Bsod in Windows 10: Types and How to Fix It | How to write and read BSOD Memory Dump File

The "Blue Screen of Death" is how many "tears" of millions of users in this term. Each user encountered a critical error with the appearance of a blue screen and a lot of strange characters.

While the appearance of “BSOD” in Windows XP and Windows 7 was indeed accompanied by horrific notifications, then with the advent of Windows 10, developers significantly redone the functionality and limited themselves to only a few blocks of important information, including installing a QR code that directly leads to the technical support site.

But far from always, the information provided in the notification is enough to correct the problem.

In the framework of this article, seven main “STOP errors” and their solutions will be considered.

How to Read BSOD Memory Dump File

As you know, during its operation, the Windows operating system collects and stores diagnostic information that can be used to obtain a direct indication of the cause of the error.

To enable this functionality (by default it is not always enabled or subsequently turned off by the user himself), you will need to do the following:

• Open "This PC" and go to "Properties";
• Pay attention to the left side of the opened window and click on the line "Advanced system settings"; 

• Click on the "Settings" button in the "Startup and Recovery" block; 

• Select the "Automatic memory dump" mode in the "Write debugging information" section; 

• Click "OK" and close window with parameters.

The saved reports will be placed in the system partition of the disk - C:\ Windows\ Minidump, which is more interesting for users than more extensive and complete reports (for example, a Full memory dump/MEMORY.DMP).

It is with these files and have to work to obtain information about the faulty component of the operating system.

A small dump cannot be opened by regular means, and specialized software should be used to decrypt it.

Among the long-recognized leaders of this category is a small free utility called "BlueScreenView", available for download from the official website of the developers.

The order of decryption is as simple as possible, and it is carried out by the program itself automatically, you, as a user, will need to do only the following:

• Run the downloaded utility (it does not require installation);
• Pay attention to the column "Dump File", which will reflect the list of saved reports on previously encountered errors, select them based on the date of their creation;
• Open it with a mouse click and see which components are highlighted in pink - this is the main culprits of the problem, according to the operating system. 

For example, the screenshot below shows that the Windows crash caused the driver "CLASSPNP.SYS" and the process of "ntoskrnl.exe".

It remains only to determine the "method of treatment" and take the necessary steps-update, uninstall or reinstall drivers, etc.

Next, we will talk about the previously announced varieties of "blue screen" and in more detail about the reasons for their appearance.

DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION

Immediately it is worth noting that most of the "BSOD" have a similar causal relationship, and, therefore, solutions can help in solving other problems.

As practice shows, the considered error is directly connected with incorrect operation of one or several software drivers; first of all it concerns the following devices:

• Video card;
• Interface to connect the drives;
• External devices connected to USB ports;
• Network equipment.

It should also be noted that you should not rely entirely on the operating system notifications that the device drivers are working correctly and do not need to be updated. Everything is not so simple and not always so prosaic.

So, returning to the search for cause and effect, we can identify one main method that in most cases solves the problem:

Check drivers using "Device Manager. Despite what was said earlier, the first thing you should try is to entrust the search for the right driver version of the operating system itself, for this:

• As the main culprits are video card drivers and ACHI and it is with them that you should start;
• Open device Manager by running the command "devmgmt.msc"; 

• Check the available sections for devices marked with an exclamation mark icon in the yellow triangle and if there are none try opening the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section;
• Right - click on the line "Standard SATA AHCI controller" and select "Update drivers"; 

• Click "Browse my computer for driver software"; 

• In the next window, click "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer"; 

• Check the list of available drivers for other software versions for the selected device;
• If any, select them with a mouse click and click "Next";

• Wait for the installation to complete and check the operating system.

If the error "DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION" has not been properly resolved, it is worth trying to repeat the above steps for other devices.

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

A similar problem, as described above, and almost all are characterized by about the same – it's any manipulation of devices and their software.

It is logical that errors do not occur from scratch, they are necessarily preceded by certain actions, for example:

• Installation of new equipment, regardless of whether the installation is successful or not, including this applies to virtual devices;
• Any manipulation of drivers, including diagnostic launches, checking for updates by specialized software. The problem can occur whenever a driver is called by an authorized process;
• Work with anti-virus software-installation, check (scan), update;
• Any manipulation of system components and files-registry editing, manual removal of objects in the system partition of the disk, the use of various "optimizers", etc.;
• The presence of the influence of viral software;
• Incorrect shutdown of the computer.

