I'm having a frustrating issue with my PC that won't boot into Windows. Even during the installation, it crashes and gives me random Blue Screens of Death (BSODs). Here are my specs: an i7-13700K CPU, MSI B760 Gaming Plus WiFi motherboard, Corsair DDR5 6000 RAM (which I'm running at 4800 with XMP off), a Samsung 990 Pro NVMe SSD, and an RTX 4070 Ti (currently not installed). I just installed a new MSI A850G PSU as well.
The PC powers on fine and the BIOS seems stable, but whenever I try to boot Windows or install it from a USB, I encounter various BSOD errors such as KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION, CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED, and SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED. These errors pop up during installation, at first boot, or right after I see the desktop.
I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting already, including:
- Installing a new PSU
- Replacing the RAM kit
- Trying with just one RAM stick
- Disabling XMP
- Resetting BIOS to defaults
- Turning off fast boot
- Recreating my Windows USB multiple times
- Using different USB ports
- Booting without the GPU installed
- Reseating the SSD (I initially missed removing plastic from its heatsink)
The PC worked without issues for about a year before these random BSODs started, and the problems have progressively worsened. Now I suspect it could be related to the CPU memory controller, the motherboard, or NVMe instability. Has anyone else dealt with similar issues using this setup? Any insights or steps I should take next would be greatly appreciated.
2 Answers
Have you checked what version your BIOS is on? Sometimes stability issues can arise from outdated BIOS versions, especially if you've got the latest Intel chips. MSI released stability updates for the B760 boards, and if yours is on an older version, it could be causing the problems you're seeing. You might want to update your BIOS to the latest version available and see if that changes anything. There have been instances where bad BIOS revisions have led to CPU issues as well.
It might also be worth checking if your computer was ever a dual-boot system or if you had a different bootloader like GRUB installed. Sometimes remnants of those can interfere with Windows installations. If that's not the case, though, then I’d focus on the components you've mentioned. Just a thought!
Nope, I built it myself and have only used Windows 11.
I'm currently on E7C98IMS.HC0, built on 08/06/2025. Is that considered up to date?