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Blue-screening 4-5 times a day, usually with stop code IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and ntoskrnl.exe is always the failed driver in BlueScreenView?

Anonymous
2022-01-18T23:38:33+00:00

Hello,

I have been struggling with getting blue screens on my computer for a few months now, and while it used to be once or twice a week, it has now developed into upwards of 4 or 5 times each day. As in the title, the blue screen error code is usually IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, however I have also gotten SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (caused by ndis.sys?), CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT, KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE, DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER, EXCEPTION_ON_INVALID_STACK, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (caused by vgk.sys?), ATTEMPTED_EXECUTE_OF_NOEXECUTE_MEMORY, RESOURCE_NOT_OWNED, as well as possibly others that I don't recall/have pictures of. In each of these blue screens, using BlueScreenView, it is determined that ntoskrnl.exe is what fails, however for certain blue screens other things have failed on top of just ntoskrnl.exe. I tried solving this on my own, but I am at a loss for what to try next, so here's what all I've done so far (that I remember doing):

  • First and foremost, I updated all of my drivers, and continue check for updates.
  • Updated windows (Currently using windows 11, blue screens have been around since Windows 10), keep checking for updates
  • Updated bios to latest non-beta build
  • Ran SFC, DISM, and chkdsk scans on both my hard drive and ssd
  • Ran windows memory diagnostic test on my RAM (Also tried an advanced search)
  • Ran MemTest86 on my RAM, one stick at a time
  • Tried using the Driver Verifier, however while it was active, I just got stuck in a boot loop and got stuck on a blue screen with SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
  • I cleaned the inside of my case, checked the ram, motherboard, and connections for any physical damage.
  • Nothing is overclocked. My RAM is rated for 3200, so at one point I manually set it to that instead of the default 2133. This was long before my blue screens, but I did also try turning it back down to 2133 with no luck.
  • I’ve tried switching keyboards, and got a different pair of headphones. Have not yet tried exchanging other peripherals like my mouse or microphone, so I suppose I could try unplugging my mic and switching the mouse.
  • Virus scans on Malwarebytes free, uninstalled after. Virus scans on bitdefender free, uninstalled after. Virus scans on windows defender. Nothing found on any of them.

At this point, I just got an external hard drive to back up important data (certain documents, pictures, videos, save data on certain games), and the only things I have seen left to try are updating the firmware on my ssd (I’ll note that the ssd is my main boot drive), and possibly a full system reset. Is there anything else I can do before resetting the system, since that’s really my last resort? I unfortunately do not have any good restore points to go back to.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-01-24T16:08:02+00:00

    Hello again, apologies for the delay,

    I'm double checking to be sure, but having my Diplay, WiFi, and Audio drivers got rid of my blue screens. When I went back to check individual drivers, I can say with a high degree of certainty that after enabling just my display driver, that Display driver is causing the issue: NVIDIA GTX 1060. I tried rolling back the driver to a time when I wasn't getting blue screens, but that didn't seem to work. What should I do now? As much as I'd love to just leave it disabled to fix the error, I do have a lot of games that simply won't run without it haha.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-21T01:46:16+00:00

    Hi,

    Sorry for the late reply.

    Let's try to find which driver might be causing the issue.

    I suggest that you start the PC normally then temporarily disable these drivers(WIFI, AUDIO, DISPLAY, BLUETOOTH).

    To disable the device driver, Open Device Manager > Right-click the driver > click Disable device.

    If you don't receive BSOD then one of them is really causing the issue. Enable them one at a time then see which driver will cause the BSOD.

    Let me know how it goes.

    Thanks.

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-19T00:13:00+00:00

    Hi UnstableDmd,

    I'm Paul and I'm here to help you with your concern.

    Please upload the minidump files Windows created when you encountered BSOD. It will help us determine what caused the PC to crash.

    1. Open Windows File Explorer
    2. Go to C:\Windows\Minidump
    3. Zip those files
    4. Upload the zip file to the Cloud (OneDrive, DropBox . . . etc.).
    5. Then share the link here.

    Thanks.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-01-20T23:17:33+00:00

    Hello,

    I've been running windows in safe mode since late last night, and still have not blue screened again, so I think it's safe to assume that the issue is caused by a non-Microsoft driver. What would you recommend to do from here?

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-01-20T02:19:18+00:00

    Hi,

    Sorry for the late response.

    The minidump files didn't name any driver. They only indicated a system kernel driver "ntkrnlmp.exe". Since it's a system file it means something else drove it into a fault. It could be hardware, software, or a driver.

    Let's try to isolate the cause of the issue.

    Start PC in Safe Mode. If the issue doesn't persist in the Safe Mode it means the issue might be caused by a non-Microsoft driver and not hardware.

    To start in Safe Mode.

    >> Press the Windows logo key + R.

    >> Type msconfig in the Open box and then select OK.

    >> Select the Boot tab.

    >> Under Boot options, click the Safe boot checkbox.

    >> Apply and restart PC.

    Let me know the result.

    Thanks.

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