Hey everyone! I recently built a new PC and I've been running into some frustrating Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issues, occurring about once or twice a day. I haven't been able to pinpoint what might be causing them. I've reinstalled Windows twice already—first because I suspected driver issues, and the second time was just today due to problems accessing safe mode. I encountered the error code 0xc0000098 related to 'winload.efi' during these attempts.
From the minidump data I've examined (albeit without much understanding), I've tried several troubleshooting steps:
- Updated the BIOS
- Tested the system with XMP enabled and disabled
- Uninstalled Vanguard software (which was linked to some BSOD instances)
- Reseated my RAM and ran Memtest86 with no errors
- Conducted stress tests on both the CPU and GPU using Furmark
- Swapped between two different power supplies
- Ran SFC and CHKDSK checks
- Reset BIOS settings to defaults, avoiding any overclocking for now.
I've waited after each change to see if it stops the crashes, but nothing seems to help. I lost the initial minidumps after the first Windows reinstall, but I uploaded the latest ones online.
Here's a quick overview of my specs:
- OS: Windows 11 Pro
- Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M D3HP
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
- RAM: Kingston KF556C16BB/16 5600MHz 16GB
- SSD: KINGSTON SNV3S1000G
I'm running out of ideas here, so any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
1 Answer
It sounds like you've done a solid amount of troubleshooting already! Those BSOD error codes can be tricky. The winload.efi error often indicates a bad Windows installation. If you haven't done so, try a clean install of Windows using a USB stick booted from the BIOS. Since you've had issues with Kingston drives in the past, it might also be worth checking if your SSD could be failing. You could try swapping it out for another if you have access to one.
I've reinstalled Windows twice, but I'll definitely give that USB approach another go. The SSD seems fine on another system, but I might try a different one just to rule that out.