Question PC freezes and then blue screens, possible hardware issue

[yutuyt]

A few days ago my PC started blue screening with the stop code WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR. Whenever I restarted it seemed to work fine for several hours and then it would occur again. Recently the blue screens have become much more frequent with new error codes such as MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION and DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION. From what I've seen I have a hardware problem, but I am trying to figure out what part of my computer could be causing this. My PC's temperature is not high at all so I don't think it could be causing this. I ran Memtest and got no errors. Does anyone have an idea what could be going on? My guess is that I need a new CPU. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bSCqRFzoZIgJ7xIl3wV-sDE19o5bT2sw?usp=sharing
Here are my minidumps. Most of the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR ones do not exist as they never got past 0% when they collected error data and I had to force shutdown.

From WhoCrashed:
On Mon 7/12/2021 2:41:41 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\windows\Minidump\071221-9250-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x3F6B90)
Bugcheck code: 0x9C (0x80000001, 0xFFFFBE80F655BB30, 0x0, 0x0)
Error: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
file path: C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal machine check exception has occurred.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Mon 7/12/2021 2:18:43 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\windows\Minidump\071221-9312-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x3F6B90)
Bugcheck code: 0x9C (0x80000001, 0xFFFFCF015B5D5B30, 0x0, 0x0)
Error: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
file path: C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal machine check exception has occurred.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Mon 7/12/2021 1:40:04 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\windows\Minidump\071221-9171-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x3F6B90)
Bugcheck code: 0x124 (0x0, 0xFFFFBD05014DF028, 0xB2000000, 0x30005)
Error: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR
file path: C:\windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred. This bug check uses the error data that is provided by the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).
This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

On Mon 7/12/2021 12:31:55 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\windows\Minidump\071221-6000-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: intelppm.sys (intelppm+0x138f)
Bugcheck code: 0x133 (0x0, 0x501, 0x500, 0xFFFFF802166FB320)
Error: DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION
file path: C:\windows\system32\drivers\intelppm.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Processor Device Driver
Bug check description: The DPC watchdog detected a prolonged run time at an IRQL of DISPATCH_LEVEL or above. This could be caused by either a non-responding driver or non-responding hardware. This bug check can also occur because of overheated CPUs (thermal issue).
The crash took place in a Microsoft module. The description of the module may give a hint about a non responding device in the system.

 

[Colif]

what are specs of the PC?

I have asked a friend to convert dumps for me. I don't normally get a lot out of WHEA errors but the others might show something

 

[yutuyt]

My specs are:
CPU: Intel Core i5-9600KF 3.70 Ghz
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050 Ti
SSD: Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB
SSD: KINGSTON A400 250GB 2.5" SATA
HDD: I've got this 1TB HDD from somewhere and I couldn't find any results for the product model on Google.
RAM: GeIL EVO SPEAR 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory

Thanks for your reply. I also had another crash, however this time my PC seemed to run for much longer before it crashed again and it was an SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION with hardware.sys being the problem.


On Mon 7/12/2021 11:36:59 PM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\windows\MEMORY.DMP
This was probably caused by the following module: hardware.sys (hardware)
Bugcheck code: 0x3B (0xC0000005, 0xFFFFAB6202BBC57D, 0xFFFF8005387ADC20, 0x0)
Error: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
Bug check description: This indicates that an exception happened while executing a routine that transitions from non-privileged code to privileged code.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: hardware.sys .
Google query: hardware.sys SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SaAdTwg2MF4o4i6zpq9K_x6OJR7I4Yzh/view?usp=sharing - This is the MEMORY.dmp

 

[Colif]

The top errors in 1st post could all be CPU. I feel I need to say that isn't saying much, CPU involved in virtually everything on PC but WHEA are called by CPU but not necessarily caused by it,
and DPC = Deferred Procedure call. They happen after a hardware interrupt which occur when some high lvl process needs to happen and interrupt the process chain, and DPC is meant to just return to what was happening before but a error occurs. This all happens on CPU

try running this on CPU - https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

What motherboard?

