Solved BSOD mostly when watching youtube videos

[Danail Ivanov]

Hello everyone, i'm getting BSOD: driver_power_state_failure (0x000009f). The error seems to occur only when on battery, 5-20 minutes into a video. But however, this morning it occured while browsing and downloading new updates. I have seen a lot of solutions but don't know where to start for this particular problem. The latest dump file was about 500MB, but I have used Advanced SystemCare to clean up the laptop so it's wiped. The attached SF diagnostics tool zip file probably does not contain any info about the BSOD. If you want I will make another one after the next crash.

Thanks for the attention.

 

[Arc]

Hi Danail Ivanov.

The zip you uploaded does not contain any crash dump.

Follow it: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html
Go to Option Two, Point 2. Download the .reg file and merge it in registry by double clicking it.

Now wait for another BSOD. When it occurred, search the .dmp files manually in the default path: C:\Windows\Minidump or %SystemRoot%\Minidump. See if the crash dump is recorded or not (hopefully it will be recorded).Post it following the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions.

Dont run any disc cleanup program before you upload another zip.

BTW, a stop 0x9F may not have anything to do with a youtube video. Disable Hardware Acceleration. Open a video in YouTube. When it is started, right click on the screen and choose "settings"



In the resulting window, uncheck the option for hardware acceleration, and then close the window.


Also, see these tutorials:

• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/271264-chrome-gpu-hardware-acceleration-turn-off.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/271263-firefox-gpu-hardware-acceleration-turn-off.html
• http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lorer-gpu-hardware-acceleration-turn-off.html

Let us know the results.

 

[Danail Ivanov]

Hi and thanks for the reply. This is the new info with the dump and the dump config. Apparently the charger does not affect the error. I have not tried the solutions yet, because I have been testing (by watching videos) with firefox and chrome some more to see if it does that in other browsers. I haven't gotten a BSOD for about 2 hours of testing (usually i would get one). Will apply the solutions after I get another one. In the meantime you may check out the info to try and figure out what may be causing this.

 

[Danail Ivanov]

Got another BSOD. This time while watching a video not online. Should i run driver verifier? I've attached additional info with the latest dump if there's any difference.

 

[Arc]

Danail, I am sorry to say that your issue is beyond my ability. I can understand the situation, but I cannot guide you the best course of actions.

I already asked for more help, hope somebody having more knowledge, experience and expertise will take a look soon.

I was hesitating to post my understanding here, lest it diverts the line of thinking of the next coming helper. But if you want to know, your issue is caused by graphics switching. A very common issue for laptops having dual graphics. When one GPU stops the action and gives the charge to the other one, the former one goes to sleep/hibernate, and when the time comes to take the baton back, it fails to wake up within a stipulated time. Technically it is called Driver Power State Failure. The various power states are:

The ACPI specification defines the following four Global "Gx" states and six Sleep "Sx" states for an ACPI-compliant computer-system:

• G0 (S0): Working. "Awaymode" is a subset of S0, where monitor is off but background tasks are running.
• G1, Sleeping. Divided into four states, S1 through S4:
  • S1: All the processor caches are flushed, and the CPU(s) stops executing instructions. The power to the CPU(s) and RAM is maintained. Devices that do not indicate they must remain on, may be powered off.
  • S2: CPU powered off. Dirty cache is flushed to RAM.
  • S3: Commonly referred to as Standby, Sleep, or Suspend to RAM (STR). RAM remains powered.
  • S4: Hibernation or Suspend to Disk. All content of the main memory is saved to non-volatile memory such as a hard drive, and is powered down.
• G2 (S5), Soft Off: G2/S5 is almost the same as G3 Mechanical Off, except that the power supply unit (PSU) still supplies power, at a minimum, to the power button to allow return to S0. A full reboot is required. No previous content is retained. Other components may remain powered so the computer can "wake" on input from the keyboard, clock, modem, LAN, or USB device.
• G3, Mechanical Off: The computer's power has been totally removed via a mechanical switch (as on the rear of a PSU). The power cord can be removed and the system is safe for disassembly (typically, only the real-time clock continues to run - using its own small battery).

Furthermore, the specification defines a Legacy state: the state on an operating system which does not support ACPI. In this state, the hardware and power are not managed via ACPI, effectively disabling ACPI.

Source: Advanced Configuration and Power Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For laptops with switchable graphics, this power state change mechanism is controlled by an external resource, called nvidia Optimus Technology. Good to hear, but it is the source of troubles in my understanding. ACPI is complicated itself, and some external control over it makes it too critical to handle effectively.

