Windows 10: Driver_Power_State_Failures

Every couple of days my Surface Pro 4, (6th Gen Intel Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM) crashes due to a Driver_Power_State_Failure. (I changed the settings in CCleaner which wiped most of my minidump data). These crashes do not result in visible BSODs; rather, processes stop working correctly so I end up restarting my computer. In this last instance, I was uninstalling TechSmith Snagit 12 but the uninstall hung. I did not have any external devices attached today, nor do the crashes seem to be related to external devices. All Windows updates are installed.

For all of these crashes, when I restart my computer the restart hangs and takes about five minutes to complete.

Lastly, not sure if this adds anything to the attached file, but I ran WhoCrashed and here is a summary of the last crash:

On Tue 6/14/2016 21:51:48 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\061416-9328-01.dmp
uptime: 01:14:24
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlmp.exe (nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x0)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x4, 0x12C, 0xFFFFE002025F4240, 0xFFFFF8012446E8B0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time.

Thank you,
Colin




:)

 

Acer Switch Alpha 12 BSOD since 1709

Whoops, sorry, forget to tell the error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE

 

PC will not boot into Windows 10

UPDATE: I had left my computer in the loading state and received a blue screen with the error driver_power_state_failure

 

Hi nepenthes,

Welcome to the 10forums *Smile

Please remove / disable items from the startup in taskmanager
These programs could interfere with the boot process giving you trouble and increase the boot time.

Actually the crashes can be related to external devices, this is because there may be bugs in the drivers that causes external devices to improperly change the power state resulting in the BSOD.

Unfortunately no driver is caught, but looking at your installed programs I have a possible thought.
Some drivers from Malwarebytes & Bitdefender are lately causing conflicts, I would suggest to disable in Bitdefender in the firewall settings 'Block port scans in the network' if it isn't.

 

Which items should I disable in startup? All of them??
I just disabled:
eraser
google installer
snagit
spotify web helper

That leaves me with six processes active in startup:
bitdefender agent
ccleaner
google drive
google photos backup
lastpass installer
microsoft onedrive

Clarification to previous post:
Normally my reboots are rapid. The only time it is slow (and takes 5 minutes) is when the system has crashed due to the power driver state failure. Normally, I'm on my system working away when things just stop working correctly do I initiate a reboot and if it is fast I go back to work. If it takes 5 minutes I know I'll have another crash file in the minidump folder when I finally get back into my computer.

Block port scans
After ~2-3 Bad Pool Caller/Bad Pool Header crashes perday I blocked port scans in Bitdefender. Maybe this will help someone; I found the answer in another forum dated 30 May 16. Not sure if I'm allowed to post a link to another forum so instead I'll just relay a summary:

Bitdefender identified the cause of the blue screen that occurs when both Malwarebytes and Bitdefender 2016 are on the system. The Bitdefender developers are working on a fix which will be delivered soon by automatic update. As a temporary workaround, please turn off 'block port scans in the network' from Bitdefender 2016 > Modules > Firewall to prevent another crash.

Fortunately, this eliminated my bad pool caller crashes but has done nothing for my driver state failure crashes.

Is it possible this is a Surface Pro 4 weakness? I have two laptop computers with both Bitdefender and Malwarebytes and those systems don't crash. It seems like I spend more time troubleshooting the SP4 than actually using it to do work.

Thanks for your help
Colin

 

Your post about BitDefender is basically what axe0 asked you to do a day ago.

 

I hoped to point out that I had already applied Axe0's solution concerning Bitdefender two weeks ago when I learned of the same solution from another forum. I thought it might be significant that it fixed one type of crash but sadly not the driver power state failure. I also hoped it might encourage some readers to know bitdefender is aware and working on a more permanent fix. I apologize for any confusion.

 

The problem is that you did not say in your text when you applied the solution, that is why Ztruker thought it *Smile

For the 0x9F crashes, we could try driver verifier





Diagnostic Test

DRIVER VERIFIER


Warning Please make a backup of your important files and get your rescue media or create one.
Please create a restore point.
Please follow this tutorial to run driver verifier.

Driver verifier stresses your drivers and will crash your pc if any driver fails due to a violation.

Driver verifier should be performed for a max of 48 hours, or when you have a bluescreen, whatever comes first.

If driver verifier has found a violation and you can't get back into windows normally, try to boot into safe mode and reset in safe mode driver verifier, or in the troubleshooting options open command prompt and type verifier /reset.



Note Your system will act very sluggishly while driver verifier is enabled, this is normal as your drivers will be being subjected to heavy testing in order to make them crash.

 

Activated Driver Verifier. Will update as soon as anything happens.

 

5 days have elapsed since my last crash. Driver Verifier has been running for 2 days and I have not experienced any crashes. I'm going to disable Driver Verifier and mark this thread as solved.

I'm amazed when I read through the posts on this site at the expert guidance you specifically tailor to the unique problems so many users experience. Thank you for your invaluable time and guidance. You rock!

Colin

 

Glad to hear *Smile

No problem, I'm glad to be able to be of assistance.