Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 upgrade = Endless BSoD

[kevinb.spams]

Hello,

I've been running windows 8.1 on my custom built computer and it's been working fine for as long as I remember. However, I've had a few windows notifications on my computer saying something about my chipset or cpu or build is not supported or compatible anymore and I'd have to upgrade to Windows 10. I've been ignoring it for a few days since I started getting the notification but I had a free day to actually upgrade it so I did. I didn't do a clean install since I didn't want to wipe the drive and go through all the driver installation 1 by 1 again. I used the windows media creation tool and "upgrade this computer" option. It worked for a while, it even installed updates after the OS upgrade. I was able to use it for a day, and I always leave my computer on. When I came back from work the next day, it was stuck on blue screen. So I thought maybe some drivers arent compatible. I tried to reboot it but it won't even get through POST. It kept giving me different blue screen errors everytime i boot it up. So i unplugged everything and see if it would boot up, and it surprisingly did. I read somewhere that I can use drivereasy to automatically update whatever driver is needed to be updated. I updated a few of them, and the computer worked for a day again. But it was on BSoD again when I came back from work. This time, I can't get through POST at all no matter what i do. I tried to use a bootable win10 usb stick to repair it but it literally just goes to BSoD with different errors everytime after the boot option selection screen. I can't even do a clean install now even if i wanted to. Please help!

Im running:
I7 8700k
Gigabyte aorus gaming 7 z370 motherboard
Gigabyte aorus 1080ti
Gskill tridentz 16gb (2x8gb) 3200mhz
1tb WD blue (misc files)
128gb samsung 840pro (important files)
128gb m.2 ssd (OS drive) (forgot the brand)
650watt seasonic gold psu
Phanteks heatsink

 

[kevinb.spams]

I forgot to mention, i tried swapping ram slots, i tried using just 1 ram stick in different ram slots as well, i took the gpu out as well. Still was having BSoD for a few times. I tried to boot with win10 usb again, still went to BSoD. After i stop booting frlm win10 usb, it tried to load automatic repair but still kept going BSoD. Note: BSoD errors were always different errors like bad pool, watchdog, kernel, etc. I left it bootlooping like that and now it'a stuck on the windows loading screen.

Edit:
Here are BSoDs: bad pool header, kernel security check failure, critical process died, system thread exception not handled, an unexpected i/o error has occured, reference by pointer, system pte misuse, STOP 0xC000021A.

Most of the time, it's the bad pool header first that shows up.

 

[stdragon]

STOP 0xC000021A.

Per Microsoft, that specific error code is in regards to a user mode process; such as driver or 3rd party application.

Run BlueScreenView and review the history of minidump files that have been generated by your system. If there's a common dll that's being flagged, you might be able to trace that to a specific driver or application.

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

 

[kevinb.spams]

It doesnt get past POST to run anything

 

[stdragon]

Create a bootable USB flash drive with a copy of MemTest86 (free edition). Boot from it an run the memory tests.

https://www.memtest86.com/

 

[kevinb.spams]

I tried memtest weeks before it crashed. It ran for 2 days and never crashed so i stopped. I'll try again later when i get home, it is possible that the ram went bad. Or even possibly the motherboard ram slots.

 

[stdragon]

If you can get past POST, but it crashes on booting Windows, it's possible you have virus or other malware injected in the startup.

If it the POST process itself fails, and you can't even get into the BIOS, yeah, looking at the hardware being suspect .

 

[kevinb.spams]

No, I can't get past POST at all. And BIOS works fine. What it does is just display the motherboard manufacturer logo (Gigabyte Aorus) and then blue screen a little bit after it. When i try to boot through usb, it tries to load it, i can actually see the windows logo and loading circle but then goes to blue screen again. Then tries to do automatic start up repair, but it doesn't even get past the loading screen either. It just crashes to blue screen as well.

 

[stdragon]

Hmm.... If the internal hard drive has a corrupted NTFS volume, that can "poison" the Windows kernel and cause it to throw a BSOD upon mounting and addressing the volume.

Go ahead and remove the internal drive, then just boot from a Windows USB boot disk. If no BSOD, then I suspect a bad volume.

