Windows 11 BSODs & failure of windows to update

C

Caliopus

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Joined
Feb 13, 2025
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Please pardon the long post. I want to include as much detail as possible (not knowing what may be relevant) as the problem appears to be fairly atypical (Windows tech support using remote access hasn't been able to fix it, nor has a full re-installation of windows).

Built a desktop about a year and a half back (summer 2023) following a build recommended to me.

Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Elite MB
i5 - 11600k cpu
Coolermaster masterliquid 120 cooling
32 gigs of DDR4 3200 MHz RAM
EVGA 600w power
Crucial MX500 500g SSD
2x Barracuda 2TB HDD

Windows 11 OS
running Bitdefender anti virus since I assume Windows security can't be trusted without the updates. Full scans came up clean before and after reinstall

Other than some minor issues getting it up and running (e.g., needed to flash the bios for the MB wifi to work, so I could install and update windows), it worked fine until late this past Nov.- early Dec, at which point I began to get an occasional blue screen crash every few days. Was very busy at the time and put off dealing with it. By late December they were happening more often and I happened to finally notice that the automatic Windows update for December had failed (Nov had installed properly). Tried following the troubleshooting guide (hardware checked out, etc.), retried updating multiple times and tried and retried repairing+updating multiple times (all through the update window) and all failed. Contacted Windows support (live chat) right after the holidays. A couple of long sessions granting the respective tech reps remote access and them trying various things, including reinstalling windows while saving everything else failed with blue screens, iirc at the installation stage. Final suggestion was to just do a full reinstall. Got some crashes doing so, but finally got almost a full reinstall (the last part - 2023-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 for x64-based Systems (KB5031358)- failed at the install stage still (install error 0x800703f1). so, the problem is I'm still getting blue screens even with the full reinstall and the updates still fail. So nothing has changed with the full windows reinstall, which suggests to me there is some kind of incompatibility in either direction between windows and the hardware (MB?) at the root of things, but I'm at a loss for how to proceed with isolating and fixing it.

The blue screen stop codes are all over the place. For example:

driver_overan_stack_buffer
attempted_write_to_read_only_memory
kernel_security_check_failure
memory_management_dpc_watchdog_violation

In case it's relevant, I vaguely recall a minor issue when getting it up and running where (I think it was) the bios wanted to default to Windows 10 either when flashing the bios or installing windows the first time (sorry. didn't think it might possibly become an issue and didn't make notes) and I had to manually select the windows 11 option (hence my suspicion about the MB).

If it's of any use, I can supply the tech support case numbers for the first 2 windows support sessions. Lost the 3rd when I reinstalled.

Thanks in advance for any guidance
 
Hi!

jcgriff2

Thread 'Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions - Windows 11, 10, 8(.1), 7 and Vista'

1571597606883.png
v5.0.3, 28 Mar 2024

Sysnative BSOD Posting Instructions
​
Info


For Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8 / 8.1, Windows 7, and Windows Vista systems only!
The BSOD App will run on both x64 (64-bit) and x86 (32-bit) systems.
DO NOT run this app on Windows XP systems. The app will not damage an XP system; rather most CMD (shell) commands will just fail.

Info

Version Information
Please ensure that you download SysnativeFileCollectionApp version 5.0.3 if you are using Windows 10 or Windows 11.
Please note that this is...

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First DL&run of SysnativeBSODCollectionApp 5.0.3 resulted in Bitdefender quarantining a bunch of things and a second try aborted immediately with an error message (screen disappeared too fast to copy). No CMD screens in taskbar.
 
Last edited:
.exe file now exempt from scan but still getting immediate abort when executing and a list of red error messages that disappears after a few seconds
 
You should see a black window with these messages:
Read More:


Sysnative-File-Collection-App-Screenshot.webp
 
It never gets to that stage. The only black screen is the error messages and doesn't remain long enough to copy.
 
Maybe you set bitdefender to be paranoid in its settings.
Consider lowering the paranoid settings or temporarily disabling it (perhaps while simultaneously disabling your internet connection).
 
Download the attached file.
Decompress the folder on the desktop.
On the desktop now you should see a folder named AlternativeLogs.
Open the folder, right-click logs.bat, click run as administrator, click yes in the user account control window that should appear.
Then click ok in the autoruns window dialog.
After three to six minutes have passed, the new LOGS folder on the desktop should contain fifteen files.
Go to c:\windows and copy the minidump folder to the desktop.
Zip the two folders (logs and minidump) up and upload the resulting file here.
 

Attachments

Caliopus said:
Logs file
Click to expand...

You uploaded the wrong folder: we need the LOGS folder.
You can also provide the speccy snapshot.

The minidumps show there are remnants of Symantec/NORTON antivirus/firewall.
You were using windows 11 defender.
Now you are using bitdefender.

The first suggestion is to remove Symantec/NORTON (remnants) with their tool(s).
If you remember what antivirus you were using previously, you could search for the appropriate removal tool on the symantec/norton website.



