So my laptop BSOD recently, do I need to be concerned?

[Caveman0407]

It's not a new one, but certainly not old. It's about 2 years old now, an Asus ROG STRIX G15 2021 (though bought at 2022). It has a Ryzen 7 5800H, RTX 3050Ti, 16GB DDR4 3200MHz with a Windows 11 64 bit (it has been re-installed but it was to solve another issue 2 years ago)

 

As for the BSOD itself, it restarted too quickly for me to capture it on cam but it happened right after a game of Valorant. Valorant has been causing a few issues, 1 in every 7 times, it freezes not just itself but the entire computer; though I can still hit ctrl alt delete to restart the pc. So I suspect that it might be Val but I also updated my Nvidia drivers after the BSOD so maybe a driver issue? I also ran Asus' BSOD diagnostic tool, it found nothing (I don't think it's very effective tbh). It could be something mondane but I'd like to make sure with you guys who probably have more experience.

 

Thanks in advance

[Renegade042]

Try a different game.

Had a BSOD last year playing Black Desert, stopped playing Black Desert - stopped getting BSOD

[ChrisLoudon]

8 minutes ago, Caveman0407 said:

Thanks in advance

Hi buddy,

 

A BSOD every so often isn't out of the norms for PCs. A BSOD every day or even every week might mean there's something more sinister going on.

 

First things first - Don't pay any attention to diagnostic tools from the likes of Asus, they're nigh on useless.

 

Have you looked the Windows Event Viewer to see what is being reported at the time of the crash?

 

Search for 'Event Viewer' then navigate to Windows Logs > System and then scroll down to the time the last crash occurred. There will be loads of gobbledygook to sift through but you might want spot something that sheds a bit of light on the issue. You might want to look at Windows Logs > Application and see if anything useful is being reported.

 

If its a graphics card / driver issue then the chances are the error will be reported in Windows Logs > System and if its a software / Valorant issue then you will probably find the error log in Windows Logs > Application.

 

If you suspect its a driver problem then use a tool called DDU to remove all traces of the existing driver and then reinstall.

 

What are you temps like? Does the laptop feel like its overheating at around the time of the crash? You could try and use a small utility like HWInfo to report of these. 

 

If the problem persists, I would consider doing a fresh install of Windows although doing this on branded laptops can be difficult due to proprietary hardware not having drivers during the initial Windows installation process. While I'm not the biggest fan of this, you could do a Windows repair OR if Asus provided you with a recovery process then use that to put your Laptop back to factory fresh. Don't worry, you can usually save your files during these processes but its always good to make sure your important documents are backed up somewhere.

 

Keep us posted.

[Caveman0407]

34 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Hi buddy,

 

A BSOD every so often isn't out of the norms for PCs. A BSOD every day or even every week might mean there's something more sinister going on.

 

First things first - Don't pay any attention to diagnostic tools from the likes of Asus, they're nigh on useless.

 

Have you looked the Windows Event Viewer to see what is being reported at the time of the crash?

 

Search for 'Event Viewer' then navigate to Windows Logs > System and then scroll down to the time the last crash occurred. There will be loads of gobbledygook to sift through but you might want spot something that sheds a bit of light on the issue. You might want to look at Windows Logs > Application and see if anything useful is being reported.

 

If its a graphics card / driver issue then the chances are the error will be reported in Windows Logs > System and if its a software / Valorant issue then you will probably find the error log in Windows Logs > Application.

 

If you suspect its a driver problem then use a tool called DDU to remove all traces of the existing driver and then reinstall.

 

What are you temps like? Does the laptop feel like its overheating at around the time of the crash? You could try and use a small utility like HWInfo to report of these. 

 

If the problem persists, I would consider doing a fresh install of Windows although doing this on branded laptops can be difficult due to proprietary hardware not having drivers during the initial Windows installation process. While I'm not the biggest fan of this, you could do a Windows repair OR if Asus provided you with a recovery process then use that to put your Laptop back to factory fresh. Don't worry, you can usually save your files during these processes but its always good to make sure your important documents are backed up somewhere.

 

Keep us posted.

After doing a little digging, I did found the instance where the game crashed the entire computer, causing it to shut down, and the BSOD. It's reported by Kernel-Power. I don't know if it is the driver, Val, or just a rouge positron flipping a 1 to a 0 in my ram, but I do think Val is the likely culprit since it has done this behaviour before. Anyways, I just re-installed the thing. Hopefully it works just fine now

[xAcid9]

Try disconnect the battery.

[ChrisLoudon]

13 minutes ago, Caveman0407 said:

After doing a little digging, I did found the instance where the game crashed the entire computer, causing it to shut down, and the BSOD. It's reported by Kernel-Power. I don't know if it is the driver, Val, or just a rouge positron flipping a 1 to a 0 in my ram, but I do think Val is the likely culprit since it has done this behaviour before. Anyways, I just re-installed the thing. Hopefully it works just fine now

Hi buddy,

 

The Kernel Power error while not ideal is a perfectly normal error report detailing the recent shutdown. You might also see a few 'Critical' events relating to the unexpected shutdown and not the actual cause of the crash.

 

Do you see anything like 'nvlddmkm has stopped responding........' This would be a proper error reporting your display driver has $hat the bed.

[Bjoolz]

Go to C:\Windows\Minidump and check if you have any minidump files. If you do, go back to the Windows folder and copy the Minidump folder itself to the Downloads folder (You can use the desktop if you don't have OneDrive syncing files). Zip the copied folder and attach it to a post. Please follow the instructions to the letter as Windows doesn't like you messing with files in this location.

[Caveman0407]

16 hours ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Hi buddy,

 

The Kernel Power error while not ideal is a perfectly normal error report detailing the recent shutdown. You might also see a few 'Critical' events relating to the unexpected shutdown and not the actual cause of the crash.

 

Do you see anything like 'nvlddmkm has stopped responding........' This would be a proper error reporting your display driver has $hat the bed.

I didn't see any. However, I remembered that Vanguard, the anti-cheat, also goes through the kernel to find if I have hacks. It could be that Vanguard got corrupted in the update and accidentally causing a bsod. (Or is Kernel Power and the kernel different?) Anyways, I'll see if I still run into the freezing issue again after the re-install

[Bjoolz]

8 hours ago, Caveman0407 said:

I didn't see any. However, I remembered that Vanguard, the anti-cheat, also goes through the kernel to find if I have hacks. It could be that Vanguard got corrupted in the update and accidentally causing a bsod. (Or is Kernel Power and the kernel different?) Anyways, I'll see if I still run into the freezing issue again after the re-install

Kernel Power Event ID 41 just means that Windows shut down without using the "Shut Down" button. You get this from any freeze, crash or power loss. Unless you didn't know that the machine shut down/restarted, it has no diagnostic value.