Question I just got a crash and here is what I found in the memory dump log.

[MineBlow111]

Hi all.

So today iwas playing some games then boom my PC crashed but it leaves me some memory dump log after the crash so i read it using WhoCrashed and here's what I found:

On Sat 22/06/2019 10:01:32 SA your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: E:\Windows\Minidump\062219-81292-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x74EC0)
Bugcheck code: 0x109 (0xA3A039D89C16A681, 0xB3B7465EEE94E703, 0xFFFFFA8008FB6060, 0x5)
Error: CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION
file path: E:\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.

Is it true that my RAM is faulty? Do I need to replace it?

 

[MineBlow111]

My System Spec:
i3-4160
Rx560 4GB
4 GB Kingston
250 GB HDD

 

[Karadjgne]

No. And Yes. 4Gb of system ram is seriously under whelming. Most more modern games, especially online games, will use between 3 and 6Gb of ram, just by themselves. That's not including the upto 2Gb that windows is already using. 8Gb is a serious recommended absolute minimum.

What happens if you run out of ram, windows happens. Pagefile.sys specifically. It'll portion off part of the HDD as temporary ram storage. So a hdd reads off the game code and ships it to the ram, which stores it until the cpu demands it. If the amount of ram gets saturated by unused files, the hdd will read off, then re-write the file to itself, under a temp folder created by pagefile. When the cpu demands that file, the hdd gives it to the cpu. FPS goes in the toilet with active pagefile use.

Ram error or corrupted ram? Possibly. More likely it was a pagefile error coming from the hdd. Could be a hdd going bad or just having a bad day. If it was a system file or gpu driver or similar that got corrupted, then yes, a BSOD is quite plausible.

I'd replace that 4Gb of ram, not just upgrade size with another 4Gb stick. Might cost more for 8Gb, (ddr3 isn't expensive anyways, used on ebay), but will solve 2 potentially fatal problems at once. If the old 4Gb has developed an issue, it's replaced. If Pagefile.sys is creating low fps and possible corruption, it's replaced. I'd also do both a virus and malware scan (2 different things), use ccleaner to clean out temp files and caches (default settings) and ccleaner registry tool (say yes to backup) to wipe out any orphans or deadends in the registry. Also Defrag the hdd and run Chkdsk /R from windows command prompt (admin) which not only tries to recover any data from bad sectors but also fixes/quarantines them, whichever is necessary.

Many driver conflicts/corruptions are caused by the amount of junk collected over a good amount of time, deleted, but still there. Windows doesn't actually delete anything. All it does is remove the physical address of the data and reuses it for something else, so it seems the data is not there (that's what allows recovery). Unfortunately sometimes the address is not fixed in the registry, so you get a program trying to run a game with Adobe documents and get errors/conflicts/corruptions.

Start with a clean and healthy pc, then if further errors/bsod happen, many guesses as to cause can be shoved into the 'seriously doubt it' file.