New
#1
BSODs happening after Windows updates
I've been having BSODs connected to ntoskrnl.exe for a while now. I've tried so many things to make them stop before finally just....wanting to dump all of this here in the forums.
- Most frequently happens while using a web browser, usually right when I click something.
- Has happened once or twice while using Photoshop, and at least once while nothing is up, but not recently.
My suspicions are a driver conflict, as these BSODs tend to start up or get worse in the weeks following a Windows update. I'm not sure if it's the graphics driver, or what. I have no clue how to find out. This has been going on for the better part of a year now. I've done so much research, tried so many checks and solutions.
I am operating on a new hard drive and newly-bought copy of windows 10 (as of May this year). I had similar problems beforehand, though. At one point, updating the graphics driver fixed it for a few weeks, but then windows updated and I started getting blue screens again. That was a while ago, before the new HDD/OS.
After installing the new HDD and OS, there immediately was a problem with Windows Updates not completing, but that was it. I contacted Windows support about this, and they took control of my laptop and did some things, hid the update, then told me not to worry about it. I didn't. It didn't affect my daily operation.
At some point, I started getting pop-ups while using a corded USB mouse or a graphics tablet (I never have them plugged in at the same time because the mouse affects the tablet's operation) and those pop-ups read "USB device not recognized". It concerned me, but it did nothing to affect the operation of my tablet or mouse. I don't know if it's related at all. Probably is, nothing happens without a reason.
The July windows update happened, and it's the first windows update to actually install. That's when things started getting real funky. It automatically did a disk check when I started up my computer a couple mornings afterwards, said it repaired things, no clue what or why - this is a new HDD so I would hope it's not damaged. I haven't had problems with it until this update.
And then? The crashes started happening again. Blue screens tell me ntoskrnl.exe and fltmanager are responsible. System Service Exceptions and such. I can probably find and post the dumps if someone told me how, I cannot make heads or tails of this stuff myself. I do have BlueScreenViewer, but it's all gibberish to me.
This is an eight year old computer. Trust me when I say that it is currently NOT financially in the cards to replace it, and if I can't use it effectively for my work, that's pretty bad. Things go wrong when Windows updates. I suspect that windows is responsible, because the computer works very nicely until a new update installs. It seems very likely to my not-tech-knowledgable mind that the old laptop drivers don't like the new Windows OS drivers.
I don't suspect the hardware, I've run memory checks and disk checks and they seem to check out. Perhaps the USB hardware is somewhat suspect. I don't know anything about it though. I think the CPU might be okay because the laptop was not having BSODs while Windows wasn't updating. It is old, though, who knows. I'd like to absolutely rule out driver issues first, because there's not much I can do to get a new laptop or computer right now.
I do have a restore point from when I first installed the new HDD and OS. I suppose I could always go back to that and disable windows update? I'd rather leave that as a last resort, though. I don't know what the best thing to do is, I can't have BSODs constantly interrupting me and giving me panic attacks. I dread updates now because they always bring trouble.
I'm sorry this is such a wall of text, but I don't know how better to explain all this since it's been going on for a while. If you have any specific questions about what I'm doing, or my computer, I think I should be able to answer them.