Question IRQL BSOD error, have tried a lot of fixes.

Dec 4, 2019
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Bear with me as covering everything I've done so far could take a while. Will post system specs and the latest crash log at the bottom.

So this all began when I got a different blue screen error in the middle of a game (pretty sure it was SYSTEM_EXCEPTION). I ended up doing a file check, Windows found some corrupted files and repaired them. So thought that was done. I decide to do a system image backup because the error had spooked me a bit; at this point I didn't know that EaseUS Todo Backup is a problem program, and used that to start one. Then I got my first IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error. This happens a few more times, I try doing file checks again, some repair tools/programs, eventually I find an article that tells me EaseUS can actually cause this error, so I get rid of that, then create a system image backup with just the Windows tools.

So for a few days I think I've solved it, I don't get another blue screen error at first. But I when playing WoW I'm getting an error #132 crash consistently at about 55 minutes of playtime, and Destiny 2 has also experienced a few error message crashes of a similar nature. I run down a list of possible fixes. Eventually I uninstall my gpu drivers and do a fresh install, and that seems to do it. So I actually manage to go for a little bit thinking all my problems were fixed, then a random restart happens in the middle of WoW. I'm not sure what to think about it at first, but I'm thinking it could have been a blue screen. I run a few quick scans of things, check the event viewer, but don't get anything other than there's been an unplanned restart. So without much to go on there I game for the rest of the evening and see if the error reoccurs. It does eventually. This time I run a diagnostic through Windows powershell a help article recommended. I do a restart, and shortly after logging in, my computer freezes. Every time. Eventually when powering on Windows brings me into Recovery mode. I dither for a bit and decide to do a reset. This takes a few hours. Then booting up gives me a restart loop triggered every time I try to log in. So at this point I break out the system image I created and restore that in a bid to get back into Windows. I do. At this point I think about it, ask some friends' opinions and decide to do a fresh install of Windows 10. I get some key driver install files and stick them on my D drive, which I unplug for this operation. I format then delete every partition on my boot drive, then begin a fresh install.

I get in, and install my drivers: first LAN, then I install GeForce Experience and let it install my gpu driver, hd audio, then chipset. Then I run Windows Update, it grabs a few things, and I make sure to grab Nvidia Control Panel off the Microsoft Store, since I didn't have it at first after the clean install. I do a restart whenever prompted through all of that. Everything seems smooth. I grab a few programs, Chrome, HWiNFO, BlueScreenView (just in case), Logitech G Hub since I use a Logitech mouse, and Discord. I go through Settings and disable all those annoying tracking features Windows 10 has on by default, including Fast Startup. I decide to go with the standard Balanced Power Plan rather than the AMD one I had been using. At this point I decide to grab Steam and install the games I had been playing over the course of all this trouble, so I can get to some testing. I install Destiny 2 on my SSD. It's at this point I actually remember Discord and grab that. Then I begin installing Monster Hunter World. About halfway through, I blue screen. IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, ntoskrnl.exe in BlueScreenView.

I'm feeling pretty stressed and helpless at this point. At time of typing I've booted up with just one of my RAM sticks installed. I'm going to attempt to do things with just one installed at a time out of my two piece kit to see if a crash only occurs with one of them, so a faulty stick. That's really all I've got left at this point. I'd really like to try and identify which piece of hardware is faulty before I try to RMA anything, and at the moment I can't be sure, though RAM is my big suspect since a lot of the errors in event viewer and the problems I've had point to memory dump failures and the like.

PC specs:
Ryzen 5 3600
B450 Tomahawk Max
MSI Nvidia 2060 Super Gaming X
Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000 (2x8gb)
WD BLACK SN750 NVMe M.2, 500gb
WD Black 1TB HDD
Seasonic FOCUS GX-650
Fractal Meshify C (with two stock fans, and two Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM, 4 pin 120mm)
Windows 10 Pro

My PC came online the 4th of this month, I assembled it myself. Very new build.

Everything I have tried: System file scan, Windows memory scan, about an hour of MemTest (will follow up with a longer test when I go to bed), chkdsk, reinstalling graphics and other drivers, clean Windows install followed by manual driver install, reseating RAM, resetting CMOS, uninstalling third party programs (at this point, after a fresh install, unless Discord, HWiNFO, HWMonitor or freakin' STEAM can cause blue screen errors, it isn't this). There are probably more I've tried that I just can't think of right now.

Final note: I'm not sure if I've had a crash while the computer was truly idle. I'm pretty sure each time it happened the CPU was working on something, whether a game or installing something big.

This should be a link to the zip of my latest crash dump file, if I did it right.
 
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Dec 4, 2019
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That's what I'm doing right now. I haven't done anything to kick up my CPU yet, but I will. My board wants you to use DIMMA2 before any others, which is convenient because my cooler slightly intrudes on the very first dimm--that's my fault though, if I flipped it the problem would be solved I think. Trying to boot with one stick in a different slot than A2 will prompt a warning saying it's not optimized, but I can still do that I think. Worth trying if I get two crashes when in A2?
 
Dec 4, 2019
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I also have XMP enabled to run my RAM at it's intended speed of 3000mhz. I just enabled it and then selected 3k from the list in the profile. Could this be impacting my issues somehow? Sending too many volts? I honestly don't know.
 
Dec 4, 2019
19
0
10
I also have XMP enabled to run my RAM at it's intended speed of 3000mhz. I just enabled it and then selected 3k from the list in the profile. Could this be impacting my issues somehow? Sending too many volts? I honestly don't know.

Well I disabled XMP and it really seemed like that was it. I had the longest period without a crash that I've had since these problems started. After a really long session of one game or another constantly running at least in the background, I hit a crash. Same stop code, same report form BlueScreenView. I'm picking up where I left off and testing my other stick of RAM solo now. If nothing else at least I feel really confident the problem lies in the RAM based on the results form disabling XMP and solo testing the other module. I'll see if a crash happens on this one and run a MemTest. And I think I'll prepare to send in my RAM for a replacement. I have an extended return/replace with Newegg until the 2nd of February, so at least I can take advantage of that.