BSOD after dropping laptop; Safe mode OK

BSOD after dropping laptop; driver power state failure

Hi all,

Thanks in advance for your time and efforts helping me solve this issue. My laptop is an HP Envy 14-k016tx running Windows 8.1; the BSOD error given (with the face) was DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. I had tried a few fixes through CMD [sfc scannow, etc.] that I found online but to no avail. I used "WhoCrashed" and it points to "0xFFFFE00147FBE060" (unknown), "nt+0x1509A0" (ntoskrnl.exe), and also iastora.sys (intel rapid storage technology). I had IRQL not less or equal BSOD around a year ago and used the warranty to reinstall windows (apparently I cannot do that on my own because customers are not given the Windows Disc and I had to take a long trip around the city for that. Now I have moved to the US). HP phone support would not assist me because I purchased the device outside of the US.

Original problem:
Boot into HP logo, then some brightness changes into a black screen. Mouse cursor shows up and can be controlled. After a while it goes into the BSOD and auto-reboots, probably into a loop (I used the physical button to switch it off).

Basic system diagnostics come back normal (HP bundled software, tapping F2 key on startup). I accidentally got into safe mode by changing BIOS settings (secure boot) which somehow got me into the blue recovery environment and therefore Safe Boot. After a few repeats I used CMD to add the boot options menu to save me the trouble of doing this every time I want to boot into safe mode.

If I use F11 on startup to go into default recovery options without using the weird BIOS secure boot change method, It gives me an error code 0xc0000225, and "A required device isn't connected or can't be accessed." Continuing to F8 (startup settings) or Enter (try again) will just cause the screen to flash in strange distorted black bars. Escape key leads to BIOS options.

I tried to use the Windows debugging tools, but I have trouble installing it because of errors with Windows Installer. I also suspected the HP 3D driveguard (protecting hard drive in case of dropping laptop/accelerometer changes) caused this but I could not uninstall it. I tried updating some of the drivers I suspected to be the problem but the BSOD remains.

I also attempted to follow some online fixes for MS installer errors (for uninstalling drive guard & installing the debug tool) but with no positive results. I disabled the RAID acceleration with SSD.

Device manager in safe mode shows a yellow warning triangle for "Monitors" (Generic PnP Monitor) and I can't find any drivers for it. I used the official HP site: HP ENVY 14-k016tx Sleekbook Drivers & Downloads | HP® Support

Also perhaps it is a hardware error? My RAM in system properties shows only 7.78GB usable instead of 8.00GB. Not sure if this has any relevance, maybe it was already like this before the BSOD.

Current problem:
I can actually boot, with some delay, into the lock screen, but after keying in my password the "Welcome" and loading spinning circle just spins for a while and then stops, eventually going back to BSOD screen so not much progress made here.

I have attached the zip file as per instructed. Thanks again in anticipation for your analyses and help!

Hi SALaunch & welcome to the forums ^_^,

I have analysed your dump files and below has been provided an analysis of the same for informative purposes -

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DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (9f)
A driver has failed to complete a power IRP within a specific time.

I checked all of your dump files and each dump pointed to the NVIDIA driver and not the Intel Rapid Storage driver

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The driver you are using has got a timestamp which is 5 days older than the driver hosted on HP Support. I know that this is very, very insignificant but I would surely give it a try.

Since, you are facing problems in logging in to the system, I would suggest you to try and boot into "Safe Mode". Download the display driver uninstaller from this **LINK** and then uninstall the currently installed NVIDIA driver. Once you have removed the driver, reboot the system and see if you are able to login normally into the system.

If you are not able to login, use safe mode. If you are able to login normally, install the driver from there. Here is the NVIDIA Driver from HP Support - **LINK**.

If you are still facing the problem, then uninstall the driver and try installing the latest driver from NVIDIA's website below -
Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

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Regarding the less amount of RAM available, some of the hardware resources are reserved for future and internal uses. For example, even if you buy a 1TB Hard Disk, you would get only around 930GB which is usable. Similarly, some amount of RAM is reserved for internal usage and hence is not available for general purpose.

I hope this clears the confusion

Let me know how it goes ^_^

-Pranav

Hi Pranav,

Thanks for the reply! Sorry for not writing back sooner.

I tried installing and uninstalling a few drivers using the internet and 3DP Chip and the laptop suddenly could function. However, it asks me to "Activate Windows" as if my copy wasn't genuine but at least I can dismiss the annoying full screen notification. There's also "Windows 8.1 Build 9600" on the bottom right corner of my desktop wallpaper. Sorry for this complication. How might I be able to give you information about this?

Your first link to the uninstaller leads only to the forum homepage; should I still go through with installing the provided driver?

Apologies for the mess and of course, your help is much appreciated! Thank you again!

PS regarding the amount of RAM, I am absolutely certain that it showed 8.00GB before. My max processor speed decreased too; not sure what happened there, but this isn't as important.

Hi SaLaunch ^_^,

Don't worry about not writing sooner. I know everyone is busy

Regarding the Windows activation, have you tried activating the Windows while your system is connected to the Internet? It is strange because I was not able to find any symptoms of a counterfeit copy.

If you are not experiencing any issues, I don't think that it would be necessary to follow the steps which I have asked in my previous post.

Have you tried performing a RESET of the BIOS settings?

Let me know how it goes ^_^


-Pranav