I was editing music metadata with MP3Tag, and shortly afterward the folder containing the songs became extremely slow. The laptop eventually showed a black screen and required a hard shutdown. After rebooting, Windows reported that I had been signed out of its cloud service, and the system has remained near 99% CPU usage.
I tried resetting Windows through Settings and reinstalling it from a USB installer created with Media Creation Tool, but the laptop crashes both after booting into Windows and during setup. The blue-screen errors include KERNEL_AUTO_BOOST_INVALID_LOCK_RELEASE and KERNEL_APC_PENDING_DURING_EXIT.
The laptop is an ASUS TUF Gaming A15 FA507NVR with a mobile RTX 4060 and AMD Ryzen 7 7435HS. It has also had startup problems for over a year: it starts normally when hot, but when room-temperature it may take several crashes before booting. What hardware or software problem could cause this, and what should I test first?
2 Answers
Since the crashes also happen from the USB installer, this probably is not caused by MP3Tag or a normal Windows installation problem. That points more toward failing hardware, especially RAM, the SSD, motherboard power circuitry, or overheating-related damage. Run a memory test from a bootable diagnostic tool, check the SSD's health, and inspect CPU temperatures and cooling. Also disconnect any unnecessary peripherals and test with only one RAM module if the laptop allows it. The long-standing pattern of failing when cold but booting after repeated crashes is particularly concerning for a hardware fault, so a repair shop may need to diagnose the board.
Before attempting another reinstall, back up anything important and check whether the CPU usage is caused by a specific process in Task Manager. If the usage remains high in Safe Mode or from a clean installer, software is very unlikely to be responsible. Run the manufacturer's hardware diagnostics and test the memory and storage independently. Repeated blue screens during Windows Setup mean the installer itself is probably not the root cause; replacing the faulty component may be necessary.
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