Question Critical Process Died - Restart loop help

Status
Not open for further replies.

MattMMMan17

Reputable
Jan 20, 2020
23
1
4,525
First, thanks for taking a moment for me here. Wife is really needing her desktop back and I'm all out of ideas.

AMD Ryzen 5 2400G on MSI B450-A PRO board

16Gb 2667mhz RAM

Samsung EVO 860 2.5" as boot drive


Ever since Windows rolled out the last update in December it won't boot. I rolled back the update successfully and delayed it so she could use it for a few weeks but it forced it back on at the start of the year.

Now I just get the BSOD Critical Process Died message. It won't allow me to uninstall either Windows quality or feature update because it says I have pending update actions and recommends I run 'Startup Repair' which just says it "Couldn't repair your PC". It won't allow me to reset the PC while keeping my files, and I don't have a disc image to restore from that.

Tried accessing system restore through CMD because the regular route said I needed to enable system protection on the drive.

I input " rstrui.exe /offline:C:\windows=active " and it said it was ready to restore but when it finished I got this error message:

Details:
System Restore failed while restoring the registry from the restore point. An unspecified error occurred during System Restore. (0x80070002)

Any advice anyone has would be most appreciated.

Thanks guys!
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Now I just get the BSOD Critical Process Died message. It won't allow me to uninstall either Windows quality or feature update because it says I have pending update actions and recommends I run 'Startup Repair' which just says it "Couldn't repair your PC". It won't allow me to reset the PC while keeping my files, and I don't have a disc image to restore from that.

I hate critical process died BSOD, as it can be any number of files, some of which are boot related, some are user client related and others just used for login process. Only advantage is they are all windows files. So it shouldn't be a hardware cause.
Startup repair; I don't think I have ever seen it help. it mostly runs chkdsk from what I can tell.

all the fixes for 0x80070002 require windows to be working.

On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

Is there anything on PC you have to save? (this is assuming you can't get into windows)
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
type notepad and press enter
in notepad, select file>open
Use file explorer to copy any files you need to save to USB or hdd

Once you backup everything you can, I would do a clean install using that USB - follow this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/

If PC does in fact let you into the desktop now, do you know what Version number you are on? Current version is 1909. If you are on that, you could try a repair install - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html
 

MattMMMan17

Reputable
Jan 20, 2020
23
1
4,525
I hate critical process died BSOD, as it can be any number of files, some of which are boot related, some are user client related and others just used for login process. Only advantage is they are all windows files. So it shouldn't be a hardware cause.
Startup repair; I don't think I have ever seen it help. it mostly runs chkdsk from what I can tell.

all the fixes for 0x80070002 require windows to be working.

On another PC, download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB

Is there anything on PC you have to save? (this is assuming you can't get into windows)
boot from installer
on screen after languages, choose repair this pc, not install.
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
type notepad and press enter
in notepad, select file>open
Use file explorer to copy any files you need to save to USB or hdd

Once you backup everything you can, I would do a clean install using that USB - follow this guide: https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq/how-to-do-a-clean-installation-of-windows-10.3170366/

If PC does in fact let you into the desktop now, do you know what Version number you are on? Current version is 1909. If you are on that, you could try a repair install - https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html

Thank you for your assistance.

I was able to remove the SSD and access it from my laptop to make a backup of all files on it that I want to save first. However. . .

I didn't want to muddy the waters earlier with this detail before, but now think it's important. The system had the SSD as the boot/primary drive and I had two WDBlack 1Tb drives set as "RAID 1" so the OS was treating them as a single drive. I do have irreplacable files on those two drives and can't risk losing them. I already tried hooking them individually(one at a time) to my laptop to access them but they are recognized as "dynamic foreign drive" and my understanding is that attempting to import either would wipe the information.

My intent was to completely disconnect all SATA & Power cords from both of these drives during the installation to the SSD, then reconnect and re-establish the link to view the information. Do I run any risk of losing the information currently on those drives by doing this?

Thank you again for your time and help. I was a computer tech for several years and have spent countless hours providing free advice and fixes for people. I am completely appreciative of your willingness to assist me here with what's beyond my ability.
 

MattMMMan17

Reputable
Jan 20, 2020
23
1
4,525
I am not sure about the RAID set so I have asked for assistance.

I don't use RAID myself. I knew enough about it a few years ago to know I didn't want it in my own PC.

I do free help here, its an easy way to learn what not to do.

No luck with a response about accessing the RAID drives?

Think a disk recovery program would allow me to access and recover in case I cant get them accessed by the OS?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I didn't want to muddy the waters earlier with this detail before, but now think it's important. The system had the SSD as the boot/primary drive and I had two WDBlack 1Tb drives set as "RAID 1" so the OS was treating them as a single drive. I do have irreplacable files on those two drives and can't risk losing them.
For future reference, and for others that will come across this in the future...

Why was there not a known good backup of this irreplaceable data?
 
And that backup needs to be kept in a fireproof box or safe just in case. We don't like to think about a house fire but they happen and hard drives can melt.

Not in your circumstances but I usually have to ask is there anyone in the house or office who's looking smug because they've hidden all the files?

Sorry but we have to say these things for future benefit of other folks.
 

MattMMMan17

Reputable
Jan 20, 2020
23
1
4,525
For future reference, and for others that will come across this in the future...

Why was there not a known good backup of this irreplaceable data?

I had invested in the WD black drives and used the RAID setup in the mistaken belief that it was sufficient safeguard against loss. I has not considered the possibility of both drives becoming inaccessible like this.
 

MattMMMan17

Reputable
Jan 20, 2020
23
1
4,525

MattMMMan17

Reputable
Jan 20, 2020
23
1
4,525
How was the raid pair created?

I set it up through the Windows Drive Manager. It's been a while so can't recall steps more exactly than that. I remember both drives were empty and I instructed it to use them to create a RAID 1 setup, and it took longer than I had expected for it to create the single drive to use.

Sorry if that doesn't help to shed further light on it, but I'm grateful for the attempt.
 

MattMMMan17

Reputable
Jan 20, 2020
23
1
4,525
I just realized I didn't update this thread. Luckily, I had Win 10 Pro on the computer so I disconnected the raid drives, reinstalled the OS on the computer, and when I reconnected the drives the OS was able to recognize the setup as I had created it. Luckily there was no data loss and I have created a physical copy as well as a cloud copy continually updating.

Thank you everyone for your help in providing me with various options in recovery of the information. Really appreciate the community here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Colif
Status
Not open for further replies.