Dell Laptop Shutting Down Unexpectedly with "Unexpected Store Exception" / "Kernel Power Error

My Dell laptop, which is about 4 years old, has recently started shutting down unexpectedly—sometimes while I’m working, and other times when it’s just idle. On certain occasions, I get a stop code saying “Unexpected Store Exception”, and at other times it shows a “Kernel Power Error”.

I’ve already run all hardware and OS diagnostic checks, and they report no issues. The vents are clean and free from dust, so overheating due to blockage doesn’t seem to be the cause.

Can someone guide me on what might be causing this problem and how I can resolve it?

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OtherSteve

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September 30th, 2025 12:26

Hey there. This nearly always points to one of a few possible things:

NVMe/SATA storage (drive itself or its firmware),
RAM
power/firmware state issues (BIOS, Modern Standby, ASPM/link-power management, fast startup/hibernate),
intermittent power delivery (battery/adapter/DC-jack/VRM)

Here are steps I'd take first (in this order - you can stop when and if the problems are resolved):

If you have another power adapter, swap it out for that.
Run a Windows Memory Diagnostic (type "memory diagnostic" into the bottom search box and click "Windows Memory Diagnostic")
Check your drive health (CrystalDiskInfo works well for this) and check for firmware updates (via Dell Support)
Finally, check out Event Viewer (right-click Start > Event Viewer) and filter for Errors + Critical in the Application and System logs for further clues.
If the drive is proclaimed healthy, back up your data and run a chkdsk /f c: operation at an Administrator Command Prompt.

Hope this helps.

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Dell Laptop Shutting Down Unexpectedly with "Unexpected Store Exception" / "Kernel Power Error

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