Question How to fix inconsistent PC blue screens, hangs, powercycling?

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Jan 25, 2021
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Hello,

I have had PC issues for a while now that I simply struggle to diagnose.
I get (seemingly) random blue screens, although they usually happen while I actually do something, not when completely idle. These blue screens may not always happen and instead, I get a complete hang (everything freezes, monitors are still lit up but PC requires a manual restart). A few times I have encountered powercycling after a blue screen/hang as well.

These issues (not powercycling, as that is fairly recent) have always been “fixed” for a while (a few months generally) by reseating rams/ssd.

Naturally, I’ve ran a fair amount of tests to diagnose the issue, with little to no results.

To start: as most of the blue screens were always memory related, I’ve run quite a few memtests, as well as memory diagnostics, some for over 8+ passes, with no errors.
The most common blue screens (this is very anecdotal and from my memory) were memory management, system service exception and maybe irql_not_less_or_equal.
I used the intel cpu test, no errors.
I’ve checked the hard drive health multiple times, also seemingly no issues, including the standard chkdsk.
GPU never seemed to have any visual problems that would indicate it was the wrong part.
I have bought a new SATA cable + SSD and got a fresh clean install of windows pro on this said ssd, however, the PC hung again today. I plugged the SSD in a different sata port on the motherboard to see whether that could be the culprit.

These problems predate me getting a new PSU and a samsung NVME, although back then they were a bit less common so I

At this point I really have no idea what the issue could be and would appreciate any help.

My system specs are:

MSI Z370 PC PRO
Hyperx Predator 8gb x2
MSI Gaming Trio 1080ti
Intel 8700k (not OC’d at the moment)
Corsair RM750X

I haven’t tried installing windows on the NVMe yet but I am planning to.

Temperatures always seemed to be fine, even while gaming: 40-50 cpu and 60-75 gpu
 
storport.sys is used for storage drives, not GPU.

maybe the fact driver updates are stored on your drive.
what brand NVME is it?

Hey, it's a samsung NVMe, and it's rather new. Some people started getting this issue after updating their nvidia driver (from what I've read on their forums) so is there no chance it's that? Or perhaps some issue that makes driver updating wonky?
 
go here and under drivers, download the Samsung NVME driver - https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

try running chkdsk c: /f in command prompt with admin access
2 paragraphs will pop up, agree to run at restart
restart PC and let it run

Showed no problems, will report if it happens again. Installed the driver too, and uninstalled the Nvidia driver as it's been stable for a few days prior to installing that one