Question PC Blue Screens/Freezes Completely, Event 41 Keywords: (70368744177664),(2) ?

[GC Vazquez]

Hi, I'm very new to making these kinds of posts, so apologies if I'm not following any specific guidelines/posting in the wrong place.
I recently bought an entirely new rig minus a new GPU, and moved all my storage devices, including the one holding my OS to it. Things were fine for the most part, minus one or two games I couldn't play because it would lock the system up completely. I sort of just decided to live with that problem, only now instead of the system locking up during specific games, I'm getting blue screen errors randomly every couple of days. The monitors bug out and the display gets corrupted. Coincidentally, the event viewer error I get is the same error I would get when the system would lock up entirely: Event 41, Kernel Power Keywords: (70368744177664),(2)

I'm not sure how to troubleshoot this one on my own, as I know it's probably an issue with some USB drivers, but I can't single out which driver it is.
Here's the minidump file in case anyone can use it to help me:

071923-13328-01.dmp

drive.google.com

 

[ubuysa]

...and moved all my storage devices, including the one holding my OS to it.

That's almost certainly your problem right there. You cannot expect a Windows system installed on one platform to work seamlessly on another. When Windows is installed it configures itself for the hardware it's on, it may not be optimised at all for the new hardware. In addition all the device drivers installed will be for the devices on your old PC and none of the drivers for the new PC will be installed.

When you build or buy a new PC you must clean install a fresh copy of Windows.

There's nothing obvious in the dump. The bugcheck was a classic IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, which is almost always a third-party driver error. The failure occurred during a storage access operation and so could easily have been caused by bad/missing drivers due to your using an OS drive from a completely different system.

You need to clean install Windows onto that new PC.

 

[GC Vazquez]

That's almost certainly your problem right there. You cannot expect a Windows system installed on one platform to work seamlessly on another. When Windows is installed it configures itself for the hardware it's on, it may not be optimised at all for the new hardware. In addition all the device drivers installed will be for the devices on your old PC and none of the drivers for the new PC will be installed.

When you build or buy a new PC you must clean install a fresh copy of Windows.

There's nothing obvious in the dump. The bugcheck was a classic IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, which is almost always a third-party driver error. The failure occurred during a storage access operation and so could easily have been caused by bad/missing drivers due to your using an OS drive from a completely different system.

You need to clean install Windows onto that new PC.

Sorry, internet was out for a few days here. I'll give my PC a clean windows install then. Just out of curiosity, does it specify where the storage access operation was from specifically? As in, could that also be a failing hard drive or something like that?

 

[GC Vazquez]

Just an update: I reinstalled windows as instructed, and now I'm getting a kmode exception not handled bluescreen error.
EDIT: I'm still getting bluescreens with the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error even after doing the clean windows install. I installed brand new drivers for all my devices and everything.

072923-22953-01.dmp

drive.google.com

073023-8531-01.dmp

drive.google.com

Here's both minidumps in case someone can use them to help.

 

[ubuysa]

You did install ALL drivers when you reinstalled Windows? Device Manager doesn't show anything with a yellow triangle containing a back exclamation mark?

Assuming that all drivers are installed, the two dumps suggest that you may have a RAM problem. The 0x1E bugcheck failed with an exception code of 0xC0000005, which is a memory access violation. This happened whilst the kernel was processing a thread wait list - in memory. The 0xA bugcheck failed whilst the kernel was deleting a transitional page table entry - in memory.

I suggest you test your RAM by downloading Memtest86 (free), use the imageUSB.exe tool extracted from the download to make a bootable USB drive containing Memtest86 (1GB is plenty big enough), and then boot that USB drive.

If no errors were found after the four iterations of the 13 different tests that the free version does, then restart Memtest86 and do another four iterations.

 

[GC Vazquez]

You did install ALL drivers when you reinstalled Windows? Device Manager doesn't show anything with a yellow triangle containing a back exclamation mark?

Assuming that all drivers are installed, the two dumps suggest that you may have a RAM problem. The 0x1E bugcheck failed with an exception code of 0xC0000005, which is a memory access violation. This happened whilst the kernel was processing a thread wait list - in memory. The 0xA bugcheck failed whilst the kernel was deleting a transitional page table entry - in memory.

I suggest you test your RAM by downloading Memtest86 (free), use the imageUSB.exe tool extracted from the download to make a bootable USB drive containing Memtest86 (1GB is plenty big enough), and then boot that USB drive.

If no errors were found after the four iterations of the 13 different tests that the free version does, then restart Memtest86 and do another four iterations.

Memtest returned one error at the first pass, no errors on the following passes- but one error is a fail, right? If it helps, I'm running my RAM in the XMP Profile. Will turning off XMP potentially solve the issue at the cost of running my RAM at slower speeds, or should I get some new RAM altogether? Is replacing the RAM my best option at this point?

 

[ubuysa]

One error is a failure, yes. Disabling XMP may resolve the problem, it depends on how hard you were pushing the RAM? If you're within the manufacturer's maximum clocking then I would be unhappy to keep on using that RAM. Even though disabling XMP may hide the problem, if the RAM doesn't operate at the manufacturer's specs then it's best replaced IMO.