Download magician and run diagnostics on the 970 - https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/
can also download the nvme drivers though I be surprised if they fix errors.

random hdd? download Crystaldiskinfo (blue icons) - https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/ - it will tell health of both drives and should know what hdd is.

whea crash dumps hardly tell me anything anyway, they normally look the same.
MCE are really close to WHEA errors, in a lot of cases WHEA errors show as MCE.

are you overclocked? remove it if you are?
Any overclocking software? remove Intel extreme Tuning utility, MSI Afterburner

My friend is probably still asleep, he is in a different time zone to me ( possibly 17 hours behind)

 

[yutuyt]

I ran the intel diagnostic and it passed, my motherboard is the Gigabyte B360M DS3H. Samsung magician says my 970 is not supported for the diagnostics (somehow). Using Crystaldiskinfo, my 970 is at 98% health, the HDD (which is HitaHUA721010KLA330, couldn't find any results for it) doesn't display a health, and my Kingston is at 60% health. I don't have any overclocking software installed, and my PC is not overclocked. The only thing that stood out to me was a temp of 55C on my 970.

 

[Colif]

try installing the samsung NVME drivers and retry Magician

i think hdd is Hitachi - what a guess - https://www.disctech.com/Hitachi-0A36143-HUA721010KLA330-1TB-SATA-Hard-Drive
No health? that is strange
Hitachi are owned by western Digital, see if this can test hdd - https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=3

you could find problem is hdd, does it work normally apart. Do you trust it?

 

[yutuyt]

I downloaded the NVME driver exe for the 970 evo and I go to open and nothing happens. Running as administrator doesn't do anything either. The tool you linked me for my HDD says there are no problems. I trust my HDD, but honestly I don't use it all and I could try removing it to see if it fixes it. Would taking the disk offline in Windows have the same effect?

 

[Colif]

wait until my friend has commented before doing anything with hdd. That is strange about 970 but it might not be problem.

 

[gardenman]

Hi, I ran the dump files through the debugger and got the following information: https://jsfiddle.net/07w32cpz/show This link is for anyone wanting to help. You do not have to view it. It is safe to "run the fiddle" as the page asks.

Spoiler: Dump File Results

File information:	071221-9312-01.dmp (Jul 12 2021 - 14:18:43)
Bugcheck:	MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION (9C)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 25 Min(s), and 11 Sec(s)

File information:	071221-9250-01.dmp (Jul 12 2021 - 14:41:41)
Bugcheck:	MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION (9C)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: QtWebEngineProcess.exe)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 22 Min(s), and 09 Sec(s)

File information:	071221-9171-01.dmp (Jul 12 2021 - 13:40:04)
Bugcheck:	WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: NVIDIA Share.exe)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 21 Min(s), and 45 Sec(s)

File information:	071221-6000-01.dmp (Jul 12 2021 - 12:31:55)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 17 Min(s), and 13 Sec(s)

Possible Motherboard page: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B360M-DS3H-rev-10
You have the latest BIOS already installed.

This information can be used by others to help you. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.

 

[Colif]

as usual MCE & WHEA don't tell me a great deal. One happened while you were using Nvidia Share which is shadowplay

QtWebEngineProcess.exe)

this is used by windows as a web engine for web browsers

just seeing if there is some sort of pattern that might point at something.

The last BSOD mentions portcls.sys which windows uses for sound
Microsoft Class Driver for Port/Miniport Devices

try updating sound drivers -

Feb 18 2020

RTKVHD64.sys

Realtek Audio System driver https://www.realtek.com/en/

there are newer on here - https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B360M-DS3H-rev-10/support#support-dl-driver

Had you run the intel processor diagnostic tool before I asked you to? as you have this and I was just curious

Jul 26 2008

WinRing0x64.sys

Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool or BatteryCare by OpenLibSys.org or Throttlestop (Properties say: OpenLibSys.org) or EVGA Precision X https://www.evga.com/ or CoolerMaster MasterPlus RGB Software

the file is in a few things, hence list.

 

[yutuyt]

Yes, I had. Before you asked me to it returned a pass as well. I've installed the latest audio driver from Gigabyte.

 

[Colif]

there is a chance its the audio driver to blame for all, as both the other errors can be drivers but its pretty rare.

