Critical Structure Corruption (ntoskrnl.exe) wreaking havoc on my soul

[superdvdson]

As embarrassed as I am to admit this, I downloaded a program called "KMSpico" in order to (illegally) license Windows 10 on Saturday, May 12, 2018. Little did I know that it would cause the gates of hell to open on my PC and leave me with no other option than to bother people on a forum. It installed various 'garbage' (most likely data-stealing) programs before I caught wind of the act and halted installation. I downloaded various Anti-virus programs (Malwarebytes, Zemana, HitmanPro) and used my already-installed Avast! to track down the problem files and delete them into next week.

Unfortunately, while the virus/malware seems to be gone, my PC has been plagued with endless amounts of BSOD due to one reoccurring issue: 'Critical Structure Corruption/ Bugcheck 0x109" I have visited almost every forum with this issue (including this website's) and tried virtually everything but to no avail. I've run Eventviewer to see the errors, tested RAM, physically remove-and-test RAM etc. I know that this is the consequence for trying to illegally verify Windows and I accept my punishment but I need help. Please help me.

WhoCrashed data:

Crash dump directories:
C:\WINDOWS
C:\WINDOWS\Minidump

On Mon 5/14/2018 4:20:31 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\051418-20625-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x197670)
Bugcheck code: 0x109 (0xA3A00AE35C78A82C, 0xB3B71769AEFA7207, 0xFFFFF80DA7460000, 0x19)
Error: CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This indicates that the kernel has detected critical kernel code or data corruption.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem. This might be a case of memory corruption. This may be because of a hardware issue such as faulty RAM, overheating (thermal issue) or because of a buggy driver. This problem might also be caused because of overheating (thermal issue).
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

System Info:

Windows version: Windows 10 , 10.0, build: 17134
Windows dir: C:\WINDOWS
Hardware: HP Compaq dc7700 Small Form Factor, Hewlett-Packard, 0A54h
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.40GHz Intel586, level: 15
2 logical processors, active mask: 3
RAM: 3740590080 bytes total

 

[jojesa]

I suggest you perform a clean installation (deleting the partition), to be sure there isn't anything lurking left behind.
Select that you do not have an activation key during setup.

Windows 10 won't stop working just because you don't activate it.
There are just two little limitations
1- You cannot use anything under 'Personalization' (e.g. themes, wallpaper, accent colors, lock screen, themes, etc.).
2- Watermark on the lower right-hand corner saying 'Activate Windows.'

 

[superdvdson]

I suggest you perform a clean installation (deleting the partition), to be sure there isn't anything lurking left behind.
Select that you do not have an activation key during setup.

Windows 10 won't stop working just because you don't activate it.
There are just two little limitations
1- You cannot use anything under 'Personalization' (e.g. themes, wallpaper, accent colors, lock screen, themes, etc.).
2- Watermark on the lower right-hand corner saying 'Activate Windows.'

Yeah, I kinda came to the realization that I'm gonna have to do a fresh install. Luckily, I've put everything valuable to me in Google Drive. Actually didn't know that about the limitations. Thank you so much.

 

[jojesa]

Yeah, I kinda came to the realization that I'm gonna have to do a fresh install. Luckily, I've put everything valuable to me in Google Drive. Actually didn't know that about the limitations. Thank you so much.

If you have a Windows 7 key , you might be able to use it to activate Windows 10 after you finish installation.

 

[koolkid]

I believe in "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, because I am a stubborn person who never gives up. I to downloaded a unsuspecting software EXE file. I stopped the installation half way through and still copped over 120 viruses, including browser hijacking. I was badly infected by Trojans and adware/malware and still I could not eliminate all viruses. Malwarebytes, Hitman Pro and rootkits, found some viruses on every startup.

I read somewhere, that even good anti-virus software may not eliminate all stubborn viruses from within Windows. The only way to successfully do this is outside of Windows. So I downloaded Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 from support.kaspersky.com, it's about a 500mb ISO file. I found a old Pico 1gb USB drive to use and used Rufus 2.9, to create a bootable USB stick in around 5 minutes.

I must say this Kaspersky virus scanner exceeded my expectations. It has a lovely graphical interface menu and asks you to update the database before proceeding, it's around 230mb download. It also includes Firefox browser and Windows folders. Kaspersky found another 8 viruses and 2 were bad Trojans.

Anyway, the moral of the story, thankfully I held off doing a clean install and saved losing some important files. My Windows 8.1 is now completely virus free. I can recommend trying Kaspersky Rescue Disk and it is completely free.

 

[jojesa]

I believe in "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, because I am a stubborn person who never gives up. I to downloaded a unsuspecting software EXE file. I stopped the installation half way through and still copped over 120 viruses, including browser hijacking. I was badly infected by Trojans and adware/malware and still I could not eliminate all viruses. Malwarebytes, Hitman Pro and rootkits, found some viruses on every startup.

I read somewhere, that even good anti-virus software may not eliminate all stubborn viruses from within Windows. The only way to successfully do this is outside of Windows. So I downloaded Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10 from support.kaspersky.com, it's about a 500mb ISO file. I found a old Pico 1gb USB drive to use and used Rufus 2.9, to create a bootable USB stick in around 5 minutes.

I must say this Kaspersky virus scanner exceeded my expectations. It has a lovely graphical interface menu and asks you to update the database before proceeding, it's around 230mb download. It also includes Firefox browser and Windows folders. Kaspersky found another 8 viruses and 2 were bad Trojans.

Anyway, the moral of the story, thankfully I held off doing a clean install and saved losing some important files. My Windows 8.1 is now completely virus free. I can recommend trying Kaspersky Rescue Disk and it is completely free.

That's great!
Just in case reset any routers that were connected to the infected computer.
I have used both Kaspersky Rescue Disk and Norton Eraser and I am a little apprehensive recommending them because there is a chance they could delete your files and could leave your system unbootable. They are both getting better though.
Make sure to backup your files.