[SOLVED] Random BSODs after power outage

Handelo

Reputable
Dec 14, 2016
18
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4,525
Hey everyone,
So I recently had a short, several seconds-long power outage that shut down my computer while I was gaming. It booted up fine, didn't even need to power cycle it, but ever since, I've been getting random BSODs of various types:
0x1E KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
0xA IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
0x3B SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
0x7E SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

Edit: Within a minute of posting this, got a new one: 0xF7 DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER

The BSODs are completely random. They can happen during load while gaming, 3D rendering or simply watching a video, or when completely idle, either for a minute or for a few hours.
In all cases, the offending component is the Windows kernel itself, ntoskrnl.exe.
What I've tried:
  • Run memtest86 for several hours, no corruptions.
  • Run SFC /Scannow, no issues found.
  • Restored my PC to a restore point earlier than when the outage happened.
  • Reset my BIOS to defaults.
  • Updated my AMD Chipset drivers and GPU drivers just in case.
Nothing helped. I'm this close to reinstalling Windows, but before I go ahead with that fun endeavor I was wondering if anyone would have any idea what else I can try.

Specs are:
  • Ryzen 9 3950X stock
  • X570 Aorus Master
  • 32GB (4x8GB) G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200MHz CL14 (with XMP)
  • Asus ROG Strix 2080 Super
  • Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB Nvme SSD as the boot drive
  • Windows 10 Pro
Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Solution
Thought I should come back and post my resolution of this issue in case anyone else encounters it.
Turns out, the culprit was GOG Galaxy.
I've recently had to install it after purchasing Cyberpunk 2077, and decided to do it on my storage drive rather than my boot drive. This storage drive was formatted as exFAT. This threw errors while installing GOG Galaxy, which I ignored and it simply worked fine. At first, at least.
I guess it must have updated itself a couple weeks later, right as the problem started. To be fair, the program did inform me that it may not work correctly if installed on a non-NTFS disk.
What I hadn't considered is that rather than just getting errors in the program itself I would be faced with constant BSODs because...

Handelo

Reputable
Dec 14, 2016
18
3
4,525
Thought I should come back and post my resolution of this issue in case anyone else encounters it.
Turns out, the culprit was GOG Galaxy.
I've recently had to install it after purchasing Cyberpunk 2077, and decided to do it on my storage drive rather than my boot drive. This storage drive was formatted as exFAT. This threw errors while installing GOG Galaxy, which I ignored and it simply worked fine. At first, at least.
I guess it must have updated itself a couple weeks later, right as the problem started. To be fair, the program did inform me that it may not work correctly if installed on a non-NTFS disk.
What I hadn't considered is that rather than just getting errors in the program itself I would be faced with constant BSODs because of it.
What led me to suspect GOG Galaxy was analyzing the dump files one by one. Most of them files just said it was a system process that threw a fault, but a single one of them mentioned "Galaxy".
I've removed it, reinstalled it on my C: drive (which is NTFS), and haven't had a single BSOD since, 3 days and counting.
Hope this is useful to anyone else facing similar issues.
 
Solution