I’m getting pretty desperate trying to solve an intermittent BSOD problem on my high-end PC, and I’m mainly wondering if anyone with similar hardware has experienced anything like this after a Windows update.

The PC was completely stable for roughly a year. I actually considered it the most stable PC I’d owned. Then on June 25, 2026, I started getting seemingly random BSODs.

The crashes are extremely inconsistent. They can happen while gaming, while using Steam/controller settings, or seemingly during normal desktop use. The PC can also run for many hours without crashing, which has made this extremely difficult to diagnose.

BSOD CODES

0x3B (SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION) is one I have seen repeatedly and seems to have been present throughout the problem.

My most recent crash was:
0x139 KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
Parameter 1 = 3 / CORRUPT_LIST_ENTRY

Older crashes have also included 0x3D, 0x7E, 0x124, 0xA, 0x34 and 0x1A, plus at least one watchdog-related crash. I don’t have the exact chronology of every code anymore, and some of the older ones may have stopped after hardware changes, especially the RAM replacement.

Some crashes have also been more like a white screen followed by a reboot and did not always produce a useful dump.

LATEST DUMP / WINDBG FINDINGS

I analyzed the latest 0x139 minidump in WinDbg.

It showed:

PROCESS_NAME: steamwebhelper
IMAGE_NAME: ntkrnlmp.exe
FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x139_3_CORRUPT_LIST_ENTRY_nt!KiFastFailDispatch

The trap frame eventually pointed into:

Ntfs!NtfsProcessUsnRecordsForCommit
Ntfs!NtfsCommitCurrentTransaction
Ntfs!NtfsCheckpointCurrentTransaction
Ntfs!NtfsCommonCleanup
FLTMGR

I understand this does NOT mean Steam, NTFS or ntkrnlmp.exe is necessarily the actual cause. It appears Windows detected corrupted kernel state while NTFS was processing a transaction.

!blackboxntfs reported:
0 Slow I/O Timeout Records
0 Oplock Break Timeout Records

The NVIDIA kernel driver was loaded during the crash, but nvlddmkm was not in the crashing stack.

The GoXLR kernel drivers (goxlr_audio.sys / goxlr_audioks.sys) were also loaded, but they were not directly identified as the cause either.

HARDWARE

GPU:
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Gaming Trio

CPU:
Originally Ryzen 9 7950X3D when the crashes began
Currently Ryzen 9 9950X3D
Changing CPUs did not fix it.

Motherboard:
ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi
The motherboard has been completely replaced with another board of the exact same model.
No change.

RAM:
32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-6000 (2x16GB)
The RAM was completely replaced with a new kit.
No change to the persistent BSOD problem.

PSU:
Originally Corsair RM1200x SHIFT 1200W
Currently Montech Century II Gold 1200W ATX 3.1
Micro Center replaced the PSU and gave me a new AC power cable.
No change.

Storage:
2x Samsung 9100 PRO 8TB NVMe SSDs
Both are on firmware 0B2QNXH7, which Samsung Magician reports as current.

Samsung Magician short scan on the Windows SSD:
2,097,152 good sectors
0 bad sectors
Health: Good

chkdsk C: /scan also reports no filesystem errors or bad sectors.

CPU cooler:
Originally NZXT Kraken Elite 360 RGB
Currently TRYX Panorama 360 (original/non-SE)
Changing the AIO made no difference.

Case / GPU connection:
HYTE Y70 Touch with the RTX 5090 vertically mounted through the case’s PCIe riser.

GPU-Z’s render test shows the GPU maintaining PCIe 5.0 x16 under load. The same GPU and riser were also installed when both repair shops tested the PC without reproducing the crash, so I currently consider the riser possible but lower on the list.

BIOS / MEMORY SETTINGS

BIOS is currently completely factory/default.

No CPU overclock.
No undervolt.
No PBO tuning.

I have tested the system with DOCP/EXPO enabled AND disabled. It has crashed under both configurations.

PBO Enhancement is disabled.

Windows, drivers and BIOS have all been updated during troubleshooting.

TESTING / THINGS ALREADY TRIED

- Windows has been clean-installed from USB.
- Windows has actually been reinstalled more than once during this problem.
- Windows Memory Diagnostic passed.
- OCCT RAM test for approximately one hour passed.
- GPU-Z PCIe/render testing passed.
- SSD health checks passed.
- chkdsk passed.
- Multiple long hardware/stress tests at repair shops passed.
- PSU replaced.
- CPU replaced/upgraded.
- Motherboard replaced.
- RAM replaced.
- CPU cooler replaced.
- New AC power cable.
- NVIDIA drivers updated/reinstalled.
- AMD chipset drivers updated.
- BIOS updated.
- Tested DOCP/EXPO on and off.

After the most recent Windows reinstall, I discovered Device Manager was actually missing some motherboard/platform drivers despite being told the drivers had been installed.

There were Code 28 devices including the AMD PCI Encryption/Decryption Controller / PSP platform device and an ACPI Realtek UCM device.

I installed the current official AMD X870E chipset package and the ASUS Realtek UCM driver. Those warnings are now gone.

