BSOD

[PetSaw]

Hi, my PC has recently started suffering from the dreaded BSOD, I have completely re-installed windows 11 and ran a driver update and still the problem persists.

System specs are

Case	FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)	Intel® Core™ i9 Ten-Core Processor i9-10850K (3.6GHz) 20MB Cache
Motherboard	GIGABYTE B560M DS3H (rev. 1.0) : LGA1200, DDR4, USB 3.2
Memory (RAM)	16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card	6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 Ti - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive	1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive	250GB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 2300MB/W)
Power Supply	CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling	PCS FrostFlow 120 Series RGB High Performance Liquid Cooler
Thermal Paste	ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card	ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card	10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options	MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 64 Bit

 

[ubuysa]

Unfortunately I'm away from home until 25th and I'm only on my phone.

Most BSODs are driver related, so check for driver updates in Windows Update (you have to click on 'view optional updates').

If you're still having problems when I get home I'll get straight on it for you.

 

[Rakk]

and ran a driver update and still the problem persists.

When you say a driver update, was that just using Windows Update and/or the relevant manufacturers websites (eg NVidia) - or was it some 'tool' that claims it can sort out all your drivers for you.

If it was some 'tool' that claims it can sort out all your drivers for you, that may well be the cause of some of your issues and IMO should not be used

 

[PetSaw]

I have just checked windows update and I'm up to date with no optional updates available.
It was a driver tool I used to check before.

 

[Martinr36]

It was a driver tool I used to check before.

Using those is a big mistake, one of the quickest ways of getting a virus

 

[Rakk]

I would suggest doing the clean Windows install again and just using Windows update and the NVidia website for your driver updates ie. dont install the driver update tool

If the BSOD's still happen then it should be looked into further

 

[SimonPeters116]

Oh! 😲
I installed a driver update tool on this computer, when it was Win 7.
I didn't get round to reinstalling it when I put Win 10 on. A clean install on a new SSD.
They are that bad ??? I was just being lazy, and had it set to notify me about updated drivers, not to just go ahead and install. But I don't think I ever refused any updates

I know registry cleaners have a bad rep' as well, although CCCleaner had a decent enough rep', I don't know if it still does. That hasn't been installed either btw.
I've only had Win 10 on this computer for around 18 months. With a completely new build on the horizon which will have Win 11 installed, I haven't bothered with any of them. Plus, at the moment I'm home all the time, so have time to check for driver updates from the manufacturers websites anyway.

 

[Martinr36]

The only drivers that I've set up to check manufacturers websites are graphic drivers, windows can take care of everything else, generally, I work on the principal of "if it ain't broken don't fix it"

 

[SimonPeters116]

The only drivers that I've set up to check manufacturers websites are graphic drivers, windows can take care of everything else, generally, I work on the principal of "if it ain't broken don't fix it"

Ah, yes, but.
I've always checked manufacturers websites for updated drivers.
Windows has always had drivers for everything, but they were generic drivers. They'd be great for, for eg, MS keyboards. But if you've got a Logitech keyboard, none of the Logitech 'fancy stuff' would be reliable, if it worked at all. The basic keyboard would work fine, obviously. And it was like that across the board, for everything.
I only read in here, recently, that from Win 10 onwards, manufacturers have been supplying their own drivers to MS. Giving (selling?) their own software to an outside company (MS) ?? 😲

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ah, yes, but.
I've always checked manufacturers websites for updated drivers.
Windows has always had drivers for everything, but they were generic drivers. They'd be great for, for eg, MS keyboards. But if you've got a Logitech keyboard, none of the Logitech 'fancy stuff' would be reliable, if it worked at all. The basic keyboard would work fine, obviously. And it was like that across the board, for everything.
I only read in here, recently, that from Win 10 onwards, manufacturers have been supplying their own drivers to MS. Giving (selling?) their own software to an outside company (MS) ?? 😲

That's pre windows 10 windows.

Since windows 10, the windows driver catalogue is much more complete and will include most drivers, certainly for desktops.

But there's also a big difference between a driver and a software overlay. Windows doesn't include any software overlays at all.

They're not selling the software, Microsoft doesn't own it in any way, how it works is that a driver is packaged at the developers, and signed during packaging. This driver signing tool is supplied by Microsoft and verifies for any incompatibilities with windows. Once it's signed the developer uploads it to the Windows Update catalogue. But it's a sealed package, Microsoft don't get any glimpse of the code.

Publish a driver to Windows Update - Windows drivers

To publish a driver to Windows Update, create a hardware submission and follow these steps.

docs.microsoft.com

It's how almost every other OS has done it for decades now, Windows was very late to the party. I know this as I used to work for a software house and we published several drivers as part of our suite.

These "driver update" tools have always been snake oil, back in the XP days when they came about, they invariably downloaded the incorrect version as their databases are obviously incomplete (how on earth is it going to gather the countless billions of driver packages and versions that exist), this invariably caused system incompatibility and the only way around it is to clean install.

Since windows 10 though, they are actually an incorrect way of installing drivers.

At best they lead to stability issues and BSODS, at worst all they do is install viruses.

 

[SimonPeters116]

Ahaaa ! (<Has to be said in an Alan Partridge stylee).
So that's the way it works.

I've always intended to try a Linux OS, but never got a roundtuitt. I think that's partly because I could never decide on which package to go for. It's also partly because I'm too lazy, partly that I was never home for long, to learn how to use it, and probably a lot to do with Windows does the job and is familiar.

Thanks for the explanation