Question I've had my PC since last November, but i've had 30-40 BSODs in the last few months - all different reasons ?

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

EDIT (17/10/23): I think this issue may be becoming semi-reproducable. After playing a game for a bit, the crash usually happens within 10-20 minutes of closing it. Could it be temperature related? Would that explain the inconsistency of time/crash code?

EDIT (19/10/23): I have now reinstalled Windows and ran Memtest on both sticks (at the same time) with 0 errors. I will carry out individual tests when I have time.

Man.. where do I start?

The first crash I suppose? Quick google of the code, generic bad driver advice. Right, so.. drivers. So I had a look. NVidia GPu drivers up to date, windows up to date, checked iCUE and updated all the firmware and hardware on there. Still crashing. During games, during firefox usage, it often crashes on the sign-in page before even signing in if I leave it for a while!

I have poured through loads of minidumps with 0 prior knowledge but i've learned a lot about what sort of things to look for, however I am yet to see any similarities between the dump files. ntkrnlmp.exe is a frequent visitor in my minidumps. No idea what it is or what it means.

I should note, that I have a custum built PC, and it definitely isn't my first. I was careful with the installation and have treated the PC well since. It is a small form mini ITX PC, so its pretty damn small and compact, and I've noticed the idle temperatures are creeping up over the months. I'm wondering if this could be a factor. Perhaps it just needs a thorough clean (which it's had already before, again, carefully.)

Many other unresolved cases of this type have pointed towards faulty RAM, or maybe the PSU, and I am yet to test that. I have also so far NOT completed a full windows install and reset, though I am tempted to completely blitz and sterilize the PC as much as possible and reinstall, maybe even to Windows 11 if that would help.

I'd like to upload the 5 most recent minidumps but im not sure how on here, unless I just use a third-party and add a link to this.

LINK to MINIDUMPS: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/qdxufhsve929e/Minidumps (FOUR in one day!)

LINK TO MINIDUMPS (19/10/23): https://www.mediafire.com/folder/xdhfvyendfbjx/Minidumps

I do have more specific information but thats mostly from the content of the dumps, so I will let you make your own conclusions so not to bias your responses, feel free to ask any questions after! If anyone could provide their help and expertise it would mean a lot, I really am at the end of my knowledge and capabilities with this one.

Specs:
CM NR200P case
i5-13600k (Kraken X53 240mm cooler)
ASRock Intel Z690M-ITX/ax mini-ITX
Corsair SF750 PSU
MSI RTX 3080
2 x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RS RGB 3200 RAM
1x Samsung 980 1Tb PCIe Gen3 M.2 SSD (Windows on C partition, games on rest of it).
2x SanDisk SSD PLUS 1Tb
1x SanDisk Ultra ii 500Gb

Many thanks.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)? History of heavy gaming use?

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

In lieu of mini-dump (for the time being) look in Reliability History/Monitor for any error codes, warnings, or even informational event being captured just before or at the time of the BSODs.

Reliability History is much more user friendly and presents a timeline format that may help spot some pattern.

Any given entry can be clicked for more details. The details may or may not be helpful.

Another place to look is Event Viewer. Not as user friendly and requires more time and effort to navigate and understand.

To help:

How To - How to use Windows 10 Event Viewer | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com)

 

[ubuysa]

Having looked through the dumps, most of which have different bugcheck codes and fail under different circumstances, I think the most likely common denominator here is RAM.

Since you're an experienced builder I'm sure you know how to test RAM, if not just ask.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

I've been looking through event viewer and there's been very little in there. Only the default code for a critical error restart.

Reliability monitor I've also been using, however I'm losing the history, not sure how to keep the data going back more than a couple of weeks so I have a full history. However the crashes are randomly timed with no regularity.

PSU: Corsair SF750 750 Watt. Brand new. Bought all components December 22.

PC usage is moderate. It crashes even when I'm just browsing as well as light games like Factorio or heavy games. I've noticed that the crashes sometimes occur after game usage, because I've been playing for 3/4 hours a night with no issues, then after I close the game I get BSODs in the period afterwards (sometimes).

Disk drives are all SSDs. Windows installed on a Samsung 980 1TB PCIe gen3 SSD (on a partition).

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

Having looked through the dumps, most of which have different bugcheck codes and fail under different circumstances, I think the most likely common denominator here is RAM.

Since you're an experienced builder I'm sure you know how to test RAM, if not just ask.

Hi! I've read a lot of posts with your replies in lol. Very helpful, so thank you.

I've built PCs but never had issues, so never had to thoroughly troubleshoot and so I'm not sure how to test RAM, other than use memtest on a bootable drive.. just not sure what the process is. I assume I just test 1 stick at a time?

Thank you.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

I should also note I've had references to VolMgr in some crashes before, like 3/4 weeks ago, and for a period some weeks before that too. So it crops up every now and again, which made me think my drive was failing but I've checked drive health and all is well, no errors cropped up on testing with drive health software (both Samsung and third party software).

 

[Colif]

I've built PCs but never had issues, so never had to thoroughly troubleshoot and so I'm not sure how to test RAM, other than use memtest on a bootable drive.. just not sure what the process is. I assume I just test 1 stick at a time?

Yes

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

 

[ubuysa]

Memtest86 is the best software RAM tester, as above. I still prefer to remove one stick of RAM for long enough to have had a BSOD. Then swap sticks and run on just the other stick for the same sort of time.

 

[kira-faye]

It's most likely RAM or PSU, as others have said.

