How To Fix Critical Structure Corruption BSOD Error In Windows?

When the system finds corruption in kernel data or code, it runs the bug check Critical Structure Corruption with error code 0x00000109.

Usually, this happens if some programs or driver changes or tries to modify the kernel file. But you can also see this error if there are some issues with the hardware that handles the respective kernel. So, updating the drivers or rectifying the hardware faults should solve the problem in most cases. But it may not be limited to that.

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How to Fix Critical Structure Corruption BSOD Error?

There can be instances when your PC may not boot to the desktop after displaying the BSOD. In such conditions, you should perform the fixes by running your PC in safe mode.

Turn your PC off by pressing the power button directly for around 10 seconds. Do this 3 or more times to boot your PC in the recovery environment.
Go to Troubleshoot and click Advanced Options.
Find Startup Settings and click Restart.
After the computer reboots, press 5 or F5 to open the PC in safe mode with networking.

Now, let’s move on to the fixes.

Check the Dump Files

When Windows does a bug check after detecting the threat, it collects the details and stores them in a dump file. You can look into the dump files to get to the root cause of the BSOD.

But you will need a debugging tool to analyze the dump file. Let’s use WinDbg Preview to look at the error.

Download WinDbg Preview on your PC and install it.
Search WinDbg on the Windows search bar and open WinDbg Preview with administrative privilege.
Press Ctrl + D and enter %windir%\Minidump in the address bar to get to the Minidump folder.
Select the dump file to load it.
Click on the Command option under the View menu to open a terminal.
Enter !analyze -v in the terminal to start the analysis.
Find the Module Name and other details to find the error.

You can search for the details on the internet or post them in the Microsoft support forum to get a clear picture. Sometimes the program associated with the error name may not be the actual problem, and some other files may be hindering it. So, you should also look for other accompanying processes in the dump file to identify the root cause.

Update or Uninstall the Driver

If some drivers try to change the kernel files, the system sees this as a threat and results in the Critical Structure Corruption BSOD. This can usually happen if the drivers are infected, corrupted, or simply have bugs.

You will have to update the drivers to fix the problem. There are two ways to do this. Let’s see both of them.

Using Device Manager

You can update or uninstall the drivers individually using the device manager. Let’s see the way to do it.

Perform Windows + ‘R’ and type devmgmt.msc to open Device Manager.
Expand the device options and double-click on the driver.
Go to the Drivers tab and click Update Driver.
Choose Search automatically for drivers. You can also download the latest driver from the manufacturer’s website, select Browse my computer for driver and choose the file.
If the problem appeared after updating the drivers, click Roll Back Drivers.

Similarly, if updating drivers did not work out, you can remove the device and reinstall the driver.

Open Device Manager and go to the Drivers tab for the respective device.
Click Uninstall Device.

Windows will automatically install the driver, or you can install it manually by downloading the latest and stable one.

Perform Windows Update

You can update all the drivers automatically through Windows update. However, it does not always install the latest one. Windows update searches for the most stable driver and installs it. Nevertheless, it can solve the issue of buggy or corrupted drivers.

Let’s see how we can do it.

Press Windows + ‘I’ and open Settings.
Go to Windows Update.
Click Check for Updates and install the available drivers.
Also, navigate to Advanced Options>Optional Updates.
Download and install all the updates.
Restart your PC to complete the installation.

If the BSOD appeared after installing an update, you can uninstall that particular update and observe the changes. Here’re the steps to check the update history and uninstall them.

Go to Update History in Windows Update.
Find Uninstall updates.
Select the recent update and click Uninstall.

Check the Hardware

If the hardware containing the kernel file is damaged or malfunctioning, the system may detect this as the corruption of that system file or process. Similarly, recently added peripherals or their driver may be the culprit.

You should check for any issues with the devices. The first thing you can do is remove any external peripherals and see if it fixes the issue. Similarly, you can update or uninstall the drivers by following the steps in the earlier section.

The malfunctioning of internal hardware such as PSU, storage drive, or memory can equally contribute to the appearance of the BSOD. If the hardware manufacturers have provided the methods to perform diagnostics, you can try doing so.

See if the issue still persists.

Look For Memory Errors

As mentioned above, a faulty memory, physical or virtual, can cause the kernel file to be damaged or missing, resulting in the Blue screen error. Apart from any manufacturer-provided diagnostics, you can perform a few more tests on the system memory to rectify the issue.

Let’s see each of them.

Perform Windows Memory Diagnostics

Windows Memory Diagnostics looks for any errors in the RAM and shows the error report. Let’s see the way to do it.

Press Windows + ‘R’ and type mdsched to open the Memory Diagnostics tool.
Select Restart now and check for problems.
After the system reboots, follow the instructions to complete the test.
You will see the error report for a while. See if there are any issues with the RAM.
If you miss the results, press Windows + ‘X’ and select Event Viewer.
Navigate to Windows Logs>System from the panel on the left.
Go to Filter Current Log.
Under Event Sources, check the MemoryDiagnostics-Results box.
Look for the details of the error. You can search about the issue on the internet if it is unclear.

You can also look for the details of the BSOD error by selecting the Bugcheck option in the Event Sources under Filter Current Log. While doing so, observe the details of accompanying processes as well to get to the root cause.

