[SOLVED] Frequent crashes even after formatting and in Safe Mode, no overheating, no faulty HDD

[Megalow]

So, here's the case:

My PC has been crashing (blue screen, gathering info and restarting) quite frequently lately, normally on moderate stressful actions like browsing and gaming (things that haven't shown any problems before). The most common issue was the "100% Disk Usage", I disabled a lot of programs like SuperFetch, Spooler, etc. but the 100% aways persisted.

One of the times I was playing, the textures on the game map began disappearing and reappering rapidly, so I finished as fast as possible. (this could indicate the GPU, but let me continue)

Then I formatted the PC, but the crashes persisted and not even on stressful actions, doing things like sorting files, also it didn't required the 100% Disk Usage problem to appear for the crash. Another problem that raised after formatting was the error when I tried to get adminstrator permissions, the UAC just dimmers the screen and nothing changes or an error appears:

C:\Windows\regedit,exe

C:\Windows\regedit.exe
The extended attributes are inconsistent

After this, I tried to look out for solutions, so I got into Safe Mode to scan for virus and check my HD, as the sites said those errors could be a faulty HD.

Well, Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, RogueKiller, found nothing, the Defender only works on the normal Windows but it would be kinda pointless as viruses can hide in normal operation. (but I scanned even though)

Now for the HD checkup, DISM, SFC, CHKDSK, CrystalDiskInfo, all showed that the HD is healthy, nothing wrong with it, but then at the first Malwarebytes scan, the PC crashed, in Safe Mode.

I really don't know what to do, it's not the HD as the checkups showed it is okay, it's not a virus as it would not crash in Safe Mode, it's not the CPU as I did a stress test with Prime95 and the heat was 40 C average, it's not the GPU as none of the recent crashes where due to high graphical processing, some where actually non-existant.

Can anyone can help me, please?


Specs:

Motherboard: M5A78-M LX
CPU: AMD FX-6100 Six-core 3.3GHz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 210 1GB
RAM: 8GB, 1600MHz
Power Supply: Cooler Master Storm GX550
HDD: SeaGate Barracuda 1TB 3.5 - ST1000DM010-2EP102 ATA
OS: Windows 10

 

[Ralston18]

Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer - what error codes, warnings, or even informational events are being captured just before or at the time of the crashes?

 

[Megalow]

So, I checked the Reliability History and Event Viewer.

On Reliability History:
Most of the time the Consent UI for Adminstrative Applications stopped functioning, but two things happened, one was the crash that resulted in an error report and a weird file named Aspettano.exe.pif stopped functioning.

Consent UI #1
Consent UI #2
Crash
Aspettano

Before the crash, there was a report that read: The computer was restarted after an error verification. The verification was: 0x000000ef (0xffff860faf37b080, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000). A memory dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report ID: 8db810c9-c4ef-433c-8fa2-28f6e7fc9b8a.


On Event Viewer:
This had a lot of data so I will summarize, most of the time there was an error "1084" with event ID 10005, the DistributedCOM failed to start a lot of services, this happened near the crashes and randomly while it was running, while the crashes themselves weren't reported at the moment, only after, indicating that a unexpected turn off happened.

 

[Ralston18]

Is that Seagate 1 TB drive the boot drive and the only drive?

Other disk drive(s): make, model, capacity, how full?

Look in Task Manager and Resource Monitor to determine what is using drive space. (Run as admin but run only one at a time.)

Check the Startup tab in Task Manager for any unrecognized apps or utilities being launched at start up.

Likewise look in Task Scheduler for some unknown or unexpected app being triggered.

Noted that you tried "sfc /scannow" and "dism" - correct?

FYI:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image | Windows Central

= = = =

Google translator came up with "Aspettano" being Italian and meaning "They wait" in English.

And a .pif Program Information File is suspicious if you did not knowingly download the file.

https://www.easytechjunkie.com/what-is-a-pif-file.htm

Look in Update History for any problem updates.

 

[Megalow]

Thank you for replying back

So, yes, this is my only hard drive, I don't have another one, and I did both SFC and DISM commands.

As you've asked, I checked Task Manager, Resource Monitor, Task Scheduler and Update History, here's what I found:

On Task Manager:
At first, the ones that popped up where COMSurrogate and File Explorer (as I tested with files on the disk), then in the critical stages, ShellInfraextructureHost, a lot of Services Hosts, Feeds, Initialize and Windows Defender got a lot of memory, highlighting Defender and ShellHost that had very high energy consumption.

On Resource Monitor:
In the Memory tab, the most memory consuming files where Windows Defender, Windows Explorer, Microsoft Edge, One Drive and Cortana Search App Tool.
In the Disk tab, just the System and the Registry.
And in the CPU tab, Background Task Host and Runtime Broker kept popping up the latter a lot, switching with Performance Monitor and Desktop Windows Manager when stabilized.
None of the tabs showed suspicious files.

