I'm facing a really frustrating issue with my PC. Every time I try to install games from any client—be it Steam, Epic, or GOG—I get a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) that says 'critical process died.' The odd thing is, it only happens about once every two boots. After the crash, everything seems fine for a while until the next attempt. I've already tried switching my RAM, and I set the power options to performance mode, but nothing works. I've also checked for minidump files, but there are none despite having that option enabled. Does anyone have any suggestions or solutions?
2 Answers
Have you checked the Reliability Monitor? Sometimes it shows events related to BSODs, but it might not always catch every crash. If there's nothing there when you check, at least you know it’s not just a hidden error. Keep an eye on it, and let us know if anything pops up!
To get to the bottom of this, we need those crash dump files. When you can access Windows, check the C:WindowsMinidump folder for any dump files from your BSOD. If they're there, zip them up and upload them to a file-sharing site. If you're short on dump files, follow this guide to change your settings to create Small Memory Dumps. It’s crucial for accurate analysis of the crashes.
I checked, and I did manage to see the code this time—it's definitely the critical process died error.