Windows 10: Frequent and Random Restarts

A couple months ago, I got a new HP computer with Windows 10. First thing it did was to update Windows. I did manage to transfer all my files and programs, but practically from day 1, I keep getting the BSOD with one of two messages: critical process died or unexpected store exception. Ocassionally when Windows attempts to restart, I get the message that the boot disk can't be found.I checked everything, including drivers, and ran several scans, including scannow. No problems were found. At first I thought the problem might be that the problem was related to a file that could not be found. I discoved that the file was part of Office 365, which was included on the computer (trial version of course). I had to uninstall and reinstal it to get that file. For a while, that seemed to have fixed the problem. I actually went days without a BSOD, while before reinstalling 365, it was happening numerous times a day.But the BSOD came back. At first it was every couple of days. Now it's back to several times a day. I need my computer for work, so this is a serious problem for me.It doesn't seem to matter what I'm doing or what is open, nor does it matter how long the computer has been on. It can happen after ten minutes or it can happen after several hours. It's just quite random. I did disable the sleep function in the power button, but I really need the hibernate function as I come and go often during the day and really don't want to restart all the time - although since I'm forced to restart thanks to the BSOD and that restart is out of my control, I suppose shutting down each time I leave would be better.In any case, I have read that this is a problem many people are encountering and that it may be due to some Windows update. If that's true, I'd delete that update - if I knew which one it was.Hoping someone can help.

:)

 

Random and frequent reboots

Still getting reboots running the device without SIM card. Calling Nokia tomorrow to get a new one/refund.

 

Random and frequent reboots

I used the weather applet the first day. After the reboots appeared I removed it (just in case) and I'm using no widgets or abusing multitasking (usually closing everything after use). I'll remove the sim card today and see what happens. Thanks.

 

Hello *Smile

There are several different bugcheck codes the most frequent one is a UNEXPECTED_STORE_EXCEPTION (154) and refers to hard disk errors.

BugCheck 154, {ffffdb0a42811000, ffffa0806417fff0, 2, 0}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for win32k.sys
Probably caused by : hardware_disk






Diagnostics Test

HDD TEST
*Arrow Run HDTune to

• check the health,
• scan for errors, no quick scan but full scan
• run a benchmark.

It may take some time, but look for signs of any errors or failure.

You can also run a disk check using chkdsk. Refer to the tutorial for details of how to do this.

 

Thank you for your reply. Chkdsk was one of the diagnostics I tried when this problem first started. No disk errors were found. None of the diagnostics I ran showed any problems. And I ran every one that I knew to run. And when given the option, I ran full scans, not quick ones. That's why I ended up here looking for help.

I read elsewhere that the problem was related to the sleep and hibernate functions in Windows 10 for some people. Some people were able to eliminate the unexpected store exception error by making changes to those functions. That doesn't work for me.

I'll run HDTune and see what that shows up. Maybe something will show up that didn't show up in chkdsk. It's very weird. I won't be able to run it until tomorrow, though.

Edit: I just thought of something. I had thought that the missing file from Office 365 was the problem since once I reinstalled it, the file was there and I didn't get a BSOD for a couple of days (as opposed to a couple of times a day). I noticed something going on with my Word program. Generally, when I go to open a file, a list of the files I had opened previously are available. That doesn't happen anymore. The only files that show up in the list are the ones that I just opened. Everything else is gone. Is it possible that this is still an Office/Windows 10 problem? I just wondered because maybe the system is having trouble storing the information. That's just a wild guess. Very wild. But ...

 

I ran HD Tune on my computer - no problems found. I ran the full scan, not the quick scan.

Error Scan:
HD Tune: WDC WD10EZEX-60M2NA0 Error Scan
Scanned data : 953488 MB
Damaged Blocks : 0.0
%Elapsed Time : 127:46

Health Status: Ok.

Benchmark:
HD Tune: WDC WD10EZEX-60M2NA0 Benchmark
Transfer Rate Minimum : 52.0 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 176.3 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 135.9 MB/sec
Access Time : 21.1 ms
Burst Rate : 172.8 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 13.1%

 

OK, we can assume the harddisk itself is not the cause of the errors. One of your more recent BSOD showed the possibility of memory corruption:

Code: BugCheck EF, {ffffcd08d09eb800, 0, 0, 0} ETW minidump data unavailable Probably caused by : memory_corruption CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED (ef) A critical system process died[/quote]
It would be good to run a memory test next.





Diagnostic Test

RAM TEST


Run MemTest86+ - Test RAM - Windows 10 Forums



Note



MemTest86+ needs to be run for at least 8 complete passes for conclusive results. Set it running before you go to bed and leave it overnight. We're looking for zero errors here. Even a single error will indicate RAM failure.