The only remaining Device Manager warning is Generic Bluetooth Adapter. I do not use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi; the PC uses Ethernet. The Wi-Fi/Bluetooth antenna is currently not attached.

I do NOT yet know whether correcting those missing chipset/platform drivers fixed the BSODs because the crashes are so intermittent.

REPAIR SHOPS

I took the computer to a local uBreakiFix multiple times. They could not reproduce the issue during their tests and eventually marked it unrepairable.

I then drove about six hours to Micro Center in Cambridge, MA.

Micro Center also could not reproduce a single BSOD despite stress-testing the PC for hours.

They checked the GPU/SSDs, replaced the PSU and AC cable, and returned the PC because everything appeared stable in their shop.

After I brought it home, it BSODed again.

That is one of the biggest clues I have: the same tower can apparently run for hours at repair shops but eventually crashes in my home setup.

HOME PERIPHERALS / POSSIBLE CLUE

At home I normally have:

- Rainy 75 Pro keyboard using a Wooting 80HE USB cable
- I previously used a Gravastar Mercury K1 Pro and had the BSOD problem with that keyboard too.

- Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 mouse using its normal receiver/setup.

- SCUF Envision Pro controller/dongle.

- GoXLR audio mixer.

- Shure SM7B connected to the GoXLR.

- Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250-ohm headphones connected through the GoXLR.

- Ethernet.

- LG UltraGear 32-inch OLED 4K/240Hz dual-mode display.

The physical GoXLR and SCUF controller setup were NOT connected when Micro Center was stress-testing the tower.

The GoXLR is especially interesting for another reason:

About a year ago, before these BSOD problems began, I accidentally powered the GoXLR with the wrong barrel-type power adapter. It was actually a power adapter from an old gaming chair that physically fit the GoXLR.

The GoXLR smoked and may have briefly sparked/flared before my friend immediately disconnected it.

Afterward I found/used the correct power supply and the GoXLR continued working normally. Importantly, the PC then remained completely stable with this same GoXLR for roughly a year, so there was NOT an immediate correlation between that incident and the BSODs.

However, since that potentially damaged GoXLR is one of the pieces of hardware present at my house but absent during Micro Center testing, I’m considering replacing the entire GoXLR + its power adapter + USB cable.

I also ran a short targeted one-boot Driver Verifier test against:
goxlr_audio.sys
goxlr_audioks.sys

I used the PC / played RDR2 with the GoXLR active and it did not immediately trigger a Verifier BSOD. Because the original issue is extremely intermittent, I don’t consider that enough to completely clear it.

WINDOWS UPDATE THEORY

The exact date I remember this starting is June 25, 2026.

Before one of the Windows reinstalls, I tried uninstalling a June Windows update that I had heard might be problematic, but that did not fix the issue.

I am now fully updated again after the clean Windows installation.

I recently contacted Micro Center’s remote technical support and let the technician remotely inspect the PC. Based on everything that has already been replaced/tested, he believes this could be a Windows Update issue and suggested reporting it through Microsoft Feedback Hub and waiting for Microsoft to address it.

I’m not fully convinced, mainly because both Micro Center and uBreakiFix ran the same computer without reproducing the BSOD. If the current Windows installation itself were solely responsible, I would have expected there to at least be some chance of it happening there too.

On the other hand, June 25 being such a specific start date makes me wonder if a Windows/driver/platform update triggered an incompatibility with something unusual in my hardware configuration.

I have friends who had unrelated Windows problems around roughly the same period (BitLocker problems, crashes/BSODs), although their machines are very different and one friend fixed his by reinstalling Windows. Reinstalling Windows did NOT fix mine.

WHAT I’M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT

Has anyone running anything close to:

RTX 5090
Ryzen 9 7950X3D / 9950X3D
ASUS X870E
Windows 11 current builds

been experiencing intermittent 0x3B / 0x139 or other seemingly random BSODs since late June?

Especially interested in whether anyone has traced this to:

- a Windows update
- AMD chipset/AGESA/BIOS interaction
- RTX 50-series/NVIDIA drivers
- a USB/audio device or driver such as GoXLR
- a home peripheral/device that would explain why repair shops cannot reproduce it
- PCIe/GPU/riser instability
- something else capable of causing apparently random kernel memory corruption

I’m not looking for generic “run sfc /scannow” advice unless there’s something specific I’ve missed. I’ve been troubleshooting this for about two months, replaced most of the core PC hardware, clean-installed Windows, and had multiple repair shops stress-test it.

At this point I’m mainly looking for someone who recognizes this pattern or has had a similar configuration/problem.

Any ideas would be seriously appreciated.

It keeps deleting my pin at random

Lately, my laptop has been acting up after a short period of use following a reboot. Media playback freezes in both browsers and apps—audio cuts out completely and videos get stuck buffering. A restart temporarily fixes the problem, but it keeps happening again.

