I'm worried that my PC might be facing some serious corruption issues after the latest Windows update. I have two Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSDs and I've been having a nightmare since I tried to play Lies of P. During the game, my entire system crashed while it was still compiling shaders. Now, I can't even boot into Windows; it just keeps going into automatic repair mode. I've tried everything I could think of, like system restore, reinstalling Windows from a USB, running 'sfc /scannow' in Command Prompt, clearing the CMOS, and even enabling CSM in BIOS, but nothing seems to work. Just a few days ago, everything was perfectly fine. I can't figure out if the crash is really due to the Windows update or if it's related to the game. Has anyone else experienced this? Any thoughts on how I could fix it?
2 Answers
If you're hitting a wall with standard recovery methods, it might actually be your CPU that's the issue. Some Intel 13th and 14th gen processors have been known to have sudden failures because of unstable voltage or bad microcode. Intel did provide BIOS updates to help with this, but if your CPU has already been damaged, there’s not much that can be done. Just to give you an example, I had to get my i9-13900K replaced through Intel’s extended warranty after a similar incident. Hopefully, it’s not that case for you, but it’s worth considering if you can’t get back to normal operation.
To really get to the bottom of those BSODs, you’ll want to gather some dump files. These are your crash logs from when your PC blue screens. If you can get back into Windows or even into Safe Mode, look for them in the C:WindowsMinidump folder. Zip the files and upload them to a file-sharing site like catbox.moe. Having multiple dump files will really help with the analysis. If you're new to this, there's a guide for changing your dump settings to ensure you always get the small memory dumps you need for diagnosis. Let me know if you find any!
I managed to troubleshoot my PC too and can now boot into Windows. But it looks like I ended up with Windows installed on two different drives, and my old files for things like documents and downloads have disappeared. I tried running 'sfc /scannow' again, but I keep getting error 0x800f081f. My CPU seems fine since the system's stable now; my BIOS is also up to date.