BSOD Loop - CorsairVBusDriver.sys failure

Anonymous
2020-10-06T21:04:57+00:00

After running optional system update for Corsair devices, my ASUS RoG G771 laptop is completely unusable.  It's stuck in a BSOD reboot loop and not one recovery method is working.  I wasn't provided a recovery disk with the laptop and apparently it's unable to boot from USB.  I can't even reset the OS because it prompts for an outlook.com password and says the one I provide is incorrect (I've confirmed I am entering the latest password for the account and it's working on other devices).  Safe mode doesn't work, either.

Others have posted this on the Corsair forum and the company doesn't answer.  My laptop is now a boat anchor and I'm desperate for a solution...

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

63 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2020-12-14T21:19:15+00:00

    Here's what worked for me:

    Unplug any corsair devices you're using. I had to use a different keyboard for this.

    In the advanced troubleshooting options, open the command prompt.

    In the command prompt, change your directory to wherever your OS/drivers would be installed. For me it was the c drive. (just type "c:" without quotes)

    In the command prompt, type "dism /image:c:\ /get-drivers >drivers.txt". If you are not in your c drive, type whatever drive is applicable in "/image:[drive]"

    Once that process is done, open drivers.txt simply by entering "drivers.txt" in the prompt. This will open the text file with the names of all your drivers.

    Press ctrl+f and search for "corsair." Chances are, you'll find a few corsair drivers, including corsairvbusdriver.inf. Keep note of its published name, as it might vary for you. For me it was oem18.inf.

    ImageIn the command prompt, enter "dism /image:c:\ /remove-driver /driver:[publishedname].inf". I took this opportunity to uninstall all of the other corsair drivers on my PC, as well.

    Close the command prompt, keep all corsair devices unplugged, and restart your PC.

    From there, my PC was usable again.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-12-09T13:37:52+00:00

    Any news on this? I have the exact same problem as you did, have tried everything, but the damn driver keeps coming back.

    Was this answer helpful?

    9 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-12-09T15:05:04+00:00

    Yea this is a **** disaster.  My PC went ape this morning, failed to boot like 3 times, then I was able to do a restore and got back in.  Immediately disabled Automatic Windows Updates (and likely will never re-enable them), uninstalled Corsair Utility Engine (I had an older unused version).   Eventually, Windows prompted me to restore after multiple failed boots.  I didn't boot with USB or into Safe.

    I'm now hunting around for the CorsairVBusDriver.sys.

    The driver is still in my C:\Windows\System32\drivers folder.  Date on driver is 7/6/2020 -- however when I look at the File Repository and the SoftwareDistribution download folders, it seems that the files got pulled this morning at 9:18, which coincides exactly with when my machine went insane. 

    In my case I think Windows had been updated the version that did not play nice with the drivers and then the drivers updated and everything went to poo.  When I restored I was able to revert back to an earlier version of Windows, the drivers seem to have stayed in place and work fine with this version of windows. 

    I rolled myself back to W10 Pro 2004 (build: 19041.630) -- I wish I could tell you which build I had been on.  Probably 685?  

    I'd use this to get rid of the drivers.

    https://github.com/lostindark/DriverStoreExplorer/releases/tag/v0.11.64

    Make sure they are gone from all these:

    C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository

    C:\Windows\System32\drivers

    C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\Install (you will need to do this one manually)

    Further, if you cannot get access to anything, or only cmd line, this may help: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/690502/bsod-cannot-boot-safemode-or-system-restore/

    Was this answer helpful?

    6 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-10-08T19:27:46+00:00

    If it is part of a utility install package, the driver should not be restored after it is uninstalled. Can you start the computer in Safe Mode? If so, you can try to uninstall it, but you will need to enable the MSI server process so the utility can be removed since that does not run in Safe Mode natively. To do that, refer to this article: https://winaero.com/enable-windows-installer-sa...

    Was this answer helpful?

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2020-12-18T11:59:33+00:00

    Phew, you all saved my bum when I had no restore point, and it would not let me undo Update 20H2. 

    What I did (thanks to this thread) was, and I'm not sure all steps listed are needed; but I got fixed exactly like so:

    pnputil -e 

    // scroll through those results and locate every oem** number that says Corsair

    // removed ALL Corsair OEM entries found above with :

    pnputil -f -d oem**.inf       // with the files found above

    // NOTE: oem**.inf numbers found previously have no relation to oemXX.inf for this section:

    DISM /Image:C:\ /Get-Drivers | more          // where C is your Windows installation drive letter

    // locate the corsairVb* entry (don't need to remove the other Corsair drivers)

    DISM /Image:C:\ /Remove-Driver /Driver:oemXX.inf

    // TO DO MANUALLY: Remove files and directories named corsairvb* (whatever the capitalization is...)

    //     from all these directories (using del -f and rmdir commands):

    // C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository

    // C:\Windows\System32\drivers

    // C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\Install

    // then reboot

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments No comments