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Problem description: Off and on over the last few months I have been getting repeated BSOD errors, sometimes five or six in a row immediately on startup, sometimes weeks apart, and on every single one of them it gave me the same stopcode: DPC Watchdog Violation. Google informed me that this is a very broad and imprecise stopcode that could be caused by numerous things, but so far none of the suggested fixes have helped. It's also been a very slow and tedious process trying to find the problem due to the highly-inconsistent timing of the crashes; sometimes I'll go weeks without a crash and I'll think I solved the problem, only to get hit with the BSOD a day or two later and have it crash over and over four or five times in a row after it finishes booting, usually within 30 seconds of me logging in past the password screen. I'm also very rarely if ever doing anything unusual or strenuous with the computer when these crashes happen, unless you'd call a couple dozen firefox tabs strenuous; in fact the vast majority of the crashes have been when I have left the computer idle, like when I walk away for lunch or leave it on overnight, and I'll come back to find it has crashed and rebooted to the password screen again. Attempted fixes: - "Check 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controller' in the device manager and update the SATA AHCI Controller driver." Google suggested this was the most common fix, but this option straight up does not exist on my device manager for some reason. It skips straight from Human Interface Devices to Keyboards. No, I don't know why. - "Run System File Check in the command window to scan for corrupted system files." Ran this at two different points, no luck. - "Check your SSD." I didn't have an SSD when this problem started. I was still on a mechanical hard drive. Early on in this debacle I took the computer to an in-person tech who suggested it might be a memory/space issue, because said drive was very full, and he sold me an SSD to attempt to fix it. Seemed fine for a couple of weeks before the crashes continued. - "Reset the TCP/IP stack." Suggestion from a Reddit thread. No luck here either. - "Delete/uninstall a module called 'Trufos' from your system files." Another Reddit suggestion. Supposedly this module comes from something called Bit Defender, which I do not own, nor have I ever, so I have no idea why this is on my computer, but the Reddit thread suggested it might be the culprit, so I *tried* to get rid of it. However windows refuses to let me uninstall/delete this module. Even immediately after startup with no programs open that I can see and running as administrator, my computer tells me it can't be deleted because it's in use in another program. Might possibly work in safe mode? I'm hesitant to try it again, though, if my computer's fighting me like this over deleting it. - "Check your external devices." Technically no luck here either, but I feel like this is actually the closest I've gotten to finding the problem; I have a wifi dongle for my internet connection, and I've found that unplugging it before startup has very consistently broken the strings of on-startup BSOD crashes and lets me settle on the desktop and get some control back again. It was a very old dongle, at least 6-7 years or so, and I'd been meaning to replace it anyway, so I did, with the hope of fixing the problem. Got a Netgear Nighthawk AXE3000. The computer is still crashing, though. On the plus side, unplugging the dongle before startup is still consistently breaking the cycle of on-startup crashes, and the computer will generally operate fine for a while if I plug it back in after a couple of minutes. I also never get these crashes in safe mode, when network functionality is disabled. This makes me think there's some kind of screwy interaction going on between some bit of software and the internet, but so far I can't fathom what it might be. -- Recent changes: None prior to the issue, adding a SSD and a new wifi dongle were among my attempts to fix the issue. -- Operating system: Windows 10 Home, 64-bit System specs: Home-built tower. Processor: Intel Core i7 4770K, 3.5 GHz Motherboard: ASUS Z97-A LGA 1150 Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 Memory: 16 GB Hard Drive: Western Digital 2TB SSD Internet device: Netgear Nighthawk AXE3000 wifi dongle Modem/router: Comcast 2-in-1 wireless modem/router (rental, don't know much about it, but we've had comcast rental modem/routers for years and this has never been a problem before.) Location: Oregon, USA I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes
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Sep 22, 2023 06:01
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Run https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_trial.php to check drive health. You could also run https://www.memtest.org/ at some point to check RAM health. CidGregor posted:Might possibly work in safe mode? I'm hesitant to try it again, though, if my computer's fighting me like this over deleting it. You should be able to move the file when using safe mode. CidGregor posted:This makes me think there's some kind of screwy interaction going on between some bit of software and the internet, but so far I can't fathom what it might be. It could be an issue with the port(s) on the computer or some network driver issue. If you get zero crashes when the WiFi dongle is unplugged then that has to be the source of the problem.
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Sep 22, 2023 23:13
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Zogo posted:Run https://www.hdsentinel.com/hard_disk_sentinel_trial.php to check drive health. Drive health and RAM health both came back fine, thankfully, and safe mode did allow me to get rid of that one file. I also found those controller drivers after all (they were under 'storage controllers' instead of 'IDE ATA/ATAPI' which I didn't realize is where they are supposed to be for SSDs) and updated those drivers. I'll give it some time and see what happens. I've been stable for a couple of days again, including multiple reboots going through the drive/RAM health and safe mode stuff with no strings of startup crashes, so I'm feeling a little more hopeful this time, but if the crashes come back I don't even know what else I could do. If the ports themselves are faulty would I be looking at replacing the motherboard? Might as well get a whole new rig at that point. Anyway, thanks for your input and the tips. I'll reply again if the crashes resurface. Or toss this thing in a river, maybe.
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Sep 24, 2023 08:02
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CidGregor posted:If the ports themselves are faulty would I be looking at replacing the motherboard? Might as well get a whole new rig at that point. You could use a flashlight and look very closely for any physical damage to any of the ports. Sometimes that can be fixed by using a flathead screwdriver etc. If it was a port issue then some might try an internal WiFi card (if they didn't want a whole new machine). You could also check and see if you're on the latest motherboard BIOS.
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Sep 24, 2023 21:37
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