Question Distorted blue screens on new Windows 11 install ?

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themish

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Jul 28, 2019
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Hi all, I just installed Windows 11 today, and it seemed to be going fine, but I’m starting to get a serious amount of distorted blue screens.

I installed a 2TB WD Blue SN5000 M.2 SSD, so thats a new component in the system. I thought it was overheating, but temps seem to be in normal range.

Heres the gist of what happened. I installed Windows 11 from USB and things went fine. As I was downloading programs and logging into stuff, I opened Firefox, the system hung up, and after 30 sec or so, just restarted.

I started to look in Event Viewer to make sense of something, and I found an error that Secure Boot was not enabled. System Information also showed Secure Boot not being enabled, nor the BIOS being in UEFI mode. I previously thought it was on Windows 10, the PC Health Check said Secure Boot was enabled and I could install Win 11, so thats why I went through with it.

Anyways, I went to BIOS and changed it UEFI mode and enabled Secure Boot. There were a few restarts involved, and a few times, I saw this distorted blue screen, which didn’t stick around long, and restarted a few seconds after displaying.

So I was able to get back to Windows, and kept doing things as normal, but then out of my own curiosity, just did a restart to see if it would behave normally, but I kept getting one distorted blue screen after another. Sometimes it would happen at the lock screen, other times I would be able to log in, but then it would happen a few moments after displaying the desktop.

Being at a loss, I shut down the system the next time I could get to the lock screen, and turned it back on about 10 minutes later, and I was able to log in fine and type this out.

I’m really at a loss at whats happening here, any help is very appreciated.

Specs
MBD: MSI B350M Bazooka
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: RX 6700 10GB
RAM: 16 GB DDR4
PSU: EVGA 650w G2

Storage
2TB M.2 NVMe SSD (new drive)
2TB HDD
4TB HDD
 
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Can you share a screenshot of what Disk Management looks like for you?

What BIOS version are you currently on your for your motherboard? I would advise in recreating your bootable USB installer for Windows 11, then remove all drives from your platform except for the one that you intend to install Windows 11 on, then format and reinstall the OS, in offline mode, after you've made sure Secure Boot+fTPM are enabled in BIOS, you might need to flash the BIOS to the latest version.

Once you've installed the OS successfully, install all relevant drivers with the latest revisions, in an elevated command(yes you will need to download them beforehand and have them on a removable/pen drive) i.e Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

EVGA 650w G2
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? If so, how old is it?
 
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Hello there, thank you for your reply. I've been trying to get back into Windows for the last 40 minutes, so frustrating.

https://imgur.com/a/spheBBF

Hopefully the above link works for a screenshot of Disk Management.

Initially I did remove my drives when I installed Win 11 on the nvme, then after all the updates were done, and things seemed to be just at an idle, I shut down and plugged them back in. First restart didn't start until like an hour or so after that.

When I installed Win 11, fTPM was enabled, but Secure Boot was not, but is now enabled, would that have contributed to the issue?

Also, as for my BIOS, it is from 2019. I recall that I updated it for my motherboard would support the ryzen 5 3600. Previously I had a ryzen 5 1400.

And for the PSU, yes, that does look like my model. I checked Amazon, and I purchased that back in September 2018.

The thing is, that the whole time I've had Windows 10, my system has been so stable. I remember that I had one blue screen back in 2019, about a week after installing my current cpu. Since then, nothing, until this new install anyways.

I suppose it would be work updating the BIOS and doing another go at the install, its just so frustrating. My files are backed up like crazy, so no worries on that end, but the instability of my pc now is just crazy. I'm really tempted to just put my sata 3 drive back in with Win 10 and call it a day.
 
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CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED is almost always due to a hardware problem. Since you've added an M.2 drive try removing and firmly reseating that drive. I would also suggest removing and reseating the RAM. Also check all connectors (at both ends) to be sure they are fully home.

The most likely cause is that you disturbed something inside whilst fitting the new M.2 drive.

I have no idea what a 'distorted' blue screen looks like, but can you please download the SysnativeBSODCollectionApp and save it to the Desktop. Then run it and upload the resulting zip file to a cloud service with a link to it here. The SysnativeBSODCollectionApp collects all the troubleshooting data we're likely to need. It DOES NOT collect any personally identifying data. It's used by several highly respected Windows help forums (including this one). I'm a senior BSOD analyst on the Sysnative forum where this tool came from, so I know it to be safe.

