Random restarts

[ubuysa]

I've spent the morning going a bit deeper into your recent dump and the failing driver is definitely the graphics driver (nvlddmkm.sys - the Nvidia graphics driver). There is one point in the stack trace where an element of the driver fails to load...

fffff882`19bae3f8  fffff802`171f7709 Unable to load image \SystemRoot\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_edab19158bdd0d0a\nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
nvlddmkm+0x207709

...so this dump is certainly a failure of the NVidia driver or the graphics card itself.

I looked back at the other two dumps as well and did a deeper analysis of those as well. Neither are as conclusive as this one but the KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE dump has entries from HAL - the Hardware Abstraction Layer, which is the interface between Windows and the hardware - immediately prior to the bug check. That also makes me think you may have a graphics card issue rather than a driver issue.

I think even more now that it's time to call PCS. You can try asking them to swap the graphics card since that seems the most likely cause, it would be cheaper and easier for you and PCS to swap the card rather you have to RMA it. They can only say no.

 

[agoodall]

Thank UBUYSA that's certainly way above and beyond!

I'll contact them today and see what they say.

 

[agoodall]

I've just had another restart, this time it generated a minidump - I've uploaded it into onedrive again - is there any chance you could have a look at this one UBUYSA? The MEMORY.DMP has also been updated if you get chance! More evidence the better for PCS.

 

[ubuysa]

I've just had another restart, this time it generated a minidump - I've uploaded it into onedrive again - is there any chance you could have a look at this one UBUYSA? The MEMORY.DMP has also been updated if you get chance! More evidence the better for PCS.

Will do...

The minidump is interesting! It's a failure in a driver called edrsensor.sys....

fffffe0f`54484038  fffff803`15001638 Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\edrsensor.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for edrsensor.sys

...and edrsensor.sys is part of the BitDefender antimalware product. I didn't realise you were running a third party antimalware product, so the first thing I'd suggest is that you uninstall that fully (it may have it's own dedicated uninstall tool - antimalware tools can be difficult to remove) and reboot. Use Windows Defender and firewall in the meantime (IMO they're better tools). Third party antimalware tools can cause all sorts of issues and it's important that you test the system without it to be sure.

In addition, the failing process (the process in control at the time of the BSOD) was RazorCortex.exe, the Razor game booster tool. I have no idea how that works or what it does but it's not impossible it's contributing to the issues as well.

The actual module calling the edrsensor.sys driver was npfs.sys, this is the Windows named pipe file system. It's used to pipe data from one module to another and I don't think this is related to the problem.

With intermittent and niggly problems like this you really want as vanilla a system as you can work with, so ideally you want a clean install, the latest drivers, and then the absolute minimum of other software that will enable you to test it.

I'm still downloading the kernel dump....

The full kernel dump (memory.dmp) is a failure in the Nvidia driver again (nvlddmkm.sys)....

fffffe0f`5447f898  fffff803`2b0e7709 Unable to load image \SystemRoot\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nv_dispi.inf_amd64_edab19158bdd0d0a\nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
 nvlddmkm+0x207709

...the process in control was (again) RazorCortex.exe and the module was (again) npfs.sys. This dump is almost identical to the last kernel dump but with a different process in control (RazorCortex.exe this time and dwm.exe last time) and the common denominator in both is the graphics driver.

I generally don't believe in coincidences so two different faults on the same PC is unlikely but I don't understand how the BitDefender BSOD in the minidump (or the Epson printer driver BSOD earlier) are related to the graphics driver?

Before phoning PCS I really do think you need to ensure that none of the third party software you have is contributing to your problems. It's vital before suspecting a hardware problem to eliminate all possible software causes, so it would be better if you did another fully clean install of Windows (deleting existing system partitions), allowed Windows Update to install all drivers, and then install the latest Nvidia driver. That will give you a pristine OS, so try to install the absolute minimum of other software - you want to be able to stress it, especially graphically, but with the minimum additional software - and definitely no BitDefender, no RazorCortex, and no Epson printer! Don't make any configuration options you can live without for a while either - keep it as vanilla as you can.

If it BSODs in the most pristine state you can achieve (which is minimal additional software) it's extremely likely to be hardware. If it does BSOD of course upload the dump.

 

[agoodall]

That’s interesting thank you, bitdefender i only installed a few days ago, the windows defender stopped working and I couldn’t reactivate it for some reason, I’ll have to look deeper into that and why. I can do without razor for now so I’ll uninstall that and see how I get on.

thanks for the help I’ll let you know if it resets agin

 

[ubuysa]

That’s interesting thank you, bitdefender i only installed a few days ago, the windows defender stopped working and I couldn’t reactivate it for some reason, I’ll have to look deeper into that and why. I can do without razor for now so I’ll uninstall that and see how I get on.

Now that should ring alarm bells. Whenever anything in Windows stops working properly (or at all) there's a problem that needs investigating. It's not wise to just ignore it and fined a way around the inconvenience.

thanks for the help I’ll let you know if it resets agin

Do please do another clean install as I suggested. Given the Defender issue you can have no confidence that your problems aren't software related.

 

[ubuysa]

@ubuysa Just for information (though it could be contributing): Razor Cortex basically kills background processes apps to free up system resources for whatever game you happen to be playing.