On Task Scheduler:
I'm not very PC savvy to know where to look, but checking some of the schedule proccess, nothing suspicious showed up.

On Update History:
Since I just formatted the PC, there is no update history, it is as updated as it can be already.

About the Aspettano file, I don't remember anything installed before that had this proccess showing up, also I just formatted the PC so it should not appear.

Another thing that I forgot to mention was that on Event Viewer there was some warnings about the audio drivers failling, just mentioning.

Did some of those informations helped?

 

[Ralston18]

How old is that Cooler Master Storm GX550?

New, original, refurbished, used?

Increasing numbers of errors and varying errors such as you are describing make me think that the PSU is suspect.

Working but at some threshold level where little power glitches are wreaking havoc.

Do you have a multi-meter and know how to use it? Or know someone who does?

FYI:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not a full and complete test because the PSU is not under load. However, any voltages out of tolerance make the PSU a likely culprit.

Also try to capture a couple more memory dumps. There are a couple of Forum members who are very good at analyzing the dumps.

However, my immediate thought is to first clear or indict the PSU.

 

[Megalow]

Now I feel like a dummy... Let me tell you about this PSU's history.

A friend of mine was building a gaming PC in 2016-2017, he said the PSU didn't worked on his PC, so he gave me to see if I can fix it somewhere, since I don't have the money to buy high-tier hardware like him.

I looked around for people that knew about PSU, and a guy I knew at the neighborhood tested and said it had a defect, so I got warned. Then I searched for PSU especialized tech support shops to check if it was really just a walking bomb or not. I found one and they checked live with me looking, and they said it was fine and working.

Since I got the approval of a especialized personnel I installed the PSU on my PC. Since that time until today, I got a number of issues, mostly overheating, and sometimes it was not even stuggling, was just sudden heat surges. I read online and some people said it could be the PSU, now you go and say it can be the PSU, I can be reasonably sure it's the culprit.

I know a guy that could have a multi-meter, maybe, I can ask him to make the test on the PSU to see if it's definitely the problem.

You suggested to look out for memory dumps, how can I retrieve them in my PC?

Also, thank you for the support until now

 

[Rexer]

I'm not sure either. Maybe check your ram. Ram sometimes is responsible for Windows 10 locking up and it won't release until you do hard-off. And then it happens again. Boom lock up. I pull my hair at this stuff too.
But try this. Pull all your ram, find the computer's initiating ramstick slot maybe #2 or #3 slot (it's in the motherboard manual) and one stick at a time, start your computer. Run it for a minute or two then try another stick.
Hope this helps.

 

[Rexer]

How old is that Cooler Master Storm GX550?

New, original, refurbished, used?

Increasing numbers of errors and varying errors such as you are describing make me think that the PSU is suspect.

Working but at some threshold level where little power glitches are wreaking havoc.

Do you have a multi-meter and know how to use it? Or know someone who does?

FYI:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-manually-test-a-power-supply-with-a-multimeter-2626158

Not a full and complete test because the PSU is not under load. However, any voltages out of tolerance make the PSU a likely culprit.

Also try to capture a couple more memory dumps. There are a couple of Forum members who are very good at analyzing the dumps.

However, my immediate thought is to first clear or indict the PSU.

Yeah. I had three of these PSU failures. One was a progression of blackouts that took 3 months. Another was a brand new out of the box and the worst was a thing called 'Ultra', that fried a whole computer

 

[Colif]

Try running Seatools for windows on hdd - https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/seatools/seatools-win-master/

100% disk usage sounds like hdd. Problem surviving a reinstall leads to thinking its hardware as well.

Looking at BSOD might reveal more

Can you follow option one on the following link - here - and then do this step below: Small memory dumps - Have Windows Create a Small Memory Dump (Minidump) on BSOD - that creates a file in c windows/minidump after the next BSOD

1. Open Windows File Explore
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump
3. Copy the mini-dump files out onto your Desktop
4. Do not use Winzip, use the built in facility in Windows
5. Select those files on your Desktop, right click them and choose 'Send to' - Compressed (zipped) folder
6. Upload the zip file to the Cloud (OneDrive, DropBox . . . etc.)
7. Then post a link here to the zip file, so we can take a look for you . . .

Try running memtest86 on each of your ram sticks, one stick at a time, up to 4 passes. Only error count you want is 0, any higher could be cause of the BSOD. Remove/replace ram sticks with errors. Memtest is created as a bootable USB so that you don’t need windows to run it

only answering as Ralston was after the BSOD instructions.

 

[Ralston18]

@Colif

Thank you.