You can of course look at what's in the zip file before you upload it, most of the files are txt files. Please don't change or delete anything though. If you want a description of what each file contains you'll find that here.
 
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Hi all, I appreciate the responses. Here's what I've done so far.

By distorted blue screen, I mean it's like 3 bsod's that sort of overlap each other, but I could make out of words critical process died. I think the screenshot I linked in the above post should let you know what I meant by that. I have yet to have a solid regular bsod.

I unplugged the 2 hdd's with the intention of reinstalling windows. I reseated the RAM, GPU (m.2 slot is under GPU), and the nvme drive.

I updated the BIOS to the latest version, and after I did that, I saw that fTPM was still enabled, but Secure Boot was not anymore, so I enabled that.

After doing that, I got to the Bit Locker Recovery screen, I think because I changed the secure boot setting. After entering the recovery code, I got to the lock screen and Windows said that my PIN was no longer valid, and to click on that message to set a new one. Naturally, I was unable to set up a pin, and the message just keep reappearing to click to set up a new pin.

So where I currently am, is that I can't get to my desktop, and still have that cycle of getting to lock screen, being able to use mouse and keyboard for 10 seconds or so, seeing the bsod, and a restart.

I'm waiting for my laptop to finish making a new installation media, so that'll be my next step.

I appreciate your responses, I'll update later on.
 
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SkyNetRising said:
I'd suggest, you remove bitlocker encryption.
Also disable secure boot.

Make sure, you have installed chipset drivers and
reinstall graphics card drivers
Click to expand...
On my initial install, I honestly didn't know bit locker was a thing. I think I heard about it, but didn't know it was like going to be automatic.

I thought Secure Boot needed to be enabled for Windows 11, is this not so ?

So a little update, I did reinstall Windows 11, installation went fine, I waited for all updates in Windows to complete and do a restart, and got a regular blue screen, this time is was
"Inaccessible Boot Device", so that was a new one for me. I had an appointment to go to, so that's where I left it.

I really am at a loss, I've sincerely never had this much trouble with Windows. I'm inclined to revert back to my previous BIOS, plug my sata 3 drive back in, and just forget about the NVMe drive.
 
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themish said:
Hi all, I just installed Windows 11 today, and it seemed to be going fine, but I’m starting to have a serious amount of distorted blue screens.

I installed an m.2 (2tb WD Blue SN5000), so thats a new component in the system. I thought it was overheating, but temps seems to be in normal range

Heres the gist of what happened. I installed Windows 11 from USB, and things went fine. As I was downloading programs and logging into stuff, I opened firefox, the system hung up, and after 30 sec or so, just restarted.

I started to look in Event Viewer to make sense of something, and I found an error that Secure Boot was not enabled. System Information also showed Secure Boot not being enabled, nor the BIOS being in UEFI mode. I previously thought it was on Windows 10, the PC Health Check said Secure Boot was enabled and I could install Win 11, so thats why I went through with it.

Anyways, I went to BIOS and changed it UEFI mode and enabled Secure Boot. There were a few restarts involved, and a few times, I saw this distorted blue screen, which didn’t stick around long, and restarted a few seconds after displaying.

So I was able to get back to Windows, and kept doing things as normal, but then out of my own curiosity, just did a restart to see if it would behave normally, but I kept getting one distorted blue screen after another. Sometimes it would happen at the lock screen, other times I would be able to log in, but then it would happen a few moments after displaying the desktop.

Being at a loss, I shut down the system the next time I could get to the lock screen, and turned it back on about 10 minutes later, and I was able to log in fine and type this out.

I’m really at a loss at whats happening here, any help is very appreciated.

