BSODs intermittently resulting in No Boot

Hi

I've got a homebuilt PC (spec thus)

* Gigabyte AUROS Elite B550, rev F17 BIOS

* AMD Ryzen 5800X3D

* 32 GB Corsair DDR4-3200

* Corsair TX750M PSU

* Palit GeForce RTX 4080 

* Corsair Force MP600 x 2 nVME4, 1TB SSDs

Recently (last week or so), I've been getting intermittent hangs, with BSOD, the symptoms are a bit weird - for example this morning, I was browsing using Chrome, the tab just stopped responding, and then everything just gradually hung up, until the computer restarted, then the BIOS doesn't recognise the boot HDD.  Hard power off and on = back up and running, it's been stable now for about 3 hours.  This has happened about 3-4 times.

Corsair SSD diagnostics says "OK" for SMART info on the SSDs but appreciate these can be little use

I've no idea where to start in diagnosing this.  Event Viewer showing volmgr 161 + kernel 41 but little else!

Any help appreciated

(EDIT: I don't get core dumps, setting is on - perhaps because the drive / controller can't write it...)

(EDIT: Just flashed to F17 BIOS on the MoBo...)

Edited by mpax, 15 March 2024 - 08:27 AM.

HI, Welcome to BC.

Please follow the posting instructions you must have missed regardless if dump files or not : https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/576314/blue-screen-of-death-bsod-posting-instructions-windows-vista-through-to-11/  Thanks.

You're right that a bad system drive will stop dumps being written. At the time of the BSOD the dump is written to the pagefile, on the next boot the dump in the pagefile is copied into a standard disk file.

The BIOS not recognising the boot MVMe drive sometimes is also a big clue. It does look as though the system drive warrants further investigation, even without any additional information. M.2 drives can be funny if they're not seated properly. I've seen several niggly issues that were resolved by removing and re-seating an M.2 drive, so I would give that a try first.

You might also look for a firmware update for both drives via the Corsair SSD Toolbox utility. Select 'Storage' in the search box and you'll see the toolbox download link. Post a screenshot of the SMART data from there also.

If not the direct cause it won`t be helping and will 100% be damaging the GPU, the PSU is too weak and is in fact 100W below that recommended by Palit here

 

* Corsair TX750M PSU

 

* Palit GeForce RTX 4080 

 

 

If not the direct cause it won`t be helping and will 100% be damaging the GPU, the PSU is too weak and is in fact 100W below that recommended by Palit here

 

Will it? Why? The system hasn't ever pulled more than 580W when I'm gaming. That's still a ~30% headroom.

You're right that a bad system drive will stop dumps being written. At the time of the BSOD the dump is written to the pagefile, on the next boot the dump in the pagefile is copied into a standard disk file.

 

The BIOS not recognising the boot MVMe drive sometimes is also a big clue. It does look as though the system drive warrants further investigation, even without any additional information. M.2 drives can be funny if they're not seated properly. I've seen several niggly issues that were resolved by removing and re-seating an M.2 drive, so I would give that a try first.

 

You might also look for a firmware update for both drives via the Corsair SSD Toolbox utility. Select 'Storage' in the search box and you'll see the toolbox download link. Post a screenshot of the SMART data from there also.

Thanks.  Both of the drives are up to date. 

Could be a coincidence, but since I updated the BIOS on the B550 to F17, and the NVIDIA drivers, I've not had a single problem.  (Cue a BSOD now I've typed that, no doubt  ) 

Fingers crossed then!

AMD systems do benefit from BIOS updates because the AMD specific AGESA microcode is shipped in BIOS updates. Generally you need to keep the AGESA microcode updated.

 

 

* Corsair TX750M PSU

 

* Palit GeForce RTX 4080 

 

 

If not the direct cause it won`t be helping and will 100% be damaging the GPU, the PSU is too weak and is in fact 100W below that recommended by Palit here

 

 

Will it? Why? The system hasn't ever pulled more than 580W when I'm gaming. That's still a ~30% headroom.

 

Palit recommend an 850W PSU for each version of their GPU, you can confirm this for yourself here this means that even a limited spec PC needs an 850W PSU as a minimum, add more hardware such as additional storage devices and screen and you should match the PSU output accordingly.

Remember, it is the GPU manufacturer that is expected to honour any warranty should the card fail because it was underpowered, not a PSU calculator or some faceless person on the internet that says that it is okay to ignore any minimum PSU requirements specified by the GPU manufacturer. 

Edited by PhillPower2, 19 March 2024 - 12:13 PM.

Finally packed up.  Reseated it, no dice.

Fortunately under warranty so I will get a replacement.

Great idea.

Let us know how that turns out.