Dealing with the Blue Screen of Death

Hi there

Specs:
i5-7500
1050ti
Silicon Power SSD S55 240GB
8GB RAM
Gigabyte B250M-D3H
(Everything was bought brand new about a year and a half ago)

The issue:
A few days ago, I tried moving a game from my SSD to my HDD using Steam. Suddenly, I hit a Blue Screen of Death, and now I can't get Windows to boot normally at all. I attempted a clean install using a bootable USB made via Rufus (with Windows downloaded directly from the official site) and used a fresh product key.
Leading up to this latest Blue Screen of Death, I had been experiencing others. Some happened while gaming, some when launching a game, and some just randomly while the PC was idling.

The installation finished successfully, and after running all the updates, everything seemed fine. However, once I started downloading drivers—specifically GeForce Experience—it crashed with another Blue Screen of Death during the installation. If I just download the standalone driver, it installs without an issue.

When I try to run CrystalDiskInfo, the program crashes immediately with a Blue Screen of Death.

Origin and Apex Legends installed and run perfectly fine.

Since I have an HDD, I tried installing Windows solely onto that drive; it works flawlessly. When I tested the SSD using HD Tune, I got a warning. It showed several errors, yet the bad sector scan came back completely green.

Childish Gambino shows no errors.
Memtest shows no errors.
SFC /scannow shows no errors.
Temperatures looked fine according to what I could see on HW Monitor before the system locked up.

So, some installations work, while others fail.
Yesterday, I did another clean install on the SSD. On the system I'm currently using to write this, the OS and standard applications work, but anything else tends to crash upon launch.

This morning, I tried logging into a forum using Internet Explorer, and—Blue Screen of Death.
I configured the system to generate small minidumps, but the folder is empty.
I will try to upload the minidump here later.
The error code is "Critical Process Died".

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be causing this?

Thanks

Set your Windows settings so it doesn't auto-restart immediately. That way, you can actually read the stop code or error text when the Blue Screen of Death hits.

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...

For example,
https://zdnet4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/...ror770x578.jpg

dustysurfer66 said:Try adjusting your settings so Windows doesn't reboot instantly. That way, you can actually read the stop code or the error message during the Blue Screen of Death.

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...

For instance,
https://zdnet4.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/...ror770x578.jpg

I did that, but I just get the same result. Scanning the QR code just sends me straight to a Microsoft page, which is something I've already tried multiple times.
Basically, I've cycled through the five most common fixes found online, but nothing is working.
Right now, I've successfully updated my audio drivers and most of the motherboard drivers—just searching for any kind of lifeline at this point.

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Here are some photos of the SSD I managed to grab.
My question is, if the drive is actually failing, why do some installations and programs work perfectly fine while others just crash?

crimsonharbor313 said:The audio driver finally went through smoothly. Most of the others from the motherboard site worked too—just a bunch of random drivers at this point. Honestly, I'm just grasping at straws here.

It looks like I’m stuck manually installing every single driver... I don't think I've ever had a situation where Windows 10 didn't just grab everything it needed during an update. Usually, if a driver is a bad fit, you just get hit with the Blue Screen of Death.

wearymason4 said:It seems like you're trying to install drivers manually. In my experience, Windows 10 usually handles all the necessary driver updates automatically. If a driver is actually incompatible, you'll typically see a Blue Screen of Death.

I get that, but I don't understand why some software works while others fail.
For instance, file transfer tools for mobile devices work perfectly fine.
But as soon as I run an SSD diagnostic tool, I get hit with a Blue Screen of Death.

What’s the Blue Screen of Death code or error message?

dustysurfer66 said:What’s the specific Blue Screen of Death code or error message?

It's usually that "critical process died" error.
registry filter driver exception

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Try running an SSD scan with a different utility. Is it possible to install Windows with all the updates on a drive this bad without immediate issues, only to have it crash later on something else?
I'm telling you, I downloaded a 20GB game onto it yesterday and ran it just fine.

Everything you’ve described points toward a faulty SSD; the fact that your diagnostic software is flagging errors and your entire system crashes the moment you attempt an installation on it is quite telling. If you really want to be absolutely certain before making any moves, I’d suggest reinstalling Windows onto your old hard drive and just running things from there for about ten days—if the system remains stable without any more crashes, then you have your answer.

Since you likely still have a valid warranty, your best bet is simply to request a replacement drive and call it a day. It seems to me you’ve already diagnosed the issue yourself, regardless of whether the machine is brand new or if the crashes only seem to happen sporadically.