Question PC Crashing Problems

[ncr123]

Hello!

Around a month ago now, I built a custom built PC with new components ordered online. Ever since building it, I have been having issues constantly with the computer. Usually, it starts with a game repeatedly crashing (this happens randomly from 10-60 minutes into a game, and happens faster with some games compared to others). When the games crash, I usually get the following errors in event viewer:

All of the errors are event ID 0 and event ID 13.

Usually, after anywhere from a few hours to a day or two after these games start crashing, I will see the computer begin to start having BSOD errors. For the errors I got to today, here is a link to the minidump files on a OneDrive

DMP File for BSOD 10-6-2023

Folder

1drv.ms

Something to note about this BSOD is that sometimes, instead of seeing the blue screen, I would simply get a "HMDI no signal" message on the monitor and the computer would restart without me seeing any blue screen.

After getting these errors, I first assumed it was a driver issue. I have since tried several different older drivers (and the newest driver) by using DDU to completely uninstall the driver (with the internet disconnected and fast startup turned off) and then extracting and installing the new driver from a file I had downloaded beforehand. This typically will fix the problem for a few hours to a day or two, but then the problem will return again.

To try and rule out a hardware graphics card problem, I also got a 1070 card from a friend (who said it worked fine on their computer) and tried it. It worked for a bit and then the same problems started appearing after about a day.

Now, specifically for the errors today, I had a few more interesting problems appear. When it started BSOD today, I booted into safemode and tried running DISM health restores and SFC\scannow. In previous cases, I've also run these every time and they have found no issues, but this time they did find and fix a corrupted file (which is interesting and confusing)

Here is the file from the restore:

BITS error 10-6-2023

Folder

1drv.ms

From there, I also noticed that one of my errors in event viewer mentioned "BITS" error which were these:

From there, I looked into the BITS service a bit and found a method of fixing it. So I ran a fix on the BITS service and it said it failed to fix it.

I'm not entirely sure what this means, or if it fixed my file/service to be honest. However, after doing this I still was getting the BSOD errors.

I decided, since I was getting the BSOD right away, to try taking out one of the ram sticks. In the past I had run windows memory diagnostic and had no errors, so I had potentially ruled it out as the errors did not seem RAM related. However, after removing my RAM in slot 2 (the other stayed in slot 4) my computer started up without BSOD! I then launched a game that would normally crash, and it ran for about 5 minutes with no issues (this doesn't fully rule out the game crashing issue, but it seemed promising).

Based on this result, I shutdown the computer and tried swapping the other RAM stick into slot 4. Once again, the computer booted up fine with no BSOD and I ran the game with no problems for a few minutes. After that, I tried both RAM sticks in again (this time they are swapped which is where compared to earlier, but they are still in slots 2 and 4) and the computer immediately BSOD rebooted on startup. I rebooted and tried again and the computer this time the computer booted to desktop. So I tried to launch the same game I was using before, and the PC crashed on the games main menu within a few seconds.

Now I am very confused. The errors seem so scattered and varied to be only a RAM issue, and the issue seems to be related to the motherboards slot possibly? I am going to run memtest86 now to fully check the RAM as best I can.

My questions are:
1. Does this look like a RAM issue?
2. Does it seem like something that could be caused by the motherboard slot, or even the motherboard itself?
3. Does anyone know if memtest86 will be able to find an issue if it is with the motherboard slot?
4. Is there any recommended number of passes I should do with memtest86 for this?
5. If anyone has any other ideas/insight into the problems I'm more than open to more thoughts as well

Sorry for asking so many questions, but I have been struggling through this for a while now and truly appreciate any help anyone is willing/able to give

Here are my PC specs as well:
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 4500
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B550M-A Micro ATX AM4
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
Storage: Kingston NV2 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME SSD
GPU: GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB
Power Supply: NZXT C550 550 W
Operating System: Windows 10 Home

 

[hedwar2011]

1) Possibly, see next answer.
2) Possibly again. A way you can test it is to take one memory module and alternate testing it between slots 2 and 4 since that is what you are using. Here's what I mean by that.
2a) Put one module in slot 2, test to see if BSOD occurs. If not, take that DIMM and swap it with the other, test again, if still no issues, do the same thing with slot 4. Rinse and repeat. If you get the BSOD on one DIMM but not the other, move it to a different slot and try again, did you get the BSOD? If so, it's likely that DIMM. If you get the BSOD from both DIMMs on a particular slot, it's likely the DIMM slot on the board, try them in one of the other slots. (I'm assuming you have 4 DIMM slots.)

 

[ncr123]

1) Possibly, see next answer.
2) Possibly again. A way you can test it is to take one memory module and alternate testing it between slots 2 and 4 since that is what you are using. Here's what I mean by that.
2a) Put one module in slot 2, test to see if BSOD occurs. If not, take that DIMM and swap it with the other, test again, if still no issues, do the same thing with slot 4. Rinse and repeat. If you get the BSOD on one DIMM but not the other, move it to a different slot and try again, did you get the BSOD? If so, it's likely that DIMM. If you get the BSOD from both DIMMs on a particular slot, it's likely the DIMM slot on the board, try them in one of the other slots. (I'm assuming you have 4 DIMM slots.)

Alright so, I did some testing and heres the results:

1. memtest86 ran for 4 cycles; found no errors with ram in slots 2 and 4
2. booted computer with RAM in slots 2 and 4 - computer crashed
3. booted computer with RAM in slots 1 and 3 - computer crashed
4. booted ram with only one stick in slot 4 - computer ran fine. tested with games for around an hour and had no crashes with either stick. Did the same with slot 2 and also no crashes

is it possible this issue could related to using both RAM sticks at once? is dual channel an issue that can occur with some motherboards/pc builds? both RAM sticks are the same set (I got them new online and they came together and are identical)

 

[hedwar2011]

There could certainly be an issue with the modules themselves considering that tried them both in all 4 slots and the PC crashed. Its interesting that memtest passed in 2 and 4 but isn't unheard of. 4 cycles really isn't much for that program.

Did you try both sticks in Slot 4 or just one of them? Try both if you haven't. Also try both in just slot 2. If you are able to RMA the memory that might be an option.

 

[ncr123]

I see, that makes sense, I actually think I might be able to get my hands on another set of RAM sticks as well this week, so I'll be able to try those out as well. Is there any other steps you think I should take if I do try installing new RAM sticks? Like any reinstalls/clears I should do in the system?

And I did try using both sticks in Slot 4 individually, both allowed the system to boot up fine. Although after a day, the stick that I left in overnight still allows my computer to boot up but I am back to getting games crashing to desktop.

I'll try to see if I can run memtest some more in the meantime possibly, and test out slot 2 individually