Random blue screens, not sure what's causing them?

[JoeAverage1807]

Hi everyone,

This will be a long post, but only because I've tried a number of things to fix my issue already.

Since yesterday, I've been getting random blue screens while using my computer. I've had this laptop since August 2021 (itself the replacement for a faulty one I purchased in July).

I had five bluescreen errors yesterday (at various intervals throughout the day) and a sixth this morning, about two hours ago at time of posting.

The problem here is threefold:
-Firstly, I have no idea what's prompting these bluescreens
-Secondly, the bluescreen itself appears, then vanishes before I get a chance to read the error message
-Thirdly, Windows isn't creating a dump file or a minidump, so I can't use BlueScreenView or similar tools to see what's at fault.

Event Viewer is only telling me that Windows shut down unexpectedly and tells me nothing about the crashes themselves.

I have already tried the following:
-I have updated my graphics drivers
-I have run Windows Update and upgraded my OS to Windows 10 21H2
-I have checked for updates in HP Support Assistant (which says I am up to date)
-I've run virus scans (Norton) and HP Support Assistant's optimisation tools
-I have run the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, in case it was a problem with my RAM, and it's saying my RAM is fine
-I have run SFC /scannow until it reports "no violations"
-I have attempted DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth and then SFC /scannow seemed to think there were some new issues introduced
-I have attempted CHKDSK /f /r and it seems to think everything is fine
-I ran the UEFI hardware diagnostics, which are telling me everything is fine

After my fifth bluescreen yesterday, I used Microsoft's Media Creation Tool to create a Windows ISO, and ran it as an in-place repair upgrade this morning. Everything seemed fine until I got my sixth bluescreen again about an hour ago.

HP Virtual Assistant is giving me the following troubleshooting steps, which don't appear to have worked:
-Perform a power reset (didn't seem to solve anything)
-UEFI Hardware Diagnostic on the hard drive (it passed)
-Disable Automatic Restart and force an error via the command line?? (I haven't tried this one as I fear I'll make the problem worse)
-Remove any recently added hardware (not applicable)
-Restore a previous point in Windows via System Restore (I had no prior restore points, and the only restore point I currently have is from before my in-place repair upgrade)

I have not yet tried the following:
-Reset this PC (I am hoping that there's a less dramatic solution -- and to be honest, I don't know if this will affect my warranty)
-The last option it presented was a HP System Recovery, but as my laptop is newer than 2018, I don't think I have the HP Recovery Manager that enable me to do this. (I have a recovery drive that I made when I got this computer four and a half months ago; would I use it for this step?)

I don't think it's a hardware issue, based on the UEFI diagnostics all coming back as passed, but as I still got a bluescreen after the repair upgrade to Windows, I also don't know if it's a software issue.

What could it be? Bad RAM? Bad SSD? Bad Windows installation? And how can I fix it?

[VH2000]

I guess that your "NORTON" causes the trouble. Try to disable all Norton Services and stop all Norton Tasks. 

[JoeAverage1807]

Hi VH2000,

Thanks for answering. I'm reluctant to disable my antivirus, but I'll give that a try, and let you know how I get on.

[VH2000]

MS Defender is not bad!

[JoeAverage1807]

I've just had another bluescreen, which *did* generate a minidump this time, and came up with an error code of FAULTY_HARDWARE_CORRUPT_PAGE

In BlueScreenViewer, the minidump seems to be blaming ntoskrnl.exe

I still don't know if it's the OS or the RAM, or if now it's the page file?

I'm going to call HP Technical Support the first chance I get, as I'm concerned that my laptop will need to go in for repair.

EDIT: The Windows Memory Diagnostic tool returned an error in less than five minutes, so is that a stronger indicator that I have a bad RAM module?

EDIT 2: I was able to get in touch with a HP support representative on WhatsApp, and they confirmed it was a hardware error and so needs to go in for repair.

Thank you anyway!