[SOLVED] PC going blackscreen, RAM issue?

[sparrow_ow]

Hello guys! Before I start writing I should say that I am a complete noob regarding how PC works, so don’t be mad if I say something stupid. About 2 weeks ago my pc froze while I was playing CS:GO, all I saw was a black screen and I had to restart the computer via the power button because neither keyboard nor mouse was working. At first I thought that the game itself was the issue, so I verified local files on Steam and it reinstalled 2 corrupted files. After that I played for a couple hours until the same exact situation occurred. I decided to exclude any potential software issue so I reinstalled Windows 10, formatted both discs and installed all the drivers using Snappy Driver Installer. I was extremely happy to play with no issues for 4-5 days, however it came back again. The most annoying thing is that the black screens are completely random and they have no pattern, I can play for 5 hours with no crashes or I can crash 3 times within 20 minutes. It also happened in Days Gone, so I assume that it has nothing to do with CS. I started stress testing my PC using AIDA64 Extreme, OCCT and FurMark. It passed every single test with no errors (i was testing it for 60 minutes with each program). My GPU was sitting at 79 degrees in FurMark, CPU didn’t go above 50 degrees in any tests. The final thing that I did - I downloaded MemTest86, ran it from a flash and I was extremely happy when on the 4th test it finally showed some errors (19638 to be exact). I decided to figure out which of the RAM sticks was going bad, however to my biggest surprise when I tested them separately the test showed no errors whatsoever and moreover, when I plugged them back in together, it showed no errors once again (I tested each stick twice, which makes it 8 passes for each stick and 8 passes together). I’m left with absolutely no options, I’m lost and I need every single piece of advice you can give me. I will leave my PC specs below:

Intel Core i5 10600k
Gigabyte RTX 2070 WindForce 2x
Gigabyte Z490 Gaming X
2x8 DDR4 HyperX Fury 2666 mhz
Super Flower Leadex Silver 650W
Crucial BX500 SSD
1TB WD Blue Caviar HDD
Windows 10 21H1 (The system is installed on the SSD)

P.S. I really hope someone can help, thanks for reading and have a great day!

Edit: I forgot to mention that i have the latest BIOS version (as of October 15) and that sometimes when I launch windows for the first time of the day, it keeps reinstalling Spotify for no reason. Also, after one of the crashes occured, my headset stopped working and wasn’t recognized by Windows so I had to replug it, after that it worked fine.

Edit2: I just got 2 BSODS saying “IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL” in a row sitting in the desktop.

 

[miknepa]

Did you actually experience the blackscreening again after you re-installed the RAM modules? I know of a friend that had similar issues, cleaned his sticks and it disappeared. You might have accidentally cleaned your sticks by reinstalling them.
You need to provide logs and dumps of the crash, otherwise you will NEVER know why it's happening. I heavily recommend you to run "sfc /scannow" and "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth" in a CMD ran as admin every time you blackscreen (windows search bar, search CMD, right click, run as admin) or at least every now and then if you're that lazy.

Here's how to locate logs from the crash:
Minidumps: (small logs created after bluescreen) can be found in: C:\Windows\minidump (if you don't have any then the folder does not exist, but still check just in case)

Event viewer logs: search for Event Viewer in the windows search bar then go to the Windows Logs Folder > System and scroll until you find a "Critical" or an "Error" at the time of the crash. When you click on it, it should open the General and Details section of the event,
on the Details tab you should find the information for that event. Screenshot/copypaste any "Critical" event or "Error" event you can find that is related to the crash. Use the date and time to find events that happened when the blackscreen occured.

View reliability history: search for View reliability history in the windows search bar, you will now open the windows reliability monitor that will show you system crashes. Click on any red symbol on it and check the critical events. If there is any critical event that has "Windows" as it's source, then double click it and screenshot/copypaste it.

Now after you collected these things post them all in here, I don't know if I can help you but anyone trying will 100% need this information, if I won't be back then good luck on fixing your system!

