I've been dealing with a frustrating BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) issue on my Dell Latitude for over two years now. The error message I keep getting is 'Critical Process Died,' which usually happens at startup. The weird part is, although the laptop won't boot properly, it seems to run fine after a reboot. I've reset Windows a few times, and it works okay for a couple of months before the BSOD strikes again. I've really tried everything to pinpoint the problem: the SSD health is reading at 99% via CrystalDiskInfo, I've run SFC, DISM, and CHKDSK C:, along with Dell's support diagnostics and BIOS checks, following pretty much all the suggestions I could find online. Now I've noticed that running CHKDSK D: /r triggers the 'Critical Process Died' BSOD consistently. Is there a chance the SSD has been the issue all along? I'd really prefer not to replace it unless I can confirm it's failed.
2 Answers
To really diagnose the BSOD issues, it's essential to get your dump files. These files act as crash logs for the BSODs. If you can boot into Windows normally or even Safe Mode, check in C:WindowsMinidump for any dump files. If you find them, zip the folder and upload it to a reliable file-sharing site like Catbox or MediaFire. Having multiple dump files would be ideal for a comprehensive analysis. If you don’t have any, you might want to configure your system to create small memory dumps as suggested in this guide.
Have you tried using the built-in diagnostics on your Dell? Most Dell laptops can be checked by hitting F12 at startup, which lets you run diagnostics. It's worth checking if it shows any issues with the hardware, as that can give you a clearer idea of what's happening.
Yes, I have tried the F12 diagnostics, and everything passed without any issues every time.