Solved Random BSODs since August MS patches

[bohemiansonic89]

Hello,

up front, thank you for any help with this issue. I originally did not plan to create a post, hoping to solve the problem with information available on this forum, but after many days of trying and failing, I realized I am unable to resolve it without outside help.


PROBLEM 1 - PC is getting BSODs at random since August (possibly due to MS patches). = RESOLVED

The BSODs (incosistent and appearing at random) started from (approximately) the middle of August. Before then I experienced on average less than 1 BSOD per month. Based on information I found online this might have been a result of a faulty MS patch, MS14-045 (KB2982791).
The following temporary fix seemed to have solved the issue of BSODs (until last week that is):

1) Deleted fontcache C:\Windows\System32\FNTCACHE.DAT
2) Uninstalled Update KB2982791
3) Cleared C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
​

Sample list of BSODs:
STOP 0x0000001E
STOP 0x0000003B dxgmms1.sys
aswSnx.sys
atikmdag.sys
STOP 0x0000007E wdf01000.sys
STOP 0x00000019 BAD_POOL_HEADER​

PROBLEM 2 - Windows is not creating dump files. = RESOLVED

My last dmp file is from July. I did not do change anything since then but it seems that the system stopped generating dmp files around the time the August BSODs started.
I followed the instructions here and still nothing. I tried both options 1 (through Advanced System settings) and 3 (through cmd).

Virtual memory:
I tried different pagefile.sys settings; system managed size and custom size larger than installed RAM. Pagefile.sys currently at 16.6GB.
Services:
Windows Error Reporting Service is turned on and at Automatic.
Windows Management Instrumentation is Started and Automatic.
View attachment 340691
View attachment 340692


PROBLEM 3 - SFC /scannow not working.

I tried it in Win7 cmd, Safe Mode and in System Recovery:

1) Win7: it instantaneously (i.e. it did not even run) gave the following message:

"Beginning system scan. This process will take some time.
Beginning verification phase of system scan.
Verification 0% complete.
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations."​

2) Safe Mode: The same message as in 1) appeared.

3) System recovery via boot+F8: SFC /scannow /offwindir=c:\windows /offbootdir=c:\ gave a slightly different message this time:

"There is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. Restart Windows and run sfc again"​

Regardless of restarts, the message is always the same. According to some, this is because of C:\Windows\WinSxS\pending.xml.01ca7... and reboot.xml. I tried renaming/removing the pending.xml through cmd but it did not work. According to this post it is best to leave it alone, so I did.​

PROBLEM 4 - Windows Update not working properly.

Since the August update issue, I turned updates to manual download and install. Strangely, some downloads don't work, giving me a 80073712 error code, while others do.

View attachment 340694
View attachment 340693
View attachment 340695


Attempted BSOD resolutions:

Memory: Both Memtest68+ and Windows Memory Diagnostic.
GPU: Stress test in FurMark.
Graphics card driver: BSODs appeared even when running without AMD drivers.

Basically, I don't know if the BSODs are due to HW failure or SW issues. I did not experience any in Safe Mode and only 1 BSOD before OS start-up, so my guess would be it is SW/driver related.


End note:

I understand that without the mini-dumps it's much more difficult to help me, but from what I have described above, it seems that the problems are interlinked. Is it probable that solving one will resolve the other (e.g 4->3->2->1)? If so, what should I do next?

I also understand that a Repair Install might be considered the best solution at this point, but given that the BSODs occur at random and the installation is through the OS, I don't want to risk a BSOD mid-install.
Ideally, I would like to resolve this in any other way possible.

Again, thanks, at least for reading through the above

 

[Arc]

If you ran memtest86+ for at least 8 consecutive passes without any error, better you plan for a clean reinstall.

Repair install might not solve all the corners of your issue.

 

[bohemiansonic89]

Well, if I wanted to avoid a repair install, then I really want to avoid a clean reinstall. Regardless, thank you for the reply.

UPDATE: The good news is that, somehow, the system began generating dump files today, so based on the two that I have so far, I managed to attach per instructions the required zip.

Also, I did not run the memtest86+ 8 consecutive times (did it only 3 times), so I will do that now. What I did in the mean time though is remove one RAM module and for 6+ hours no BSOD, so maybe, it is the RAM.
I kind of hope it is the RAM, because that is a better solution than a clean install.
I'll post back once I have something to report.

 

[Arc]

The crash dumps are saying that there is a possibility of memory malfunctioning, but you should apply another keyboard there, at least as a test basis.

BugCheck 3B, {c0000005, fffff96000094eec, fffff88004145ba0, 0}

Probably caused by : win32k.sys ( win32k!MNLookUpItem+2c )

Followup: MachineOwner
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BugCheck 50, {fffff8a00815fce8, 0, fffff800041b1404, 2}


Could not read faulting driver name
Probably caused by : kbdclass.sys ( kbdclass!KeyboardClassGetWaitWakeEnableState+121 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

 

[bohemiansonic89]

Arc, thank you so much for helping out and SOLVING my problem!

The problem was my 2nd RAM module being faulty. I re-tested them, this time individually in slot 1, and while the first one passed (am running my system for approx. 2 weeks w/o a single BSOD), the second one failed as early as OS boot.
I feel kinda stupid for only running memtest 3 times, but lesson learned and problem fixed - both more important than my pride.

As for the issues with sfc /scannow and Win Update; these are not as critical, so I'll try to fix those when I have some free time. If I'll need help, I'll link to to the appropriate subforums.