Solved Windows 11 - Constant App Crashes, Random BSOD's and Unable to Reset OS

Hello all. Been having a whole host of issues with my PC lately and I'm at my wits end trying to figure out what is going on. I'm unsure if it's a hardware issue or an OS issue. Sorry for the long post.

Background:

I purchased the following custom build from CyberPower in Dec '22:

13900K
Asus Prime z790
32 GB (2X16) G.Skill Trident Z DDR5 6000
Corsair 360mm AIO Cooler
WD Blue 770 M.2 500GB
Samsung 970 M.2 2TB
WD Blue 4TB HDD 4TB
EVGA 1000w PSU
3080 GPU

I'm running Windows 11 Home ver. 23H2 (OS Build 22631.3810)

The above build came with the a very slight OC using Asus built in OC capability and it was running very stable, no issues at all for a year, until January of '23. Then in January of '23, it started experiencing BSOD after BSOD and got so bad it would not even boot unless it booted into safemode. I tried for 2 full weeks to wipe my drives and reinstall Windows and during the install process it would BSOD and fail again. So I figured it must be hardware related. I ordered the following replacement parts since it was a few weeks past warranty:

MSI MAG Z790 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI
Samsung 990 2TB
G.Skill Z Trident 32 (2X16) DDR5 7200

I installed these parts and successfully completed the install of Windows 11 to my new drive and to my surprise it was still doing the same, but to a lesser extent. Out of desperation, I went into the BIOS settings and removed XMP and anything related to auto OC and I even undervolted my CPU. I had to play around with the undervolting but I was able to get it stable. I was finally able to use my PC. I installed my MS products and a handful of games and while the performance in gaming wasn't what I paid for, I was just happy it was working. That is, until now...

About 2 weeks ago I started noticing that in Chrome, my browser tabs would frequently give me the "Aw snap" error and I would have to refresh the page very frequently. Windows would also, when I wake my PC, would always give me the Activate Windows message in the lower right and when I try to troubleshoot it, it says it can't activate windows and tells me to purchase or change my key. When I reboot the computer, that message goes away but only after I reboot. When I do the shutdown or restart, I'll get an "Explorer.exe" crashed message and when my computer starts, I'll get a Samsung Magician Javascript error on launch. Further, every one of my games or Office products or game launchers like UbiSoft Connect or Steam, Discord etc would open then immediately crash. The only apps that actually run and stay running are Core Temp, Notepad and apps that are not games or MS Office products. My browsers will stay open but will give me the aw snap message very frequently.

I verified all drivers are up to date. I ran SFC /Scannow and DISM /RestoreHealth. Initially it would freeze at 62.3% and wouldn't repair. CBS logs showed the following:

2024-06-29 12:27:03, Info CBS (p) CBS Catalog Missing Microsoft-OneCore-DirectX-Database-FOD-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.22621.1
2024-06-29 12:27:03, Info CBS (w) CBS Package CurrentState Missing Microsoft-OneCore-DirectX-Database-FOD-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.22621.1
2024-06-29 12:27:03, Info CBS (w) CBS Package Visibility Missing Microsoft-OneCore-DirectX-Database-FOD-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.22621.1
2024-06-29 12:27:03, Info CBS (w) CBS Package Owner Missing Microsoft-OneCore-DirectX-Database-FOD-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~10.0.22621.1

After a couple reboots and retries, it said it successfully repaired the package, but I was still experiencing the exact same issues. I tried doing an in place reset by mounting an ISO. To my surprise, using the built in mounting service would fail. I tried using a USB drive with the MCT and in explorer it does not recognize any USB drive. It does see it in Drive Manager and the USB works in other computers with Windows 11. It will not allow me to assign a drive letter in Disk Manager nor in PowerShell. I was however, able to update my bios with a USB drive even though it didn't recognize it in the OS. I did verify that all USB's accept and recognize my KB and mouse and speakers.

I have ran Windows Defender and Malwarebytes and they have found nothing.

I have ran Intel Processor Diagnostic and it passed. MSCHED no issues found. CHKDSK no issues found. OS Wipe and Clean and Reset fails. Only thing I haven't done yet is try to boot to USB and reinstall Windows that way yet.

