I've been dealing with nearly daily blue-screen crashes for the past two or three years, sometimes more than twice in one day. They most often happen while watching YouTube or when the computer is idle on the desktop in Brave. Before some crashes, the audio loops and becomes distorted, and I've occasionally seen black boxes appear on the screen.
My system uses a Ryzen 5 3600, an ASRock B550M Steel Legend motherboard, 2x8GB Patriot Viper DDR4-3200 memory, a Gigabyte GTX 1660 Super Mini ITX OC, and Windows 11 24H2. The crashes often report IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and point to ntoskrnl.exe.
The computer is about six years old. I've reinstalled Windows several times, and both Windows Memory Diagnostic and sfc /scannow reported no problems. I also collected the five most recent minidump files for analysis. The only BIOS-related change I've knowingly made is enabling XMP 2 for the memory. What hardware or settings should I investigate first?
1 Answer
The dumps appear to point more toward a memory-related problem than a specific Windows component. That doesn't necessarily mean the RAM itself is bad—the issue could also involve the CPU's integrated memory controller or memory settings. Storage is less likely because the dumps don't consistently implicate storage devices or their drivers.
First, disable XMP and any overclocking or undervolting, including Precision Boost Overdrive, then see whether the crashes continue. XMP technically runs the memory outside the platform's default settings, so it can expose instability. You can also test each RAM stick separately: run the system with one module installed, then swap to the other. If only one module causes crashes, that points to faulty RAM. If both modules crash independently, the CPU's memory controller or the motherboard becomes more suspicious.
Memory tests can miss intermittent DDR4 problems, so testing the system during normal use with conservative settings is useful. The motherboard BIOS also appears fairly old, and an update may improve compatibility, although a BIOS update carries some risk if power is lost or the process fails.
The only BIOS change I've made is enabling XMP 2. I'll disable it and test each memory stick separately to see whether the crashes stop.