Here are my specs:
Ryzen 5 3600
MSI B350M Bazooka
16 GB DDR4
RX 6700 10GB
2 TB nvme (New Drive)
2 TB HDD
4 TB HDD
EVGA 650w G2
Click to expand...
most likely the drive letter assignments have been reordered.
fixing this means you need to boot off of a usb image and run a bootrec repair.
see this for instructions:
https://www.diskpart.com/windows-10/fix-mbr-windows-10-0708.html

ie boot windows image, run admin cmd,exe and run
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /scanos
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

just run all of the commands, generally one will do the fix you need
 
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triplex1 said:
I think you installed the latest Win11 iso file and did it without the rest of the hard drives you have.
Click to expand...
I just did do a clean install, that goes on without issues. I got to desktop, and after the updates windows downloads, I reset like Windows told me to, and I'm back to getting bsod's on the lock screen, it's very intermittent that I can get into the desktop, and the additional drives aren't hooked up at all.
 
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johnbl said:
most likely the drive letter assignments have been reordered.
fixing this means you need to boot off of a usb image and run a bootrec repair.
see this for instructions:
https://www.diskpart.com/windows-10/fix-mbr-windows-10-0708.html

ie boot windows image, run admin cmd,exe and run
bootrec.exe /fixmbr
bootrec.exe /fixboot
bootrec.exe /scanos
bootrec.exe /rebuildbcd

just run all of the commands, generally one will do the fix you need
Click to expand...
Both installs were done without the additional HDDs plugged in. I just did a clean install with only the m.2 drive, and am still getting the same result.

It takes some time just to make it into desktop, it's crazy.

Are there any bios settings I should be looking at? Is my hardware too dated or something?
 
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themish said:
Both installs were done without the additional HDDs plugged in. I just did a clean install with only the m.2 drive, and am still getting the same result.

It takes some time just to make it into desktop, it's crazy.

Are there any bios settings I should be looking at? Is my hardware too dated or something?
Click to expand...
Windows 11 24H2 ?
 
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themish said:
Both installs were done without the additional HDDs plugged in. I just did a clean install with only the m.2 drive, and am still getting the same result.

It takes some time just to make it into desktop, it's crazy.

Are there any bios settings I should be looking at? Is my hardware too dated or something?
Click to expand...
does the system boot with only the m2 drive installed (no other drive connected)
(i assumed you had more than one drive with a mbr on it)

if you can not boot with just the m.2 drive installed, I would make sure the bios is up to date, and the drive is properly seated. I would not enable any encryption. after the windows install I would install any motherboard drivers from the motherboard vendor. then look in the windows event viewer to see if you are getting any disk errors from the drive.
 
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the only thing I don't like is from the image you uploaded with BSOD , my mind goes to the graphics card you have (if you have any other old one that works, try it without installing the drivers)
 
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here are the dates nvm spec versions. you should check your bios date and compare it to the nvm drive you have to make sure the versions are ok. old bios might have bugs or old spec versions.
  • 1.0e (January 2013)
  • 1.1b (July 2014)
  • 1.2 (November 2014)
    • 1.2a (October 2015)
    • 1.2b (June 2016)
    • 1.2.1 (June 2016)
  • 1.3 (May 2017)
    • 1.3a (October 2017)
    • 1.3b (May 2018)
    • 1.3c (May 2018)
    • 1.3d (March 2019)
  • 1.4 (June 2019)
    • 1.4a (March 2020)
    • 1.4b (September 2020)
    • 1.4c (June 2021)
  • 2.0 (May 2021)[10]
    • 2.0a (July 2021)
    • 2.0b (January 2022)
    • 2.0c (October 2022)
    • 2.0d (January 2024)[11]
  • 2.1 (August 2024)[1]
 
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ubuysa said:
Then run it and upload the resulting zip file to a cloud service with a link to it here.
Click to expand...
Hello there, here is the .zip file. I guess I should mention that this is from the new install of Windows this morning, but after set up, I did have one of the distorted bsod's I mentioned, as well as the Inaccessible Boot Device screen.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ay5y...nApp.zip?rlkey=vuwiupxaom9f6z78ppimn2dx9&dl=0

triplex1 said:
Windows 11 24H2 ?
Click to expand...
I assumed so, but didnt want to reply without being certain. Yes, I did install win 11 24H2

johnbl said:
does the system boot with only the m2 drive installed (no other drive connected)
(i assumed you had more than one drive with a mbr on it)

