I'm at my wits' end with intermittent blue screens that happen only while gaming. They occur randomly—some days not at all, while other days they happen repeatedly. Warzone triggers them most often, but I've also seen crashes in Palworld and RuneScape: Dragonwilds.
The main stop codes are KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (0x1E), CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED (0xEF), and STATUS_SYSTEM_PROCESS_TERMINATED (0xC000021A).
I've already reseated the CPU, RAM, GPU, storage, and cables; tested the memory with MemTest; run lengthy stress tests; checked SSD health; reinstalled GPU drivers with DDU; updated drivers, chipset software, BIOS, and firmware; run DISM and SFC; moved games and the page file between drives; removed and recreated the page file; upgraded the CPU to a Ryzen 9 5950X; changed the cooler; added NVMe heatsinks; disabled Discord hardware acceleration; disabled Fast Startup; checked temperatures; upgraded the system NVMe drive; and tried different M.2 slots. Nothing has solved it.
My system has a Ryzen 9 5950X, MSI X570 Tomahawk, 32 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200, RTX 3080 Founders Edition, Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB NVMe, and Windows 11 Pro. I have crash dump files available for analysis. What hardware or configuration should I investigate next?
2 Answers
Storage-related crashes can also happen when an installation was cloned or became corrupted, even after changing drives. If possible, perform a genuinely clean Windows installation on the replacement NVMe rather than restoring a clone, then test with only essential drivers and one game installed. Also check Windows logs for hardware or CPU-related errors. Ryzen 5000 systems can sometimes show odd instability from voltage or motherboard settings, even when temperatures and ordinary stress tests look normal.
The dump errors point strongly toward a storage or system-drive problem, especially STATUS_IN_PAGE_ERROR (0xC0000006). Back up important files first, since a failing drive or its connection can cause several different stop codes. Since you already replaced the system NVMe and the crashes continued, I’d investigate the motherboard’s M.2 connectivity, power delivery, and the Windows installation itself rather than assuming the replacement drive is bad.
I replaced the system drive and the same crashes continued, so I’m starting to suspect the slot, motherboard, or another component connected to the storage path.
The key distinction is whether Windows was freshly installed on the new drive or cloned from the old one. A corrupted installation could carry the problem forward, while CPU or motherboard hardware errors may appear separately in the event logs.