The crash dump says:

[COLOR=Red]BugCheck 9F[/COLOR], {3, fffffa8007deda10, fffff8000481c3d8, fffffa8005473960}

Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvlddmkm.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nvlddmkm.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for nvlddmkm.sys
[COLOR=Red]Probably caused by : pci.sys[/COLOR]

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

[COLOR=Red]DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (9f)[/COLOR]
[COLOR=Red]A driver has failed to complete a power IRP [U]within a specific time[/U].[/COLOR]
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000003, [COLOR=Red]A device object has been blocking an Irp for too long a time[/COLOR]
Arg2: fffffa8007deda10, Physical Device Object of the stack
Arg3: fffff8000481c3d8, nt!TRIAGE_9F_POWER on Win7 and higher, otherwise the Functional Device Object of the stack
Arg4: fffffa8005473960, [COLOR=Red]The blocked IRP[/COLOR]

The blocked IRP is:

Irp is active with 4 stacks 3 is current (= 0xfffffa8005473ac0)
 No Mdl: No System Buffer: Thread 00000000:  Irp stack trace.  Pending has been returned
     cmd  flg cl Device   File     Completion-Context
 [  0, 0]   0  2 00000000 00000000 00000000-00000000    

            Args: 00000000 00000000 00000000 ffffffffc000000e
 [ 16, 0]   0  2 fffffa8007deda10 00000000 fffff8800f63dc10-fffffa8009d02650    
           [COLOR=Red]\Driver\pci    nvlddmkm[/COLOR]
            Args: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
>[ 16, 2]   0 e1 fffffa8008816480 00000000 00000000-00000000   [COLOR=Red] pending
           \Driver\nvlddmkm[/COLOR]
            Args: 00000000 00000001 00000001 00000000
 [  0, 0]   0  0 00000000 00000000 00000000-fffffa80057d8880    

            Args: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

So it is the display driver that is failing to response within the specific time, and the device is the dedicated nvidia GPU.

Now let us search for the device object:

Device object (fffffa8008816480) is for:
 [COLOR=Red]InfoMask field not found for _OBJECT_HEADER at fffffa8008816450
 \Driver\nvlddmkm DriverObject[/COLOR] fffffa8008518060
Current Irp 00000000 RefCount 0 Type 00000023 Flags 00002004
DevExt fffffa80088165d0 DevObjExt fffffa8008816f88 
ExtensionFlags (0x00000800)  DOE_DEFAULT_SD_PRESENT
Characteristics (0x00000100)  FILE_DEVICE_SECURE_OPEN
[COLOR=Red]AttachedTo (Lower) fffffa8007de5860 \Driver\[B]ACPI[/B][/COLOR]
Device queue is not busy.

So we are back to ACPI. And it is the issue here.

If you want me to suggest you, my suggestions would be:

To disable the integrated graphics and to use the nvidia GPU only; as the desktops do. If disabling the integrated GPU cause any display related issue, perform a clean install using the dedicated GPU only.

Otherwise, if you are not a gamer, you may disable the dedicated GPU, too.

If possible, upload the list of all the third party drivers Using NirSoft DriverView :

• Download and execute Driverview
• View > Hide Microsoft Drivers
• Edit > Select all
• File > Save Selected Items
• In the Save dialog, Set the path to desktop, Put "Driverview" in the name field, and save.
• Zip the .txt file and upload it.

A look at the third party source of ACPI may be a vital information here.

But this suggestion is contradicted many a times, so I think there must be some better way to deal with this issue; which is not yet known to me.

As i told earlier, I already asked for more help. Hope it will arrive soon.

But, IMHO, neither GPU is corrupted. This issue has no relation with PSU (Power Supply Unit) by any chance, and apparently there is no reason to believe that a virus is causing this issue.

 

[Danail Ivanov]

Thanks for the reply. Here is the driverview.txt. I did have suspicions that the GPU's may be causing this. Did not think that they should be working together, but I did a little reading and I guess it's ok for them. Will the disabling of the integrated GPU decrease performance in games ( i do play StarCraft 2). Let's wait for now , if I get to irritated from BSOD's, will disable the integrated GPU and see if it helps.

 

[Arc]

Disabling integrated graphics will not harm gaming performance, but it will be a little heavy on the battery charge.

You have two things to choose between. Charge life or BSOD. If you opt for charge life, you have to accept the BSODs. If you want to stop the BSODs, you have to sacrifice the charge life.

BTW, here is what I was behind of. ASUS ATK ACPI Utility

==================================================
Driver Name       : atkwmiacpi64.sys
Address           : 00000000`04C00000
End Address       : 00000000`04C09000
Size              : 0x00009000
Load Count        : 1
Index             : 89
File Type         : Unknown
[COLOR=Red]Description       : ATK WMIACPI Utility[/COLOR]
Version           : 1.0.5.1
Company           : ASUS
Product Name      : ATK WMIACPI Utility
Modified Date     : 7.9.2011 ã. 09:55:04 ÷.
Created Date      : 7.9.2011 ã. 09:55:04 ÷.
[COLOR=Red]Filename          : C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\ATK Package\ATK WMIACPI\atkwmiacpi64.sys[/COLOR]
File Attributes   : A
Service Name      : ATKWMIACPIIO
Service Display Name: ATKWMIACPI Driver
Digital Signature : 
==================================================

Also nvidia 3D vision.

