Multiple BSODs, nstokrnl.exe is mostly a problem

Question

Hi,

few days ago, I´ve got a first BSOD on my laptop Dell Inspiron 7567. At the morning I started my laptop, it started normally as always, but before the windows logon screen appeared, multiple red stripes displayed on the monitor.

I thought, that the monitor went away, but the monitor was not the problem. After that morning, I got 5 minutes after each start of my laptop a bsod. The error code was PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. I don´t have the logs of these errors, because I reinstalled windows afterwards. But before reinstalling I´ve tried multiple fixes like updating of all drivers in my PC, commands like sfc /scannow, or the restorehealth command, nothing helped. I thought, that windows prepared some unstable update like many times before. I reinstalled windows, installed all drivers, all software which I had, also installed GTA 5. Laptop went without any problems, I thought that the problem was solved. But after 1 hour of playing GTA 5, my computer freezed suddently, it made a noise like "rrrrr" and the BSOD appeared. output-onlinejpgtools (1).jpg

The stop code was IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. I began to look for similar problems on the internet, but none solution helped. Game freezes each time after approx. 1 hour of playing. I looked in the error codes more deeply and found, that nstokrnl.exe is the driver which makes the problem. Nstokrnl isn´t alone, there are other drivers like dc3d.sys or wdf01000.sys, which are marked as a problem drivers in Bluescreenview software from nirsoft.

Komentár 2019-06-08 142631.png

I made also windows verifier tests, to see which driver is not working properly. Each time, I´ve made a verifier test, my laptop didn´t start, I´ve got a BSOD. I checked all settings in driver verifier manager(for developers). In the next step, I checked all non-microsoft drivers, and ntoskrnl.exe(which made the problems).

output-onlinejpgtools (2).jpg

Driver verifier detected a problem every time. I had to restore windows from previously created restore point, and try something else. The last time I got BSOD was when I was watching BSOD videos on YouTube. Problem was not only in ntoskrnl.exe but in other two drivers, which were displayed in BSOD message --> dc3d.sys and wdf10000.sys. I´ve noticed, that my sound card has a newer driver available, so I updated it. I performed another verifier check to see, if the problem was solved. I got another BSOD after at the startup. I can´t find a solution what to do, my laptop has a warranty, but I need it for programming :) , so I wanted to solve the problem alone. output-onlinejpgtools (7).jpg

I had really many errors, I don´t know what to do. I used my laptop almost every day from the august 2018. I never had a similar problem, when I had a problem it was just a virus which was very easy to remove by reinstalling windows.

I don´t know how to decrypt minidump files, they are encrypted, maybe you can find a solution. Here is the link: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AuYyVd9qeAP5jVNiwkXZ2xpD32b9

vilspro · Answer

yeah, i have the same problem after upgrading BIOS to 1.8.0 version

mberith · Answer

I had BIOS 1.8.0 for several months, everything went very well, I upgraded it to 1.9.0 yesterday. It didn´t help.

mberith · Answer

This is message to DCFAdmin. I can´t send more messages, I have reached the limit of messages. Your message: Hi mberith, Thanks for posting and for sending your service tag information.   Apologies that your system is not performing as expected.  Please run a system diagnostics by pressing F12 at startup or by running Dell SupportAssist.  Make a note of any error messages encountered and post back. Here is information from the Dell knowledge base you may find helpful:  Identify and Troubleshoot Windows Crashes and Restarts caused by Blue Screen (BSOD) errors on a Del... Windows 10 crashes to a blue screen and a short video from a 3rd party you may like: Dell How to Fix a Blue Screen Error / Blue Screen of Death     Respond:   I performed a system diagnostics by pressing F12 and by running Dell SupportAssist, found none errors. SupportAssist didn´t find any outdated drivers. Here are the results of the tests: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuYyVd9qeAP55C8v4ceN-MmX206w https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuYyVd9qeAP55DBGi9iRSLOX2Xah I think, that the hardware is working properly, the problem might be in software. I´ve got latest version of all drivers, I can´t find the 'bad' driver, which is causing problems. I´ve also watched the videos, they didn´t solve my problem. I searched for the factory settings option, but I didn´t find it. I tried to press shift button when I was turning off my laptop, that didn´t work. In BIOS or boot menu there isn´t a similar option. I plugged in my USB stick with Windows, looked for similar option in troubleshooting options, I didn´t find it.

mberith · Answer

This is another message to DCFAdmin. I can´t send more messages, I have reached the limit of messages.

Your message:

Thank you for your message. Have you observed any heating issue with the system? Did you observe an FPS drop when gaming?

What version of Windows have you installed? Did you use a Dell image or Microsoft?

Did you perform a clean install of Windows?

Please run a custom test on the memory by following the video on this link , click Yes for memory test & this may take about 30 minutes to complete.

