Question Reoccurring BSOD is driving me nuts!

[TsukiZero]

These have been driving me nuts. Suddenly the system comes to a screeching halt and... BSOD: DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION. It always takes a random amount of time, doesn't seem to be tied to a specific process, and is often past 6PM and before 4 AM. Unfortunately, in my scrambling for a "cure" (and updating windows) I lost most of the minidumps except two recent ones:
Dump from August 17
Dump from August 19
Dump from August 22
Dump from August 24
Dump from August 26
In all cases (including the lost ones) StorPort or NvStor seems to be involved.
In every case, Firefox was open (seems it was from version 75 onwards).
There's no update for my BIOS, my Windows 10 Pro is up to date, my Graphics Card is a Nvidia GTX 970 and is also up to date (and did a clean installation to be double sure), I don't know what other info is needed.

Please, help me 'cause I don't know what to do anymore other than format and reinstall Windows 10.

EDIT: On other things, removed Avast and fell back to Microsoft Defender, heard it's finally reliable.

EDIT: Managed to snag a replacement for StorPort from the "hidden cache" by forcing the automatic repair to fail and going into troubleshoot mode's CMD. Hope this does something for me.

EDIT: AAAAAAAAAAND it did not. Seems it's consistent: 12 hours since boot and it takes a dumpster dive into BSOD.

 

[TsukiZero]

And now happened again October 12th minidump
Edit: In addition I must note this time it has taken 5 hours to BSOD

 

[Colif]

StorPort or NvStor seems to be involved.

both of those files are used for ssd or nvme drives
storport.sys = Microsoft Storage port driver
NvStor.sys - part of SCSI group, mainly used for SSD or NVME drives now.

I can't read the dumps but hopefully someone will convert them in the next few hours and I can confirm it.

If its those 2 drivers I would perhaps do a scan of your ssd or nvme drives.

 

[gardenman]

Hi, I ran the dump files through the debugger and got the following information: https://jsfiddle.net/9gy0mq87/show This link is for anyone wanting to help. You do not have to view it. It is safe to "run the fiddle" as the page asks.

Spoiler

File information:	101220-17968-01.dmp (Oct 12 2020 - 18:27:08)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 5 Hour(s), 01 Min(s), and 32 Sec(s)

File information:	082620-17312-01.dmp (Aug 25 2020 - 23:23:46)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 13 Hour(s), 23 Min(s), and 28 Sec(s)

File information:	082420-21906-01.dmp (Aug 24 2020 - 04:56:04)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 13 Hour(s), 28 Min(s), and 43 Sec(s)

File information:	082220-21265-01.dmp (Aug 22 2020 - 01:28:55)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 12 Hour(s), 32 Min(s), and 39 Sec(s)

File information:	081920-21765-01.dmp (Aug 18 2020 - 23:56:17)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	nvstor.sys (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 12 Hour(s), 44 Min(s), and 53 Sec(s)

File information:	081720-14437-01.dmp (Aug 17 2020 - 18:47:34)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	nvstor.sys (Process: System)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 6 Hour(s), 02 Min(s), and 30 Sec(s)

Possible Motherboard page: https://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/N68-GS4 FX R2.0/
You have the only BIOS available for your system, version 1.0 already installed.

This information can be used by others to help you. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.

 

[Colif]

well, I was wrong about what Nvstor.sys is.

The problem appears to be this

Apr 21 2014

nvstor.sys

Nvidia SATA driver http://www.nvidia.com/

I haven't seen an Nvidia based motherboard in years. I wonder if they even support win 10. Latest on here appears to be from 2015 - https://www.asrock.com/mb/NVIDIA/N68-GS4 FX R2.0/#Download
was win 10 clean installed last time or an update from win 7?

 

[TsukiZero]

Clean Installed, I assume. Bought it custom, assembled and all, the issue started happening this year, it might be related or not to May 2020's Update. But doesn't matter if I uninstall the driver to force it to use Standard Windows or not, since it then goes for that one. Lately the issue has been way less consistent (since in some cases I can go on for over 12 hours without seeing the ghost of it, and then there was this sudden case).