 

Okay. I'll try the memory test, but I'm not hopeful. I don't know that the computer will remain running for that long of a stretch. I'm going to suspect that nothing will be wrong. This is a computer that is just a few months old. And as I said, I've been reading that these BSOD errors are related to Windows 10 updates. I have a couple of those already as that's the first thing the computer did the second it was hooked up to the internet. I've been tempted to uninstall all those updates, but feared I might mess things up even more.

I'll start the memory test and hope the computer doesn't restart in the middle of it and stays on long enough for me to save any necessary files.

 

Troubleshooting these problems is difficult - when there is no clear indication from the analysis we have to be methodical and work through the most likely possibilities gradually eliminating causes until we find the right one. At some point we will find the answer *Smile

The memory test runs from a USB drive so it should not be impacted by W10 or MS Office.

 

Thanks, Philc43. Sorry for not responding sooner. I haven't yet done the memory test. I have tons of work to get done -- all on the computer. I know the test can last longer than overnight and I'm afraid I won't get my work done. I'm going to have to wait until I am all caught up on the work. Then if the test takes more than 8 hours, it won't be a problem. It might be a few days. I didn't want people who are helping me to think that I'm ignoring the advice or not appreciating the help.

The computer was behaving most of the day. Only restarted once! Better than 5 times a day!

 

Okay. So I'm ready to do a memory test. That is, I have prepared a USB drive. I plan to run the test on Monday night since it can run as long as it wants to if it's not done when I get up in the morning. However, I'm already stuck on what to do. The instructions for downloading MemTest86 and creating a boot drive with a USB drive are great.

But then step 11, just says, "With your USB stick inserted, boot into BIOS. Select Boot options and select the bootable USB stick you created. When you exit the BIOS after saving your changes your PC will boot into MemTest86+ and it will start running automatically, you do not have to do anything after selecting the boot device and exiting the BIOS."

So how do I boot into BIOS? I did a google search, but got more than one answer.

 

Hello kaityf,

Have a look at the user guide for your PC. You might not need to go all the way into the BIOS. I believe you have to press the ESC key immediately after turning on the PC and the BOOT menu should show up where you can select the USB device as the one to boot from.

 

Well, that's it for tonight. I finally figured out how to boot from my USB drive without getting into bios, but I ended up right back into Windows. Nothing started automatically. Okay. I figured I have to actually go into bios for it to work right, so I figured out how to do that, changed the boot order so the computer would boot from the USB. And guess what? I ended up right back in Windows. Nothing started automatically.

I followed the instructions in the tutorial and got everything just as it looked in the tutorial. If I check the USB, I see it has 4 files in it: copying, mt86plus, readme, and syslinux.cfg.

So I'm very confused now on what to do. I can't do anything more tonight as I have to go in to work tomorrow and it's already late. I won't be able to do the memtest now until Wednesday night - assuming I can figure out how to get it to work.

I will say that when I booted into bios, I didn't have the option of booting into the *specific* usb drive I created, but as there was only one plugged in, I don't know how that could matter.

 

You have more than one USB port that you can try. It might be better to use one of the ports at the back of the desktop unit and also remove all other USB connections (apart from keyboard/mouse) to avoid any confusion with other devices or drives you may have connected.

 

D'oh! I should have tried a port in the back! Oh well. I'll try that tomorrow night. I'll try it first without disconnecting anything else. If that doesn't work, I'll disconnect all but the mouse and keyboard and see if that works. Sure hope one of those works.

I'm wondering something else now, too. When this first started happening shortly after I got the computer, I not only got the "store exception" and "critical process died" messages, I got a lovely message telling me that a boot drive could not be found. That message came up more and more often. At first I could just restart it. But then the message would come up several times before it would finally boot up. I started unplugging it and then plugging it back in and that seemed to help.

It became so frequent, that I decided to check the connections inside the case. They all looked secure, but I gave them all a little push anyway. I didn't have any problems for days and days, which was great since I had been getting shutdowns several times a day. I started get that message again the other day. And like before, it started happening more often during that shut down/restart process. So I checked the connections in the case again. Same thing. They all looked fine. But again, I gave them all a little push.

This time, though, I noticed something. The plug to the hard drive has an odd wire that splits. One part goes to the hard drive, of course, but another part goes to some other screw. I really can't tell what it is. It doesn't matter, though, because the point is that the second part of the wire seems to be pulling on the part plugged into the hard drive. It doesn't pull the wire out of the hard drive, of course, but I noticed that when I gently push the plug into the hard drive, it comes out a teeny tiny bit on one side. That just means that it's unevenly inserted into the hard drive. It's really not by much. But now I'm wondering if that could actually be causing the problem(s). If it is, I'm not sure how I would be able to fix it. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the problem stopped for days the first time I pushed in all the connections.

Just a thought. I'm not a computer expert!

Tomorrow night I'll try the memtest again. Thanks for your help and quick responses!