" Razer Cortex: Game Booster improves your PC performance by managing and killing processes and apps you don’t need while gaming (like business apps and background helpers). This frees up valuable resources and RAM needed for games, resulting in higher frames per second and smoother gaming performance. "

Thanks for this @Nursemorph, much appreciated. I wonder which processes it kills? Nothing serious I'm sure (at least I hope not).

Definitely need to uninstall it (or at least turn it off) when troueshooting then.

 

[agoodall]

Hi again, PCS have agreed to try a swap of the graphics cards so that's coming next week. Had a few days without resets which was nice, but have had a couple in the last few days. I still think this is potentially a software issue - there is a new minidump in my onedrive above for the latest crash if anyone (UBUYSA!?) would mind taking a look. I'm trying to work up the courage to completely reinstall windows but it's such a FAFF! Thanks in advance. The latest crash the computer was idle - downloading MS Flight simulator... (HDD issue?)

And yes, should have replied earlier - the Razer software is a booster so shuts down some background apps etc when a game might need any extra power or memory etc.

 

[ubuysa]

Where is the dump?

If you think it's software then clean installing Windows is a critical troubleshooting step I'm afraid.

 

[agoodall]

I know - I did try a rest of windows before and it didn't really help though.

Interestingly - another restart whilst downloading/installing MS Flight sim. Issue with the D drive perhaps? No updated minidump this time however

 

[ubuysa]

I know - I did try a rest of windows before and it didn't really help though.

Interestingly - another restart whilst downloading/installing MS Flight sim. Issue with the D drive perhaps? No updated minidump this time however

Please let me have whatever new dumps you have.

Windows Reset isn't good enough, it needs to be a fully clean install from bootable media deleting all existing system partitions. Run Windows Update repeatedly after install to install updates and drivers, then install the latest graphics driver manually. Don't install any other software or make any config changes and see whether it fails in that pristine state.

 

[agoodall]

Thanks UBUYSA, looks like that's what I'll be doing this weekend then

This is the link to the onedrive where the mindumps are stored - its the 082220 file (from today)

minidump

Folder

1drv.ms

 

[ubuysa]

You might want to go into Control Panel > System > Advanced Settings > Advanced tab > Startup & Recovery and uncheck the Automatically Restart checkbox. That way when it fails it will halt and not restart.

Also check that the dump type is set to Automatic to get the most complete and useful dump.

 

[agoodall]

I’ve bitten the bullet and currently doing a complete fresh reinstall of windows. I’ll make sure those settings are correct for when it’s completed. Nothing better to do on a Saturday night.... 🙄

 

[agoodall]

Right Windows has had a clean install - nothing else loaded except firefox and the latest graphics drives and all windows updates. Can't find the settings you were talking about UBUYSA, there is no advanced setting once in system...?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Right Windows has had a clean install - nothing else loaded except firefox and the latest graphics drives and all windows updates. Can't find the settings you were talking about UBUYSA, there is no advanced setting once in system...?

It's in control panel, not the normal settings:

 

[ubuysa]

Right Windows has had a clean install - nothing else loaded except firefox and the latest graphics drives and all windows updates. Can't find the settings you were talking about UBUYSA, there is no advanced setting once in system...?

As above; Control Panel > System, and Advanced System Settings is on the left. That opens another window and in the Startup & Recovery section click the Settings button. That opens yet another window and that's where you'll find the dump details and the checkbox. I think it's better when a BSOD happens to have the system halt, auto restarting has always seemed like a bad idea to me.....


Now to your dump. It's a failure in the dxgkrnl.sys driver, that's the DirtectX kernel. The stack trace shows that the driver tried to take a page fault and in kernel mode they're not allowed to do that. Typically that generates the classic IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL stop code, in this case it's the PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA stop code because this page fault was in an area of RAM specifically prohibited from paging. The cause is the same though - an attempt to access a page of memory that's not in RAM. Ordinarily that would be a driver error - and especially if the driver were a third party driver - but dxgkrnl.sys is a Microsoft driver which makes this kind of error much less likely.

Lets see how things go now that you have a clean WIndows and driver platform, do try not to install anything else because the more third party software you install the more you risk polluting the pristine system you have now. You want to make it fail if you can in that pristine state - if it does then it's likely hardware.

If it won't fail then install a game or some other software that typically makes it fail and drive the PC hard with that - try to keep it to just one game or one extra bit of software though - we want to avoid reinstalling the problem. If it still doesn't fail then it's likely it was a software error in Windows and the problem is solved.

All of the dumps I've seen of yours are graphics related, so if it does still BSOD then swapping the graphics card is a very wise move. It's possible the the card is not responding properly to driver instructions or is not properly filling driver data areas in RAM.

 

[agoodall]

Just a quick update to this thread - fresh clean install of Windows, PCS also sent a new gfx card just in case (great service from them btw). All seems stable for now - using Windows antivirus and very few 3rd party apps - mainly office/steam/battle.net/onedrive/nvidia/plex. Had an issue with Razer and gamemanagerservice so have uninstalled those. Reliability seems SO much better. Will leave it another couple of weeks and then try the odd 3rd party app as and when required.

Still not sure if it was gfx card or windows related (suspect the latter) but all good for now. Thanks for all those who helped!