I suspect at some point there was a NVStor corruption due to faulty HDD (which was replaced with a SSD now)

Oh, yes, as of this last BSOD I took some additional measures: followed a guide to reinstall the NVidia Drivers and replaced the NVStor with a "certified clean" version compatible with Windows 10, as well as has put Windows 10 in Clean Boot (only oddball startup app being Steam's Service thingy.)

 

[Colif]

Maybe check out the health of the storage drives as well

 

[TsukiZero]

They're in perfect conditions, no errors.

 

[Colif]

Oh, yes, as of this last BSOD I took some additional measures: followed a guide to reinstall the NVidia Drivers and replaced the NVStor with a "certified clean" version compatible with Windows 10, as well as has put Windows 10 in Clean Boot (only oddball startup app being Steam's Service thingy.)

anymore errors since you did this?

 

[TsukiZero]

anymore errors since you did this?

Not that I'm aware of, but I'd need to do an "uptime stress test" for that, which means spending over 12 hours with two twitch streams being watched (one at each screen) at a minimum of 360p each and do some gaming on the side.

One thing I noted is that the NVStor that I had before replacing it was 25% bigger than the clean one.

 

[TsukiZero]

And it happened again. Could be tied to Twitch.TV on Firefox, could be tied to an Windows Update, I don't know.
October 31st 2020

EDIT: Oh, yes, forgot to note: Uptime was 4 hours.

 

[gardenman]

I ran the dump file through the debugger and got the following information: https://jsfiddle.net/c46zfLyu/show This link is for anyone wanting to help. You do not have to view it. It is safe to "run the fiddle" as the page asks.

File information:	103120-8531-01.dmp (Oct 30 2020 - 23:08:43)
Bugcheck:	DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133)
Probably caused by:	memory_corruption (Process: GameOverlayUI.exe)
Uptime:	0 Day(s), 2 Hour(s), 07 Min(s), and 21 Sec(s)

This information can be used by others to help you. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.

 

[Colif]

i like how the certified to work with win 10 version of nvstore is 5 years older than the version you originally had
Old

Apr 21 2014

nvstor.sys

Nvidia SATA driver

current

Aug 04 2009

nvstor64.sys

NVIDIA NForce Serial ATA Controller driver

not sure it has anything to do with it, I just noticed you had a different driver with it

Aug 04 2009

dump_nvstor64.sys

NVIDIA Storage driver

which is a driver created to provide disk access during crash dump file generation

i found

NVidia nForce SATA controller driver (nvstor.sys or nvraid.sys) can be replaced by Standard Dual-channel IDE controller driver (atapi.sys) included in Windows.

but like person post is in, I am not sure how yet

can't upgrade to 1903 - now Nvidia driver gets DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION BSOD

I've had 1803 for a very long time and it never was able to successfully upgrade to 1903. The error was Installation Failure: Windows failed to...

www.windowsphoneinfo.com

this looks like it:

Before modifying your system, make system image using Macrium Reflect or at least create system restore checkpoint.

Run Device Manager, then locate two instances of NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller - either under IDE ATA Controllers or under SCSI & RAID Controllers nodes.

For one of them, rightclick and select Properties, click Driver tab, click Update Driver button. Select Find Driver Manually, click Select from List, (maybe uncheck Show Compatible - I don't remember), select Standard IDE/ATA Controllers, select Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller, resume wizard without restart.

Repeat for second NVIDIA controller, this time with restart.

After restart, you should have 3 instances of PCI IDE Controller and 6 ATA Channels. This is because (I suppose) you have one real PATA controller and two NVIDIA SATA but with same driver; all of them are dualchannel.

https://www.tenforums.com/bsod-cras...hdog_violation-ntoskrnl-exe-nvstor-sys-3.html

seems this bsod follows that driver around, and you lucky to get to 2020 before you saw it.

 

[TsukiZero]

The thing is, before switching over one of the NVStore, I was rolling with default "solutions", including using the Standard one Windows has... And nothing did the trick.

EDIT: Happened again, 11/2/2020 @4:30ish after over 6 hours of use.

This and previous have two things in common: happened while playing Rogue Legacy 2 and watching Twitch TV, and seems to be memory related.

One more EDIT: Interestingly, I kept playing Horizon Chase Turbo for about as long or more (2~3 hours I think) with the Task Manager open and... Nothing happened, no crash nor anything, and that game is a little heftier than Rogue Legacy 2.