Question Recieved the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED a couple of times, and now my PC isnt detecting a boot device

May 8, 2019
14
0
10
So, for some context: before today, I haven't experienced an issue with my PC beyond the common, easily resolvable issues. However over the course of the day, I have received four/five blue screen errors, all if which are listed as CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED.

The first time I received this error, I simply restarted my PC and resumed as normal. I did however check my hardware and PC infrastructure by running monitoring software as I usually do (running sfc/scannow which turned up no issues, checking for viruses, monitoring temperatures and disk usage, running a HDD health test which once again brought up no issues).

However, after receiving the second BSOD with the same error message, I rebooted to come across an "insert boot device" message after my bios screen had passed, which I thought was odd. I restarted again however and it started back up as normal.

Now it gets bad. These crashes become more frequent (and most notably happen when I have Chrome open, although I'm not positive that is the issue), and now it's reached the point where it's straight up no longer detecting my boot device (HDD) anymore, and thus not letting me even start up windows to see what's going on or run a system restore.

As I said, before today, I haven't had any software related issues, though I have had to replace hardware over the years. I initially thought that it had to be my HDD since that is the only piece of hardware I haven't upgraded, however as said all seems to be good with that from my testing.

Is this a faulty windows update that's caused It? Perhaps Windows has become corrupted?

It should be noted that I cannot open my bios or the windows recovery settings before my GPU has initialized because my monitor makes the menus appear off screen and thus are uninteractable.
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Update: after changing the SATA slot on my HDD and leaving my PC off for awhile, I have been able to get back into windows. I have now been using it with no issues for the past 10 minutes, however I haven't launched chrome once. I have a feeling that Chrome may actually be the culprit here somehow.
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Update: after changing the SATA slot on my HDD and leaving my PC off for awhile, I have been able to get back into windows. I have now been using it with no issues for the past 10 minutes, however I haven't launched chrome once. I have a feeling that Chrome may actually be the culprit here somehow.

Update 2: I've just received a completely new BSOD error titled "KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED" and the culprit was a file called amUstor.sys - which, after further research, seems to be USB device handler. Could this be the root cause of my problems?
 
Your CPU could bre over heating, when is the last time you cleaned the vents (PSU intake) and fans? I would also assume it could be a hard drive failing, so you should backup the drive so you don't loose any personal files in the event of a hard disk failure.You should also run chkdsk.
  • Click on the Start button in the bottom left corner of your screen
  • Type cmd in the command line (click on Run if you don't see the command line)
  • In the window that opens type chkdsk
  • Type chkdsk c:/ r (assuming your boot drive is C:, if not type the letter of your boot/system drive) to repair errors and recover bad sectors
  • If you get a "Chkdsk cannot run" error, type Y, ChkDsk will run on your next Windows boot
The ChkDsk utility can take a while to check your disk(s) on errors. Do not turn your PC off when ChkDsk is running.
 
Last edited:

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
amUstor.sys = Alocr Micro USB Mass Storage Driver. otherwise known as AMD. Its part of windows 10.

critical process died normally affects 2 types of windows files, those used to login and those used to boot hdd, so chkdsk is a good place to start.

Can you follow option one on the following link - here - and then do this step below: Small memory dumps - Have Windows Create a Small Memory Dump (Minidump) on BSOD

that creates a file in c windows/minidump after the next BSOD
copy that file to documents
upload the copy from documents to a file sharing web site, and share the link here and I will get someone to convert file into a format I can read
 
Last edited:
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Hi guys,

I've ran chkdsk multiple times and also the windows memory test - I can confirm it's not an issue with my HDD or my RAM as both came out with zero issues on the tests and are apparently healthy.

I do have a Windows Dump File that I can upload. It's almost 1GB so I'll post it as soon as it's done. I'm in the process of installing the Windows Driver Kit to check it out myself though.
 
If you want to go to Windows recovery settings, boot your computer to the login screen, press the power button on the lower right, then hold down the shift key and press Restart. If you get a warning about Restart, ignore it and press Restart again. Your computer will reboot and open on the Windows Recovery Environment (eg Windows recovery settings). Or from Windows follow the instructions in this post which will also take to to your bios.. https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/access-bios-windows-10
 
Last edited:

gardenman

Splendid
Moderator
Hi, I think the minidump is corrupt, or well something didn't go right. It usually takes a minute or two for the debugger to read a minidump and spit out the info. For this dump file, it takes about 3 seconds. I tested it twice. Anyway, here are the results: https://pste.eu/p/BZ4e.html

File information:050919-51703-01.dmp (May 8 2019 - 21:23:41)
Bugcheck:KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (1E)
Driver warnings:*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for Unknown_Module_e084f089`01588603
Probably caused by:Unknown_Image (Process: ?)
Uptime:0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 15 Min(s), and 17 Sec(s)

BIOS information was not included in the dump file.

