New PC keeps bluescreening?

[weetbixx5]

Hi guys, my mate has just built his new PC. Everything was going fine, we installed Windows 11 and installed drivers- all good- he downloaded games and everything.
The next day, the PC kept crashing, blue screening, booting into recovery mode- you name it. Every time the PC would turn on it would instantly go to recovery mode.
Last night, we completely wiped the PC, and installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 in hopes to fix it, but nope, not fixed. As soon as Windows update starts to install drivers and software updates it happens again.
Any clue on what is going on? Any urgent help would be much appreciated 👍🏻
Many thanks 😁

 

[Colif]

what are specs of the PC?
Which BSOD code is he getting? (there are about 300)

can he get into windows on 2nd try?

Did you update BIOS on motherboard? Where are you getting the drivers from?
If its having errors on 2 different installs, chance its a hardware problem.

Your name tells me where you from. Only one country has Weetbix

 

[weetbixx5]

yup haha only one country, and thanks so much for your quick reply😁

His specs are;
Ryzen 5 5600
B550M aorus elite mobo
16gb cl18 vengeance lpx
RX 6600xt
Kingston 1tb ssd
sea gate barracuda 1tb 7200rpm
Thermaltake 650w toughpower gf1


Initially on win 11, he was getting the srttrail.txt error, and I believe it was the same for win 10. He wasn’t able to get into windows at all, it just kept going straight to startup repairs, etc.
We didn’t update the bios on the motherboard, and we got the drivers from the website.

we have yet again wiped the pc and put windows 10 back on, and I have told him to leave it on the desktop for a while, as well as shutting down, restarting etc. to see if it will happen again, and it hasn’t. Not sure where to go from here, maybes windows updates?


QUOTE="Colif, post: 324955, member: 84"]
what are specs of the PC?
Which BSOD code is he getting? (there are about 300)

can he get into windows on 2nd try?

Did you update BIOS on motherboard? Where are you getting the drivers from?
If its having errors on 2 different installs, chance its a hardware problem.

Your name tells me where you from. Only one country has Weetbix
[/QUOTE]

 

[weetbixx5]

yup haha only one country, and thanks so much for your quick reply😁

His specs are;
Ryzen 5 5600
B550M aorus elite mobo
16gb cl18 vengeance lpx
RX 6600xt
Kingston 1tb ssd
sea gate barracuda 1tb 7200rpm
Thermaltake 650w toughpower gf1


Initially on win 11, he was getting the srttrail.txt error, and I believe it was the same for win 10. He wasn’t able to get into windows at all, it just kept going straight to startup repairs, etc.
We didn’t update the bios on the motherboard, and we got the drivers from the website.

we have yet again wiped the pc and put windows 10 back on, and I have told him to leave it on the desktop for a while, as well as shutting down, restarting etc. to see if it will happen again, and it hasn’t. Not sure where to go from here, maybes windows updates?


QUOTE="Colif, post: 324955, member: 84"]
what are specs of the PC?
Which BSOD code is he getting? (there are about 300)

can he get into windows on 2nd try?

Did you update BIOS on motherboard? Where are you getting the drivers from?
If its having errors on 2 different installs, chance its a hardware problem.

Your name tells me where you from. Only one country has Weetbix

[/QUOTE]

what are specs of the PC?
Which BSOD code is he getting? (there are about 300)

can he get into windows on 2nd try?

Did you update BIOS on motherboard? Where are you getting the drivers from?
If its having errors on 2 different installs, chance its a hardware problem.

Your name tells me where you from. Only one country has Weetbix

We also tried troubleshooting the srttrail.txt error, but command prompt said no specified file or something along those lines.

 

[Brian Boru]

While you're waiting for Colif the expert, this might be useful:

[FIXED] How to Fix Srttrail.txt Error in Windows 10/11?