 

[GC Vazquez]

I had the default XMP profile settings enabled out of the box and was having the aforementioned issues from day 1 of using the new rig, so I can't imagine I was pushing it too hard? The default XMP settings had the voltage at 1.25; I've seen that 1.25 is a little high for DDR5 RAM but I trusted the XMP profile settings since I don't know much about overclocking/setting voltage and whatnot. Turned XMP off and had one crash since, but yesterday went the entire day without issue- though I wasn't playing any games are doing anything intensive.

I ordered new RAM, and it should be here tomorrow. I'll update here if I continue having issues/after a few days once I've replaced the parts.

 

[GC Vazquez]

So I popped in the new RAM today, turned on XMP profiling, and within a couple of hours had another complete lock-up freeze. No blue screen this time, so no error code and no minidump file to work with. I don't know what could be doing it, but here are my PC specs:

CPU: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13700K

Mobo: ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi

RAM: DOMINATOR® PLATINUM RGB 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 DRAM 5600MT/s CL40 Memory Kit (This is the brand new kit I bought)

PSU: Corsair HX Series, HX1200, 1200 Watt, Fully Modular Power Supply, 80+ Platinum Certified, Model Number: CP-9020140-NA

GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super

As part of the troubleshooting, I've updated my motherboard BIOs, re-installed Windows, re-installed all my drivers, and replaced my RAM.

I'm starting to suspect that maybe the motherboard is the issue?
EDIT: I also have this entire rig plugged into a UPS: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS System, 1500VA/1000W, 12 Outlets, AVR, Mini Tower

 

[GC Vazquez]

Update to this: I'm still having the issue even after turning off XMP profiling. At this point I'm convinced that one of the DIMM slots on my motherboard is bad and causing the issue. But I don't know for sure. I know there probably isn't much people can do to help at this point, but I thought I'd update the thread anyway.

 

[ubuysa]

Try just one RAM stick at a time in each slot. Then try the other stick in each slot.

You wouldn't be the first person to find that new RAM is faulty....

 

[GC Vazquez]

Try just one RAM stick at a time in each slot. Then try the other stick in each slot.

You wouldn't be the first person to find that new RAM is faulty....

Should I run memtest with these configurations as well? The behavior of the freezing hasn't changed since switching my old RAM out for the new one, so I'm hesitant to say it's the RAM at all, but I'll go ahead and try each stick in each slot and see if something happens.

 

[ubuysa]

You said you thought one of the RAM slots was flaky earlier, that's why I suggested trying one stick in each slot. Whilst you're doing that you might as well prove each of your new sticks by trying every stick in each slot, but one at a time.

 

[GC Vazquez]

So I'm back after a month and a half, new RAM passed the memtest just fine, didn't run into any more random freezing issues after unplugging the rig from the UPS (strange I know), but the freezing is happening again, this time on another game. The whole system locks up. No blue screen. The display freezes, the sound goes out, and I can't move my mouse or do anything on my keyboard. Leaving the system on for an extended period of time to see if it unfreezes doesn't do anything. I'm honestly at my wit's end here.

 

[ubuysa]

Start Windows in Safe Mode. In this mode only critical Windows components are loaded, most third-party drivers are not loaded, nor are any Windows components not absolutely required. You will notice that some device won't work properly (or at all), your display will be low resolution for example, because you'll be using the basic Windows display driver.

You WILL NOT be able to work normally in Safe Mode, it is designed purely to see whether problems are hardware or software related - nothing else. If it freezes, crashes, or BSODs in Safe Mode then you have a hardware problem. If it doesn't freeze, crash, or BSOD in Safe Mode then your problems are probably software/driver based - and we can then do other testing to find out what's wrong.

Start in Safe Mode without networking at first, as this loads the absolute minimum of Windows and drivers. Leave it running in this mode for as long as you can stand, and do try and use it as much as you are able. It is very important to know whether or not it will freeze, crash, or BSOD in this mode, so do run it for several hours. Don't get impatient and quit early!

Then (if it ran normally) try starting it in Safe Mode with networking. You'll be able to use more features in this mode, but again leave it running for many hours to be certain whether or not it will freeze, crash, or BSOD.

IT IS VERY DULL TESTING A PC IN SAFE MODE - BUT IT'S ALSO VERY IMPORTANT. PLEASE DON'T QUIT EARLY!

 

[GC Vazquez]

I tried to boot the PC into Safe Mode, but it froze while I was trying to enable it. I forgot to mention that while doing a fresh windows install, I had to unplug most of my drives in order for the install to finish, otherwise it would freeze as well. I'm going to unplug my hard drives from the system. See if the freezing issue persists.

EDIT: Yeah it's still freezing. Safe mode also freezes.

 

[ubuysa]

In that case you have a hardware problem for sure.

I know you've tested the RAM, but running on just one stick at a time would be useful. Unplug all external devices except mouse, keyboard, and one monitor. Unplug all internal storage drives you don't need to boot.

If the boot drive is an M.2 drive then remove and reseat it. Remove and reseat all PCIe cards. Check all cables and connectors - at both ends - to ensure they are fully home.

 

[GC Vazquez]

Updating here to say I did all that and still ran into the same issues. Only I've finally found something in event viewer that may be useful? After every crash, I am getting a WHEA-Logger Event 1 error, and it's generating this .dmp file

WHEA-20231018-1918.dmp

drive.google.com

I'm having a hard time reading it, however. Maybe it'll shed some light on the issue?