There are just too many random issues that are going on and I have run out of ideas.

One thing of note that I just recently found out, with the 13900k, motherboard company's until recently didn't have Intel suggested presets in their bios and they were essentially overwatting the CPU LDP at 4096W while the Intel spec for LDP is 253W. on 5/30/24 MSI came out with their latest bios that includes the Intel suggested specs. I wonder if I damaged the CPU in the year and a half of ownership...?

Sorry the above is a ramble but I'm pretty exhausted as I've been working on this for the past 4 days and getting very little sleep.

Any advice is greatly welcomed as I really don't know where to go from here or what else to look at.

Welcome to the forum. Please go here and follow the instructions to gather your BSOD logs
Put them in a folder and zip the folder. Then upload the zipped file to any cloud provider. Post a shared link to the file here.

@zbook or one of the others experienced in reading log files will instruct you further.

glasskuter said:

Welcome to the forum. Please go here and follow the instructions to gather your BSOD logs
Put them in a folder and zip the folder. Then upload the zipped file to any cloud provider. Post a shared link to the file here.

BSOD - Posting Instructions

BSOD - Posting Instructions This will show you how to help provide needed information about your system and dump files. It will not contain any personal or sensitive information about you or your data. To get better help with your Windows BSOD issue, please read these instructions and follow...

www.elevenforum.com

@zbook or one of the others experienced in reading log files will instruct you further.

Click to expand...

Thank you. As requested, here is the link to the results from the BSOD logs in a zipped file.


It should be accessible.

Hi,

have not looked at your files, however... You bought it in Dec 22, and in Jan 2023 you started problems so just a month later...

I see you bought (almost) the same ram again, maybe a compatibility problem with the mobo?

You mention updating your bios however, have you tried resetting to defaults?

"One thing of note that I just recently found out, with the 13900k, motherboard company's until recently didn't have Intel suggested presets in their bios and they were essentially overwatting the CPU LDP at 4096W while the Intel spec for LDP is 253W. on 5/30/24 MSI came out with their latest bios that includes the Intel suggested specs. I wonder if I damaged the CPU in the year and a half of ownership...?" VERY POSSIBLE...

NOTE: I don't see how your CPU could have been getting that much wattage, because it's probably beyond the capacity of your power supply, but even double or triple the wattage for prolonged period could damage the CPU....

Try a clean install from USB...

You changed some ‘settings’ in BIOS, but have you updated the BIOS itself? I have an Asus z790 hero and it’s usually after some Windows update that I’ll start getting an isolated crash here and there. Installing the latest BIOS does usually the trick.

Please make sure that Windows is activated.

windoc said:

Hi,

have not looked at your files, however... You bought it in Dec 22, and in Jan 2023 you started problems so just a month later...

I see you bought (almost) the same ram again, maybe a compatibility problem with the mobo?

You mention updating your bios however, have you tried resetting to defaults?

"One thing of note that I just recently found out, with the 13900k, motherboard company's until recently didn't have Intel suggested presets in their bios and they were essentially overwatting the CPU LDP at 4096W while the Intel spec for LDP is 253W. on 5/30/24 MSI came out with their latest bios that includes the Intel suggested specs. I wonder if I damaged the CPU in the year and a half of ownership...?" VERY POSSIBLE...

NOTE: I don't see how your CPU could have been getting that much wattage, because it's probably beyond the capacity of your power supply, but even double or triple the wattage for prolonged period could damage the CPU....

Try a clean install from USB...

Click to expand...

Sorry, I meant January of 2024 is when I started having the initial set of issues that lead to me buying new hardware.

Yes it is similar to my original RAM but it was on the compatible list for the Motherboard.

I will try resetting to defaults now and see what happens. Doing a clean install is my next move but right now waiting on a call from Microsoft tech support to determine why my OS is no longer Activating.

snerd said:

You changed some ‘settings’ in BIOS, but have you updated the BIOS itself? I have an Asus z790 hero and it’s usually after some Windows update that I’ll start getting an isolated crash here and there. Installing the latest BIOS does usually the trick.

Click to expand...

