DPC_WATCHDOG VIOLATION Randomly Crashes PC about once a day (Blue Screen of Death)

  • Thread starter Thread starter KirkLinden
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KirkLinden

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Hello,


I've had this incredibly frustrating issue the past several weeks where my PC will randomly hard crash - many times it will show the Blue Screen of Death with the 'DPC_WATCHDOG VIOLATION' error message before automatically restarting my PC, other times the computer just locks up and I have to manually restart the computer.


The crash doesn't seem to corelate to any program or any behavior that I am aware of. It has crashed in the middle of a game, it has crashed while just browsing the web or watching YouTube, it has even crashed when I was simply using the file explorer - so there's nothing I can do to immediately replicate to crash. It also happens just infrequently enough so I'm constantly fooled into thinking I've fixed it, only to have a crash a few hours (or sometimes days) later.

I've done a lot of research trying to get to the bottom of this, so here are the things that I've tried:

  • Changing the 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controller' to 'storachi.sys'
  • Running CHKDSK
  • Running SFC /scannow (one time recently it found and repaired corrupted files, but didn't seem to fix this issue)
  • Uninstalling / reinstalling / updating almost every device driver I could think of, including graphics, chipset, SSDs, sound devices. I haven't updated everything per se, but I also haven't seen any warnings or anything in device manager that seemed wrong.
  • Double-checked power / cable connection with each individual component inside & outside the PC, such as RAM & GPU seating
  • Unplugging external hard drive
  • Look through Event Viewer for clues / devices that caused BSOD
  • Running GPU stress test with FurMark
  • Running Windows memory diagnostic / mem test
  • Physically swapping out current graphics card (RTX 3080) with an older one (GTX 960), which I used for many years in a previous PC with no issues
  • Disable fast startup
  • Re-installing Windows 10 cleanly and completely.


I've probably tried more things but that's what I can remember off the top of my head - it's been a major annoyance to say the least.


The last two things I was going to try (but haven't yet) would be to:

  • Physically unseat the RAM sticks, one at a time, using the system with just one RAM sick to see if either stick was causing the issues.
  • Physically swapping out current Wi-fi adapter for an older one that I've used for years on my previous PC with no issues.

I'm at a loss for what else I can try to get to the bottom of this.



My Question:

Could someone here who knows how to analyze BSOD errors look at my memory dump file to see if they can help me figure out what is causing these crashes? It would be GREATLY appreciated. I just want to know what is triggering the crashes so I can address the issues!


Here are 2 memory dump files from the crashes:
012521-5250-01.dmp

012121-6515-01.dmp


Here are my system specs:


Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-10900K CPU @ 3.70GHz 3.70 GHz

Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.9 GB usable)

GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 960 (swapped out from GeForce RTX 3080)

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition Windows 10 Home

Version 20H2

Installed on ‎1/‎21/‎2021

OS build 19042.746

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.551.0

(Let me know if you need me to provide more system specs/info)


Thanks so much!!!

KirkLinden

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