Bluescreen issues going back years

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/7PgO24KDfPhUjny1l5YRtoq

Hi, I'm finally at my wit's end with bluescreens. They have been occurring regularly for at least 2 years with a wide variety of error codes, I can't seem to identify any particular thing which causes them but interestingly they never seem to happen while I am gaming.

Would greatly appreciate any help!

Edited by tompal1790, 28 October 2024 - 06:56 AM.

Hi, Welcome to BC.

Perchance have you formatted and done clean installs without the 1st thing going in after Windows being your Chipset Drivers followed by the rest of your Motherboard Support Drivers  for Win10 and or for when updated to Win 11 ?/

You are running BIOS Version : A.B0  Date: 25/08/2022 and current Version is : AI1 (Beta   2024-09-05

Which means you have missed important Security Patches and fixes including TPM which needs to work correctly for Win11 as well as the ever needed AGESA ComboAm4v2PI

Please Update this 1st chance that you are Stable with the last version containing all previous missed versions.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B550-TOMAHAWK/support#bios Note : watch the Video How to link on page.  As well Download your Manual if do not have one.

Also can change the Ryzen Chip to a higher Supported chip as noted in the Bios Updates.

Note : All modern Motherboards are expected to have there BIOS Updated when a new release is out that fixes issues, especially Security as well a new updated AGESA ComboAm4v2PI never hurts.

As well would suggest start over with a clean install if possible of your Motherboard Support Drivers being installed right after Windows goes in and to disconnect the modem from the wall so that Microsoft Does not change out your Drivers with other drivers that are not full feature.

If not possible then to install your Windows 11 M/B Support Drivers : https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B550-TOMAHAWK/support#driver

Do not take Windows Update Drivers Optional or otherwise especially never ever Video Drivers.  You have missed all most the whole M/B 5yr support for this board which is from when born not bought.   If have to : https://www.elevenforum.com/t/enable-or-disable-include-drivers-with-windows-updates-in-windows-11.2232/

&

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/roll-back-device-driver-to-previous-version-in-windows-11.13178/

Ryzen 5 3600 - https://www.amd.com/en/support/downloads/drivers.html/processors/ryzen/ryzen-3000-series/amd-ryzen-5-3600.html  So if using Ryzen Master then would uninstall it and use the M/B Chipset Drivers since they have never been installed. This is important as the M/B Chipset tells Windows what to populate in Device Manager.

Ryzen Master is for Overclocking on the fly.

Turn off in BIOS any thing that speeds up the boot example ASUS Fast Boot

Turn off MS Fast Start : https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-fast-startup-in-windows-11.1212/

NVMe Samsung SSD Drivers : https://semiconductor.samsung.com/us/consumer-storage/support/tools/

MSI RTX 2060 SUPER Support Page : https://ca.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GeForce-RTX-2060-SUPER-GAMING/support  EDIT : URL to correct one.

DELL S2718H/HX : https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-ca/product-support/product/dell-s2718h-monitor/drivers

So think got it correct missing M/B Drivers, Bios to be updated.

To get some stability if have not done so please : From a DOS Command Prompt from START | type cmd.exe into the start search box | RIGHT-click on cmd.exe | select "Run as Administrator" then Copy/Paste --> :  DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command then Enter     if it finds problems then reboot. (Completed Successfully : means reboot)
then
After : please Open another Admin Command Prompt and please run Copy/Paste --> SFC /SCANNOW into the Dos window or Powershell and Enter.  Reboot after.

Note if follow and do as the instructions should not have any BSOD's.

As well if do the above then the Dump Files become only informational.   Would need to wait for new dump files to determine issues.

Note the BSOD Kernel Expert will be around very late my time and will look at the dumps.

Edited by Pkshadow, 28 October 2024 - 06:25 PM.

Thank you so much for the detailed response - have completed all those steps so fingers crossed the bsods stop.

Take home for me is definitely to stay on top of driver and bios updates!

Hi, Welcome.

Note had wrong Support Page for Video Card. Changed URL to : https://ca.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GeForce-RTX-2060-SUPER-GAMING/support

Will possibly need to change to UK site from CA Site or to US site but nothing is different Utilities or Drivers on any page at this time.

Fingers crossed for ya.  If a BSOD upload the Dump File for the Kernel Expert to read.

If the BIOS update doesn't help then I would focus on your RAM. The most likely common denominator in these dumps is bad RAM. Test your RAM with memtest86...

