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PC randomly freezes and sometimes crashes with BSOD errors

So for the past 2-3 months my PC has been freezing and sometimes crashing with BSoDs.

During the freezing no commands work; not Ctrl+Alt+Del, not Ctrl+Shift+Esc nor Alt+F4. Only force-shut-down works.

Freezing can happen when just on the desktop, or in Word, Chrome, a Games etc. or any combinations of programs. However, on some days multiple programs work simultaneously without issues.

  • I have tried CMD, Sfc/Scannow both in safemode and in regular mode. No issues found.

  • I have run memory diagnostic.

  • I have updated the Graphic drivers.

  • I installed HWMonitor to check temperatures but there is no spike above 73°C even when running graphic heavy games.

  • I have checked for dust but the PC is fairly clean.

  • I have scanned for Viruses with McAfee.

  • There is space on my 3 drives,

  • I have uninstalled several apps and checked for KB5043145 as I've read it can cause BSOD.

  • No exceptionally high numbers in task manager.

Some of the BSODs have been:

  • Irql_Not_Less_or_Equal

  • Unexpected_Kernel_Mode_Trap

  • Kernel_Security_Failure

My PC

Acer Nitro N50

CPU Intel Core i5-8400 CPU @ 2.80GHz

GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070

RAM 8GB

Sorry, this is long. Thanks in advance.

My name is Jonathan Deives. I'm an Independent Advisor and I will be happy to help you today..

See if your computer is creating minidump files.

To find these files, this is the path "C:\Windows\Minidump".

First copy and paste all the minidump files you have to another folder and then zip it. Then upload the ZIP file to the cloud on a website like OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox.

Choose to share or right click and get the share link.

Please post the link to the ZIP file here so it can be reviewed.

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No Minidump as far as I can see. Have scrolled through all of the windows folder.

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Try forcing Windows to show failed drivers and produce minidump files, enable Driver Verifier for this.

Make the BSOD happen 3 times and then see if the files were created.

Before running Driver Verifier, create a new system restore point.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

If you have problems starting Windows after enabling Driver Verifier, follow these steps:

Start your PC, as soon as Windows tries to load (spinning dots appear), press and hold the power button for 5 to 10 seconds to perform a forced shutdown

Do this two or three times.

Windows will boot into the Recovery Environment.

Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Option > Startup Settings and click Restart.

When restarting, press 4 to enter safe mode.

Open command prompt as administrator, run these two commands and restart your PC.

verifier /reset

verifier /bootmode resetonbootfail

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Good-ish news!

I got a new BSOD on my own and it generated a minidump. Here is the file.

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Access to the link is private, please set it to public

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My apologies! It has been switched.

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The minidump file do not indicate any driver or hardware causes, only memory corruption.

Go to the manufacturer's website, search for your system model and download the recommended and most recent drivers for the chipset.

Also test your RAM sticks using memtest86 to see if there are any defects.

If you are using any overclocking, undo it.

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So I had lots of trouble getting into the PC (It froze several times even before I logged in). It also crashed another time and generated a new minidump. I put it in the same folder as before.

Eventually it was calm for long enough that I managed to install the chipset driver. Will have to buy myself a USB drive for the memtest86 though. I will do that first thing in the morning.

I don't think I am using overclocking, but if I am, where do I find it? How do I turn it off?

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Have you disabled Driver Verifier? This may resolve the freezing.

The minidump file indicates that the cause of the BSOD is IAStorAC.sys,.

Which is the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver, go to the manufacturer's website, search for your system model and download the recommended driver.

If you are using XMP profile in RAM, disable it.

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I conducted the test finally. The test itself said no errors occured.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NsLbgc7dmmXhB43H3fkay7CKyHPi2mFA/view?usp=drive_link

I have disabled overclocking, I searched online to turn off XMP but it seems it cannot be used on this model. Doesn't show up in BIOS.

The PC still freezes...

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Last updated April 16, 2025 Views 39 Applies to: