[SOLVED] Constant BSODS on Lenovo Y520-IKBN laptop

[ArhamAsam]

UPDATE: Cleaning out the laptop (using compressed air/soccer pump) fixed the problem. Although there was little dust inside, I blew all the dust off of the motherboard and other components and dusted out the fans. And voila! The laptop was fully functioning, not a single BSOD in sight. 4 days so far and no problems yet.

This issue popped up suddenly and out of the blue about 2 weeks ago. I have since then installed a fresh copy of windows 10 TWICE from a USB. I just installed windows 10 again, and without having modified any settings, or having installed any apps, I am still getting the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD. Prior to a fresh install I was getting the MEMORY_MANAGEMENT BSOD and other which flashed by too quickly for me to comprehend.
I was forced to install a fresh copy of windows this time around due to corrupt system files, which windows was not able to repair. I ran Command prompt in the torubleshooter and tried:
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /RebuildBdc
etc.

None of these worked, and here I am, with a my second fresh install of windows and STILL getting the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD.
What I have tried so far is:
sfc /scannow
chkdsk


My laptop specs are:
i5 7300HQ
Gtx 1050ti 4GB
256GB Pcie SSD
8 GB RAM

I am beginning to suspect that this is a hardware issue, most likely the SSD or RAM.

 

[PC Tailor]

Does the issue still occur in safe mode?
Do you have the dump files to hand to post a link to here so that we can download and debug?

As with every Memory Management BSOD - it's always good practice to run memtest to verify the integrity of your RAM.
Without more detail (hopefully from the dump files) - it will be harder to advise beyond that.

 

[ArhamAsam]

Does the issue still occur in safe mode?
Do you have the dump files to hand to post a link to here so that we can download and debug?

As with every Memory Management BSOD - it's always good practice to run memtest to verify the integrity of your RAM.
Without more detail (hopefully from the dump files) - it will be harder to advise beyond that.

I have not tried booting in safe mode. I will try that. I will check to see if the dump files are available. I'll run memtest and get back to you with the results.
Thank you for your reply.

 

[ArhamAsam]

Update: I ran Memtest86, and after 4 passes, I got 0 errors. As I tried to boot my laptop normally (so that I could try safe mode), I got a FAT_FILE_SYSTEM BSOD shortly after boot. Now it won't boot normally and is asking me to insert recovery media, which I am preparing.

 

[ArhamAsam]

Update 2: SOMEHOW my computer booted normally, and I am going to try booting with safe mode to see if the issue remains.

Update 3: As soon as my laptop booted into safe mode, the screen froze, similarly to how it froze before, allowing me to move my mouse for around 40 seconds and then resulting in a CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD.

Update 4: I am going to get you the dump files shortly. (The laptop crashes constantly now, especially when I open file explorer.)

 

[ArhamAsam]

Here is one of the dump files:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/15kVHM-TZlS0mCdD4ZJEUPKNUJrAhFz-M?usp=sharing

There is also a very large 800mb dump file named MEMORY in the root of the Windows folder. Is this file also necessary?

 

[PC Tailor]

It could be necessary if it the memory dump, it usually holds more data, but hold fire for now.
I will get round to debugging the dump file as soon as I can - but it may not be necessary if it is hardware.

If the issue still occurs in safe mode, it is more likely hardware, it still core be the core OS, but only a clean install would likely identify if that really is the issue - which you said you have already done, so this was a complete clean install and it still faulted?

if this is the case I'd be leaning towards to storage drive potentially being faulty first - it could be multiple things, but best start with the easier items first.

 

[ArhamAsam]

It could be necessary if it the memory dump, it usually holds more data, but hold fire for now.
I will get round to debugging the dump file as soon as I can - but it may not be necessary if it is hardware.

If the issue still occurs in safe mode, it is more likely hardware, it still core be the core OS, but only a clean install would likely identify if that really is the issue - which you said you have already done, so this was a complete clean install and it still faulted?

if this is the case I'd be leaning towards to storage drive potentially being faulty first - it could be multiple things, but best start with the easier items first.

Alright. There are some windows updates that have popped up. Let me update the laptop and see if it makes a difference.

 

[ArhamAsam]

Update 5: After the windows update, everything seemed fine and the computer worked a couple hours flawlessly, but then all of a sudden I say horizontal lines on my display, and got an UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION BSOD. No minidump was made for this BSOD.

 

[Colif]

FAT_FILE_SYSTEM - the only place you going to run into FAT file format it on the boot partition. on the SSD.

