[SOLVED] Persistent BSOD and sudden restart problems

[BSODgrump]

For months I've dealt with persistent desktop issues, mostly sudden system restarts and BSODs. I'm not sure if I'm dealing with one problem or perhaps multiple. Please help me diagnose and fix what's going wrong.

Symptoms:

• Persistent BSODs. I can basically force this by just playing spotify or working in a word document for a few minutes. Link to dump files at bottom.
• Sudden system restarts. Sometimes the system will simply blink off and turn back on. No crash reports are generated when this happens.
• Internet browser crashes. Sometimes a single tab will crash, sometimes the entire browser crashes. I use firefox.

Weirdly enough, these problems typically happen when the computer is not under a heavy load or even when it is idling. They happen most often when I am trying to work – meaning I usually have open a web browser, a word processor, a PDF viewer, citation management software, and a music player. These problems usually do not occur when I am gaming. Using my external speakers while working seems to make BSODs happen more quickly, but again it does not happen when I am gaming while using my external speakers.

Specs:

• Mobo: MSI B450M Pro-VDH MAX
• cpu: AMD Ryzen 5 3400g
• gpu: GTX 1060 6gb
• ssd: western digital blue SN550 500gb m.2 nvme
• memory: g.skill ripjaws v series 16gb (2 x 8gb)
• psu: EVGA BQ 500 W 80+ bronze
• external speakers: logitech z213

What I’ve done so far:

• I tried to read the minidumps for myself using WinDbg and bluescreenview. If this is a simple driver problem, I have not been able to tell from reading the debug reports.
  
• I ran memtest86 but it found no errors. I have not yet tried running the computer/running memtest86 on one stick of ram and then the other.
  
• I have tried to run chkdsk to fix any drive errors, but when I do this it just loops through symptom number 2. I restart the system to run chkdsk, it begins running, and usually in stage 2 the system will suddenly restart. Chkdsk will try to run again, and the system will again suddenly restart. This will continue to happen until I cancel the disk check at start up.

minidump:

• https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gqe0kpqmklxa024/AADQ5KkkgNjZn3wLVXeAdHc3a?dl=0

Thank you in advance for using your time to help me with this issue. Please let me know if you need any other information or details.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Try updating bios

the chkdsk issue suggests corrupted files or SSD, or equally could be a faulty storage controller.

bios update might fix the storage controller issue, or either your ssd or motherboard may need to be replaced.

at a minimum reinstall windows after taking a copy of all important files you may wish to keep, to rule out any software or malware issues

 

[Bob.B]

For months I've dealt with persistent desktop issues, mostly sudden system restarts and BSODs. I'm not sure if I'm dealing with one problem or perhaps multiple. Please help me diagnose and fix what's going wrong.

Symptoms:

• Persistent BSODs. I can basically force this by just playing spotify or working in a word document for a few minutes. Link to dump files at bottom.
• Sudden system restarts. Sometimes the system will simply blink off and turn back on. No crash reports are generated when this happens.
• Internet browser crashes. Sometimes a single tab will crash, sometimes the entire browser crashes. I use firefox.

Weirdly enough, these problems typically happen when the computer is not under a heavy load or even when it is idling. They happen most often when I am trying to work – meaning I usually have open a web browser, a word processor, a PDF viewer, citation management software, and a music player. These problems usually do not occur when I am gaming. Using my external speakers while working seems to make BSODs happen more quickly, but again it does not happen when I am gaming while using my external speakers.

Specs:

• Mobo: MSI B450M Pro-VDH MAX
• cpu: AMD Ryzen 5 3400g
• gpu: GTX 1060 6gb
• ssd: western digital blue SN550 500gb m.2 nvme
• memory: g.skill ripjaws v series 16gb (2 x 8gb)
• psu: EVGA BQ 500 W 80+ bronze
• external speakers: logitech z213

What I’ve done so far:

• I tried to read the minidumps for myself using WinDbg and bluescreenview. If this is a simple driver problem, I have not been able to tell from reading the debug reports.
  
• I ran memtest86 but it found no errors. I have not yet tried running the computer/running memtest86 on one stick of ram and then the other.
  
• I have tried to run chkdsk to fix any drive errors, but when I do this it just loops through symptom number 2. I restart the system to run chkdsk, it begins running, and usually in stage 2 the system will suddenly restart. Chkdsk will try to run again, and the system will again suddenly restart. This will continue to happen until I cancel the disk check at start up.

minidump:

• https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gqe0kpqmklxa024/AADQ5KkkgNjZn3wLVXeAdHc3a?dl=0

Thank you in advance for using your time to help me with this issue. Please let me know if you need any other information or details.

Run the machine with one stick of ram in the proper slot.
See if anything changes.

 

[BSODgrump]

Try updating bios

the chkdsk issue suggests corrupted files or SSD, or equally could be a faulty storage controller.

bios update might fix the storage controller issue, or either your ssd or motherboard may need to be replaced.

at a minimum reinstall windows after taking a copy of all important files you may wish to keep, to rule out any software or malware issues

Thank you for replying to my post.

My BIOS are already up to date (I updated recently) and did a clean reinstall recently.

I was afraid the chkdsk problem meant it was an SSD issue, but that problem went away after I re-seated my ram. Weirdly enough, simply re-seating my ram allowed chkdsk to finish a full cycle (it did not detect any problems), but that did not stop the BSODs.

That said, I think I fixed the problem - it seems like it was a voltage issue. See my reply to @Bob.B for more detail.

 

[BSODgrump]

Run the machine with one stick of ram in the proper slot.
See if anything changes.

Thanks for replying. I tried running with one stick of ram and then the other and got weird results: the machine worked fine (no BSODs, no sudden restarts) with one stick - no matter which one I used. So it is not the case that one stick is corrupt.

I tried running both sticks in the A1 and B1 slots (my mobo calls for using A2 and B2 first), and again the BSODs came back, so it's not the case that one of my ram slots was failing.

I did some more googling and found some threads that matched my symptoms to a voltage issue. Basically, sudden fluctuations in the power demand when the machine is near idle seem to cause the issue. In the BIOS I enabled XMP to increase the ram speed from default ~2300 to the advertised 3200. I could be wrong, but I think the slightly increased power draw from the increased speed has stablised the problem. Right now my desktop is 40 minutes into a youtube video, a task that would usually crash the machine within about 15 minutes.

I am not certain my method is a permanent fix. A better quality PSU might be a better solution. Other solutions people found were modifying the power plan settings. (Sorry I don't have links to those threads.)

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

Maybe buy a UPS to smooth out power delivery, and possibly upgrade to a better PSU as well.