 

[miknepa]

Now that you edited the message with Edit2: you will 100% find logs about the bluescreens and blackscreens

 

[sparrow_ow]

Thank you for answering. Here are all the files that you requested (hopefully i sent the right thing, i couldnt read minidumps myself so i downloaded BlueScreenView):
Minidump

EventLogs
Sorry for Russian language on the screenshots, my windows version doesnt support more than 1 language, so here is the translation of each event log that was related to BSOD:

screenshot 33 - failed to launch the service "Nal Service" because of an error Not enough system resourses for ending the operation

screenshot 34 - PC was restarted after a critical error. Error code ...... Memory dump was saved to ...... Report code......

screenshot 35 - The system rebooted, shutting down with errors. Possible causes of the error: the system stopped responding, a critical failure occurred, or the power went out unexpectedly.

screenshot 36 -
The description for Event ID 56 from the Application Popup source cannot be found. The component causing this event is not installed on this local computer or is corrupted. Install or restore the component on the local computer.

If the event occurred on another computer, you may need to save the displayed information along with the event.

The following information was added to the event:

ACPI
2

The message resource exists, but the message was not found in the message table



All the other errors that I found were also revolving around "Nal Service" or same as screeshot 36.


Again, my apologies for Russian, but all the "view reliability history" screenshots are saying " PC was shutdown after a critical error. Error code......"
Reliability history


Thanks a lot for replying, if you don't understand something on those screenshots, i will try my best translating it, but I think I already did that.

 

[sparrow_ow]

Did you actually experience the blackscreening again after you re-installed the RAM modules? I know of a friend that had similar issues, cleaned his sticks and it disappeared

Yes I did, nothing has changed so far besides BSODS

 

[sparrow_ow]

A quick update, I just decided to run MemTest86 again, and it failed 2 times in a row, can I assume that my RAM is dying or it’s not a 100% guarantee? MemTest1 MemTest2

 

[miknepa]

Ok, you know the cause now. Memtests with 10k+ errors basically always means your RAM is failing, getting new RAM should be a safe bet. But before you do that,


1st:
if you are not using all of your motherboard slots then switch the slots, if you don't know what I mean then imagine this was your motherboard ram slots

SLOT 1 - SLOT 2 - SLOT 3 - SLOT 4

Now if you only have 2/4 or 4/8 ram sticks try the Memtest with the other configuration, by that I mean
for example if you have:

RAMSTICK - EMPTY - RAMSTICK - EMPTY

then switch them out so you have

EMPTY - RAMSTICK- EMPTY - RAMSTICK

and try your memtest again because it's possible that your motherboard slots are actually failing.

2nd:
Test the RAM sticks on their own instead of together so you know which ones are failing.

 

[sparrow_ow]

I greatly appreciate your support, thanks a lot. I will test them separately and post the results here, maybe someone will find it useful.

 

[sparrow_ow]

Before I go to sleep, I will write an update to this thread (probably before making a new one, unless someone answers here)

For the last couple days I’ve been testing my RAM and getting 40+k errors. Every time I tested each stick separately I had 0 errors.

I decided to follow the advice given above and changed the slots, plugging the sticks into 1st and 3rd slot. My pc refused to boot giving 5 long audio signals and then rebooting (endless loop).

I decided to check each slot and found out, that no matter which RAM stick I plug into the 1st slot, the PC doesn’t start every time.

So to sum it up: running 2 sticks (2nd and 4th slot) results in BSODS and random blackscreens. Running any stick in 1st slot makes PC die instantly. The only way it doesn’t crash is 1 RAM stick in 2nd slot. I’m completely confused, done and pissed off. I doubt that both sticks died together, so I’m now suspecting my motherboard to be the main issue. Unless someone answers here, I will make a new thread on this topic.

 

[miknepa]

If you know that you can boot with every separate stick and have 0 errors for every separate stick then this is a clear problem with the motherboard. Before buying a new one please check the slots on it: are they dusty? are they damaged? is there anything suspicious about them?
If not, then getting a new motherboard should fix your problem.

 

[sparrow_ow]

Each slot looks brand new, my PC case has dust filters and I also clean it quite often, so I guess MB is dying. My motherboard is rather expensive for me, is there a way I can make sure it’s broken before I get a new one, or is it just a gamble?

 

[sparrow_ow]

If you run into the same problem, you can find potential solution here.