Yes MSI just came out with the latest BIOS version on 5/30 that includes Intel Suggested preset for the13900K and 14900K. I updated to that version recently.

zbook said:

Please make sure that Windows is activated.

Using the Windows Activation troubleshooter - Microsoft Support

Learn how to use the Activation troubleshooter to resolve common activation issues in Windows.

support.microsoft.com

Click to expand...

Activation troubleshooter would not activate it. Currently waiting on a call back from Microsoft tech support.

It's odd because it was activated from Dec 2022 to January of 2024, then when I replaced the Motherboard, RAM and M.2 and reinstalled OS in January, it remained activated until late June 2024 (Last Month). Once I started having these other issues and I updated the BIOS and attempted to refresh and reset the OS is when I was unable to activate Windows.

arcgenysis said:

Activation troubleshooter would not activate it. Currently waiting on a call back from Microsoft tech support.

It's odd because it was activated from Dec 2022 to January of 2024, then when I replaced the Motherboard, RAM and M.2 and reinstalled OS in January, it remained activated until late June 2024 (Last Month). Once I started having these other issues and I updated the BIOS and attempted to refresh and reset the OS is when I was unable to activate Windows.

Click to expand...

I am not clear on the license situation. Did your system come with windows installed and activated by the vendor who you bought the computer from, or, did you have to buy a license key and activate it yourself? If it's the latter, did you buy a retail license? Because they should always activate. Depending how you acquired the license, Microsoft may tell you to contact the vendor. I believe Microsoft registers some information from your hardware to match to your license, so your change in hardware eventually may have registered in their system and therefore your license is invalid for the moment.

windoc said:

I am not clear on the license situation. Did your system come with windows installed and activated by the vendor who you bought the computer from, or, did you have to buy a license key and activate it yourself? If it's the latter, did you buy a retail license? Because they should always activate. Depending how you acquired the license, Microsoft may tell you to contact the vendor.

Click to expand...

The Windows 11 Home was purchased, installed and activated by the vendor, CyberPower. Unfortunately they did not send me a product key.

I am currently on the phone with Microsoft Tech Support getting escalated to their T2 as I did purchase a Windows 10 Pro Retail license years ago that I am no longer using. They are going to use that key and upgrade me to 11 Pro. Hopefully should have this done soon.

arcgenysis said:

The Windows 11 Home was purchased, installed and activated by the vendor, CyberPower. Unfortunately they did not send me a product key.

I am currently on the phone with Microsoft Tech Support getting escalated to their T2 as I did purchase a Windows 10 Pro Retail license years ago that I am no longer using. They are going to use that key and upgrade me to 11 Pro. Hopefully should have this done soon.

Click to expand...

The Windows installed by the vendor is likely an OEM System Builder license that is tied to the hardware on your machine, generally the motherboard, and you didn't change your mobo, but you did re-install windows to a certain extent. Regardless that OEM license is tied to that machine, so you should be able to re-install it. The vendor should have provided that to you.

To add to what is being said, your OEM Windows Product key is embedded into the Bios, so you can reinstall Windows as many times as you want and never have to type in the product key.

Spunk said:

To add to what is being said, your OEM Windows Product key is embedded into the Bios, so you can reinstall Windows as many times as you want and never have to type in the product key.

Click to expand...

He had his computer built for him by a local vendor.

@windoc If the computer builder used an OEM disc or used a Retail installer, on the computer, it will still save the product key in the Bios.

Spunk said:

@windoc If the computer builder used an OEM disc or used a Retail installer, on the computer, it will still save the product key in the Bios.

Click to expand...

Not exactly, only large OEMs embed the product key in the BIOS/UEFI using OEM Activation 3.0. System builders using an OEM or Retail installer do not save the product key in the BIOS. Instead, the key is tied to the hardware and stored on Microsoft's activation servers.

Ok so the old Windows 10 key that I purchased back in 2016 was too old for Microsoft to use. I reached out to CyberPowerPC and they just gave me the key. I did a clean wipe and reinstall of Windows and just completed all updates. So far no issues. I'll make another thread if any further issues arise that I cannot figure out. Thank you all!