==================================================
Driver Name       : nvpciflt.sys
Address           : 00000000`019E1000
End Address       : 00000000`019EC000
Size              : 0x0000b000
Load Count        : 1
Index             : 45
File Type         : System Driver
[COLOR=Red]Description       : NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 332.21[/COLOR]
Version           : 9.18.13.3221
Company           : NVIDIA Corporation
[COLOR=Red]Product Name      : NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 332.21[/COLOR]
Modified Date     : 19.12.2013 ã. 22:33:31 ÷.
Created Date      : 7.2.2014 ã. 17:08:02 ÷.
[COLOR=Red]Filename          : C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\nvpciflt.sys[/COLOR]
File Attributes   : A
Service Name      : nvpciflt
Service Display Name: 
Digital Signature : 
==================================================

ASUS ATK package is a must to remove. I'd recommend you to http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219576-clean-up-factory-bloatware.html, with a special reference to Point #13

13. Consider a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which is often better than getting a new computer considering how pre-installed bloatware can corrupt Windows 7 even if it's completely cleaned up.

If you opt for a clean install, dont get AVG any more. Use Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes AntiMalware Free.

And, dont install anything of the nvidia forecware package other than the display driver and PhysX. choose the "advanced" mode of installation and uncheck all others.

All those steps will be able to give you a stability, I hope.

 

[essenbe]

Hi Danail, if you use the dedicated Nvidia card you should not see any decrease in performance in games. It is much more capable than your on board graphics is. You should be able to right click an empty space on your desktop, select Nvidia control panel, select manage 3D settings and under global settings select the primary graphics adapter. That should help stop much of the switching back and forth. The downside of it is that it will run in high performance mode most of the time and reduce your time you can run on battery.

I have a Samsung laptop with Nvidia Optimus and set the global to high performance Nvidia graphics. The other tab you can select, by program which to use, but that involves switching when you quit one program and open another. My Wife uses my laptop at home all the time anyway, so battery time is of no concern to me. But, I can usually get several hours out of it when needed. I think Arc is right in the problem is when the graphics switch from one to the other. Try the setting I described above and see if that helps. You should get better graphics performance but shorter battery life. But, hopefully, it will stop or seriously reduce the BSODs. On my laptop I have everything set to use the dedicated graphics card and have never had a BSOD. Your mileage may vary, but it is worth a try.

 

[Danail Ivanov]

Ugh... I really don't want to shorten the life of my brand new battery since it's pretty weak as is(2-3 hours browsing on power saver!). Arc are you saying those are my only two options? Can I keep the switching of the GPU's, if i try to fix it with

ASUS ATK package is a must to remove. I'd recommend you to Clean Up Factory Bloatware, with a special reference to Point #13
Quote:
13. Consider a Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 which is often better than getting a new computer considering how pre-installed bloatware can corrupt Windows 7 even if it's completely cleaned up.
If you opt for a clean install, dont get AVG any more. Use Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebytes AntiMalware Free.

And, dont install anything of the nvidia forecware package other than the display driver and PhysX. choose the "advanced" mode of installation and uncheck all others.

All those steps will be able to give you a stability, I hope.

?

 

[Golden]

Unfortunately, Arc is 100% correct : those are the only 2 options available to you.

 

[Danail Ivanov]

Maybe I'm in denial, but i can't believe this is so flawed (for a somewhat expensive machine) that it can't be fixed. I'm gonna try the recommendations, before i make the final decision to switch permanently to the dedicated GPU. Thanks for all the input.

 

[Arc]

Maybe I'm in denial, but i can't believe this is so flawed (for a somewhat expensive machine) that it can't be fixed. I'm gonna try the recommendations, before i make the final decision to switch permanently to the dedicated GPU. Thanks for all the input.

This is the irony. You paid money for things which collectively makes the instability.

A less expensive computer with the integrated GPU only will never face the issue.

A desktop with a dedicated GPU active only will never face this issue, too.

Expensive is not always good. Dont you know the Veblen Effect?

But, if you dont like, I stop here.

 

[essenbe]

Maybe I'm in denial, but i can't believe this is so flawed (for a somewhat expensive machine) that it can't be fixed. I'm gonna try the recommendations, before i make the final decision to switch permanently to the dedicated GPU. Thanks for all the input.

This is a common problem for many with the switchable graphics. The idea is that for Laptops where battery life is a concern, to use less power when not needed, but have power available when needed. The idea is good. What's bad is the manufacturer's implementation of it. I may be wrong, but I believe each manufacturer has their own way of setting up how it will work. Some work better than others.

I would suggest you change your settings in the Nvidia control panel and see how that works out for you. If you don't like it, simply change it back.

 

[Danail Ivanov]

All right, I think i learned as much as there is from this thread so i'll mark it as solved. As I said, i'm gonna try the recommendations from Arc and

I would suggest you change your settings in the Nvidia control panel and see how that works out for you. If you don't like it, simply change it back.

from essenbe. I'll probably end up switching them manualy from time to time (and not leaving it on auto-select) when playing games and just face the music.
Again thanks for all the input.

 

[Arc]

You are welcome.

I know that teh situation did not make you very happy, but really there is no other solution.