if you can not boot with just the m.2 drive installed, I would make sure the bios is up to date, and the drive is properly seated. I would not enable any encryption. after the windows install I would install any motherboard drivers from the motherboard vendor. then look in the windows event viewer to see if you are getting any disk errors from the drive.
Click to expand...
It does boot, but I've been getting into these constant distorted bsod's and restarts about 10-15 seconds of being on the lock screen or getting to desktop. I did reseat the drive, and updated the bios to the latest version before this last install.
triplex1 said:
the only thing I don't like is from the image you uploaded with BSOD , my mind goes to the graphics card you have (if you have any other old one that works, try it without installing the drivers)
Click to expand...
I do know what you mean, but at the same time, I got this gpu in May of 2023, and never had any issues with it at all. The last blue screen I had was in 2020 I think.

So since I came back from my errands, I turned the pc on, went to desktop no issue, installed the AMD chipset and gpu drivers, and did the restart when prompted to do so. Then typed this out. Frankly at this point I'm very paranoid about restarting the system lol.
 
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themish said:
Hello there, here is the .zip file. I guess I should mention that this is from the new install of Windows this morning, but after set up, I did have one of the distorted bsod's I mentioned, as well as the Inaccessible Boot Device screen.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ay5y...nApp.zip?rlkey=vuwiupxaom9f6z78ppimn2dx9&dl=0


I assumed so, but didnt want to reply without being certain. Yes, I did install win 11 24H2


It does boot, but I've been getting into these constant distorted bsod's and restarts about 10-15 seconds of being on the lock screen or getting to desktop. I did reseat the drive, and updated the bios to the latest version before this last install.

I do know what you mean, but at the same time, I got this gpu in May of 2023, and never had any issues with it at all. The last blue screen I had was in 2020 I think.

So since I came back from my errands, I turned the pc on, went to desktop no issue, installed the AMD chipset and gpu drivers, and did the restart when prompted to do so. Then typed this out. Frankly at this point I'm very paranoid about restarting the system lol.
Click to expand...
What do you use to make the Win iso for usb ? (who is the program for usb)
 
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johnbl said:
1.4 (June 2019)
Click to expand...
So I did update my BIOS, which has a release date of 9/25/2024. And I just checked in Crystal DiskInfo, it says that the my drives standard is NVM Express 1.4
triplex1 said:
What do you use to make the Win iso for usb ? (who is the program for usb)
Click to expand...
I used the windows media creation tool from here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

For each of the two installs I did, I used a different usb drive, and made on two different pc's.
 
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themish said:
So I did update my BIOS, which has a release date of 9/25/2024. And I just checked in Crystal DiskInfo, it says that the my drives standard is NVM Express 1.4

I used the windows media creation tool from here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11

For each of the two installs I did, I used a different usb drive, and made on two different pc's.
Click to expand...
try one more time to install
Download again the last iso from microsoft ....... and make the usb with
Rufus
 
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You don't want to upload the troubleshooting data I asked for then?

What exact model is the new NVMe SSD? Is it a Gen4 model? It may be that your motherboard only supports Gen 3 drives, and although a Gen 4 driver can run at Gen 3 specs you may need to modify the BIOS setting for the M.2 port so that it's fixed at Gen 3 and not at Auto, which is the default.

The INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE BSOD suggests that the hardware failure we're looking for (due to the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD) is that NVMe drive - or the M.2 port on the motherboard.
 
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ubuysa said:
You don't want to upload the troubleshooting data I asked for then?

What exact model is the new NVMe SSD? Is it a Gen4 model? It may be that your motherboard only supports Gen 3 drives, and although a Gen 4 driver can run at Gen 3 specs you may need to modify the BIOS setting for the M.2 port so that it's fixed at Gen 3 and not at Auto, which is the default.

The INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE BSOD suggests that the hardware failure we're looking for (due to the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD) is that NVMe drive - or the M.2 port on the motherboard
Click to expand...
Hi there, I did upload the data from the SysnativeBSODCollectionApp, it's in my reply on #17 of this thread.

The nvme is a Western Digital Blue SN5000, it is a gen 4, and my motherboard is Gen 3. I'll look into the bios setting for the m.2 port now.

The port on the motherboard being faulty has crossed my mind, this is the very first time it is being used.
 
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