Windows 10: Periodic BSOD: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP

Running in Safe Mode now, posting from laptop, and trying to move over all the bigger, more important stuff. I think I may just see if trying to reinstall Windows fixes this because I feel like I'm fighting a proverbial hydra, here. Everything was fine until just yesterday. I can't figure out what changed, why, or how it's been crashing things in such a horrible, cascading avalanche but... well, here we are.

EDIT: Attempted a clean install of Windows and in the middle of installation, got another UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP. I can't even do anything about it. It didn't fully install, so I'm just... starting over. I am not even sure how to feel or what to do at this point. I'm frustrated and stressed out to the point of tears over this.

EDIT: Looking into the possibility of hardware failures. Memtest turned up nothing overnight, but I'm not super convinced, since it seems okay installing Windows on one stick and not the other or both, and in any case without the video card installed.

 

Another update: I'm to the point of just repeatedly reinstalling Windows because sometimes it works and sometimes it fails. I'm finding that, even with memtest clearing both sticks of RAM, both together and separately, one seems to cause problems, as does the video card. I can't tell why. When the video card is in, it prompts SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION BSODs during Windows installation that often cause it to fail altogether or hang indefinitely until the boot drive is formatted again.

If this were a problem with the motherboard or CPU, I assume I wouldn't even be getting this far, correct? It installs Windows and seems fine with just the one particular stick of RAM, but at this point, I don't know what to think.

 

I feel your pain *cry

With the escalation of all the problems it does have all the features of a failing motherboard but let's not give up yet. There may be some setting in the BIOS that is causing the MB to trigger errors under certain conditions. Make sure the BIOS settings are at optimised defaults with no overclocking. Make sure the RAM is inserted correctly, slots 2 and 4 should be used when using 2 sticks of RAM counting the slots in order with 1 being nearest the CPU. I have a feeling you may be using slots 1 and 2.

 

Working with a friend last night, we tried swapping the RAM about, eventually taking it down to just a single module of 8GB with no video card installed. I haven't actually had the opportunity to try overclocking anything yet, as I'm not big on doing so. At first it seemed okay, but the issues continued later into the night, eventually firing a KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE during an installation, then when logging in after it recovered, a CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT.
After this, we tried another fresh install as that messed up the last one, and before the installation CD even got to show me the drives available for install, I was presented with another UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP. Checking the motherboard afterward showed me the LED readout was showing either of two codes: A0 or 99. A0 is supposedly a non-error, just an initialisation message, but 99 indicates "Super IO initialisation" which apparently can mean a faulty motherboard or bad power supply. What do you think, given the circumstances?

I took the day off to start deconstructing and getting parts ready to return, so I'm likely just going to package up everything I can to prepare for an exchange at the store - RAM, GPU, motherboard, CPU, the works.

 

Um.. Q99 does sound bad but it has been known to show if the keyboard and mouse are not connected or working. Do you have any others you can try?

With just one stick of memory this should be in slot 2.

Assuming you have exhausted all these possibilities, I am inclined to agree that you might need a new MB.

Did you have any recent lightning storms that could have sent a voltage spike to ruin the board?

 

Keyboard and mouse work with no problems. RAM was slotted correctly. No recent power fluctuations of which I'm immediately aware. I'm going to wait until the shop I bought all the parts from opens in an hour, then call them and ask if I can just bring the whole rig in for warranty repair since I got all my parts there barely a couple weeks ago and they're all still under warranty. Either way,
Thanks for all your help, Phil - you've been one of many I've needed to keep my head on straight through all of this. I'm going to mark this as solved since it comes down to getting hardware replaced now, and I have the means to do so. Again, thank you for all your help!

 

Your welcome! Good luck and hope it turns out a better day for you!