My seven-year-old PC has a Ryzen 5 2600, RX 580 8GB, 32GB of 3000MHz RAM, a 224GB NVMe SSD, and a 2TB SATA SSD. I repeatedly get a WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR blue screen while playing demanding games such as Wuthering Waves and Genshin Impact. Reseating the RAM, graphics card, and CPU seems to help temporarily, but the crashes return. I have also tried several Command Prompt repairs and completely reinstalling the graphics drivers with DDU. Could the NVMe SSD be failing, and what can I use in Windows to check it? I also plan to reseat the SSD physically and would appreciate suggestions for diagnosing the rest of the hardware.
4 Answers
Try to determine whether Windows is producing minidump files. Check C:WindowsMinidump after a crash and copy any files somewhere safe. Those logs can help identify whether the failure is associated with the CPU, memory, storage, or graphics driver. If the folder stays empty, enable Small Memory Dump under the Startup and Recovery settings, then check again after the next blue screen.
You can check the SSD's basic health in Windows through Settings > System > Storage > Advanced storage settings > Disks & volumes, where supported drives may show health information. You can also run `chkdsk /scan` for the file system and inspect the drive's SMART data with a reputable disk-health utility. SMART showing 'good' does not completely rule out an intermittent drive, cable, slot, or power problem, so check Event Viewer for disk, stornvme, or WHEA errors as well. Reseating the NVMe drive is reasonable, but back up important files before more testing.
WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR usually points to a hardware or stability problem, so the graphics card is worth testing even if it came from a reputable store. Run a GPU stress test such as FurMark, and also run OCCT's GPU and VRAM tests. If the system crashes or reports errors during those tests, the card or its power delivery may be the culprit. Also check temperatures and make sure the GPU power connector is firmly seated.
It is not a questionable marketplace card; it was bought from a trusted local retailer and has been in this PC for years. I will still run the GPU and VRAM tests if the crashes continue.
Since the error appears under heavy load, test the system methodically instead of reseating parts repeatedly. Run a memory test, try the RAM at default speed rather than 3000 MHz, monitor CPU and GPU temperatures, and test the CPU, GPU, and storage separately. WHEA errors can come from unstable memory, an aging power supply, overheating, the motherboard, the processor, or the SSD—not just the SSD itself. Updating the motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers may also help, provided the update is done carefully.
I will collect the dump files if it crashes again. Reseating the SSD let me play for about ten minutes without a crash, but I need to test it longer.