Minidumps:

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION 0x3B {c0000005, fffff80526cfcd06, ffffcf8579bb95b0, 0}
KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR 0x7A {1, ffffffffc0000005, ffff800f711cf0c0, ffffb73efa58eaf8}
MEMORY_MANAGEMENT 0x1A {41792, ffffe700f6581048, 2, 0}
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA 0x50 {ffff8700000782c5, 0, fffff8021050de72, 2}
MEMORY_MANAGEMENT 0x1A {41792, ffffd880d1a7e040, 4, 0}

Read More:
 
Last edited:
iirc the Norton installed itself as part of windows recommended updates when reinstalling windows (yeah, yeah, I know. I was frustrated and careless and clicked all) and immediately unistalled it after I saw it being installed. I'll try to figure out the right tool for getting rid of the remnants.

No new logs folder ever appeared on my desktop. I'll try running the process again after I clean out the Norton remnants.
 
This sentence in your original post concerns me a little....
Caliopus said:
running Bitdefender anti virus since I assume Windows security can't be trusted without the updates. Full scans came up clean before and after reinstall
Click to expand...
What does the highlighted text mean? Does this mean that...
  • Windows is not activated and you cannot get the Defender updates
  • You are pausing or disabling Windows updates
  • Something else - if so what?
If this Windows system is not receiving full updates we need to know why.
 
Windows won't update. stuck at what was installed off an MS produced thumb drive for installing Windows purchased from Best-Buy. The failed update is: 2023-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 for x64-based Systems (KB5031358). It failed at the install stage (install error 0x800703f1). I assumed the failed updates include updates to windows security, leaving it vulnerable. Opted to go with Bitdefender instead since it updates automatically and presumably covers vulnerabilities that windows security won't without updating. Scans were with Bitdefender.

Windows updates fail, and not due to any conscious action on my part that I'm aware of. I am trying to fix that. I assume the BSOD crashes are intertwined with the update failures, since they started at about the same time (late Nov/early Dec.)

Exactly! It won't fully update. It failed to update starting with the December 2024 automatic update to the original installation of windows back in 2023, and now still won't update from a full reinstall of windows (2023-10 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 for x64-based Systems (KB5031358)- failed at the install stage (install error 0x800703f1)).
 
Ah, so you've worked around what clearly seems like a problem. IMO you should have stopped at 'update won't install' and troubleshooted from there. It's never wise to ignore issues and just find ways around them. TBH introducing BitDefender has just complicated the situation, because BitDefender is known to cause problems sometimes.

Since you're saying this....
I assume the BSOD crashes are intertwined with the update failures, since they started at about the same time (late Nov/early Dec.)
Click to expand...
...I do agree that these issues are probably linked. I assume that 'late Nov/early Dec' means 2024?? That's a really old update to be installing at the end of 2024, it's from a year earlier...

What version of Windows are you on? Type winver in the Run control box and post a screenshot of the window that opens.
 
Let me clarify and save you some trouble scrolling up and down. When the December (yes, 2024) automatic update failed (after automatic updates having worked up to that point) and the crashes started, I did troubleshoot the problem according to the update window instructions. When that failed to resolve the problem, I did several live chats with windows tech support, including giving them remote access. All failed to resolve the issue, including a reinstall of windows while saving everything else (a couple of tries all crashed at the install stage). Last option was a full clean reinstall of windows, which I then did (I can give you the case numbers for the first 2 chat sessions if that helps - I lost the info for the 3rd with the full reinstall as I forgot to write it down first). The full reinstall also failed to the degree that the update mentioned above (2023-10), which was part of the installation process and which I presume was intended to bring the installed version from the thumb drive (purchased in 2023) up to date as part of the installation process, failed to install. At this point no other programs besides windows itself were installed on the computer. Since I would need this computer to ask for help online, I installed Bitdefender because I assumed Windows security hadn't been brought up to date due to the 2023-10 failure to install, and was thus unreliable.

Some observations that may or may not be of use to you: The full clean reinstall of windows crashed a few times while installing, but always picked up about where it left off, and eventually proceeded to update 2023-10, which then simply failed to install (no crashes). On the other hand, there have been no BSOD crashes since (computer is not being used intensively enough?). My memory of the following point is very vague as it predates the problem and I didn't think it might be a problem at the time and so payed little attention to it. I vaguely recall that once or twice well before the problem started there were occasions where the system wanted clarification as to whether my OS was Windows 10 or 11. I don't recall the contexts. Also, I had to flash the bios when first building the system because the MB's built in wifi wasn't working with the original bios and windows needed the internet to install itself. My best (admittedly not very knowledgeable) guess about what's going on is some kind of incompatibility between Windows and my hardware (best guess is MB), where one or the other is looking for Win 11 and getting 10 or vice versa, that came to light with either the November or December 2024 updates.

In any case, here's winver.

Thanks for taking the time to investigate.
 

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