For about a week, my computer experienced seemingly random blue screens while gaming, sitting idle, launching games, or even booting into Windows. The crashes eventually corrupted the Windows installation, so I reinstalled it last Thursday. The system seemed stable for several days, but today it froze after I alt-tabbed out of a game. I could move the mouse, but clicking stopped working, and the computer eventually crashed.
I initially suspected AMD EXPO or PBO, but lowering their settings did not help. I have both enabled again on the fresh Windows installation, though I also tested with both completely disabled by resetting the BIOS to its defaults.
Windows never creates dump files after these crashes, usually reporting that it failed to create one. The latest crash showed 0x1E with STATUS_IN_PAGE_ERROR, preceded shortly by BugCheckProgress: 0x00040049. Since STATUS_IN_PAGE_ERROR is related to accessing the page file, I am wondering whether the SSD or another storage-related component is failing. What should I check next?
4 Answers
EXPO and PBO should be tested completely disabled, not merely set to a less aggressive value. Run the machine at BIOS defaults for a while and test the memory separately, since unstable RAM can also cause random crashes and filesystem corruption. If the crashes continue at defaults, storage, memory, power delivery, or the motherboard become more likely than an overclocking setting.
The lack of dump files makes the storage subsystem a strong suspect, especially with STATUS_IN_PAGE_ERROR. Windows uses the page file on the drive as extra memory, so an error reading from or writing to it can trigger this kind of crash. Check the drive's health, its connection, firmware, and available space. Also try another storage cable or motherboard slot if applicable.
Before focusing only on the drive, verify that Windows has enough room to create a dump. The system drive needs free space roughly equal to the amount of installed RAM plus several extra gigabytes. Make sure the page file is enabled and set to system managed rather than using a small fixed size. Drive encryption can also interfere with dump creation in some configurations.
Configure Windows to use Small Memory Dumps and check the Windows Minidump folder after the next crash. If it remains empty, collect the system event logs and the drive's SMART information instead. A system-information report containing hardware details, storage health, and recent errors may help identify whether the drive or its controller is reporting failures.
I already reset the BIOS to its default settings, which disabled both EXPO and PBO, but the crashes still happened on the earlier Windows installation.