System BSOD'd with Memory management error

[quicky008]

I have a system with the following config:

CPU: i5 9400F
Motherboard: Asus b365 strix
Ram: Corsair 8gb *2
GPU: Zotac 3060ti
PSU: Corsair RM 750e
128 GB SATA SSD (Boot drive)
2TB+1tb HDDs
OS: Win 11 pro

Today when i was playing a game it suddenly BSOD'd and then restarted.After restarting however,it couldn't boot into windows and was stuck in the windows loading screen (with the spinning circle).

After waiting for sometime,i manually restarted the pc,then it said it was about to run diagnostics on the drive-once it was done,the pc restarted automatically but was stuck in the dreaded windows loading screen yet again!

Then i removed the SSD and tested it on another working pc-the SSD appeared to be ok(Crystal disk info displayed its status as "Good").Then i analyzed the crash dumps on it using an utility called Whocrashed,which reported that the system had crashed with the error code "Memory management" and suggested that it was either caused by a software problem/memory corruption or overheating.

I am quite baffled as to what to make of this bizarre issue-preliminary research on google indicated that this memory management issue is typically associated with faulty RAM.

So how do i determine what caused my pc to crash?And why did the crash make my PC unbootable? I've had crashes on other pcs before but was able to reboot into windows normally upon restarting.

This is the first time i am experiencing something like this.Please advice what i should do to resolve it.

 

[patkim]

Download memtest86 *www.memtest86.com/download.htm
It has exe to write bootable image to usb pen drive. Create a bootable USB using a working Windows PC.
Boot thru it and test RAM (I suggest one stick inserted at a time) for at least 3 passes.

Check the health of the other HDDs as well.

*www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-boot-windows-11-in-safe-mode/

You may need to hard interrupt Windows 11 booting 3 - 4 times and check if it enters Safe Mode

 

[quicky008]

running memtest now,so far haven't encountered any errors.

If memtest doesn't find any errors,can it be assumed that the ram sticks are ok?

 

[quicky008]

memtest didn't find any errors last night.Not sure what to do next.

I am hesitant to reinstall windows without understanding what caused the malfunction in the first place as if it crashes again,it will be back square one.

Before the crash,i had installed nvidia driver 551.86-could that have messed up my system?

 

[Gollum]

Login to safe mode and check if the pc is able to get into it. If yes, then it's a driver issue.

 

[quicky008]

I couldn't boot into safe mode despite repeated tries. Analysis of the crash dumps revealed the cause to be an "inpage operation failed with crc error ". Does it mean an issue with the system drive containing the page file?

Yesterday i switched to a different sata ssd and reinstalled windows. While i was checking the connections of the ssd and hdds to the motherboard, i observed that some sata ports had become wobbly /loose and were tilting slightly while plugging /unplugging cables. Is it normal or can it be considered as a defect? However all devices plugged in to those ports are working. Has anyone faced this issue with their motherboards?

 

[patkim]

So far I have never encountered a loose SATA port. Generally they are firmly fitted to the board. Was the system drive on that loose SATA port?
Bad SATA cable, loose port, too much bend in the cable etc might give rise to CRC errors.
Keep a check on SMART Parameters using tools like CrystalDiskInfo,

 

[Gollum]

I couldn't boot into safe mode despite repeated tries. Analysis of the crash dumps revealed the cause to be an "inpage operation failed with crc error ". Does it mean an issue with the system drive containing the page file?

Yesterday i switched to a different sata ssd and reinstalled windows. While i was checking the connections of the ssd and hdds to the motherboard, i observed that some sata ports had become wobbly /loose and were tilting slightly while plugging /unplugging cables. Is it normal or can it be considered as a defect? However all devices plugged in to those ports are working. Has anyone faced this issue with their motherboards?

Sounds like a bad drive. If you don't get any bsod on a different drive then it's solved. Sata ports do have a bit of flex in them. Especially old motherboards.

 

[quicky008]

the drive that i was using earlier (ssd) appeared to be in good health,from what i saw in crystal disk info.However it still caused that crash which is a bit odd-thus i think it can no longer be trusted even though it appears to be fine,for all intents and purposes.

I have reinstalled the os on another ssd,and so far haven't encountered any dreaded crashes. If i run into any further problems,i will post it here.

Its also possible that the ssd was ok but the crash was caused by a faulty sata cable or loose sata port on the mainboard.I have since replaced the sata cable with another one,just to rule out any potential problems it might cause.

The loose sata ports on the motherboard is definitely an oddity that i have encountered for the first time-usually these ports tend to be stiff(from my experience)-i checked some older boards that l have lying around and found their sata ports to be fixed firmly in place and not flexing or wobbling even while attaching or removing cables.Were the loose ports on my current motherboard caused due to poor/improper soldering from the factory?Its quite possible that their condition is deteriorating as the board gets older,as they weren't fitted properly in the first place.