Solved BSODs during regular PC use, error 0x000000f4

[Nitesco]

The past few days, I've been going through what can only be described as "BSOD Hell" with 0xF4.

Saturday morning involved waking up to a BSOD. Then I restarted my PC and things were working fine, no further issues until the next morning. Still, I ran a Malwarebytes scan, nothing infected.

Sunday morning and further involved my PC running okay until further BSODs that o the point where they were occurring after simply (re)starting Windows 7 and even during Safe Mode. I had downloaded WhoCrashed after some searches, and noticed that all of them specifically listed ntoskrnl.exe. Looked that up, tried running SFC, but that actually failed with a crash while in Windows AND during booting. Attempted a System Restore, failed. CHKDSK, failed.

This suggested to me that it might be an HDD problem with my C: drive, which IS very old (5+ years old). I assumed some kind of hardware issues, so I opened up my PC, checked cables, removed and reseated hardware, ran CrystalDiskInfo after getting into Windows, no problems with my C: drive's health.

In any case, the frustration set in to the point where I decided to do a fresh install of Windows 7 after formatting the C: HDD, and this process went all the way through Monday morning.

So, Monday. Fresh Windows 7, was running fine since early morning installed AMD Drivers, used Nanite, things were working fine. then a BSOD happens around early evening. Unlike the ones I mentioned before, neither WhoCrashed and BlueScreenView can point out a main cause for this. About an hour before this post, I got a similar BSOD. Searched, found other people with the same issue and noticed RAM was involved. Opened my PC, put my two sticks of RAM (4GBx2 = 8GB) into different slots. Started up again, ran fine for an hour, was installing a Windows Update, same BSOD.

It's getting to the point where I don't even want to run Windows Updates because that may trigger another crash. What makes this even more frustrating is that I can't pinpoint the source of the problem.

In the meantime, I'm ordering a brand new Western Digital 1TB HDD from Amazon and getting it shipped to me ASAP in case this is specifially an HDD issue because of how old it is. I expected issues with it at some point, and it's time for it to get replaced.

In any case, I'll report any further BSODs to this thread. I hope this forum will be able to help. My past searches from months back lead me here and you've managed to fix peoples' problems, so I trust this forum.

 

[Nitesco]

An update.

I left my PC on overnight to download any Windows Updates that it can. Waking up, I see the monitor has turned off, but neither mouse movement nor keyboard presses make my desktop show up. There was no HDD activity, and I used the reset button on my PC.

Boot into Windows 7, I now see the message:
"Failure configuring Windows updates
Reverting changes...
Do not turn off your computer."

This has been going for around 15 minutes now, with a lot of HDD activity.

EDIT:
2-3 hours later, I'm finally able to log on. Will continue reporting what happens.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hello Nitesco and welcome to 7 Forums!

Please run this Microsoft FixIt for the "Failure configuring Windows updates" error:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/949358

You can try this Hotfix as well:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/977178

The 0xF4 BugCheck might also be caused by memory, you have two sticks, that means you need to have one stick in slot #1 and the other in #3 or #2 and #4.

You can also run SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker up to three times to fix all errors with a restart in between each. Post back if it continues to show errors after a fourth run or if the first run comes back with no integrity violations.

I think this is enough for now.

Cheers, Boris

 

[Nitesco]

Hello Nitesco and welcome to 7 Forums!

Please run this Microsoft FixIt for the "Failure configuring Windows updates" error:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/949358

You can try this Hotfix as well:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/977178

The 0xF4 BugCheck might also be caused by memory, you have two sticks, that means you need to have one stick in slot #1 and the other in #3 or #2 and #4.

You can also run SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker up to three times to fix all errors with a restart in between each. Post back if it continues to show errors after a fourth run or if the first run comes back with no integrity violations.

I think this is enough for now.

Cheers, Boris

Hello, Boris. Thanks for the reply.

Minutes before you replied, I attempted to schedule a CHKDSK on this C: drive, but Windows Updates have gotten in the way. A stack of 171 post-fresh install updates are currently being installed before a shutdown. Dammit. I'll get around to those fixes afterwards, likely in a couple of hours. I'll also make three runs of the SFC afterwards and will report back with any results.

I should mention that both sticks of RAM were previously in slots #1 and #3. They are now in slots #2 and #4. But I can't imagine there's issues with them. The only time I had BSODs involving these were years ago, right after building this Custom PC. The RAM timings were wrong, I corrected them in the BIOS, there were no more BSODs involving the RAM and BSODs in general were very rare.

 

[Nitesco]

Checking in, following the 171 updates (which actually went without a hitch this time) and the CHKDSK for C (both options ticked, set to run after a restart).

All 5 stages of CHKDSK completed successfully this time, and the volume was reported as "Clean" afterwards.
(Phone camera shots, for obvious reasons)
View attachment 391673
View attachment 391674

Also, since logging back in, I've noticed HDD activity hasn't been as constant as before, and programs aren't running as sluggishly as when all this started. All of this, good signs, as far as stability goes.

Still, I'm now going to start 3-4 runs of SFC /SCANNOW with restarts after each, as per BorisTheAnimal's instructions. I'll edit this post with results afterwards.

EDIT: Good news. All 3 runs of SFC /SCANNOW came back with no integrity issues to report.
View attachment 391678
View attachment 391679
View attachment 391680

My replacement 1 TB HDD arrives tomorrow (thanks to a free Amazon Prime trial), so I'm going to do what I can with this for the moment, fresh install Windows 7 to that drive, and transfer files from this while it's a secondary drive.

 

[Nitesco]

Another update.

Since my last post, I started to slowly install more apps. The following issues occurred:
1. My C drive needed to be checked for consistency after downloading Windows Updates (another sign of this HDD being the main cause?).
2. GPU crashed, with a lot of messed up colors onscreen. Could be related, may need to reseat my GPU.
3. After installing the latest Logitech Gaming Software and f.lux, I restarted Windows 7 and got a BSOD without even getting a chance to log in.

Here's the dump. This one points to wfplwf.sys as the cause, with ntoskrnl.exe showing up again at the crash address this time. The latest BSOD is included with the older ones.
View attachment 391690

I think I'll run some more sessions of SFC /SCANNOW, restarts in between.

 

[Nitesco]

I've been running a fresh install of Windows 7 Home Premium this new 1TB Western Digital drive since it arrived Wednesday, and outside of Windows 7 updates just not installing for around all of yesterday and some of today (using WSUS Offline made it finally work properly again), I'm happy to report that I've got no more BSODs or issues to report. The old C: was the only system and boot drive on my PC (the other two were for documents, videos, games, etc.), so my suspicions about it being the source of these BSOD issues was correct.

Shame I had to format that old HDD, but it was being used well beyond the point of reason (the 'Power On' time on the drive was nearing 7 years), and while a lot of software was lost, that's replaceable. Many backups and all the fun stuff like Videos, Pictures, Movies and Games were on two other dedicated drives. Now I've got a better HDD for C:, which improves all system performance.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the help, BorisTheAnimal. It's appreciated.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Yeah sorry for not staying more active.

But I'm happy that you got it solved!