All 3 said they caused by a win 8 driver. Debugger said that about all drivers in dumps for last 6 years so I guess it will be calling win 11 drivers the same thing. Maybe they update it one day.
So its possible its software.

 

[yutuyt]

Well, I restarted my pc and now my NVME drive is not showing up in BIOS and I cannot boot to it. Not sure where to go from here.
EDIT: The drive showed up again. It is strange how it blinks on and off my BIOS.

 

[yutuyt]

I ran driver verifier, and it says there is an issue in
On Wed 7/14/2021 10:25:03 AM your computer crashed or a problem was reported
crash dump file: C:\windows\MEMORY.DMP
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlmp.exe (nt!IoIsValidIrpStatus+0x9A64)
Bugcheck code: 0xC4 (0x62, 0xFFFFCB84E860C5F0, 0xFFFFCB84E77401D0, 0x1)
Error: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION
Bug check description: This is the general bug check code for fatal errors found by Driver Verifier. The driver is unloading without first freeing its pool allocations. A bug check with this parameter occurs only when the Pool Tracking option of Driver Verifier is active.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XNXS_F6gojhXpJvEmt9DhG65ragt7lUu/view?usp=sharing

Here is the memory.dmp for this crash.

 

[Colif]

it could be the drive is the problem, it won't show any health in Magician or isn't supported and it randomly doesn't show up in bios. That isn't normal.

you might want top contact Samsung and arrange a rma of the nvme and get a new one under warranty since they have 5 years.
if drive is the cause, any files on it might get corrupted.

I will wait for gardenman to convert files and see who DV blames.

 

[gardenman]

Memory.dmp would take me about 1.5 hours to download. I'd prefer to see minidumps instead. Most memory.dmps are corrupt also. So it's waste (for me). There are others on here who can get more from memory.dmp files but they aren't around very often.

 

[yutuyt]

I believe the minidump for the driver verifier crash has corrupted. I could try running it again.
It says:
The following dump files were found but could not be read. These files may be corrupted:
C:\windows\Minidump\071421-9312-01.dmp

 

[Colif]

dump files are created on C drive. I still think that if NVME is problem, it could be reason they are corrupted. Its trying to hide that fact from you

 

[gardenman]

I downloaded the memory.dmp. Thankfully it wasn't corrupt.

I ran the dump file through the debugger and got the following information: https://jsfiddle.net/qacxs51z/show This link is for anyone wanting to help. You do not have to view it. It is safe to "run the fiddle" as the page asks.

File information:	MEMORY.DMP (Jul 14 2021 - 10:25:03)
Bugcheck:	DRIVER_VERIFIER_DETECTED_VIOLATION (C4)
Probably caused by:	vgk.sys (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 00 Min(s), and 08 Sec(s)

Crashing driver:

Jun 22 2021

vgk.sys

Vanguard Anti-Cheat driver

This information can be used by others to help you. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.

 

[Colif]

So to solve that you just have to not play Valorant. And uninstall it.

You can try and reinstall game, it might fix. I have seen it as cause of errors before but often I don't point it out as its necessary to play Valorant.

Vangaurd thinks it owns the PC its installed on, it has higher lvl access to windows than you do. it uses a layer of cpu it shouldn't really be on.

 

[yutuyt]

My last crash was on the 14th. It seems to either be getting much less frequent or not happening at all anymore. If I crash again I'll uninstall valorant.

 

[yutuyt]

Ok, I crashed again (3 times actually) but they were all while playing games. I uninstalled Riot Vanguard, didn't seem to help, Is there a GPU diagnostic I could run for Nvidia? Crashes happen when my PC is under more stress than normal. May be a power supply issue.

 

[gardenman]

Crashes happen when my PC is under more stress than normal.

Is verifier still enabled? If so, turn it off to see if that helps.

 

[yutuyt]

Is verifier still enabled? If so, turn it off to see if that helps.

No, verifier is not enabled. The crashes are all of the WHEA sort.

 

[Colif]

What PSU do you have?? Make/model?

aren't any real tests for GPU
More you run benchmarks and see if you crash during them. Don't run these both at once
https://geeks3d.com/furmark/

https://benchmark.unigine.com/heaven