Encountering the Srttrail.txt error in Windows 10 or 11 can be frustrating. This overview will delve into why it happens and how to fix it effectively.

www.auslogics.com

 

[Colif]

srttrail.txt

the only reliable answer I have found for that is a clean install so he did the right thing
its an error relating to boot files.
Odd it happens on 2 different installs

I assume the ssd is boot drive.
try running this on ssd - https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technical/ssdmanager and check drive health.
maybe run this on the hdd as well - https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/seatools/

I haven't had Weetbix in years, nice with strawberry jam from memory. Or you know, you can eat them with the normal way. I wonder how much Coles charge for a box now... turns out they sell it in NZ as well. Everyone else in world gets Weetabix, both were made by same guy in Australia. Sorry... i got carried away.

 

[weetbixx5]

the only reliable answer I have found for that is a clean install so he did the right thing
its an error relating to boot files.
Odd it happens on 2 different installs

I assume the ssd is boot drive.
try running this on ssd - https://www.kingston.com/en/support/technical/ssdmanager and check drive health.
maybe run this on the hdd as well - https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloads/seatools/

I haven't had Weetbix in years, nice with strawberry jam from memory. Or you know, you can eat them with the normal way. I wonder how much Coles charge for a box now... turns out they sell it in NZ as well. Everyone else in world gets Weetabix, both were made by same guy in Australia. Sorry... i got carried away.

Haha nah its all good, Weetbix sure is good- especially with jam
I will get him to install both of those apps to test the health of each drives. We did try chkdsk on cmd admin. on the recovery mode, which passed after 4-5 hours.
Thanks for all your help, I will keep you posted

 

[weetbixx5]

Right.... we have seemed to have found the issue we believe. The wifi dongle my mate is using is causing the issue we believe. He bought a Netgear AC600 USB dongle, as the TP-Link Archer T5E he originally bought did not fit in the case because of the GPU. The wifi dongle requires software in order to actually connect to the internet. As soon as he downloaded the software for wifi it bluescreened.... AGAIN. However, it didn't pull up an error code, or he missed it when it bluescreened.

 

[Lutfij]

He bought a Netgear AC600 USB dongle
If you're letting the OS source drivers for your platform, it's best that you manually install the driver in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator and then plug the dongle in.

 

[Colif]

a lot of wifi dongles use old chips that the drivers now cause errors

Can you ask your friend to follow option one on the following link - here - and then do this step below: Small memory dumps - Have Windows Create a Small Memory Dump (Minidump) on BSOD - that creates a file in c windows/minidump after the next BSOD

1. Open Windows File Explore
   
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump
   
3. Copy the mini-dump files out onto your Desktop
   
4. Do not use Winzip, use the built in facility in Windows
   
5. Select those files on your Desktop, right click them and choose 'Send to' - Compressed (zipped) folder
   
6. Upload the zip file to the Cloud (OneDrive, DropBox . . . etc.)
   
7. Then post a link here to the zip file, so we can take a look for you . . .
   

 

[weetbixx5]

Thanks for the replies guys, unfortunately once it BSOD’s it will not get back into windows. As soon as it restarts/turns on it goes to repair start up.
We sourced the drivers from the netgear website as the dongle requires software to actually connect to the internet.
Is there any other way through CMD? Or should we try booting into safe mode? He was thinking maybe we should return the dongle and get a wifi extender, and plug an Ethernet cable into the extender to source the internet. Weird setup I know, but a pcie card will not fit into the case as his graphics card is slightly too big and it blocks all the lanes

 

[Colif]

He bought a Netgear AC600 USB dongle,

RTL8811AU. i know that number... its drivers are 4 years old now - https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/rtl8811au-software

windows on his PC seems very fragile. A crashing dongle shouldn't cause windows to crash and burn. Has he tried taking dongle out before startup?

He needs a bigger case or He needs a wifi adapter marked one of the below to avoid running into old chips being repackaged as new cards

• WIFI6
• AX
• AC2100

Problem is most of those are still cards. There are a few dongles but they will cost more but will be useful for longer too.

probably finder cheaper than JB Hifi - https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/...nVMPvlbHGBiEnRwTCTsGj8IkF4yTOlD3Rfl9FPoo3g__U

I assume he can't just use an Ethernet cable?

