Hey folks, I'm in a bit of a bind with my PC and could really use your insights. I've tried just about every test I could do without special gear. Here's the rundown of what I've done so far:
- Stress tests
- Updated all drivers
- Ran 'chkdsk'
- Checked the health of my SSD and RAM using software
- Tested both with and without my dedicated GPU, using just the APU
- Performed multiple clean installs of Windows in various ways
The crux of the issue is that my PC runs perfectly for basic tasks like browsing, working, and watching videos. However, every time I try to play a game—even low-demand ones like Mullet Madjack and Blue Prince—I end up with a BSOD. The most common stop codes I've encountered are:
- `CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED` (BugcheckCode 239)
- `IN_PAGE_ERROR` (BugcheckCode 30)
- `UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION` (BugcheckCode 122)
Also, I'm not getting any crash dumps due to a volmgr error. Although these issues seem to point at my SSD, I tested it in another machine and it worked without a hitch. To top it off, my PC has started randomly waking from sleep mode, even when I don't touch anything. I'm running out of ideas here! Any thoughts or suggestions?
3 Answers
How did you test the SSD? I’m leaning towards the possibility that it might be defective. The tests you ran might not fully reflect the stress of actual gameplay, which can cause it to fail under load.
Do you happen to have a 13th or 14th gen Intel CPU? Those have been known to have some instability issues lately, but if you’ve got a Ryzen 5 3400G like you mentioned, it’s probably not the CPU.
Nope, just a Ryzen 5 3400G over here.
It sounds like you could use some crash dump files for a better analysis of the BSODs. If you can access Windows (or use Safe Mode), check the C:WindowsMinidump directory for any dump files. If you find some, zip them up and upload them to a file-sharing site (Catbox or MediaFire should work). We need multiple dump files to get a solid understanding of what's going wrong. Also, make sure you've set the dump type to Small Memory Dump by following a guide for Windows 10. That'll help with getting the necessary information!
I used Samsung Magician for health tests on my Samsung EVO 970, and then ran games on another PC. It crashed on mine within minutes, but ran fine for an hour on the other system.