Solved DPC Watchdog Violatiion Win8.1x64 solved

[speedlever]

I've been trying to track down the cause of a DPC Watchdog Violation (Win 8.1 BSOD) for the last day or so. I think I finally found the issue.

To solve it, I ran multiple instances of sfc /scannow with no change. I did DISM /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth with no change. I did a restore to a known good point with no change (had to uninstall my AV in order to do this). After restarting the laptop (after doing the sfc /scannow, or restarting after the system restore and reinstalling the AV program) the laptop would run for a short time then appear to lockup and shortly thereafter display the DPC Watchdog Violation screen.

The common thing that I began to notice was that this seemed to occur soon after installing my AV of choice which was also updated yesterday, just before the BSOD issue reared its ugly head. But as I had also done some other updates to programs as well as some driver updates, I didn't realize the issue was related to the AV update until very late in the game.

So today I uninstalled the AV and used another AV program and thus far the laptop has been running fine with no issue. The AV in question is one I've used for years and has been my go to favorite... up 'til now: Avast free AV which just updated to 2015 version. I moved the problem laptop to Avira and it's been running fine ever since. Go figure.

 

[usasma]

Thanks for letting us know about this!

 

[speedlever]

After a couple days of uninterrupted operation, the above fix still seems good.

I am at a loss understanding how the update to Avast 2015 free borked the computer.

 

[usasma]

Some BSOD's are simple, and others are complicated.
To determine the exact reason, you have to find out the actual driver that caused the corruption (not necessarily the one that was blamed) and then disassemble the driver's actions during the crash and check the instructions to see if that was actually the cause.

There's several reasons for this sort of thing:
- a problem with the driver - usually a bug
- a problem with the copy of the driver on your system (but not with other copies) - usually a corruption
- a problem with how the driver reacts to other drivers - usually a compatibility issue

Then, there's the statistics:
- 3rd party drivers (over 90% of BSOD's are due to this)
- hardware (less than 10% of BSOD's are due to this)
- Windows problems (less than 1% of BSOD's are due to this - as long as Windows Updates are fully up to date).

Then, if an update hasn't been tested under ALL situations (a very difficult thing to do), then there's a risk that a bug will pop up.
In the case of AVG, it's also crucial to understand that it is a low-level program that interacts/affects nearly everything on your system. This means that it's going to have to work well with all of the files and actions on your system. Take a look at the total number of files and the total number of registry entries on your system - it's amazing to me that these things even work!

Oh, and BTW, if the system is infected, then the infection may try to block the update in various different, non-standard ways. These often cause problems that make you want to pull your hair out!

Finally, one of the more common problems is having more than one anti-virus and/or firewall running at the same time. These programs demand access to all files and network traffic - so if you have more than one, they'll be fighting over it. This causes slow downs, problems, and even BSOD's.

Good luck!

 

[speedlever]

Thanks for that explanation usasma. Very helpful. One note, this particular instance was with Avast, not AVG. I later updated Avast on another Win8.1 pc (x86) and had no issue, as expected. Just a weird confluence of events on the problem laptop, I guess.

 

[usasma]

Sorry about the reference to AVG. I do a lot of posting by remembering what I've read previously - I guess that the Alzheimer's is catching up with me!

Each system is different - even if it's the exact same system running the exact same OS. While it may seem identical, there are differences inside of the OS. As a Windows system is a dynamic system (it changes each time that you use it), then it's likely that the changes will (over time) cause differences to crop up. This isn't a problem as it's mostly unnoticed, but on occasion you will notice that something has changed (such as an error cropping up).

Good luck!