Frequent BSODs at startup, intermittently at other times too

[bustedlaptopguy]

For several months now I have been having multiple BSODs whenever I power on, or boot from sleep my HP Victus 15 laptop. Sometimes I'll just get one or two, sometimes multiple, and it will set me to bitlocker then advanced recovery. Once in AR, if I tell it to continue on to Windows 11, it will usually load, although sometimes it will just continue to crash. This happens almost every time. While I am using the laptop, it will also intermittently BSOD on me. Notably, it will never BSOD if I have a game running as my primary window. Sometimes I can keep it from crashing indefinitely if the game window is not the active one, but other times it still crashes. There are many times where I will have the laptop successfully running for hours, then within minutes of closing the game it will BSOD.

Here are a list of some of the BSOD stop codes I've recieved:

unexpected kernel mode trap

Kmode exception not handled

System service exception

driver overran stack buffer

IRQL Not less or equal (ntoskrnl.exe)

interrupt exception not handled

system thread exception not handled

driver irql not less or equal (fvevol.sys)

page fault in nonpaged area

I've tried asking about this in the microsoft forums. They had me post dump files, and at one point they said it looked like there was a problem with my graphics drivers, but I updated those drivers and crashes continued. Here is a link to some of the more recent ones: 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/l0qwwz6esri6voy/newestdumps.zip/file

https://www.mediafire.com/file/4oso2jvzhub2fqs/622dumps.zip/file

I have tried doing a repair with Windows update, that was not successful. I'd seen people say many of those stop codes can be associated with bad RAM, I swapped out the RAM but that didn't help. I tried running in Safe Mode, still had it crash, although it did boot up okay. I can see that in the device manager, for System Firmware it has the yellow exclamation point alert, but when I try updating firmware HP says it's up to date. I've checked system temps, they all look normal. I have run the gamut of tests, both fast and extended, with the HP PC Hardware Diagnostics tool, and everything passes.

Would like to know if there is anything else I should try before just doing a completely clean reinstall?

[Max3Aj · Accepted solution]

@bustedlaptopguy, Welcome to HP Support Community. 

Thank you for posting your query, I will be glad to help you. 
Based on your HP Victus 15-fb1000 laptop's symptoms and the BSOD stop codes, here's a structured approach to resolve the issue before resorting to a clean reinstall.

BIOS & Firmware Update

Even if HP Support Assistant says your firmware is up to date, the yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager suggests otherwise.

• Visit the official HP support page for your model: Official HP® Support
• Download and manually install the latest BIOS and System Firmware from the Drivers & Software section.

Clean Graphics Driver Installation

Since BSODs are less frequent during gaming, this points to GPU driver behavior.

• Use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) in Safe Mode to completely remove existing GPU drivers.
• Reinstall the latest drivers directly from:
  • AMD if you have Radeon graphics.
  • NVIDIA if you have GeForce graphics.

Check for Conflicting Drivers

Some of your stop codes (e.g., driver overran stack buffer, IRQL not less or equal) suggest driver conflicts.

• Open Device Manager → View → Show hidden devices.
• Look for any ghosted or duplicate devices and uninstall them.
• Run Verifier.exe (Windows Driver Verifier) to identify problematic drivers:
  • Type verifier in the Start menu → Select Create standard settings → Choose Automatically select all drivers installed on this computer → Restart.
  • If BSODs occur, note the driver name in the stop code.

System File Integrity Check

Run these commands in Command Prompt (Admin):

sfc /scannow
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

These will repair corrupted system files that may be causing instability.

Disable Fast Startup

Fast Startup can cause boot-related BSODs.

• Go to Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do.
• Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
• Uncheck Turn on fast startup → Save changes.

Memory Dump Analysis

You've already uploaded dump files. If you haven't yet, you can also use HP's diagnostic tools:

• HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI – run Memory Test and System Test again to double-check.

Windows Clean Boot

To rule out third-party software conflicts:

• Type msconfig → Go to Services tab → Check Hide all Microsoft services → Click Disable all.
• Go to Startup tab → Open Task Manager → Disable all startup items.
• Restart and observe system behavior.

If All Else Fails: Clean Reinstall

If none of the above resolves the issue, a clean reinstall of Windows 11 may be necessary. Before doing so:

• Backup your data.
• Use the HP Cloud Recovery Tool to create a recovery USB. HP Consumer PCs - Using the HP Cloud Recovery Tool in Windows 11 and 10 | HP® Support
• Reinstall Windows and HP drivers from scratch. 

I hope this helps. 

Take care and have a good day. 

Please click “Accepted Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution. Select "Yes" on the bottom left to say “Thanks” for helping! 

Max3Aj

HP Support 

[bustedlaptopguy]

To any future wayfarers who find this thread, all attempted fixes failed except for reinstalling Windows, which does seem to have worked.