Try downloading HD Sentinel.
In the DIsk tab run the tests and see if it finds any errors.- it can be run in safe mode

Critical Process died: 2 types of files covered by this, boot files and WIndows user files. it looks like its the boot files in your case

Memory Management could also be ssd (as page file is on ssd and is seen by PC as memory)

 

[ArhamAsam]

I am now almost certain that this is some sort of hardware issue. As I tried to do a fresh install of windows (yup, again), this time downloading it from scratch, I got the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD. I previously checked the SSD in Crystal disk and got 100% health. Although I was unable to scan it with HD sentinel, it also gave me 98% in health.

 

[PC Tailor]

Although I was unable to scan it with HD sentinel,

What do you mean exactly by you were unable to scan it?
I wouldn't rule out storage yet as SMART attributes can still be within tolerance but still have a failing drive.

 

[ArhamAsam]

What do you mean exactly by you were unable to scan it?
I wouldn't rule out storage yet as SMART attributes can still be within tolerance but still have a failing drive.

Apparently you have to purchase their software to scan it. I'll just torrent it real quick .
Also, I just re-installed windows, and it seems to be working fine. No BSODS for the past 1.5 hours or so, excluding one during installation. This seems promising.

 

[PC Tailor]

I'll just torrent it real quick

As I'm sure you're aware, Tom's does not support any illegal software. So please don't! (As I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not...) Your storage drive manufacturer should have their own storage drive testing software.

excluding one during installation

That's the bit that concerns me - also especially being as this is the 3rd clean install you've done? I can't see a third time making much difference to be honest.

 

[ArhamAsam]

As I'm sure you're aware, Tom's does not support any illegal software. So please don't! (As I couldn't tell if it was sarcasm or not...) Your storage drive manufacturer should have their own storage drive testing software.


That's the bit that concerns me - also especially being as this is the 3rd clean install you've done? I can't see a third time making much difference to be honest.

Well. Back to square one. Although I'm not getting crashes now, sometimes the system does not boot, and requires me to plug in a recovery USB. The odd thing is, that I don't need to run system repair or anything, just plug it in, and the system boots.

 

[Colif]

what laptop do you have? edit: reads topic

okay, lenovo laptops support two boot methods, wonder if its switching when the ssd doesn't respond and then switching back and finding it the next time

i should have guessed hd sentinel needed a paid version. You could download HDTune and look on its health tab for both ssd and hdd - it won't run tests but it will show smart score

can you right click start button
choose disk management
expand the window so all columns readable
take a screenshot and upload it to an image sharing website and show a link here.

 

[ArhamAsam]

what laptop do you have? edit: reads topic

okay, lenovo laptops support two boot methods, wonder if its switching when the ssd doesn't respond and then switching back and finding it the next time

i should have guessed hd sentinel needed a paid version. You could download HDTune and look on its health tab for both ssd and hdd - it won't run tests but it will show smart score

can you right click start button
choose disk management
expand the window so all columns readable
take a screenshot and upload it to an image sharing website and show a link here.

I managed to get a trial version of HD sentinel. After running a surface read test, I got to 70% without any errors, but unfortunately I got a BSOD before the test could complete. The health of the disk was described as perfect, with no damaged or bad sectors. I'll try it again and hope for completion before crashing. I'll get you a screenshot as well.

If all else fails, I think I'll go to a computer shop and ask them to demo an SSD with windows installed, if it works then I guess we can conclude that the SSD is bad.

 

[ArhamAsam]

And I take back what I said about no crashes. I must have gotten lucky at that time. Still getting CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSODS.

 

[ArhamAsam]

https://imgur.com/JYUzcCZ

View: https://imgur.com/JYUzcCZ

 

[ArhamAsam]

https://imgur.com/hBOfGLX

View: https://imgur.com/hBOfGLX

 

[ArhamAsam]

https://imgur.com/BQjjZLS

View: https://imgur.com/BQjjZLS

 

[ArhamAsam]

Now what?

 

[ArhamAsam]

Update: I got a MACHINE_CHECK_BSOD on boot. Could this further confirm that there is a hardware issue?

 

[PC Tailor]

There is almost no question this was a hardware issue to begin with - if it occurs in safe mode, occurs during installations, and clean installs don't rectify it, it was almsot guaranteed to be hardware. It was my reasoning behind my last response that I doubted a third clean install will do anything, and why Colif has suggested all the hardware tests. As a comment though, are you performing clean installs by downloading a fresh ISO from Microsoft store each time?

A machine check error is usually a hardware error - whilst it's the CPU that reports them, it can technically be any piece of hardware.

Being as it can be any hardware - the test with another SSD would certainly confirm if the storage drive is the problem.
Were you running any overclock at all anywhere?

 

[Colif]

I don't know if this will tell us anything - https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/au/en/.../legion-series/legion-y520-15ikbn/diagnostics - run the tests on this page

Is the USB drive always in PC as It uses FAT and it might have accounted for one of the errors. Identifying what part of a laptop is at fault is difficult as you can't take parts out and just swap them. You may need to get a Lenovo repair shop to look at it for you.