Is my computer screwed?

This is a typical tell-tale sign of hardware/driver incompatability. You running a video card?
Going to need major details because these are never easy to troubleshoot.

the PC came with a NVIDIA card already installed. I had been updating it frequently whenever it notified me. like this Game Ready Driver thing

Did you let windows do the videocard driver or did you get it off the manufacturers website. If you have onboard video try pulling the card and running the standard graphics just to see if it goes away.

I downloaded Nvidia’s GeForce Experience – so through them. But after the reinstall, I didn’t reinstall Nvidia GeForce Experience. I just ran on vanilla settings and went straight to trying to install Doom through Steam.

To clarify – I’ve never gotten a blue screen while playing a game. I always get one when I download big files over the Internet through virtually any application.

I’ll try that though when I go home for lunch from work.

It’s probably your video card driver.

@ARE_you_kidding_me

It just occurred to me. What if I use Safe Mode with Networking and see if Steam can still install the game?

Best to try it on onboard video and pull the card. If that works then you’ll know. Safe mode does not exactly isolate it to your video card.

@ARE_you_kidding_me
The computer didn’t allow me to start the PC when I disconnected the NVIDIA card. Pretty sure that’s just all I have. The first thing that popped up was a message pretty much saying “Please put that back and start over.”

I did however enter safe mode with networking. I started downloading Doom through Steam aaannndddd last time I checked it was at 5% – the highest I’ve ever reached. Fingers crossed that when I return home from work it’s still downloading and nothing interrupted it, or even better and it finished.

I also went to the Event Viewer and compiled a list of DCOM errors and other stuff into a notepad file. I have a SHIT LOAD of DCOM errors. Like SHIT LOAD.

These days the only things that can cause bsod are basically hardware and drivers and even drivers don’t have as much access to the kernel as they did in the days of XP.

Given that it occurs during downloading I would suspect the network driver before the video driver. It might be worth reinstalling it.

Alternatively it might be worth disabling the network adapter completely in device manager and trying an external device.

@Lightlyseared

By external device you mean like an external network adapter that connects to a USB? Because – heh – that’s exactly what I’m using.

I wondered a while ago if it’s possible that this occurred ever since my mom bought a new Linksys router for the house. I still use my old Linksys external network adapter that goes with the old Linksys router.

You could also try disabling DCOM and see if that fixes it given that’s what’s throwing up all the errors.

It’s downloading in safe mode! I repeat – Doom is downloading in safe mode! Holy shit I finally narrowed something down.

Now if only I knew what to do next to fix this.

That’s the conundrum of safe mode. Start going through your drivers.

So I was meticulously trying to fix those DCOM errors one at a time. Decided to take a break. I put on Steam and started downloading because I thought why not. Let’s see what happens now.

I eyed the Event Viewer the entire time it was going. The last error that popped up before the BSOD appeared was that the firewall failed to make an exception for the Steam client.

Is. . .

is that it?

This entire time?

THAT can cause a BSOD?

But the thing is, I already have Steam checked off as exceptions. So it’s failing to make an exception anyway even though it’s already checked. What gives?

So I gave up – I decided to give my computer a clean reinstall – deleting everything and reinstalling everything, including my personal files. Took me hours to transfer everything to my laptop. My tech friend also highly suggested it.

So I start doing the reinstall. This Windows tool reinstaller thing is doing it’s job and then you know what happens?

Guess

Guess what happens

Just guess

fucking

goddamn

blue screen

interrupts the reinstall process

hahahahahaha

hahahahah

kill me

i can’t get out of this

this is what hell is like

just running circles

forever

I’m fucked. Certain crucial functions suddenly stopped working. I can’t reinstall Windows because I need to be connected to the Internet but suddenly I can’t turn on the wifi.

what

the

fuck

just

happenedddddd????????????

Oh, Okay thank God. It’s resetting.

That scared me.

Don’t mind me and my frantic messages. I’m a mess right now and it’s late where I live

@ARE_you_kidding_me

@Lightlyseared

I really don’t know what to do. This is the most extreme I’ve gone. I did a complete reinstall of my computer (backed up everything). I practically have nothing but the basics and Windows 10 on my PC now. Downloaded Firefox. Was in the middle of installing it – boom – kernel security check failure.

Only ONE specific DCOM error still shows up. Since the total reins—GODDAMMIT IT HAPPENED AGAIN AS I WAS TYPING THIS (I’m on my laptop now watching my dekstop)

I checked for updates thinking it was the updates. Apparently there were a shit load of updates I still needed to get and right in the middle of it – security check failure.

I just checked the event viewer again and the same DCOM error showed up right before I started the update. It’s very specific to a certain key or whatever you call it that’s in the DCOM Config.

I tried resetting DCOM according to these directions I found where it said to go to Microsoft Windows Remote Shell Host under DCOM Config. But. . .there was no option to disable it. So. How do I disable it?

I went and tried to fix the DCOM errors looking at the registry editor and DCOM Config to change the properties to Local Activation and Local Launch. . .but the two keys or whatever that event viewer states are ALREADY on Local Activation and Local Launch.

The updates apparently went through now. . .I’m hoping that does something. . .