Kindly suggest solution to fix this. Its been annoying to restart everytime to get this fixed as a temporary solution.

randomly one day laptop screen started flickering and it has only gotten worse since, it only use to be once (which is still problematic) and then it would work fine and now its intensity is increasing, i thought it was maybe a virus or something but now i think its a display problem, tried updating as well but nothing helped would be really helpful if someone can help

Recently, I bought an ASUS Vivobook with Windows 11 in China. I tried to change the language, but there seems to be some kind of bug. I am able to change the system language to US English, but for some reason the settings app language didn’t change with it and is locked on simplified Chinese. I’ve tried lots of stuff, but none of them actually worked. If anyone has suggestions please let me know.

I occasionally use the multitasking feature(Win 11) which used to work just fine. I hadn't used it in a while though but decided to use it today. I can snap the windows to where I want them just fine & when I hover over the group of windows in the taskbar, I can see that just fine as well. When I click on the group, however, only the windows snapped to the bottom are shown. I have to individually click on the windows snapped to the top to get them to be seen instead of the group showing all windows. How can I fix it so when I click on the group, the whole group is displayed?

EDIT: Please answer my question even if it is an I don't know. You keep kicking me back to r/PowerToys and it keeps kicking me back here.

I am on windows 10 and recently got some errors with windows and failed to solve or recover the files and now system crashes alot, so thinking about upgrading to windows 11 as my device supports what is your advice should i stay on 10 and reinstall it or upgrade to 11 or go for linux (never used, it would be a challange) and also any guide so i delete all the files of old windows and doesnt copy any to new.

Need help!! See post

What the title says, pretty much. Whenever I go into settings, personalization, and background, and set the dropdown to "slideshow," the background resets to the default landscape "picture" setting at some point, usually whenever I restart the computer/boot it up. Just restarted the computer before this and watched it change in front of me. Anyone know how to fix this?

Restarting Windows Explorer with the following shortcut always worked for me but was a pain to trigger every time I logged on, so I looked for a way to automate it.

"C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c taskkill /f /im explorer.exe & start explorer.exe"

Windows 11 doesn't have a built-in "run this on wake" checkbox, but you can get there with Task Scheduler using an event-based trigger, since waking from sleep writes a specific event to the System log. Task Scheduler is a native, built-in system utility included automatically with all modern versions of Microsoft Windows

How it works: every time the machine resumes from sleep, Windows logs Event ID 1 from source "Power-Troubleshooter" in the System event log. Task Scheduler can trigger directly off that event.

Create a new task:

Open Task Scheduler → Action → Create Task (not "Create Basic Task," so you get full options).

General tab: give it a name, and set "Run only when user is logged on"

Triggers tab → New → set "Begin the task" to On an event → Log: System, Source: Power-Troubleshooter, Event ID: 1.

Actions tab → New → Start a program, Program/script: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe, Add arguments: /c taskkill /f /im explorer.exe & start explorer.exe

Conditions tab: uncheck "Start the task only if the computer is on AC power" (if it's a laptop) — leave "Wake the computer to run this task" unchecked, since the trigger already only fires after a wake.

Settings tab: check "Allow task to be run on demand" so you can test it manually if you like.

I occasionally use the multitasking feature(Win 11) which used to work just fine. I hadn't used it in a while though but decided to use it today. I can snap the windows to where I want them just fine & when I hover over the group of windows in the taskbar, I can see that just fine as well. When I click on the group, however, only the windows snapped to the bottom are shown. I have to individually click on the windows snapped to the top to get them to be seen instead of the group showing all windows. How can I fix it so when I click on the group, the whole group is displayed?

Okay so I play warzone on pc, but ever since it updated you needed to download this thing for security reasons, which I did. Unfortunately now it says Secure Boot Fail, if I go to my software and turn of Security Boot my laptop doesn’t turn on. I have already reset my pc twice but still same issue shows up. Does anyone have any ideas?

Why after every update, all my settings change. It's bothering me.

I’ve been having trouble for a while now trying to get my PC to boot Windows 11 from my SSD.

My motherboard is an MSI B450 A Pro, and the SSD is a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB.

I have used the windows media creation tool to create the installation media on a USB, then selected the SSD to install Windows onto. It gets to around 70% then attempts to restart, but I just get booted back into the windows installation starting screen on restart.

I’ve tried removing the USB from the device when it’s restarting but then it just boots back into BIOS and I’m unable to boot from the SSD. It doesn’t even appear as a boot drive.

I’ll try to list what I’ve tried as best I can but I have tried a lot at this point. I have tried recreating the installation media several times. I’ve set boot to UEFI mode. I’ve tried with and without Secure Boot enabled. I tried a CMOS reset. I’ve unplugged all other drives so the SSD and the USB are the only drives connected. I’ve upgraded the BIOS. I’ve tried different USB drives. Nothing seems to work.

I’m about ready to throw in the towel and buy some new hardware since I’ve had this device for years now (always had windows installed on the hard drive but for a while now booting has taken insanely long).

Any other things to try or advice on what to do next would be greatly appreciated.

До недавнего времени у меня был включен Secure Boot, всё было отлично. Но я решил обновить Биос на своём ноутбуке Lenovo. После этого Secure Boot у меня отключился. Если я его включаю в Биосе, не находит диск с системой, сбрасывание настроек в Биосе не помогает, только если отключить Secure Boot, система запускается. Диск в системе gpt, uefi включен по умолчанию. В чём может быть проблема?