 

[weetbixx5]

RTL8811AU. i know that number... its drivers are 4 years old now - https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/category/rtl8811au-software

windows on his PC seems very fragile. A crashing dongle shouldn't cause windows to crash and burn. Has he tried taking dongle out before startup?

He needs a bigger case or He needs a wifi adapter marked one of the below to avoid running into old chips being repackaged as new cards

• WIFI6
• AX
• AC2100

Problem is most of those are still cards. There are a few dongles but they will cost more but will be useful for longer too.

probably finder cheaper than JB Hifi - https://www.jbhifi.com.au/products/...nVMPvlbHGBiEnRwTCTsGj8IkF4yTOlD3Rfl9FPoo3g__U

I assume he can't just use an Ethernet cable?

no I don’t think he has tried starting it up without the adapter plugged in, however we do believe the software on net gears website may be causing the issue? I was thinking maybe I could uninstall the app through cmd in recovery mode.

crazy that all these ‘new’ dongles are using drivers and chips that are so old now. It is so weird tho, because when he originally had windows 11 before all the trouble, he had to plug it into Ethernet in a separate room with the router so it would setup and it was all working fine until he downloaded the software for wifi dongle.
The wifi router is on the other side of his house, which means he can’t exactly use Ethernet the most efficient way at the moment unless he wired Ethernet into his room through the roof. I was thinking maybe he should get a wifi extender and plug an Ethernet cable into the extender?

Thanks for doing all this research, but unfortunately he also only wanted to spend $1400 on his build, so getting a bigger case and repurchasing his wifi card would likely not be an option unfortunately, and I don’t think he trusts wifi dongles now 😜

Do you think there could be another reason as to why windows could be so fragile? When he re-downloaded windows I said leave it on the desktop, trying launching edge and stuff, as well as shutting down and restarting the pc- and it didn’t BSOD.

thanks for all your help Colif, I seem like a pain haha

 

[Colif]

Taking dongle out before you start means windows won't load the drivers, and it might avoid the errors.

lots of "new" dongles that are cheap are just using old chips. I would only buy from Australian websites as I wouldn't trust somewhere like Ali Express to sell you anything.
Most of them seem to be over 100 now for Wifi 6

This is cheapest I can find - https://www.pccasegear.com/products...asYF-OXJJ3lcq_NWU7KWwS5fbnWex7DRjVOmEuzm80uQM << $50

I prefer Ethernet as I can get faster speed over it than WIFI. I don't have NBN here but still get 68mb/s on Ethernet, My WIFI isn't even close.

Do you think there could be another reason as to why windows could be so fragile? When he re-downloaded windows I said leave it on the desktop, trying launching edge and stuff, as well as shutting down and restarting the pc- and it didn’t BSOD.

It could just be the dongle. Windows is pretty reliable most of the time.

We tried a wifi extender for one room here, I think its getting swamped by other peoples signals from around us.

 

[Brian Boru]

Just a thought: would booting from another OS—eg Linux on a flash drive—enable extra useful troubleshooting?

 

[Colif]

Not sure, depends on if the wifi dongle isn't only problem.
Way I see it, if the hardware for the drivers isn't there at startup (Dongle), then windows shouldn't run the drivers. That is generally how it works.

 

[weetbixx5]

Hi guys sorry for the late reply, I was waiting too see whether I had managed to fix his PC..... and it appears I have! Thanks Colif- it appears that taking the dongle out, forced Windows to not the load the drivers, which allowed me to boot into the OS and quickly uninstall the software and drivers.
I left it this long to ensure that it didn't blue screen again, and it hasn't which is good.
In terms of the wifi, he decided that wifi extender would be beneficial for the PC and the front end of the house, as wifi was kinda shotty, and the extender is working brilliantly. He ended up getting the TP-Link AC1200 WiFi Range Extender RE305, which is the same one I have and works flawlessly in both our houses. He has a ethernet cable going out of the extender into the back of the PC as there is no other solution.

Thanks again so much for all your help, Colif and Brian- I don't know how I could have fixed it without you guys!

 

[Brian Boru]

Excellent, great to hear, and thanks for reporting back