BSOD: Irregular crashes and freezing (Power state failure)

[JonRB]

Hello,

I'm getting occasional DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE Bluescreens and this seems like the place to ask about it. I saw another thread about the same failure but it was older than the Sun so I figured it would be a good idea to start a new thread.
I'm running Windows 7 Premium 64 bit SP1.

Feel free to ask any questions that you think are relevant, and thanks for your help!

J.

 

[richc46]

Welcome
Your BSOD reports seem to indicate your graphics driver
nvlddmkm.sys
Go to the Nvida website and update driver and then report back.
Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

 

[richc46]

I thank you for your rep, but am here to discuss your comment, "I hope it works".
The reports do not give answers, but clues. Many times it takes several BSODs to reach the solution. Dont give up, if you get a BSOD after updating the driver, we will have a new report and new opportunities.

 

[JonRB]

Thank you so much for your help!
The BSODs are a little bit irregular so it might be a few days before another one occurs... We'll just have to wait and see!

 

[richc46]

Take your time, we will be here and happy to help.

 

[JonRB]

I'm afraid that my computer froze just now. It thawed again for about 30s of painstakingly slow usage, then it froze again.
Whenever I opened task manager (Either through CTRL+ALT+DEL or CTRL+SHIFT+ESC), it would also stop responding.

Any other anomalies in my data?

 

[richc46]

Just as a guess, can it be overheating?

 

[JonRB]

It doesn't appear to be - It's a gaming laptop with an appropriate fan. Sometimes when the computer freezes/crashes, the fan is just idling, so I doubt it's a problem there.

 

[richc46]

Some other reasons. Dont forget, it can overheat because the fan is not working properly, but in any case:
Here are my solutions to freezing, and an excellent article, which I hope is of some help
Go to search type device manager and look for any yellow warning markers
Download and run malwarebytes, a full scan after you update
Run antivirus scan
Check memory with memtest86
Make sure that you are not over heating.
Try in safe mode; report back if it works properly.
Try a clean boot
Make sure PSU is working properly
If overclocking, restore to original
Test hard drive at company website.
Test in safe mode, does it still happen?
Try with clean boot..
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135
http://malwarebytes.org/
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic...ing-memtest86/
http://ezinearticles.com/?Troublesho...blems&id=39981

 

[JonRB]

• Nothing missing in device manager,
• I can't find a Toshiba HDD test that works, so I have run CHKDSK. No problems.
• Malwarebytes has found nothing.
• First thing I did after the crash today was run an antivirus scan. Nothing came up.
• I'll get back to you on memtest86.
• The temperature of my computer didn't seem at all hot to the touch, and indeed I've never notice unusual temperatures during freezes.
  
• SpeedFan LOOKS amazing but it can't see my fan. Going to go BIOS twiddle in a moment to see if there's anything there.
  
• The problem with clean booting or safe mode is that these freezes aren't regular. It has been a few days since my last freeze and I can't see any kind of pattern in the crashes.
  
• It's a laptop so I can't really check the PSU. As far as I'm aware, it is working. I haven't experienced brownouts or blackouts.
  
• Not overclocked

Is there nothing else in the data I uploaded?

 

[richc46]

If you BSOD, again, you can send the BSOD reports.

 

[JonRB]

Will do.
Don't know if this is any use to you, I saw it when I booted the computer up after the freeze:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
  <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" /> 
  <EventID>41</EventID> 
  <Version>2</Version> 
  <Level>1</Level> 
  <Task>63</Task> 
  <Opcode>0</Opcode> 
  <Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords> 
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2012-08-02T22:44:47.682023200Z" /> 
  <EventRecordID>96318</EventRecordID> 
  <Correlation /> 
  <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" /> 
  <Channel>System</Channel> 
  <Computer>BEAST.localhost</Computer> 
  <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" /> 
  </System>
- <EventData>
  <Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data> 
  <Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data> 
  </EventData>
  </Event>

 

[JonRB]

I have experienced a few more crashes. They seem to be getting more and more frequent.
If I've left anything out of the Diag zip, let me know and I'll try add it in.

I've noticed that sometimes when I press 'sleep' (Usually FN+F1, not from the start menu. Have not compared) the computer will freeze up and eventually bluescreen. In case that helps.

Oh and more often than not, google chrome is open.

[Attachment is refusing to attach, link coming soon]

 

[richc46]

Let me see the reports. Then I will get back to you.

 

[JonRB]

I had trouble uploading them here, so I've uploaded it to uppit instead.
Download zip @ UppIT

 

[richc46]

Try again to upload to us. I prefer not to click on unknown sites.

 

[JonRB]

Understandable.

Realised I didn't compress it when I zipped it. I've heavily compressed it, but if there's anything missing/corrupt let me know and I'll send it to you.

 

[richc46]

Every report gives a new clue. It truly looks like its a driver problem. We need to find which one. If you perform a driver verifier, I think that we will get a definitive answer.

Driver Verifier
I'd suggest that you first backup your data and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise. Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Windows 7 Startup Repair feature).

In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
- Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
- Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
- Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
- Select "Finish" on the next page.

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation (an estimate on my part).

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.
Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable