BSOD keeps happening

[joddle]

I recently bought a second hand Dell 7040 and although it runs nice and fast every week I get a BSOD but the screen only lasts a few moment so I never get to read the error properly but its something like driver power error/ I have downloaded all the drivers from the Dell site and also installed the Nvida drivers for the graphics card but I still get the error which always happens when I actually do something e.g move something on screen or change from window to another with the mouse or swap something - how can I find out exactly what is wrong as otherwise the machine is really great? I am running W10 pro 64bit from a SSD with a normal drive for file storage and have 16gb Ram.

 

[joddle]

Further to the above - I have tried to look at the mini dumps but the machine says I don't have access although I am the only administrator on the machine who is the only one user - i.e. me! I presume there must be someway of using the dmp files to fathom out the actual error!

 

[KenB]

Hi,
Could the error message be "Driver Power State Failure" ?

If so - this can be caused by Video Card drivers needing updating [ you say you have done this ]
It could also be WiFi card drivers.
Try updating these too.

If that doesn't work for you try this:

Take a look in Device Manager.
If there are any yellow exclamation marks right click on the device and update the driver.

If that doesn't do it ....

Take a look here - click here

I followed the power options at the bottom and I don't have the PCI option
Hopefully you will.

==================
Let me have a detailed account of your results please

 

[joddle]

Many thanks KenB - I think that was the BSOD message. No yellow exclamation fags against hardware but I did check the wi fi driver as suggested and it downloaded a new driver. BSOD has not happened since so fingers crossed it is sorted. I also used Dell's own driver checker and it downloaded and installed three more updated drivers which may also help - we will see!!!! All this make me think about in what order I should do driver checks when installing an W10 on a new disk - I tend to do this once a HDD gets old rather that have loads of old junk lying around but of course in doing that I don't then have the original drivers around - so is there a proper sequence to a new install? I assume load the OS then check for drivers??

 

[KenB]

BSOD has not happened since so fingers crossed it is sorted.

Let's hope that did it for you

.....so is there a proper sequence to a new install?

I would install system and chipset drivers first.
Then I would install WiFi drivers and sort out security.
I don't really think there is a definitive sequence after this.

 

[joddle]

So far so good

 

[KenB]

So far so good

Keep us informed

 

[joddle]

Agg - it was going so well and tonight it happened again - this time I can verify the message is "Driver Power State Failure" ?
I think I will download all the dell drivers and try installing them again to see if I missed anything first time around.

 

[joddle]

I have now downloaded all the driver from dell and installed them. Thinking about the issue I realised this always happens when I move the mouse - i.e. a movement of the mouse seems to trigger the BSOD - is there any way the mini dumps can identify more what is happening?

 

[KenB]

Hi - Can you access the mini-dump files ?

Have you tried updating the mouse drivers from Device Manager ?
Try uninstalling the mouse drivers from there if there is no improvement.
The drivers will be re-installed when you re-boot.

 

[joddle]

I can see the minidump files but it says I dont have access to them although I am the only administrator on the machine
I will try uninstalling the mouse and reinstalling or update it and see if that helps.

 

[KenB]

Try uninstalling the mouse drivers first.

Accessing the mini-dump files may prove a little more difficult

 

[joddle]

Have done that now so will wait and see if that helps
The previous owner recommended uninstalling the Nvida drivers and letting Windows deal with the display card but I don't know how to uninstall those. ~
I may consider removing the graphics card and the wifi card as really I don't need either of them

 

[joddle]

Again a BSOD so I think I am going to do a complete reinstall of the PC.
This is what I intend to do but please correct me if I need to change everything.

1) remove graphics card
2) remove wifi card
3) remove 2nd hdd leaving only the SSD in the 2.5 bay
4) download latest W10 iso
5) download all drivers for this PC's service tag
6) reformat ssd
7) load W10
8) load Dell drivers
9) then use the PC for a week without further SW to see if issues re-occur

Have I left anything out?

 

[KenB]

Removing the Graphics Card

Do you propose to use onboard Graphics?
Personally I would use the Graphics Card - unless you suspect it may be causing a problem.

 

[joddle]

I have started to use the onboard graphics card and can see no real difference between that and the add on one. I am working in 1600x900 which for me on my 24" monitor seems about right as the print on many things on the high res setting is too small for me. But what differences should I observe using the Nvida card? I am not into gaming so speed is not an issue. To me for the moment, the less hanging on the machine narrows down the possible culprits! I have also disconnected my very aged Logitec orbit webcam in case that was having issues as there are no modern drivers for it from Logitec. I will at some point remove the wifi card as I really don't need that anyway.

 

[KenB]

Go for it

 

[joddle]

Well it has happened again although as yet I have not removed the wifi or graphcs card but did remove my old webcam and am now connected to the on board graphics. However, using a debug reader I find the culprit on every occasion is the same - and is flagged as ntoskrnl.exe - The output is below

What is this and what do I need to do?

I am thinking of stripping the machine again and taking out the wifi and video cards to start with - and reinstalling from scratch the latest W10 then installing the Dell drivers again and working from there. However if there is a better way I would be please to hear about it. I note from the web that overclocking can cause this but how do I know if my machine is overclocked?

I had also though of using a 500gb M2 ssd and installing the OS there as there is a slot currently unused and the current system ssd is only 128gb although I do have a 2tb 3,5 drive as well for backing up data etc which was transplanted from my old system. The 3.5 drive has no system files only data..

021220-6140-01.dmp 12/02/2020 14:28:00 DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 0x0000009f 00000000`00000003 ffff9b04`f6d7b7f0 ffffdb8a`7927f7b0 ffff9b05`01b8f9a0 ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+1c14e0 NT Kernel & System Microsoft® Windows® Operating System Microsoft Corporation 10.0.18362.657 (WinBuild.160101.0800) x64 ntoskrnl.exe+1c14e0 C:\Windows\Minidump\021220-6140-01.dmp 8 15 18362 1,194,540 12/02/2020 14:29:13

 

[KenB]

and is flagged as ntoskrnl.exe

Although this looks like the cause, according to the BSOD Expert in this thread, [ click here ] it is seldom the case.

.....overclocking can cause this but how do I know if my machine is overclocked?

Simplest thing to do is to re-set the Bios to factory defaults.

You could also update the BIOS - but this should be a last resort.

You say you are going to remove the Video card.
Uninstall the drivers too.
The error you describe could be due to drivers - if you have removed the card then delete the drivers from Device Manager.

 

[joddle]

Hi - I did in fact update the bios as I thought that might have been part of the issue but it made no difference. One thing that I noticed on the Dell website is a driver for SSD sata drives which I have now downloaded and installed - I am wondering if that might have been something to do with the issue - so I am waiting to see! Currently a little reluctant to reset the bios to factory setting in case I can't then boot up as the OS is on the SSD in the 2.5 rack and not on the 3.5 drive! maybe I am worried about nothing ?