Question How can I Troubleshoot BSOD on Interactive Login?

[rlrcstr]

Recently my Win10 system started crashing to BSOD. I haven't made any hardware changes and I haven't installed any new software that I can think of. (Discounting auto-updated stuff like windows and Office apps.) At first, it was a crash every couple of weeks, perhaps. Now, it crashes just a few minutes after I login. BSOD indicates that ntoskrnl causes a DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION. I have managed to connect to the machine via RDP and work on it for quite some time. I thought that, perhaps, RDP was avoiding whatever was causing the BSOD. But, as I am writing this, the system just BSODd while an RDP session was active.

I have updated the display drivers, just to rule them out. Storage drivers claim to be current. It's an on board RAID controller.

Since the BSOD dump doesn't indicate a specific driver, what's the best way to troubleshoot this?

Thanks.

 

[Colif]

how big is the dump file? if its several gb, it will be too large for most people to download so...

does the rdp allow you to make changes?

Can you follow option one on the following link - here and then do this step below: Small memory dumps - Have Windows Create a Small Memory Dump (Minidump) on BSOD


that creates a file in c windows/minidump after the next BSOD
copy that file to documents
upload the copy from documents to a file sharing web site, and share the link here and I will get someone to convert file into a format I can read

NTOSKRNL = windows kernel. It handles all driver requests, power management, and memory management. It sits between Hardware and Applications. It got blamed but its not the cause

DPC errors normally drivers, just need to see which one it might be.

 

[rlrcstr]

Thanks for the response. The system is already creating a minidump file. That's how I determined that ntoskrnl.exe is the culprit. Unfortunately, it doesn't give me a specific driver.

Here's a link to a mini-dump: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AiO_GCN20e4vn8tZkMK2Uz0DnL1jHw

 

[gardenman]

Hi, I ran the dump file through the debugger and got the following information: https://pste.eu/p/ZOpG.html

File information:	032819-45125-01.dmp (Mar 27 2019 - 22:25:19)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Driver warnings:	*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 4 Hour(s), 11 Min(s), and 03 Sec(s)

The nvlddmkm.sys file is a NVIDIA graphics card driver. There are a few things you can do to fix this problem. First off, try a full uninstall using DDU in Safe Mode then re-install the driver (more information). Or try getting the latest version of the driver. Or try one of the 3 most recent drivers released by NVIDIA. Drivers can be found here: http://www.nvidia.com/ or you can allow Windows Update to download the driver for you, which might be a older/better version.

Possible Motherboard page: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/50242/intel-desktop-board-dx58so2.html
There is a BIOS update available for your system. Wait for additional information before deciding to update or not. Important: Verify that I have linked to the correct motherboard. Updating your BIOS can be risky. Never try it when you might lose power (lightning storms, recent power outages, etc).

I can't help you with this. Someone else will post with more information soon. Please wait for more answers. Good luck.

 

[rlrcstr]

Thanks for the information. I did update the display driver to the most recent driver from the Nvidia site, but the system continued to crash. Perhaps I should roll it back... The previous driver was from October 2018. But the BSOD issue didn't start until a few weeks ago. BSOD occurred with both versions... (i.e. updating it didn't cure the problem.)

I will look into the MB BIOS, and monitor this thread for any additional updates.

 

[gardenman]

Sorry, ignore the part of about the BIOS update. There may or may not be one, I didn't look. Also wait for more replies before deciding to update if there is one.

 

[Colif]

Try running DDU and instead of using drivers from Nvidia web site, run windows update. Microsoft have older Nvidia drivers that generally work better

Sonicwall VPN files are sure old, all from 2010

what Nvidia card is it?