BSOD and I can't find the dump file or Event Viewer log entry

delerious · 23 Oct 2016

A few days ago I got a BSOD on my Windows 10 laptop. It happened on October 19 around 2:50 AM I believe. I wasn't really even doing anything on it at the time, I think I was doing something on my desktop computer next to it. My Windows 10 laptop is configured to NOT reboot on a crash.

The BSOD showed a QR code, and I used my phone to read the QR code - it took me to a useless generic Microsoft page. Then I rebooted the laptop and looked in the Event Viewer under System and didn't see any log entries that told me what happened.

Here is how my laptop is configured under the Startup and Recovery section:
- the "Write an event to the system log" option is checked
- the "Automatically restart" option is not checked
- the "Write debugging information" option is set to "Kernel memory dump"
- the "Dump file" option is set to %SystemRoot%\MEMORY.DMP
- the "Overwrite any existing file" option is checked
- the "Disable automatic deletion of memory dumps when disk space is low" option is not checked

What I find strange is that I couldn't find a C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP file, even though it's configured to generate that file. My C drive has 310 GB of free space, so that's not the problem. Also, the crash happened on October 19 around 2:50 AM, but I don't see anything in the Event Viewer under System that would explain what happened. I also tried to filter the System log with event sources=BugCheck, and there are no entries.

I ran that dm_log_collector.exe and it said it couldn't find a C:\WINDOWS\MINIDUMP directory. I attached the zip file that it generated.

I am curious to know what the stop error code was, and whether it's a hardware or software problem.

axe0 · 30 Oct 2016

Hi delerious,

Welcome to the 10forums and apologies for the delay.

Are you still in need of help?

delerious · 30 Oct 2016

axe0,

I am still interested in finding out what the stop error code was, and if it was caused by software or hardware.

Thanks.

axe0 · 30 Oct 2016

From your description and the logs, I currently suspect a few things as possible causes.
But first, how is your pagefile configured?

Please fill in your system specs

Please follow this tutorial and download the tool. The tool will give you detailed information about your system specs, please fill in your system specs more completely including PSU, cooling and other used stuff like mouse, keyboard, monitor, case, etc.
The PSU, cooling and other stuff are NOT mentioned in the tool.

In the left corner below in your post you find 'My System Specs'. After clicking it you can find a link a little below that says 'Update your System Spec', click on this link to get to the page where you can fill in your system specs.

delerious · 31 Oct 2016

Hi axe0,

I downloaded and ran the tool, and tried to update my System Spec accordingly. Please let me know if you need any more information.

Thank you.

axe0 · 31 Oct 2016

I would like an answer to my question :)

delerious · 01 Nov 2016

Oops, sorry about that!

My virtual memory says "Total paging file size for all drives: 32768 MB". When I click on the "Change" button, the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" box is checked. Everything else is grayed out. Under "Total paging file size for all drives", it says:
- Minimum allowed: 16 MB
- Recommended: 4981 MB
- Currently allocated: 32768 MB

axe0 · 01 Nov 2016

Please make sure your pc is configured for small dump files How to configure minidump | Windows 10 tutorial

delerious · 02 Nov 2016

Here is a screenshot of how I have my dump file configured:

Attachment 108632

But as I mentioned in my original post, it's strange because I can't find any MEMORY.DMP file and I didn't see any event in the system log that seemed to be related to the BSOD.

axe0 · 02 Nov 2016

Diagnostics Test

System File Check

Please try following:

Open an admin command prompt
Copy/paste "sfc /scannow" (without quotes) and press enter
When it is finished reboot your system
Open again an admin command prompt
Enter sfc/scannow again

If sfc/scannow says "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them" after the second SFC, please upload the cbs.log file located at %systemroot%\Logs\CBS\, if the file is too large try a 3rd party uploader like dropbox, onedrive, google drive, mediafire etc.
System File Check(SFC a.k.a. Windows Resource Protection) needs to have your system rebooted in order for sfc to try to fix the problems that it finds.

Make a photo of SFC and post it.