I leave my computer running for long stretches because it also acts as a plex server. I turned my monitor on last night to open steam, and the window didn’t render in; I didn’t think much of it, but before I could restart my PC, I got a “memory management” BSOD. I turned off XMP, as well as taking out each RAM stick, but I continued to get BSODs. Either “memory management” or “critical process error”. Some other things I’ve attempted:

I can’t reset the PC; when I try, I’m told “there was a problem resetting your PC”.

I can’t use a system restore point; that also fails.

When I open the terminal and run

sfc /scannow

it finds and fixes corrupt system files every single time (I’ve attempted 3 times now), but I still get a “critical process error” BSOD.

I attempted running

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

before “sfc” but this got an error 87 and didn’t work.

When I turn on the PC, my lights for DRAM and VGA stay lit up for maybe 5-10 seconds, but turn off while I’m in BIOS or the windows startup repair screen (and my monitor is plugged into the graphics card; my CPU can’t do display out).

I’m at a bit of a loss here. My next guess would be to attempt to reinstall windows, but I don’t have another windows PC handy to create bootable media, so I’m hoping I have a thumb drive laying around with an ISO on it, or I’ll need to wait to get one from a friend.

Also, in the event that reinstalling windows is the fix, should I disconnect the drives holding my plex media beforehand? Wouldn’t want to risk them getting wiped

An update: I have a drive with installation media for Windows 10 laying around, but when I got to the point where it was installing files on my boot drive, partway through it said it didn’t have the required files and cancelled.

THE FIX: Turns out it was an issue with my RAM. I plugged in a thumb drive containing memtest, and after running the test received a ton of errors. Swapping in a new RAM kit seems to have totally resolved my issues. The PC boots up perfectly fine now

  • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 months ago

    Fwiw, this wasn’t in windows but the problem was a little similar, I once debugged a hardware problem for weeks until I finally found out that the cpu had crapped out for some reason. I managed to have it swapped on warranty and all was well.

    I’d even changed the motherboard (and ram, and psu) at one point and was running out of ideas, the cpu was the last possibility.

    Just to say that it can be many things.

    But the ram is definitely the usual culprit.

    • DonnieDarkmode@lemm.eeOP
      1·
      2 months ago

      Here’s hoping it’s RAM (memtest seems to suggest so); thankfully DDR4 is probably as cheap as it will ever be right now

      • comador @lemmy.world
        2·
        2 months ago

        Suggestion: Look up the mobo and download the tested memory modules for it. In there you’ll find part numbers compatible with the mobo that you can shop for online.