Help, ever since i set up my custom pc, ive been getting constant BSOD due to a missing kernel?

Cardiff117

Cardiff117

Member
i bought a custom pc from pc specialist and opted for the windows self installation since i couldn't afford windows at the time of purchase. i followed online forums about how to boot the trial version of windows via a usb, and ever since then every few days the pc would have an issue updating windows, or various drivers were corrupt and couldn't install, and id be greeted with the dreaded BSOD every other time i turned on my pc. i tried my best to search for solutions online, and have been able to get windows up to date and my drivers, but its always a struggle and the BSOD tends to just fix itself randomly after restarting enough.. and then happens again out of the blue.

doing a clean install is my last resort as i reinstalling and setting up all my applications took about 3 days, and i don't have time like that to spare, is there anything else i can try?

ive heard issues with armoury crate so i got rid of that and it fixed my pc for a few weeks, and then the BSOD came back...

i also had an issue where i had the "secure boot violation", and so changed the boot to "other OS" which i think worked? - i have an asus motherboard

the error code i keep getting is 0xc0000221 missing kernel. and a few others (which pop up for a microsecond so i cant remember them) but this is the main one.

any help is greatly appreciated, as im at the point of considering selling it for parts!
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
can you post your full specs from the order page?

What process did you take to clean install and did you license it? Where did you source drivers?

If a clean install is taking over about 1 hour, then you’re going about things wrong, what apps are requiring so long to set up? On modern programs the configuration is separate from the application layer, so it should simply be a case of installing the app on the OS drive and then pointing it to your stored config directory / file on the data drive and that’s it

It sounds like windows hasn’t been configured, that’s all.
 
Last edited:
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Two things....

1. The 0xC0000221 error is not a missing kernel, it's a checksum mismatch, meaning that the checksum computed for a file read from SSD/HDD is incorrect. That might suggest a flaky storage drive.

2. I have a personal policy of not assisting with problems unless the copy of Windows is fully licensed. Windows is not free. I bought a copy with my new PC, so should you.
 
Cardiff117

Cardiff117

Member
SpyderTracks said:
can you post your full specs from the order page?

What process did you take to clean install and did you license it? Where did you source drivers?

If a clean install is taking over about 1 hour, then you’re going about things wrong, what apps are requiring so long to set up? On modern programs the configuration is separate from the application layer, so it should simply be a case of installing the app on the OS drive and then pointing it to your stored config directory / file on the data drive and that’s it

It sounds like windows hasn’t been configured, that’s all.
Click to expand...
heres my spec:
Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 GDDR6X - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK620 ZERO DARK High-Performance Dual Tower CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.0 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Monitor Cables
2m DisplayPort Cable - DP (M) to DP (M)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Miscellaneous
PCSpecialist Game Pass Sheet
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Packaging
PCS Common Pack Large

the process i did, was i loaded the windows usb activation boot drive thing from the microsoft webisite on my laptop, saved to a clean usb. plugged that into my new pc, and selected the usb as the boot drive in bios. this took a couple attempts of redownlaoding and wiping the usb, but eventually it worked. then i changed the boot to the windows boot, so i could remove the usb. - then about a month later i changed the boot type to "other OS" becuase of asus motherboard and boot issues. - im not sure if licensing counts as activating it, if so no , i still have the water mark as i do not have the funds for activation - i stupidly thought i could transfer my license from my laptop, but its non-transferable.

i initially got my drivers through armoury crate and gefroce-experience, and off of the amd and asus website, though recently ive been sourcing them manually from the website without armoury and geforce, and even doing it through device manager, becuase they said the downlaoded package was corrupt when using geforece/armoury.

as for applications, i use a lot of creative media software, so i have to redownload loads of DAWS and photoshop, blender unity etc - i store samples. textures on an external ssd to make this quicker but it just takes so long - im probably doing it inefficently but it still would take a while.

also my only issue when setting up the new pc was i deleted a partition on an exisiting ram card ( when in the windows boot stage.. i.e. choosing where you want windows to install to)... BUT it was fresh from pc sepcialist so i dont think there was anything lost and i had to delete partitions anyway to donwload windows, could the missing partition have cause windows to load incorrectly? or would it just rewrite the partitions as it needed for downalod, im sorry i dont know how this works!

Thankyou for the quick response
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Cardiff117 said:
heres my spec:
Case
FRACTAL DEFINE 7 BLACK QUIET MID-TOWER CASE
Promotional Item
Get a discount code for 20% off select peripherals at Corsair.com
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-5.3GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 4070 GDDR6X - HDMI, DP, LHR
Graphics Card Support Bracket
NONE (BRACKET INCLUDED AS STANDARD ON 4070 Ti / RX 7700 XT AND ABOVE)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AK620 ZERO DARK High-Performance Dual Tower CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
1 x 120mm Thermaltake TOUGHFAN 12 Case Fan
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
2 PORT (2 x TYPE A) USB 3.0 PCI-E CARD + STANDARD USB PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Monitor Cables
2m DisplayPort Cable - DP (M) to DP (M)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 3 to 5 working days
Miscellaneous
PCSpecialist Game Pass Sheet
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo
Packaging
PCS Common Pack Large

the process i did, was i loaded the windows usb activation boot drive thing from the microsoft webisite on my laptop, saved to a clean usb. plugged that into my new pc, and selected the usb as the boot drive in bios. this took a couple attempts of redownlaoding and wiping the usb, but eventually it worked. then i changed the boot to the windows boot, so i could remove the usb. - then about a month later i changed the boot type to "other OS" becuase of asus motherboard and boot issues. - im not sure if licensing counts as activating it, if so no , i still have the water mark as i do not have the funds for activation - i stupidly thought i could transfer my license from my laptop, but its non-transferable.

