Motherboard: ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
PSU: Corsair CV450W

Hello all. A few months ago I upgraded my system, acquiring a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM. I was very lucky to have a friend who built this for me; he is someone with experience of building dozens of PC's, built my last one and built this one too. He is someone I trust, and they aren't a novice PC builder who doesn't know what they're doing.

As the title states, since my upgrade I have been having at least one BSOD a day. These have never happened at startup. For the majority of the BSODs occurring, they were during/shortly after playing games, although these games were not graphically intense.: games like CS:GO and Rocket League, games which my computer should be able to run fairly smooth. However, over the past few days, these crashes are occurring when my PC is locked and not actively doing anything in the background. I didn't manage to capture them all, but some include:

KERNEL_AUTO_BOOST_INVALID_LOCK_RELEASE
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
KERNEL_AUTO_BOOST_LOCK_ACQUISITION_WITH_RAISED_IRQL
KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
REFERENCE_BY_POINTER
APC_INDEX_MISMATCH
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION (what failed: afd.sys)

Some of these may be fixed now, as they are listed in descending order of date most recent.

Things I have tried to fix this problem:

Fresh Windows Install
Removal of all external USBs
sfc scannow, chkdsk in cmd.exe
Ran windows updates
Checked with more than one anti-virus software
Checked all drivers are up to date, as well as running fresh installs

Also I must apologise, if someone could explain how I go about zipping a .dmp file, that would be helpful. I know they can potentially pinpoint the point of error.
When attempting to zip the file, and this has been attempted on both WinRar and WinZip, I am unable to do this due to access being denied.

Any help on this would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you.
 
Solution
My C drive is SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB
My D drive is WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0

During my system upgrade, I switched my windows from my HDD to my SSD if that is relevant.
You mean, you installed Windows on the SSD and it was previously on a HDD.

When installing Windows is best to disconnect all disk, besides the disk were Windows is being installed.
That will prevent Windows writing boot files to other disks, which could create issues later on.
Some of those BSOD might be related to drivers but some of them could be related to RAM issues.
Make sure that when you selected the XMP profile it also set the RAM to 1.35v
If you have not tested your RAM, run Memtest86 from a USB flash drive. Leave it running overnight since it might take several hours to fully test 16GB of RAM.
 
Last edited:
Jan 8, 2021
7
0
10
Some of those BSOD might be related to drivers but some of them could be related to RAM issues.
Make sure that when you select the XMP profile it also set the RAM to 1.35v
If you have not test your RAM, run Memtest86 from a USB flash drive. Leave it running overnight since it might take several hours fully test 16GB of RAM.
Brilliant, will do both of those now. Thanks!
 
You could try running the RAM at 2933MHz instead of 3200MHz just to see if it could be RAM instabilities from the frequencies.

That PSU Corsair CV450W is a pretty low quality PSU to put in a gaming system.

Tier D • Recommended only for very cheap, iGPU systems
Corsair |
CV <=550W
 
Jan 8, 2021
7
0
10
You could try running the RAM at 2933MHz instead of 3200MHz just to see if it could be RAM instabilities from the frequencies.

That PSU Corsair CV450W is a pretty low quality PSU to put in a gaming system.

Tier D • Recommended only for very cheap, iGPU systems
Corsair |
CV <=550W
Hello, thank you for the reply. I apologise I should have mentioned this, but I have tried for prolonged periods (weeks) running at its target speed of 3200MHz whilst overclocked , as well as the non-overclocked speed of 2666MHz. Haven’t noticed any difference in frequency of crashes.

Upgrading my PCU is definitely something I’m looking to do soon. Ideally though if I can pinpoint which hardware component, or whether it’s a driver issue, causing the problem then I will prioritise purchasing that first.
 
Jan 8, 2021
7
0
10
Some of those BSOD might be related to drivers but some of them could be related to RAM issues.
Make sure that when you selected the XMP profile it also set the RAM to 1.35v
If you have not tested your RAM, run Memtest86 from a USB flash drive. Leave it running overnight since it might take several hours to fully test 16GB of RAM.
Hello, I’ve done both of these things now. Memtest found no errors. I will see how my system is with the XMP profile at 1.35V. Thanks for your help
 
Hello, I’ve done both of these things now. Memtest found no errors. I will see how my system is with the XMP profile at 1.35V. Thanks for your help
If no errors were found with Memtest86, then we need to focus our attention to either the disks on your PC, drivers and the Windows file system.

You did not list the disk on your PC
Check your disks with Crystaldisk info.

When windows was installed, how many disks were connected to the system ?

When installing Windows, Windows update should be allowed to install all available updates before installing any drivers, apps or making any settings changes.
 
Jan 8, 2021
7
0
10
If no errors were found with Memtest86, then we need to focus our attention to either the disks on your PC, drivers and the Windows file system.

You did not list the disk on your PC
Check your disks with Crystaldisk info.

