My system is stuck in a boot loop. Windows crashes with a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT blue screen before it can initialize the built-in repair tools, and no new dump files are being created; the minidumps and memory.dmp are all from before this problem began.
MemTest completed with zero errors, and removing either RAM stick individually did not change the behavior. I have a bootable Windows installation USB and want to know what repair or diagnostic steps I can run from it.
Hardware: Gigabyte X299 UD4 Pro motherboard, BIOS recently updated directly from F3 to F10d, Intel Core i7-9800X, 2×8 GB Corsair 3100 MHz RAM, and an NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti. XMP is not enabled, and the RAM is currently running below its rated speed.
2 Answers
Boot from the Windows USB and use its recovery environment rather than trying to start the installed copy. You can check the Windows partition with CHKDSK, then run offline system-file repairs such as SFC and DISM. Also try uninstalling the latest quality or feature update from the recovery menu if the problem started after an update.
Since the BIOS was just updated, load optimized defaults and leave XMP disabled for testing. If the issue began immediately after the firmware update, compare the available BIOS versions or roll back to a known-stable release if the board supports that safely.
A live operating system is a useful way to separate a Windows installation problem from a hardware problem. Boot a Windows-based recovery environment or a Linux live USB, preferably with the internal drive temporarily disconnected if needed. If the live environment also crashes, suspect hardware such as the CPU, motherboard, graphics card, or power supply. If it runs reliably, the problem is more likely limited to the original Windows installation, its boot files, or the drive containing it.
A separate Windows installation on another disk runs fine, so the hardware appears stable during normal use. I’ll still test with a live environment to narrow it down further.
I tested the installation USB and installed Windows 10 on another drive. That installation runs normally, and I can browse the original drives without problems. XMP is already disabled, and enabling the default profile did not help.