If you have more crashes, upload a few more minidumps and maybe they will contain more info.

This information can be used by others to help you. I can't help you with this. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Hi, I think the minidump is corrupt, or well something didn't go right. It usually takes a minute or two for the debugger to read a minidump and spit out the info. For this dump file, it takes about 3 seconds. I tested it twice. Anyway, here are the results: https://pste.eu/p/BZ4e.html

File information:050919-51703-01.dmp (May 8 2019 - 21:23:41)
Bugcheck:KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (1E)
Driver warnings:*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for Unknown_Module_e084f089`01588603
Probably caused by:Unknown_Image (Process: ?)
Uptime:0 Day(s), 0 Hour(s), 15 Min(s), and 17 Sec(s)

BIOS information was not included in the dump file.

If you have more crashes, upload a few more minidumps and maybe they will contain more info.

This information can be used by others to help you. I can't help you with this. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.

As I suspected, that was indeed the wrong minidump. If I recieve the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED BSOD again I'll make sure to nab that file ASAP.
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
UPDATE

I believe that my errors were stemming from overheating, either of my CPU or my HDD. After cleaning an ungodly amount of dust from my front case fan (where my HDD is located) as well as clearing the dust from my heatsink, I have turned my PC on and it is running significantly quieter and a lot cooler than before. I'll post here again if I encounter anymore problems, however.
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Yes, that will do it; had the issue myself once, now I clean out the case monthly. That's why it is always one of my first recommendations.

Well, a month later on practically on the same day, the problem has started again. Was watching YouTube yesterday when the video I was watching suddenly began buffering. Went to right click the internet connection icon on the taskbar to troubleshoot, then my PC locked up, threw me an error saying that Microsoft Windows had stopped responding, then gave me a critical process died BSOD.

Now it happens after my PC has a been on for 5 or so minutes without fail and started without warning just like last time. No minidump gets created and I saw some Error 41's in event viewer (Kernel-Power) but I don't think they're the cause (rather the result of the BSOD reset).

My PC is clear of dust, including the front fan that was causing this before. I found it very odd that this has occurred on almost the same day as it did last month.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Kernel event 41 is just the reaction windows creates to an unexpected restart, which is what often happens after a BSOD. WIndows runs a report at startup and if it finds it wasn't shut down correctly, it creates that event.

does it happen in safe mode?
go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in Windows recovery mode
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
Pc will restart and load safe mode

wait and see if it crashes.

generally critical process died relates to 2 types of windows files, those needed for boot and those needed for the user itself.

try this in safe mode
right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

have a look in scheduled events and see if anything set to run once a month on that day
are there any critical errors (apart from event 41) showing in Event viewer/custom views - admin events before the BSOD time? there will always be errors but you only need to look at critical ones - even working systems will always have errors in there.
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Kernel event 41 is just the reaction windows creates to an unexpected restart, which is what often happens after a BSOD. WIndows runs a report at startup and if it finds it wasn't shut down correctly, it creates that event.

does it happen in safe mode?
go to settings/update & security/recovery
under advanced startup, click restart now button
this restarts PC in Windows recovery mode
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose start up options
click the restart button
choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
Pc will restart and load safe mode

wait and see if it crashes.

generally critical process died relates to 2 types of windows files, those needed for boot and those needed for the user itself.

try this in safe mode
right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

have a look in scheduled events and see if anything set to run once a month on that day
are there any critical errors (apart from event 41) showing in Event viewer/custom views - admin events before the BSOD time? there will always be errors but you only need to look at critical ones - even working systems will always have errors in there.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did try to boot into safe mode with networking to use the command prompt, but ran into another BSOD while it was loading up - "IO1_INITIALIZATION_FAILED"

Yes, I've tried to run chkdsk from the windows recovery screen, but it need admin permissions to actually perform any fixes (which it can't provide from there).