If the memory diagnostics result shows any issue, you may have faulty RAM. Let’s move on to rectify it in the next step.

Check and Reseat RAM

There is not much you can do for faulty RAM. However, we can still try resolving the minor errors.

Turn off your PC and remove all the cables.
Open the side panel by unscrewing all the nuts and get to the RAM slot. In a laptop, you may have to remove the entire back panel or the particular RAM compartment.
Press the lock to remove the RAM.
Clean the slots and memory properly.
If you have multiple RAMs, try using one at a time, changing the slots. This will help find out if one of the RAM sticks is damaged. You should run the PC while doing so to detect the error.
You can also use a spare RAM.
Use the working one and re-assemble your PC.

See if the BSOD still appears.

Clear Virtual Memory

Our computer uses a small portion of the storage drive as virtual memory to store some information and system files when the RAM starts getting filled. If the Pagefile or the virtual memory gets corrupted or has damaged system files, the windows will show the BSOD.

You can try clearing the Pagefile to remove such data.

Press Windows + ‘R’ and gpedit.msc to open Local Group Policy Editor.
Go to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options.
Look for Shutdown: Clear virtual memory Pagefile and double-click on it.
Select Enable and save the setting.

Restart your PC and see if the problem appears again.

Run CHKDSK Scan

The errors in the storage drives can also lead to the corruption of the kernel file, resulting in the Critical Structure Corruption BSOD. So, you should perform the disk scan to find any issues and repair them.

Press Windows + ‘R’ and type cmd.
Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open Command Prompt with administrative privilege.
Type chkdsk /r /x C: to scan and repair Drive C.
Replace the alphabet C for other drives and complete the scan for all partitions.

Observe whether the Blue screen error has gone now.

Disable Overclocking and XMP

Even though overclocking your CPU, GPU or RAM can boost the performance, they exert a lot of load on the system. As a result, the hardware may fail, or the drivers might get corrupted leading to the BSOD.

So, if you have enabled the overclocking feature, you will have to revert the settings to normal. Let’s see how you can do it.

Turn off your PC and press F2, F12, or the respective key to get to the BIOS page.
Load the default BIOS settings by pressing the button assigned for it.
In some motherboards, XMP may be enabled by default. So, Find XMP, DOCP, or A-XMP options in Advanced mode and set it to Disable. XMP or DOCP is the feature to overclock the memory.
Save the settings and restart your PC.

If you have used an application to overclock your hardware, you can simply uninstall the program.

Press Windows + ‘R’ and type appwiz.cpl to open Add or Remove Programs.
Select the program and click Uninstall.

Reboot your system to examine the occurrence of the Blue screen error.

Perform In-place Upgrade

It is equally possible that the OS files may be corrupted. You can perform an in-place upgrade to repair those files to fix the BSOD without removing your programs and data. Let’s see how you can do it.

Press Windows + ‘I’ to open Settings and go to the About section.
Note the system type, edition, and build of the Windows.
Download the respective ISO file for Windows having the same edition, architecture, and same or later build.
Mount the ISO file and open the installation drive.
Run Setup.exe to start the installation.
Go to Change how setup downloads updates and choose Not right now.
Click Next and follow the instructions. If it asks for an external drive, insert the drive with 10 GB or more storage space.
After it is ready to install, go to Change what to keep and choose Keep personal files and apps.
Click Install to start the in-place upgrade.

Notice whether the BSOD still persists after the upgrade completes.

Put a Break Point in the Code

The Critical Structure Corruption is also caused if the kernel breakpoints are not set. The system may fail to set the breakpoint if the kernel debugger is not attached to it.

So, if this is the case, you will have to set the breakpoint by manually attaching a debugger to the system. Let’s see the way to do it.

Download the Windows SDK installer from Microsoft.
Run the installer and choose Install the Windows Software Development Kit to this computer option.
Click Next until you reach the page to select the features for installation.
Check the Debugging Tools for Windows and click Install.
After the installation completes, press Windows + ‘R’ and type cmd.
Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the Command prompt with administrative privilege.
Change the file path to the location of WinDbg by typing the command cd %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Windows Kits\10\Debuggers\x64\
Now, enter the command windbg -kl.

Restart your PC and notice the occurrence of BSOD again.

Reset or Update BIOS

Sometimes, the recently installed hardware may be incompatible with your PC, or the system may not detect it. In such cases, you can reset the BIOS to get to the default settings by following the steps in the earlier section.

Similarly, the manufacturer continuously provides updates for the BIOS to accommodate new hardware or fix bugs in the earlier versions. So, you will have to perform the BIOS update if the new update has the fixes for it.

But updating BIOS is quite risky, and failing to follow the precautions can permanently damage your system. So, we have provided a detailed guide for helping you to update the BIOS safely.

Reset Windows

Performing the in-place upgrade by keeping the personal files and apps may not repair the culprit if some programs are causing the BSOD. So, you will have to reset the Windows if the above fixes do not work for you.

Boot your PC in the recovery environment by following the steps in an earlier section.
Go to Troubleshoot and select Reset this PC.
Follow the instructions. Choose Cloud download to reset the PC using a healthy OS downloaded directly from Microsoft.