Two BSODs within 2 weeks, both while gaming.

Question

Hi! I've had two BSOD events within 2 weeks while gaming, first crash was on the 6th of March while playing Arc Raiders and the 2nd today after finishing a few hours of Marathon I quit the game and started up my browser(Opera GX) and immediately crashed. Linking both of my minidump files here. I also had Opera GX running in the background while playing Arc Raiders on the 6th when it crashed.

The crash that happened on the 6th had the error

KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE (139)

And the crash on the 18th had the error:

KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (1e)

I've done a memory diagnostic and it didn't find anything.

March 06 minidump

March 18th minidump

Answer 1

Hi,

One of the minidumps fails with the anticheat being BattlEye; in this case, you have to reinstall and reconfigure the drivers due to compatibility issues.

The second minidump fails with network packets. Are you using any adapters like VPN or routing adjustment, among others?

If it is a laptop or desktop, if possible, could you provide the laptop model or your desktop configuration?

Thanks

Answer 2

Both bug checks point to low-level issues (kernel-mode code) and are commonly caused by faulty or unstable drivers, or less often by hardware problems that basic tests do not catch.

Because minidumps are already available, the next step is to analyze them with a debugger and then act on what they show.

Action plan:

1. Analyze the minidumps
   • Install WinDbg (from Windows Debugging Tools) or use Visual Studio.
   • Open each .dmp file and run an automatic analysis:
     • In WinDbg: set the symbol path to the Microsoft symbol server, then use !analyze -v.
     • In Visual Studio: File → Open → Project → set “Files of type” to Dump Files → open the dump → start debugging.
   • Look for:
     • The “Probably caused by” module (driver or system component).
     • The call stack around the crash.
   Guidance for this is in the crash dump documentation:
   • How to open and debug minidumps with Visual Studio and WinDbg.
   • How to use the !analyze extension for deeper information.
2. Focus on KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE (0x139)
   • This often indicates memory structure corruption (for example, list entry corruption) by a driver.
   • Recommended steps:
     • Examine multiple dump files to see if the same driver or code path appears repeatedly.
     • Use the event log (Event Viewer → Windows Logs → System) to correlate any driver or device errors around the crash times.
     • If a specific driver shows up in the stack or “Probably caused by” field, update or temporarily remove it.
     • Pay special attention to GPU drivers, storage drivers, and any overlay/monitoring software used while gaming.
3. Address KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (0x1E)
   • This indicates an unhandled exception in kernel mode, again usually from a driver.
   • In the debugger output, note:
     • The exception code and the module where it occurred.
     • Whether the same module appears in both the 0x139 and 0x1E dumps.
   • If the same third‑party driver appears in both, treat it as the primary suspect and update, roll back, or uninstall it.
4. General driver and system checks
   • Update GPU drivers from the GPU vendor.
   • Update chipset, storage, and network drivers from the motherboard or system vendor.
   • Remove or disable any overclocking, performance tuning, or RGB/overlay tools while testing stability.
   • Check Device Manager for any devices with warnings and update or disable them.
5. Hardware sanity checks
   • Even if Windows Memory Diagnostic passed, consider running a longer third‑party memory test and monitoring system temperatures while gaming.
   • If crashes only occur under GPU load or right after gaming, suspect GPU driver or power/thermal issues first.
6. If crashes continue
   • Collect additional minidumps and compare them in the debugger to see if the same pattern persists.
   • Use the guidance for analyzing multiple crash dumps and blue screen data to narrow down the root cause.

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References:

• Bug Check 0x139: KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
• Crash Dump Analysis
• Minidump Files