When windows was installed, how many disks were connected to the system ?

When installing Windows, Windows update should be allowed to install all available updates before installing any drivers, apps or making any settings changes.

My C drive is SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB
My D drive is WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0

During my system upgrade, I switched my windows from my HDD to my SSD if that is relevant.

To be perfectly honest, I do not know how many disks were connected to the system, but I would assume initially they were both connected.
When I completed my more-recent reinstall of Windows, both disks were connected to the system.
 
My C drive is SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB
My D drive is WDC WD10EZEX-08WN4A0

During my system upgrade, I switched my windows from my HDD to my SSD if that is relevant.
You mean, you installed Windows on the SSD and it was previously on a HDD.

When installing Windows is best to disconnect all disk, besides the disk were Windows is being installed.
That will prevent Windows writing boot files to other disks, which could create issues later on.
 
Solution
Jan 8, 2021
7
0
10
You mean, you installed Windows on the SSD and it was previously on a HDD.

When installing Windows is best to disconnect all disk, besides the disk were Windows is being installed.
That will prevent Windows writing boot files to other disks, which could create issues later on.
Okay thank you. Would you recommend fresh installing Windows with all other disks connected now? Or will that not make a difference now?
 
... Would you recommend fresh installing Windows with all other disks connected now? Or will that not make a difference now?
It will be go to start fresh, and that way you will know all steps taken in case you need to troubleshoot anything.

Get a 8GB or larger USB flash drive.
Go to -> https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10
Click the Download tool now under Create Windows 10 installation media app.
Insert USB flash drive.
Run the media creation tool.
Select Create installation media for another PC.
Choose your language, Windows edition and architecture (64-bit) for Windows 10.
Select the USB flash and click Next.
Windows installation media app will download and create the Windows 10 installation disk.
Click Finish.

Power off PC and disconnect all disks and just leave the disk where Windows will be installed.
Insert the USB flash drive with the Windows 10 installation
Boot from the USB installation disk.
On the "Windows Setup," click the Next button.
Click the Install now button.
On the Activation window, click I don't have a product key option click Next (activate Windows 10 when online).
Select the edition of Windows 10 that matches the one on your PC and click the Next button.
Select the I accept the license terms option to continue.
Click on the Custom: Install Windows only (Advanced) option.
Select and delete all partitions on the SSD. Until you are left with Drive 0 Unallocated Space
Select the empty drive (Drive 0 Unallocated Space) and click the Next button.
The setup will proceed with a fresh installation of Windows 10.

Note: If you prefer a Windows local account, then disconnect the Ethernet cable from PC.
When Windows asks to create an online account you could select that you do not have Internet.
After creating a local account you could connect to the Internet.

After Windows 10 is installed, let Windows update install all available updates.
You could manually run Windows update until no more updates are available.

Head to Asus website, download and install the B450 chipset drivers.
Head to Nvidia website download and install the GTX 1660 drivers.

If at this point, any driver is missing, or the Audio and Network drivers installed by Windows are old...
head back to Asus website, download and install Audio or Network drivers.

After that you could install any apps you might need.
 
Jan 8, 2021
7
0
10
It will be go to start fresh, and that way you will know all steps taken in case you need to troubleshoot anything.

Get a 8GB or larger USB flash drive.
Go to -> https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10
Click the Download tool now under Create Windows 10 installation media app.
Insert USB flash drive.
Run the media creation tool.
Select Create installation media for another PC.
Choose your language, Windows edition and architecture (64-bit) for Windows 10.
Select the USB flash and click Next.
Windows installation media app will download and create the Windows 10 installation disk.
Click Finish.

Power off PC and disconnect all disks and just leave the disk where Windows will be installed.
Insert the USB flash drive with the Windows 10 installation
Boot from the USB installation disk.
On the "Windows Setup," click the Next button.
Click the Install now button.
On the Activation window, click I don't have a product key option click Next (activate Windows 10 when online).
Select the edition of Windows 10 that matches the one on your PC and click the Next button.
Select the I accept the license terms option to continue.
Click on the Custom: Install Windows only (Advanced) option.
Select and delete all partitions on the SSD. Until you are left with Drive 0 Unallocated Space
Select the empty drive (Drive 0 Unallocated Space) and click the Next button.
The setup will proceed with a fresh installation of Windows 10.

Note: If you prefer a Windows local account, then disconnect the Ethernet cable from PC.
When Windows asks to create an online account you could select that you do not have Internet.
After creating a local account you could connect to the Internet.

After Windows 10 is installed, let Windows update install all available updates.
You could manually run Windows update until no more updates are available.

Head to Asus website, download and install the B450 chipset drivers.
Head to Nvidia website download and install the GTX 1660 drivers.

If at this point, any driver is missing, or the Audio and Network drivers installed by Windows are old...
head back to Asus website, download and install Audio or Network drivers.

After that you could install any apps you might need.

I’ll do that tomorrow then. Thanks very much for your help