Hey everyone! I'm having a really frustrating issue with my PC. It started crashing with a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) every 5 minutes just this week. Before that, my motherboard was showing red lights, so I called Cyberpower's customer support, but they weren't helpful at all. I opened up my PC, reseated the RAM sticks, and made sure all cables were connected properly. The red lights went away, but now the constant crashes are driving me nuts. I tried using WinDbg to read the dump files since I thought it might help, but I could use some guidance. Also, I thought I had a restore point set up, but it turns out I didn't. I really need my PC for school work, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I've uploaded some dump files for anyone willing to take a look at them: [Dump File 1](https://files.catbox.moe/czn241.7z), [Dump File 2](https://files.catbox.moe/3zcylr.7z). Oh, and for some reason, the PC restarts itself when I try to shut it down, instead of actually turning off. Thanks!
4 Answers
To get to the bottom of those BSOD issues, make sure you have the dump files ready for analysis. If your PC boots up normally, check the folder C:WindowsMinidump for any dump files. If you have any, copy that folder to your desktop, zip it up, and upload it somewhere like catbox.moe since some sharing sites get blocked on Reddit. It’s best to analyze multiple dump files, so if you don’t have enough, follow a guide to set your dump type to Small Memory Dump. That way, new dumps won’t overwrite older ones!
From what you've shared, it seems like you're dealing with a DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE that’s related to AHCI and ACPI. If you have an SSD, make sure everything is properly connected. You can also check the drivers and see if they need updates. Just a heads up: it might not be a thermal issue as you initially thought.
If you're still getting the BSOD despite checking the drivers, make sure to check your power settings and BIOS configurations. Some settings might be conflicting with your drives. You may also want to reset them to default to see if that stabilizes things.
Have you tried using WhoCrashed? The free edition can help you interpret those dump files. It’s a bit user-friendly compared to WinDbg. If it points to a driver or thermal issue, that's something to investigate. You mentioned your fans—I’d keep an eye on them, especially since you noticed they aren’t revving up like before. It could help identify if overheating is a problem.
Is WhoCrashed similar to WinDbg? I opened the dump files with WinDbg but couldn’t really make sense of it.
Yeah, it's simpler than WinDbg. It usually gives clearer explanations. Let me know what it says!
I actually have two NVMe drives—not SATA. That might change things, right?