Error on Win10 install - Bugcode NDIS driver

Soldato
Joined
17 Jul 2005
Posts
9,789
Hi all,

Bit of an odd one this as I have never come across this error before on any Windows install.

For a bit of fun whilst I transition back to an ITX machine, I thought I would try my 3900X in a Gigabyte B450i Aorus Wifi motherboard*. Bios was updated following the guide on Gigabytes website and the SSD used already had a fully functioning Win10 install for this very board.

When booting for the first time I received the "Bugcode NDIS_driver" error / bluescreen. Initially I thought this might have something to do with the "old" Win10 install, so I tried a fresh install and was greeted by the same error. Note - the installer used was direct from Microsoft and is the same one used successfully numerous times before (on this very board I might add).

Did some research and this appears to relate to a Network driver either not initializing correctly or not being found.

Some trouble shooting steps later and this is what I am left with:

- Cannot get into Win 10 on either the B450i install, fresh install or my separate (x570) boot drive.
- Downgrading to the F41 bios (from F42c) returns the same error.
- Attempted to disable onboard Wifi and LAN but neither option appears within the bios (well I can't find them anyway).
- Unplugging wifi and LAN returns the same error on boot
- Changing RAM / running with one stick / only keyboard & mouse etc makes no difference.

The only thing that seemingly worked last night was replacing the 3900x with the 2600 that was initially in the system.

I have a couple more troubleshooting steps to try tonight (ran out of time last night):

- New ISO of Win10 for fresh install (maybe my old one was messed up in some way?!)
- Physically remove the wifi card from the board
- Download the relevant wifi drivers from Gigabytes website and attempt to install during Win10 install.


Sorry for the long ramble but has anyone come across this before and successfully resolved it (using the actual hardware you want to run)? The one thing that came up time and time again was disabling the on-board wifi but as said above I can't seem to do that.

*I am aware the 3900x is not the right fit for this board but I am intrigued on how it will actually perform.
 
Fixed my own issue.. Physically removing the wifi card from the board was the only way I could get it to fully install Windows 10.

What I find really confusing is that the same ISO has been used to install Windows fine on this board before without issue.

Oh well got it working anyway. :)
 
Out of interest, which version of Windows did you install? I saw this a few versions ago on my laptop, it could have have been 1803.
 
Out of interest, which version of Windows did you install? I saw this a few versions ago on my laptop, it could have have been 1803.

I was using both the latest ISO direct from Microsoft (using the media creation tool & USB to install Win10) and also one I downloaded using the same method a couple of months ago (could be the same version I have no idea).

It was just very bizarre that it worked fine not too long ago on this very ITX board and now doesn't. I retried last night with the 2600 on a different SSD and the same issues arose.
 
Fixed my own issue.. Physically removing the wifi card from the board was the only way I could get it to fully install Windows 10.

Just created an account to thank oweneades for his advice.

I had been pulling out my hair and hadn't realised the wifi adapter was removable! I was pretty sure it was the culprit (NDIS BSOD) and had tried supplying the latest drivers during install (Win10 x64 1909), to no avail. Was also wondering why I couldn't disable it in the BIOS... Now it all makes sense!!

Thanks dude!

p.s. FYI my cpu is also 3900X. Initially I tried the MSI B450 ITX mobo but I couldn't even get that to update to the latest BIOS version... It's been a stressful couple of days :)
 
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