# Issue with the dreaded blue screen.



## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

Hey guys, I'm really hoping someone here could possibly give me a hand. My pc has Windows 10 and I've been having nothing but issues recently. As of about a month ago my pc has started to crash randomly and shows the blue screen. I originally experienced issues where my disk usage was maxed when virtually nothing was running. I disabled superfetch and Windows search and it seemed to get better. I restarted my pc and the issue returned. So I decided to reformat thinking maybe that would help. 

The disk usage is fine now, I have been monitoring it for a few hours off and on and it seems fine. However now periodically my internet completely stops working, I try to disconnect and reconnect it, then my pc blue screen crashes. It always seems to happen after my internet cuts out. Since my reformat (3 hours ago) I have blue screened four times... I'm really getting worried. Please send help! 

Quick note my pc is an Acer aspire tc-710.


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

Hi, welcome to the TSG Forums.......

When you write that you performed a "reformat", do you mean that you formatted the hard disk and reinstalled Windows..?

If that is not what you mean could you please explain.

T.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

Yea so I co.pletely wiped the system with killdisk, and then reinstalled windows 10. Sorry if I wasn't clear.


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

W10 is very stable when compared, for example, to older versions such as XP, which was infamous for Blue-screens. In looking for a solution one would probably look in this order....

1. A corrupt Driver
2. A failing or corrupt hardware device - especially the HDD
3. A corrupt System file
4. Overheating
5. Malware trying to access a W10 critical area

Do you know how to check all of the above..?

T.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

Honestly aside from using a pc, I'm really quite new to the the ically side of using one. Not really sure how to check any of the list above..


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

OK.... no problem, thanks for being honest, it helps us to word advice in a way that is appropriate. Let us take each item in turn....

1. A corrupt Driver
A simple way to test for this is to start in Safe Mode. Safe Mode uses the absolute minimum of Drivers, therefore if the problem is a corrupt Driver there is a good chance that Safe Mode won't load that Driver. If the problem disappears when in Safe Mode then a Driver is probably the culprit.

Another option is to logout, shutdown and disconnect from the mains power. Now disconnect everything from the PC except the monitor, keyboard and mouse. Restart either in Safe Mode or as you normally would and see if the problem persists.​
2. A failing or corrupt hardware device - especially the HDD
The best way to check any HDD is to use the disk checking Utility provided by the manufacturer. Normally one can go to the manufacturer's website, enter the disk details and find the utility to check that disk. This type of utility can take a long time to do an in-depth check, so be prepared to wait.​
3. A corrupt System file
To check for a corrupt System File, login as the Administrator and open a CMD window. In the CMD window at the prompt type sfc /scannow. Please note the space between the c and /​
4. Overheating
Most good quality systems have overheating protection which will protect the system. The most common cause of overheating is a faulty CPU fan or some other aspect of the cooling system. You would need to open the box and observe what is happening. But be careful if you open the box. Some areas of the box are LIVE to mains electricity, so don't get electrocuted. And don't touch things inside the box unless you are wearing a static-strap and if you are wearing a static-strap then make 100% sure that the box is disconnected from the mains electricity.​
5. Malware trying to access a W10 critical area
You need to do two things. Firstly run an in-depth scan of the entire system using your normal AV. Then run an in-depth Malware scan of the entire system using one of the Free online scanners. Recommend either or both of the scanners available from Emsisoft or Malwarebytes.​If you have questions about any of the above then please ask.

T.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

So I normally find the issue happen when my internet stops connection or I open multiple things at once. Just opened up like 20 programs and document s at once. It works perfectly. I've been messing around in safe mode for about 30 minutes and not a single hiccup. 

Ps. Sorry about the late response I was I work.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

So I've been trying to replicate the blue screen crashes consistently and every time they happen my internet seems to stop working, even though it still shows that it's connected. I dint disconnect from say discord. But i can't use Google or load a video. Then I disconnect my internet and then reconnect to force it to work. And within about 30s-1min my pc blue screens. I've been able to test this five times back to back and it has been the same result every time.

Also, if I wasn't clear in my previous response post I was using safe mode to test. It was simply safe mode none of the specifics options were checked off (eg. networking).


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

The pc has also crashed a few times simply putting a video into fullscreen.


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

Thanks for explaining what you are doing in clear terms..... it helps...

Suggest that you do the following....