Currently I have to wait for my PC to decide to let me boot since as of now, it tells me to insert a boot drive after the bios splash screen (this also happened last month but I know it's not a HDD issue for a fact given that it's worked perfectly for the past month since I managed to initially 'fix' the problem.

However when I manage to get back in (I will eventually) I'll try doing what you've suggested.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
that isn't a BSOD I have seen before...

even Microsoft has very little on that error



https://docs.microsoft.com/id-id/wi...ger/bug-check-0x69--io1-initialization-failed

I would suggest thinking about a Clean install of win 10 and see if that fixes it.

Well, I'm back online and on my PC. I booted up 10 minutes before midnight on the 9th in order to test and see if the issue really does only crop up on a certain date, and sure enough, that does seem to be the case. 10 minutes before midnight, my PC crashed with the critical error as expected. However I turned my PC off and as soon as midnight hit and the clock ticked over to the 10th, I'm back on my PC with no issues arising at all.

I've checked the task scheduler and can't really find any issues myself in there. Then again, I don't really know what I'm looking for. A lot of system tasks ran on the 9th as expected, but I'm unable to tell what the cause of my BSOD's are from them since I don't know which task is the culprit. Is there any way for you to take a look yourself? Perhaps some logs I can send you (I would send you a minidump but for some reason my PC doesn't generate one despite being set to do so).
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
sInce it works every other day except the 9th?? try running this now:
right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

Look in reliability history
see if any red X showing on 9th
if so, click on it and next to error under critical events, click view technical details
show me a screenshot of the error screen (upload to image sharing website and show link here)
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
sInce it works every other day except the 9th?? try running this now:
right click start button
choose powershell (admin)
type SFC /scannow and press enter
once its completed, copy/paste this command into same window:
Repair-WindowsImage -Online -RestoreHealth and press enter
SFC fixes system files, second command cleans image files, re run SFC if it failed to fix all files and restart PC

Look in reliability history
see if any red X showing on 9th
if so, click on it and next to error under critical events, click view technical details
show me a screenshot of the error screen (upload to image sharing website and show link here)

Already did the SFC and DISM thing - neither found any issues. I'll have a look through reliability history and get back to you though.

EDIT: Where do I find reliability history?
 
Last edited:
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Well I checked the event summary in Event Viewer and uh.... There's absolutely nothing there under Critical aside from the expected Kernel-Power from the BSOD's. I'm at a complete and utter loss as to the cause of this.

link

(The site won't let me post the link normally so just remove the space)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
what error you get from gyazo, you not first person to have problems with them recently - I fixed the link

just use search in start menu and type reliability history
its in control panel>System & security>Security and Maintenance>Reliability monitor
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Well I checked Reliability History and the only thing that could have caused an issue is this:

2db6989c7f9d981985d3d35cee8aa0aa.png


The weird thing is that this is noted as being on the 10th, shortly after I actually booted windows up and everything was already fine. Maybe this was a late error report that windows threw out since it wasn't able to do so before (due to the constant BSOD's)?

As for Reliability Events on the 9th:

4e87fe72d9b08a826b361dd722e0c2bc.png


The only errors it threw out for the BSOD's were those "Windows was not properly shut down" errors. I have absolutely no idea what is going on.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Do you have an ssd or hdd?

search for command prompt
in the results, right click the control panel result and choose run as administrator

if you have SSD type chkdsk C: /f and press enter
If you have a HDD, type chkdsk C: /f /r and press enter

it will pop up 2 paragraphs, agree to run it at startup and restart PC to let it scan drive

main difference between both scans is SSD don't have sectors so the /r command doesn't work for them - it repairs sectors on hdd. /f is just fix file system.

that might fix the error, most of the common fixes assume you can't get into windows at all.

its very odd it only happens once a month.
 
May 8, 2019
14
0
10
Do you have an ssd or hdd?

search for command prompt
in the results, right click the control panel result and choose run as administrator

if you have SSD type chkdsk C: /f and press enter
If you have a HDD, type chkdsk C: /f /r and press enter

it will pop up 2 paragraphs, agree to run it at startup and restart PC to let it scan drive

main difference between both scans is SSD don't have sectors so the /r command doesn't work for them - it repairs sectors on hdd. /f is just fix file system.

that might fix the error, most of the common fixes assume you can't get into windows at all.

its very odd it only happens once a month.

Already ran chkdsk multiple times after getting back into my PC yesterday. It finds zero issues. But yes, I have a HDD.