• Download Memtest86 (free), use the imageUSB.exe tool extracted from the download to make a bootable USB drive containing Memtest86 (1GB is plenty big enough). Do this on a different PC if you can, because you can't fully trust yours at the moment.
• Then boot that USB drive on your PC, Memtest86 will start running as soon as it boots.
• If no errors have been found after the four iterations of the 13 different tests that the free version does, then restart Memtest86 and do another four iterations. Even a single bit error is a failure.

Well bad news, the BSODs haven't stopped. I can't attach a new dump file though since it exceeds the size limit.

Thank you for that memtest suggestion - it came back with no errors but unfortunately I don't have another machine I can test on. I have replaced both RAM sticks since the bluescreens started though so I'm fairly confident the sticks themselves are not the problem.

Edited by tompal1790, 29 October 2024 - 04:49 PM.

Hi, go to your name top right corner and click on it then click on My Settings then left side clcik on Manage Attachments and delete the prior Sysnative report.

If still too big up load to a respected file share site.

Thank you, new dump file is attached.

If you've replaced the RAM since the BSODs began then we can discount the RAM sticks - and I note that the RAM installed is on the QVL for the motherboard and CPU.

That this issue has been 'going back years' does rather suggest that it's most likely to be a hardware problem. That all the dumps fail with only Microsoft function calls made in the lead-up to the BSODs also strongly suggests a hardware cause. What PSU do you have? It's vitally important that you are not currently overclocking or undervolting the CPU at all? If so please remove them.

I notice you said that the BSODs never seem to happen when gaming? That's interesting, because it suggests that the CPU is happy under load, but may not be happy at idle. I have seen a number of CPUs, mostly AMD, that became unstable coming out of the idle, low power, C-State and switching to the running, high-power, C-State. There is no fix for this issue but there is a good test and it's also a workaround. Go into your BIOS setup and disable all C-States for all processors. In many BIOSes there is a global C-State disable option.

This will prevent the processors leaving the running, high-power, C-State and will eliminate these BSODs if they are caused by the instability I mentioned. If it still BSODs with C-States disabled then I'm wrong and we'll need to look elsewhere.

BTW. There are no major disadvantages to disabling C-States. It will cause the CPU to run hotter at idle, but any decent cooler will be able to handle that. It will also consume a tad more power at idle, but it's not going to break the bank.

Edited by ubuysa, 30 October 2024 - 03:36 AM.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

The PSU is a Corsair TX550M and I'm not doing any overclocking.

I should clarify - the BSODs never happen when I'm playing particular games, namely Elder Scrolls Online. I play that way more than anything else and there's absolutely no chance that it's a coincidence that the BSODs don't happen while it's running. It's got to point where if I'm doing something particularly important/time-consuming I will load up ESO in the background to avoid BSODs!

There was a global C-State setting in the BIOS so I'll see if that makes any difference.

I'm increasingly resigned to the idea that it's a hardware issue, if so are there any good ways to isolate things to try and find the problem? I don't have easy access to another machine to test parts in unfortunately.

Edited by tompal1790, 30 October 2024 - 01:07 PM.

Hi, Just sticking the Chip and the Video Card into Corsairs Calculator says minimum 550w but 650 recommended.

It also asked if small form factor said no, it takes for granted a few things as well.        (Personally never built a system unless is using a 750w.)

On this site can change to your country top right if so choose but am interested in all your parts being entered or as close to possible.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/   So best quickly came up with less a case, less mice/keyboards other peripherals is 364w which I think is low.

See if can edit this out better : https://pcpartpicker.com/list/sp2XmD and closer.         (gotta run)

So ya. I think you are under powered.  As to why not crashing when gaming not to clear.  Below may give some answers.

Download Minitoolbox from the below link :
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/minitoolbox/
  Run the tool and only select the following tick boxes.
    -List last 10 Event viewer errors
    -List installed programs
    -List devices
    -List users, partition and memory size
Now click "Go" and Copy/Paste and post the output text in your next reply  Not not a file just copy/paste in a reply

I too think you are probably underpowered, which is why I asked, but that doesn't explain why it doesn't BSOD under load (when playing games). I would disable C-States before doing anything else.

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/Q2Zcoy5Ye5CAmjRfz85sovX - updated Speccy link.

The RAM is indeed in A2 and B2. I remember moving them around at some point to see if there was an issue with the slots themselves but it made no difference.

I'm not a techy guy at all (probably very obvious at this point!) so I have no idea what the XMP profiles are and haven't messed with them at all, if there's something I can do there I'm interested to hear it.

I too think you are probably underpowered, which is why I asked, but that doesn't explain why it doesn't BSOD under load (when playing games). I would disable C-States before doing anything else.

BSODs have continued after disabling C-States, it doesn't seem to have made a difference.