i initially got my drivers through armoury crate and gefroce-experience, and off of the amd and asus website, though recently ive been sourcing them manually from the website without armoury and geforce, and even doing it through device manager, becuase they said the downlaoded package was corrupt when using geforece/armoury.

as for applications, i use a lot of creative media software, so i have to redownload loads of DAWS and photoshop, blender unity etc - i store samples. textures on an external ssd to make this quicker but it just takes so long - im probably doing it inefficently but it still would take a while.

also my only issue when setting up the new pc was i deleted a partition on an exisiting ram card ( when in the windows boot stage.. i.e. choosing where you want windows to install to)... BUT it was fresh from pc sepcialist so i dont think there was anything lost and i had to delete partitions anyway to donwload windows, could the missing partition have cause windows to load incorrectly? or would it just rewrite the partitions as it needed for downalod, im sorry i dont know how this works!

Thankyou for the quick response
Click to expand...
I'm afraid we won't be able to offer any help as windows isn't licensed. Windows is licensed software, as per forum rules we can't discuss or support Warez.
 
Cardiff117

Cardiff117

Member
ubuysa said:
Two things....

1. The 0xC0000221 error is not a missing kernel, it's a checksum mismatch, meaning that the checksum computed for a file read from SSD/HDD is incorrect. That might suggest a flaky storage drive.

2. I have a personal policy of not assisting with problems unless the copy of Windows is fully licensed. Windows is not free. I bought a copy with my new PC, so should you.
Click to expand...
thankyou for the response, i agree that windows should be bought however in my personal fincnaial situation it is not viable and i can make do with the limited functionalities of an unactviated windows pc, howveer in the coming months i will be purchasing a key.
also i checked a screenshot of the error and yes it is 0xc0000221 code for missing kernel - this inst my screen but it is the error i keep getting.
Error-0xc0000221-Windows-10-Kernel-is-missing-or-contains-errors.png
 
Cardiff117

Cardiff117

Member
SpyderTracks said:
I'm afraid we won't be able to offer any help as windows isn't licensed. Windows is licensed software, as per forum rules we can't discuss or support Warez.
Click to expand...
ok, thats fine, im away from my pc for 2 weeks and will have the funds for a key, can i reach out to you when i have one, or should i just repost the thread when i have it licensed?
 
ubuysa

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
The evidence we will need can be obtained by opening a command prompt and entering the following command: slmgr /dlv. A small window will open, post a screenshot of that window please.
 
Scoped Badger

Scoped Badger

Well-known member
ubuysa said:
The evidence we will need can be obtained by opening a command prompt and entering the following command: slmgr /dlv. A small window will open, post a screenshot of that window please.
Click to expand...
Just to confirm, that command confirms whether Windows is licensed or not?
 
Cardiff117

Cardiff117

Member
ubuysa said:
The evidence we will need can be obtained by opening a command prompt and entering the following command: slmgr /dlv. A small window will open, post a screenshot of that window please.
Click to expand...
1725812516150.png

i also did a fresh install of windows - wiped both ssd's, using a fresh usb, and other than a few tries to update windows , everything has been somewhat normal. downloaded all my drivers, however now the same errors are occurring, such as the status access violation which disconnects me from any online game every 5 mins, or gives me the "aww snap" message when on google. another issue is windows updates tend to take a couple tries, and a couple times the code 5 asiol! asus framework error popped up - it was brief so i probably named it wrong!
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Cardiff117 said:
View attachment 42132
i also did a fresh install of windows - wiped both ssd's, using a fresh usb, and other than a few tries to update windows , everything has been somewhat normal. downloaded all my drivers, however now the same errors are occurring, such as the status access violation which disconnects me from any online game every 5 mins, or gives me the "aww snap" message when on google. another issue is windows updates tend to take a couple tries, and a couple times the code 5 asiol! asus framework error popped up - it was brief so i probably named it wrong!
Click to expand...
I'm afraid you've installed the incorrect windows version, that's core which won't work well at all with gaming and other uses, not surprised you've been having issues configuring it. That particular version (.2861) is old now (22H2) as well

December 12, 2023—KB5033375 (OS Builds 22621.2861 and 22631.2861) - Microsoft Support

support.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com

We won't be able to help. It's highly suggested that that's a counterfeit installation as isn't commercially available for download anyway. An official installer wouldn't have had that version of windows let alone the Core variety.

I suggest from here on, you reach out to PCSpecialist for software support as we can't validate you have a properly licensed install but be aware, since you ordered without an OS, you're not eligible to any software support.
 
Last edited:
Cardiff117

Cardiff117

Member
are u kidding me xd! how come this happened tho as i swear i clicked the official page for the media creation tool, and selected windows 11? also i paid 120 pounds for it on the microsoft store?? was that a scam??
 
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