In solving any error, the main thing is to identify the cause-and-effect relationship.

Based on the existing practice, the following "culprits" can be identified, which led to the error " PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA»:

VIDEO_TDR

Unfortunately, the vulnerability of software drivers continues to cause critical errors in the system, and as can be seen from the above material, their variety is extremely extensive.

That is the error "Video TDR" is no exception.

Already from the name of the error, we can draw an intermediate conclusion that the essence lies in the device that performs graphical functionality and most of it is a video card.

Each manufacturer of this equipment has its own set of software, which is necessary for the normal operation of the video card.

Applying this statement to this topic, it is necessary to distinguish three drivers, the most frequent " guests "of the error" VIDEO_TDR»:

(p/s could also be found in the table above)

• File "igdkmd64.sys " - directly linked to "Intel HD Graphics" hardware;
• The file "nvlddmkm sys.sys" and files that start with "nv" - obviously it's "Nvidia Geforce";
• File "atikmpag.sys" is a component of the AMD Radeon.

The method of correction of the considered error is of the same nature and procedure:

1. Download the latest driver from the official website of the developers.

It is worth noting that here you should not trust the statement of the "device Manager" and the functionality of the driver update, since even if this tool indicates that the version used is the latest up-to-date, this may not be the case. The thing is that this statement says only that "Windows update" does not have in its database a newer version and no more.

2. Completely remove the old (failed) version of the driver;
3. Using the resulting installer from step # 1, update the video card driver.

As an alternative, we can highlight the reverse solution – it is a rollback of the driver to the previous version. And here it is already possible to trust the "device Manager" and do the following:

• Open the video card "Properties";
• Go to the "Driver" tab;
• Click on the "Roll Back Driver" button; 

• Select the reason for your decision and click "YES", confirming the meaningfulness of actions; 
• Complete the driver rollback and verify that your computer is working properly.

It is necessary to clarify that the above actions are corrections of software failures, but this error can be characterized by hardware problems, for example:

• Video card overheating;
• Incorrect overclocking;
• Physical failure of connection elements;
• Deformation of the housing and cooling system, etc.

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

As the "culprits" of this error can be long-suffering drivers from NVidia and AMD, as well as components of other devices:

• "rt86winsys "and other" rt " files-are directly related to the functioning of Realtek Audio;
• "ndis.sys" - related to the operation of network equipment.

As solutions, in addition to the above methods, it is worth highlighting several additional options:

• Rollback the operating system configuration to the date that preceded the error or actions that could cause the specified driver to fail;
• Try to uninstall third-party software that use network hardware, including virtual machines;
• Try resetting the network settings to do this:
  • Open "Start" - "Settings";
  • Go to "Network & Internet»;
  • Scroll down the page;
  • Click on the "Network reset" button; 

• • Click "Reset now" and wait for the computer to restart;

• • Re-enter all required network settings.

SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

As practice shows, this error occurs on computers that could not correctly complete the installation of the operating system and / or update it.

If the problem occurred because of the installation, but the best option is to use the bootable media with the operating system image and repeat the installation.

Important! Some users may find it helpful to disable the network adapter during the installation process!

If the reason lies in the functionality of the update, you should roll back the system to the point that preceded the installation and re-run the procedure for finding and installing updates for the operating system.

In addition, it is worth considering that in some cases it helps to reset the BIOS configuration. To do this, open the BIOS settings in any available way and find a line like the following "Load Default Settings". Agree to reset and restart your computer. 

Additional method

It is no secret that there are standard methods to return the operating system to health, they include:

• "Windows integrity check" - as a tool, you should use the functionality of the utility "sfc/scannow"; 

• "Check the hard disk/solid state drive" - utility "CHKDSK"; 

• "Check the operation of RAM" - press "WIN+R" + "mdsched.exe". 

Everyone should adopt these diagnostic procedures and check the quality of the most important components, not only when there are problems, but also for preventive purposes.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, a few useful links to the materials of our resource devoted to solving such problems that have been considered in this article.

«File System Errors in Windows 10: (2147219196), (1073741819), (1073741189)»

«How to Fix: Failed to configure Windows Updates»

«Your PC Ran Into a Problem and Needs to Restart - How to Fix»

«Memory Management Error: 0x0000001A Windows 10 - How to Fix»

«How to Fix Windows System32 Errors»

«Checking Ram on Windows 10 | Memory Diagnostic | How to Read Test Result»

«Driver Irql not Less or Equal - How to Fix»