Windows 10: BSOD - even in safe mode - CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED ... 0x000000EF

4) Another strange thing is ALL disk and drive informations are missing in the dxdiag.txt log. Thats not normal and I never saw that before.

5) I found a problem with the NVIDIA driver too. Its blamed in the MEMORY.DMP and I also see three errors in windows eventlog, that show that the GPU driver crashed:
Code: MEMORY.DMP 0x000000EF: CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED (9.09.2017 05:14:39) [Windows 10] CAUSED BY: ntdll.dll nvlddmkm.sys [22.08.2017] * nVidia Video drivers * => Download Drivers | NVIDIA PROCESS: svchost.exe[/quote] eventlog:
Code: 2017-07-13 16:22:55 Warning: Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered. 2017-08-14 03:28:49 Warning: Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered. 2017-09-01 09:16:36 Warning: Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.[/quote] 6) Theres also software installed which is known for causing bluescreens (GPU overclocking, turbo modes and special profiles)
- EVGA Precision
- ASUS AI Suite III[/quote]
Thanks for the tips. I updated my video drivers two weeks or so ago as part of troubleshooting - I'll try rolling that back in case that is responsible for making things worse, not better.

I'll also update the system bios

For #2 - if it is a disk issue I'm not sure what to do first. Should I get a new boot drive, attach it to the system, reinstall the OS and see if that clears things up?

 

Following advice by @BSODHunter - I've uninstalled the graphics software and rolled back to my older nvidia drivers. Got another blue screen (0x000000EF, as usual - followed by "A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed" 0xc000000e, as usual.
Still no dump files created (mini or regular).

I've updated my motherboard bios to latest as advised, installed Samsung Magician SSD software, and updated my SSD firmware with it. Waiting to see if it happens again.

 

... and it happened again! I actually watched it happen this time - had Windows Explorer open as I was looking at an update to my disk controller (according to ASUS i'm running ASM1480 – PCI-E Switching, ASM1042 – Additional USB 3.0 Connectivity .ASM1061 – Additional SATA 6 Gb/s Connectivity, ASM1442 – TMDS level shift ICs for HDMI)

... and my C:\ drive just disappeared! A few moments later the OS froze and I got the familiar blue screen!
Gah! Noted that the D:\ drive stayed... going to see if there is a switch so I can get the dumps written to d:\
Attachment 152930

 

Have you checked the cable connections to the disk drive and SATA ports? Its almost as if there is an intermittent break in the cable.

 

I'm actually going to switch the cables for C and D and see what happens. I presumed the hardware shop that had it last week tried testing cables - but *shrugs* who know?

 

Plugged the system drive into a new SATA port, with a new cable, and... blue screen, as before.
(0x000000EF, as usual - followed by "A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed" 0xc000000e, as usual on soft boot - hard stop/start allows system to startup normally).

*cry

Should I be getting a new system drive next? Not sure where else to go from here...

 

Decided to go with new disk and new install of OS. Will report back if that resolves issue after letting it run for a few days (unless, of course, it blue screens again)

 

Final update (?)

I loaded my old system drive as a data drive on my new OS (loaded on a new SSD). After a few minutes... it disappeared. Unplugging/replugging the data cable did not fix it. So it appears to be some kind of power problem on the drive - a hardware problem that no hardware scan reported to me *Sad

Thanks for the advice and suggestions everyone.