Thanks,

Sreejith

Respond:

My laptop went very well at gaming, I didn´t notice any overheating issues or FPS drops.

I have latest available version of Windows 10 Home (build 17763, x64). I used Microsoft official iso image. I´ve also tried Dell Recovery Tool, but I had some bug, I couldn´t download additional files from Dell servers (still don´t know why). Do you have some iso´s available, like Microsoft has ?

Yes, I performed a clean install of Windows(firstly I re-formatted storage drives, then installed Windows).

I ran custom test (memory and also memory stress test) and passed both tests.

Sorry for the Slovak language in the photo :D , important is just the result.

Here is complete configuration of my laphttps://1drv.ms/f/s!AuYyVd9qeAP55DLjn1zRPDgzy9zd" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow noreferrer nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer">https://1drv.ms/f/s!AuYyVd9qeAP55DLjn1zRPDgzy9zd

Thank you for answer :)

Dell-SreejithR · Answer

Please disconnect any external devices if connected. Create a recovery drive with a Dell image by following this link.

Update BIOS (even if you have the latest version) from support site

Once completed use the Dell image to reinstall the OS. Do not install any updates or applications. Use the computer for a while & then install updates & check if the issue persists without gaming.

mberith · Answer

I´ve successfully reinstalled BIOS(I had already the latest version). After that I created a recovery drive with a Dell Image. The installation of the recovery image to the USB stick was successful, so I turned off my laptop. I started the recovery process, I connected to the wifi router with a cable and then tried to reinstall the OS. The problem was, that I got a error message every time at 1% or 0%.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AuYyVd9qeAP55DjtBG4r41K5ZerZ

That´s the bug, which I talked about in my previous message. I can´t complete the process, I don´t know, where is the problem, because my network is working properly, I´ve also tried to connect through wifi to the router, or to connect to the wifi hotspot from my smartphone, nothing helped. Maybe there is some problem on Dell servers ?! I tried to install the image on other USB stick, I got the same error.

Do you have some offline recovery images, that can I download directly from the OS ?

Thank you for answer

mberith · Answer

It looks like I´ve solved the problem. I reinstalled Windows (used Insider version of Windows), then fixed MBR scheme. Thank you for support, I really appreciate it, I´ll contact you if I get problems again :) .

mberith · Answer

I got into problems again, there might be some drivers which are not working properly, I'll send erro codes soon.

robert p · Answer

Please try removing Dell SupportAssist.  You may have a conflict with it.  You might have to use a 3rd party program removal tool.  Be sure you get them all, as some users have reported multiple instances running on their computers.

mberith · Answer

Here are the minidump files, error message which displayed on screen and also info related to errors by Bluescreenview.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AuYyVd9qeAP55EwrGM071-uJu9bH

I got the first error right after installing and starting SupportAssist. I'm not sure if SupportAssist can cause the problem. Before installing of SupportAssist I have installed Nvidia Geforce Experience. If you look to the error messages, what do you think, which drivers can cause the BSOD. I have updated drivers via Windows Update and Driver Booster.

After installation of Windows, everything went very well, I performed verifier test, which got successful. I am sure that the problem causes one of the drivers.

mberith · Answer

Uninstalling of SupportAssist helped me(but only in part), I didn't got BSOD for 15 minutes of active using. I tried to check drivers with verifier and got BSOD. Maybe the SupportAssist made some damage in my PC, I try to reinstall OS, install all of the drivers back in, but I do not install SupportAssist. Then I'll run the tests and see.

eXCepTIoNGER · Answer

hi guys,I just made an account to share my solution with you that I finally found for my Dell Inspirion 5515.After a long way of misery: Where I had bluescreens again and again and especially when waking my dell up from hybernation or energy saving mode, I finally found the problematic driver: DisplayLink Graphics VersionI deinstalled my current version 10.3, restartet, and installed the version 11.0 from the official website:https://www.synaptics.com/products/displaylink-graphics/downloads/windows And now it finally works and nothing is crashing anymore... At least so far... If you don't hear from me it is still working. Fingers crossed hope I could help, life is too short for bluescreens.Greetings from GermanyDaniel

eXCepTIoNGER1 · Answer

Hi guys! So the DisplayLink Driver was not the Problem... I still had several bluescreens in the past 9 months lol, always from ntoskernel.exe
For me, it was the SupportAssist that may had problems with the drivers windows 10 installed via windows update.
I made myself an windows 10 usb Stick with the known tool from microsoft and booted from it and made the whole windows new...several times actually to find out what the problem was. So:
I am pretty sure, that the problem was updating the drivers via the dell update tool or with the SupportAssist. Something does not work properly there. I just did all the updates windows 10 had for me, also including the optional driver updates.
So far I am running without any bluescreens! I hope it stays like that :)

Greetings again from Germany
Daniel

Inspiron

Multiple BSODs, nstokrnl.exe is mostly a problem

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