Recurring boot sector issue - Error code 0xc000025

Hi all

Hoping for some assistance with a possible recurring boot sector issue. This is the third time it’s happened to me in the last month so has become very frustrating and I’ve lost faith in the reliability of my PC.

My problem:
PC was running perfectly last night (after a recent reinstall of Windows only a fortnight back), went into sounds settings and it froze saying a sound dll or similar file had an issue. I then closed all apps and attempted to restart and ended up getting a blue screen with error code ‘0xc0000225 - Your PC/Device needs to be repaired. A required device isn’t connected or can’t be accessed’.

Googling suggests this is a boot manager error code.

I’ve tried most of the fixes in the below repair tutorial but they either haven’t worked, aren’t available or I’m performing them wrong. This includes Windows startup repair PC, SFC check, chkdsk, command prompt rebuild BCD etc.
https://www.easeus.com/amp/computer-instruction/error-code-0xc0000225.html

I had the same issue occur only a fortnight back and my only fix was to reinstall Windows. I have no idea why this is constantly occurring out of the blue. It looks like I may need to reinstall Windows again for the third time in a month.

My PC specs are in signature block and hardware is reasonably new and all working as far as I can tell.

Can anyone shed any insight on how I can resolve this recurring issue for good?

If there are any IT professionals in the Springwood area, Brisbane southside then I’m even happy to shout a six pack of beverages to come and tell me what’s going on.

 

Something corrupting your storage? Could be bad storage drive or RAM, doubt it’s a software issue if it’s persisting across multiple fresh installs

 

clone windows to a different drive to see if it persists?
maybe just a bad drive

 

Thanks guys. Have run four passes of MemTest86 today and RAM appears clear.

Can you recommend a free app to test my 4TB SN850X NVME drive? That would be a real shame as I only bought it about 2 months back…

 

check the SMART report in something like crystal disk mark, I don't usually find SMART that helpful, but it might report something.

Could also hit with CHKDISK in windows. I think Samsung WD and seagate have ssd health tools, not sure about hynix

 

Could check for corrupt files using Sfc scannow too.



JSmith

 

I’ve just run chkdisk in the command prompt Windows Recovery Environment. Says ‘Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems’.

Strangely, when in command prompt it opens as ‘X: \Sources>’. My OS is on C-drive partition so has the system got confused and linking elsewhere rather than C-drive?

 

Have run that and it says ‘Verification 100% complete. Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.’

What does that indicate?

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb...em-files-79aa86cb-ca52-166a-92a3-966e85d4094e



JSmith

 

i don't think 4 passes of a mem test is enough either to verify if the ram is good.

When i was doing retail repairs i'd often let it run for at least 24 hours.

Do you have the ram using a XMP profile? if so disable it for a week or so to see if that also resolves the issue - depending on the ram / cpu / mb XMP can introduce some instabilities.

 

When you installed Windows, did you unplug the other HDDs? Windows has a habit of putting the boot sector on a different drive, if more than one are plugged in during the install.

So there is every possibility that the boot sector is on one of the spinners, rather than the SSD. There may ben an issue with one of those.

 

Ok, I can set MemTest to run for a longer duration.

Yes, I’ve always run the Asus Ai Overclock Tuner with D.O.C.P in BIOS. This sets the RAM to match it’s rated XMP of 16-19-19-39 3600MHz at 1.35v. If I turn it off/auto my RAM defaults to 2133MHz.

 

Your link seems to indicate to enter command prompt in safe mode (F8) to run the chkdsk. That doesn’t seem to work on my PC. How to enter safe mode command prompt?

I’ve got no other drives plugged in currently apart from the 4TB NVME and a 240GB Crucial SSD which I recently formatted and is now blank.

If the boot sector was on another drive why would it only show up as an issue now? How can I check/fix where it’s pointing?

 

keep in mind that if your on the 5800X3D in your sig that running the ram at 3600 is technically overclocking the memory controller, it's only rated as below:-

Max Memory Speed
2x1R DDR4-3200
2x2R DDR4-3200
4x1R DDR4-2933
4x2R DDR4-2667

now this shouldn't really be an issue, but i'd run run at slower settings while your troubleshooting, and once you think its sorted put them back up to see if its still stable.

 

Totally random but try re-plugging all of your power cables.
Then maybe also get an App ( HWMonitor ect) that can get system voltages to check that they are all in spec.

A bad connection or bad voltages can cause some very strange issues.

Then as mentioned above remove all OCs ( maybe even reset Bios to default and change nothign not critical to boot the machine like boot order).

 

F6... or in msconfig.exe you can choose minimal boot options;



It was just a quick basic suggestion to run SFC Scannow to ensure the results were nil... have you run the troubleshooting utility, just in case? C:\Windows\System32\control.exe /name Microsoft.Troubleshooting?



JSmith

 

Ok I’ll give that a go but would be disappointed if it’s a PSU issue as I got a new 1250w CoolerMaster only a few months ago.

 

to add to your confusion, if \ when \ all else fails & you have 30 minutes, install windows on that spare 250gb drive you have just to satisfy my curiosity that its not your you beaut 4tb pci drive

 

Can I run that from command prompt in Windows Recovery Environment and if so what is the code to enter? Otherwise I’ll need to reinstall Windows again tonight to troubleshoot further.

If I reinstall Windows on my Crucial SATA SSD this time rather than my new NVME drive, what test do you all recommend to check my NVME isn’t faulty?

Looking for a definitive approach to quickly identify the culprit/problem to resolve and move on for good. Don’t want to be left wondering for weeks waiting for the next random blue screen.

Thanks

 

Thanks Phil. I can give that a go tonight. Have been running another 8 passes on MemTest86 and still all passing (this is at XMP 3600MHz settings).

What approach do you suggest to properly test my ne NVME drive?