BSOD issues

TimTaine

TimTaine

TimTaine

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Joined
6 Aug 2023
Posts
14
Location
UK
Really hope someone can help me with this as I'm at a loss with this issue - being going on for months and I've tried countless things to fix.

For some reason, I am getting BSOD when downloading. Doesn't seem to happen while gaming, only downloading - even with nothing else going on. Happens whether I'm using wifi or ethernet too and it doesn't matter where the download is coming from, its happened with steam and other launchers. When it does happen, it can be a real battle to get booted up again - but once I'm running it will be fine until I try to download. This may or may not be relevant, but I did replace liquid cooling with a normal fan for the CPU as my liquid cooler failed. I no longer have any issues with overheating though. I can sometimes get a bit of a run downloading before anything goes wrong - but inevitably it reverts back and gets progressively worse.

First - I have tried all the chkdsk/dism/memory diagnostic/intel cpu test countless times between other fixes. Did various system retores too. All the obvious like ensuring connections weren't loose, cleared some dust etc, reaseated he ram. I've also had the graphics card and SSD out and reconnected.

I upgraded from 16 to 32gb RAM (despite memory diagnostic coming back clean). This did seem to help for a while, but like everything else it came back before long.

I checked all drivers manually. Even downloaded software to check and update all drivers.

I have reset BIOS.

I have updated BIOS.

I reformatted my hard drives. Also removed my SSD and clean installed windows onto HDD, still occured. Windows now back on SSD.

I have updraded to windows 11 now too.

I uninstalled network driver to force update there.

I tried booting with selective startup also.

The errors vary, but the most common area whea uncorrectable error and clock watchdog timeout. I have also had irql not or less equal, system thread exception among a few others. I did also get critical process died once, which is the point I had to reformat and reinstall windows.



Intel core i7 11700
MSI Z590-A PRO
Corsair 16gb 3200MHz (2x8gb) (now upgraded to 32gb, 2 x 16)
1tb western digital SSD
2tb Seagate HDD
RTX 3080 10gb GPU
Corsair RM850 power supply
Windows 10 (now upgraded to Windows 11)
 
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wookiee87 said:
whea uncorrectable, clock watchdog time out and thread exception would indicate a problem with the cpu, so i would start with a underclock of the cpu just to check if those bsod errors stop, try and set a manual ratio if you can and see if the pc behaves normally, irql errors are usally associated with the gpu but if the gpu cant comunicate properly with the cpu it can throw up errors, try DDU, run in safe mode and make sure all gpu driver and elements are removed then go ahead and install the latest driver again.

if so many things are going wrong i would suggest taking the cpu out of the motherboard and carefully check the socket and make sure no pins are bent or missalined, if you do find anything you can bend them back but you have to be super careful and take plenty of time, never rush a socket repair job, with regard to the network problem have you looked at a pcie add in card that supports 1gb/2.5 or 10gb, if you get one and the same thing happens with bsod then i'd check the cpu and board again.
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Thanks for the response - if it were such an issue, wouldn't I be getting issues under load? It doesn't do it gaming or under the intel stress test. I will give it a look anyway and try the underclock.
 
Straz said:
Does it happen in CPU intensive games where you are getting 300+ FPS? Sounds like a CPU issue to me.
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It doesn't do it unless I'm downloading. I run various games at 4k, 100+ FPS and it doesn't seem to cause the same issue. The stress test on the intel CPU check also hasn't caused it.
 
Tetras said:
If it only happens when downloading, then despite the nature of the BSODs, I'd try: buy an external network card (USB), or an alternative internal card, or try a wifi dongle. I'd also disable the network device in the BIOS.

Are you running with XMP disabled?

What anti-virus/malware software do you have?
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I did think this must have something to do with it initially, but I've tried via ethernet and via WiFi and it doesn't make a difference.

As for antivirus I just use Windows - I uninstalled 3rd party software (came with Norton pre installed).

Not sure about XMP - not come across that before. I'll do some research. Update - XMP is disabled. Worth trying with enabled?
 
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Currently trying the CPU undervolted to see if that helps as further above. Will also take a punt on XMP after if this doesn't have any effect.

Update: Undervolted by just under 50mv and managed to get one download through, but early in the second I got same BSOD issue.

Update 2: with XMP enabled I started getting a page fault in non paged area BSOD.
 
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I have now increased the undervolt to around 60.

I am now getting downloads completed at the moment, however - all have been to D drive and I'm starting with smallest first. I'm starting to get the suspicion either larger files (largest so far is 55gb, last crash was on a 73gb download) or the c drive (SSD) is an issue after all!

While it's working, I'm trying to take advantage - however I am curious whether larger files, downloads to c: or transferring any of these downloads to c: afterwards will recreate the problem - could this be a thing? Or is the undervolted CPU more likely to have been a fix.
 
Now I'm lost. Downloading to D: was fine. Now I'm getting crashes while gaming - with and without selective startup disabling all non-windows processes, with and with undervolting CPU and while playing games both from D: and C:

Doesn't always blue screen. Seemed to last longer while undervolted, but I'm not confident that wasn't coincidence.
 
Bought the whole thing prebuilt probably around a year ago.

All that has changed is fan installed in place of a faulty liquid cooler, RAM upgraded from 2x8 to 2x16 and windows 10 upgraded to 11.
 
I've often monitored temperatures and never never noticed them getting high.

During the games and when it crashes during downloads there was no warning, the whole system just freezes for a short while then shuts down or blue screens.

Sorry, just re-read.

When the old cooler failed, it just shut off before I had chance to notice. I did get an error afterwards that said it had overheated. It was getting to 100 degrees, but all seemed fine after installing the new fan.
 
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ezekial said:
It could also be some issue with your ram. If you have multiple sticks I would try with 1 stick removed and then swap if it keeps happening.
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Thanks for the reply - RAM was one of my first thoughts too, however it has already been replaced and upgraded I'm my attempts to solve this before
 
Ok so I may have identified something. The thermal paste seems to have spilled over and into the CPU socket on the motherboard slightly. I cleaned the CPU, cooler and gently tried to dab off the socket with alcohol wipes. Booted up, intel diagnostic ran fine, temps seemed ok. But, got another whea uncorrectable error shortly after, while idle.

Is my motherboard done for?
 
Not seeing any signs of damage, but I'll have to open it back up and give it a proper clean and take some photos while I'm at it. Thanks
 
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