Write out your specs! All of them, not just the PSU. This is standard procedure when asking for help. CPU, motherboard, RAM (including voltage and timing specs), GPU, storage, case, all of it.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

It's most likely RAM or PSU, as others have said.

Write out your specs! All of them, not just the PSU. This is standard procedure when asking for help. CPU, motherboard, RAM (including voltage and timing specs), GPU, storage, case, all of it.

Apologies.

Specs:
CM NR200P case
i5-13600k (Kraken X53 240mm cooler)
ASRock Intel Z690M-ITX/ax mini-ITX
Corsair SF750 PSU
MSI RTX 3080
2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RS RGB 3200 RAM
1x Samsung 980 1Tb PCIe Gen3 M.2 SSD (Windows on C partition, games on rest of it).
2x SanDisk SSD PLUS 1Tb
1x SanDisk Ultra ii 500Gb

 

[kira-faye]

Try bumping up your RAM voltage just a tiny bit and see if that improves stability.

Are you using a PCIe riser? Consider building the machine out of the case temporarily. This eliminates both the riser as a problem as well as the possibly there's a short between the motherboard and case.

 

[Bob.B]

Apologies.

Specs:
CM NR200P case
i5-13600k (Kraken X53 240mm cooler)
ASRock Intel Z690M-ITX/ax mini-ITX
Corsair SF750 PSU
MSI RTX 3080
2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RS RGB 3200 RAM
1x Samsung 980 1Tb PCIe Gen3 M.2 SSD (Windows on C partition, games on rest of it).
2x SanDisk SSD PLUS 1Tb
1x SanDisk Ultra ii 500Gb

If you run out of things to try consider bumping the psu to 850w.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

Try bumping up your RAM voltage just a tiny bit and see if that improves stability.

Are you using a PCIe riser? Consider building the machine out of the case temporarily. This eliminates both the riser as a problem as well as the possibly there's a short between the motherboard and case.

No riser, thankfully. and I'll look into rebuilding once i've done the memtests, i've heard the mobo can short on the case but unlikely.

If you run out of things to try consider bumping the psu to 850w.

That sounds reasonable, as does replacing RAM, but why would either of these only crop up some 6-9 months after building the PC. I've used it moderately (3/4 hours on weekday evenings gaming) since i've got it.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

Had another crash today, but it did not produce a minidump, nor did MEMOR Y.dmp update. No critical event in Reliability Monitor. (It was kernel_security_check_failure). Hmm.

I also keep getting this notification from iCUE. I haven't recieved any other notifications that reference RAM so not sure why this one is being produced. Is iCUE detecting RAM issues?

Edit: i think this issue may be becoming reproducable. After playing a game for a bit, the crash usually happens within 10-20 minutes of closing it. Could it be temperature related? My idles are a little high I suppose.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Could it be temperature related?

What temperatures are you experiencing on cpu and gpu (at load)?

Can you show also screenshot from CPU-Z - memory section?
If possible also show a photo of your system with side panel removed.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

What temperatures are you experiencing on cpu and gpu (at load)?

Can you show also screenshot from CPU-Z - memory section?
If possible also show a photo of your system with side panel removed.

At load 85 on GPU (I had to limit it about 2 months ago), CPU I think was topping mid 70s, but some games sent it mid 80s, but rarely.

After dusting out my PC as best as I could without brushes or compressed air my idles are now CPU = 37, GPU = 41.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Your 3200mhz ram is running at 2133mhz.
Go into BIOS and enable XMP.

Or at least set DRAM voltage to 1.35V. This should improve stability.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

Your 3200mhz ram is running at 2133mhz.
Go into BIOS and enable XMP.

Or at least set DRAM voltage to 1.35V. This should improve stability.

I have these options. XMP was set to auto. Any advice? Should I adjust voltage and manually set DRAM frequency to 3200? Or just one at a time?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Image not viewable.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

Image not viewable.

Fixed.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Set it to Profile 1.

Or
you can also set ram paremeters manually.
Frequency 3200mhz
Latencies 16-20-20-38
DRAM voltage 1.35V

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

Set it to Profile 1.

Or
you can also set ram paremeters manually.
Frequency 3200mhz
Latencies 16-20-20-38
DRAM voltage 1.35V

Changed the settings, boot took a minute to show a screen saying "boot failed several times before". Restarted and checked bio again and settings have definitely changed but boot taking a long time now.

Edit: just enabled fast-boot to get things moving. I'll try to reproduce a crash now and report back

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can you show current view from CPU-Z - memory section?

 

[DSzymborski]

Many other unresolved cases of this type have pointed towards faulty RAM, or maybe the PSU, and I am yet to test that. I have also so far NOT completed a full windows install and reset, though I am tempted to completely blitz and sterilize the PC as much as possible and reinstall, maybe even to Windows 11 if that would help.

Wait, so was a clean Windows installation *ever* made on this PC since building it? If not, that was the obvious thing to do as the best practice in November, and certainly an obvious thing to do while you were having problem after problem.

 

[BSOD-Connoisseur]

Can you show current view from CPU-Z - memory section?

After changing settings.

Wait, so was a clean Windows installation *ever* made on this PC since building it? If not, that was the obvious thing to do as the best practice in November, and certainly an obvious thing to do while you were having problem after problem.

Nope, it's a last resort for me for a few reasons and I've just tolerated it for a long time now. But now im fed up, hence why im posting here looking for answers. I also think it's fair to say it is quite interesting trying to discover the problem, at least this way I can learn a bit about what goes on behind the scenes . But only to a certain extent, like I said, i've run out of patience now lol.