If the above is true, you might need to create a bootable Ubuntu USB stick, mount the NTFS volume, and copy your data off it manually.

 

[kevinb.spams]

I actually tried that. I took the m.2 OS drive out and boot from usb. It still gave me a blue screen so i was so confused where to go from there lol

 

[stdragon]

You could always try and make a bootable Intel Processor diagnostic USB drive

http://www.tcsscreening.com/files/users/IPDT_LiveUSB/index.html

 

[kevinb.spams]

Thanks! Ill try all these when I get home.

 

[kevinb.spams]

Sorry, haven't worked on it yet. Working double shits til saturday

 

[smorizio]

if it a power issues try pulling the gpu and trying. if it posts it may be power supply issue. on windows 10 read about the error april update and some ssd had. microsoft is just fixing some ssd and breaking others. on your mb make sure it has the newest updated bios.

 

[kevinb.spams]

Yeah I already took my GPU out but same problem. I updated the bios to most recent one as well. Im gonna try to make a bootable win7 drive to see if that even does anything. Gonna do what stdragon mentioned if still no luck.

 

[kevinb.spams]

Just a quick update, i tried to see if i could run win8.1 bootable usb drive, but it still wemt straight to blue screen. Running memtest right now. I'm starting to think this might really be a faulty hardware.

 

[kevinb.spams]

Memtest says complete and shows no errors. Although I'm not sure if i did it right. Here's a pic of the screen.

I have 2 sticks of 8gb ram running on 2133mhz.

Edit:

Ok nvm. I ran again, and got a lot of errors.

https://imgur.com/a/ldaJXsX

 

[stdragon]

Given the failures in many addresses, I'm not so sure you have bad memory. If the resultant failing addresses in test are random, than the problem is either improper timing, over-clocking beyond capability, or improper voltage amount.

If you're over-clocking either the CPU or RAM, go ahead and set them to stock settings. Then re-run the tests. If they pass, then in theory you should be able to install and run Windows 10 without problems.

 

[smorizio]

run the intel cpu test see if it ok. from one of your posts looks like cpu core 8 has issues.

 

[stdragon]

His CPU only has 6 physical cores. With HT, that gives a total of 12 simultaneous threads.

 

[kevinb.spams]

Sorry, been busy. I haven't overclocked anything in this build. The ram, however, is advertised at 3200mhz, but defaults to 2133mhz unless i use xmp. So I don't know if that affects anything, but eitherway it BSoD regardless of speeds I use. I'll run cpu test later when I get a chance. If you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know. I was thinking of RMAing the RAM but I'm not sure if its the RAM or RAM slots of the MoBo.

 

[kevinb.spams]

Ran memtest on my ram with my friend's motherboard. It seems to be okay, didnt get any errors.

https://imgur.com/a/XXlui7k

Could be mobo or cpu?

 

[stdragon]

Could be mobo or cpu?

Possible, but doubtful.

1. Unplug power from the PSU, press the power button on the PC to drain flea power, then leave it alone for about 60 seconds.

2. Be mindful of ESD, be sure to touch the metal of the case before proceeding further.

3. If you must, carefully, remove and then re-install the CPU to ensure proper pin contact with the socket.

4. Reinstall RAM.

5. Clear CMOS settings and re-run Memtest86 using stock setting in BIOS; meaning don't make any additional modifications with the settings. If it passes, then make changes and retest again.

 

[kevinb.spams]

Ill try that after i test the cpu. Im pretty sure the cpu is seated properly. Its been working for 5months before i updated to win10. Ill post updates later.

 

[stdragon]

Just to be clear however, the issue wasn't caused by Windows 10. But for whatever reason, it did bring about the hardware problem to the surface. Honestly, chalk it up to a pure coincidence.

That said, if you haven't already done so, update the BIOS to the latest firmware. But a bit of a WARNING, do NOT update the BIOS if you're still getting errors in Memtest86. That's because the BIOS image that you'd be writing back could get corrupted mid-flight as it's committing the firmware to flash memory. So I get that it could be a catch-22. Your RAM might not be compatible because of an old BIOS revision, but you can't flash it because the RAM is acting up.

Like I said, clear CMOS and then retest the RAM. if all is well, then proceed with a BIOS update if available.