PART 1
1a. Logout, Shutdown, disconnect from the mains electricity and wait 5 min
1b. Physically disconnect from your Network - if Ethernet pull the cable, if WiFi switch OFF the Router
2. Reconnect to the mains and start in Safe Mode
3. Login as the Administrator
4a. Use the Windows utility to run a Disk Check
4b. Make a note or take a Screenshot of the result of the check
5a. When 4 is complete open a CMD window and run sfc /scannow from the Prompt
5b. Make a note or take a Screenshot of the result of the scan
6a. When 5 is complete run the Windows utility to check the RAM
6b. Make a note or take a Screenshot of the result of the scan
7. When 6 is complete, if you use a Microsoft Account to login then create a new Local Account. (This step is not necessary if you use a Local Account)
8. Logout and Shutdown

NOTE : _Don't reconnect to the Network yet_

PART 2
1. Restart in normal mode and login with the Local User Account
2. Run any programs that you have for which you don't need an Internet connection
3a. If the PC Blue-screens make a note of exactly what you were doing at the time
3b. If after 30 minutes the PC has not Blue-screened then Logout and Shutdown and go to PART 3

PART 3
1. Physically reconnect to the Network depending on how you physically disconnected
2. Restart
3. Open Task Manager and simply observe what Processes are running
4. Do nothing for 15 minutes, just let Windows do whatever it wants to do
5. If no Blue-screen then start doing simple things only one-at-a-time that require the Internet - email, news
6. Slowly start doing more things at the same time and keep observing Task Manager - especially Memory
7. Continue until the PC Blue-screens and make a note of the circumstances immediately prior to the BS

T.


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## Bluertomb (Feb 12, 2013)

You just got me hooked on this....and I'm so eager to see how it progress.
Thank you Mr Tabvia.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

So i have one problem with This, icab turn off the router.. other people are using it. :/


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

Does that mean that your PC connects to the Network using WiFi..?

The problem with that is that when you Restart it will automatically look for a WiFi connection. If your PC uses a WiFi card then there might be a small aerial at the rear of the PC. If there is then these aerials usually simply screw on and off. If you remove the aerial and if you are a reasonable distance from the Router then you could test if that prevents connection.

We do need to solve this issue because it is absolutely essential that you can Restart without connecting to the Network. If the "other people" are family members then perhaps you could come to some arrangement when no one is using the Network and you can then switch the Router OFF.

T.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

Quick update. I'm going to turn off the router tonight but I noticed something. When my pc blue screens there is a code in the bottom left. It shows;

When contacting support show this:
Drive_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
netwtw04.sys 

Does that mean anything?


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

So a quick update. I started following the steps and as the pc was restarting into safe mode my power went out. Now pc won't start it just starts automatic repair , then diagnosing pc, then says that automatic repair couldn't repair my pc.
Log file: C:Windows\System32\Logfiles\Srt\SrtTrail.txt.

I'm getting so frustrated. It's one thing after another...


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

Syhtister said:


> Quick update. I'm going to turn off the router tonight but I noticed something. When my pc blue screens there is a code in the bottom left. It shows;
> 
> When contacting support show this:
> Drive_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
> ...


Yes...!! That is critical information.... well spotted..

netwtwo4.sys is the Driver for the Intel wireless WiFi link adapter. IRQL is an acronym for a hardware independent interrupt request. This is the way Windows prioritizes interrupt requests.

What this message is telling you is that the Driver (netwtwo4.sys) is trying to access an invalid address, typically this would be an address that is out of range. You might think that simply replacing the Driver would resolve the problem, but it is not nearly as simple as that. Replacing the Driver could fix the problem or not - it all depends on what is causing the Driver process to return an IRQL error message.

Possible causes.....

1. Corrupt Driver - download a new Driver from the Intel website and install
2a. Corrupt RAM - use the Windows Diagnostic Tool to test the RAM
2b. Corrupt RAM - use the RAM manufacturer utility to test
3. Corrupt PageFile - reinstall Windows
4. Corrupt System File - run sfc /scannow as Administrator from within a CMD window
5. Faulty WiFi Adapter - if separate card replace; if onboard disable and use Ethernet instead

Causes and solutions beyond the above require specialist technical knowledge, so I am not even going to go there.

The good news is that we may have narrowed down the cause to the WiFi Adapter. Lets hope so....

T.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

I dont know if you saw the message after that but the pc is not usable right now. I really need help...


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## Tabvla (Apr 10, 2006)

In Post #3 you wrote that you had reinstalled Windows. Why don't you simply do that again..? That should get your PC working again. 

From what you have written, it seems that when you had the power failure that Windows became corrupted, that is the most likely reason that your PC won't start. It is possible (but highly unlikely) that the power failure caused a disk-crash, that would have been quite common 10 years ago, but HDD's today are far more robust and will usually survive a power outage.

T.


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## Syhtister (Jun 23, 2017)

I appreciate all the help so far. I'm going to reinstall Windows does to fix the new problem and do the troubleshooting steps if the issue persists. Regardless I will report back incase this could help someone in the future


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