Would anyone be willing to help me make sense of this DMP file?

OmegaWolf747

Computer is an HP Omen 30L, running Windows 11 Pro 24H2.

I was watching a video stream, when my computer froze up solid for a second or two with the sound becoming like a buzz. Then it unfroze and everything continued as normal.

I checked the Event Viewer logs around the time that this happened and found that it listed a BSOD. I ran it through WinDbg and it came up with the following code:

Pastebin of code

If this was an actual BSoD, it never actually crashed out, nor did I have to reboot. It was able to recover from it on its own. But still, it's rather concerning as this machine has been really solid for me since 2021, but in the past year, it's had maybe three of these, the last two coming within a week or so.

Help appreciated. Thanks.

real_aurgathor

OmegaWolf747

Here's a link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/bug-check-0xa--irql-not-less-or-equal

The IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL bug check has a value of 0x0000000A. This bug check indicates that Microsoft Windows or a kernel-mode driver accessed paged memory at an invalid address while at a raised interrupt request level (IRQL). The cause is typically a bad pointer or a pageability problem.

What was the memory/CPU'disk usage when this happened?

Sometimes bugcheck analysis can pinpoint the exact driver/module causing the issue, -- this time it points to WmiPrvSE.exe (never heard of it before), and I'm not 100% sure if that was the root cause since this is what an AI review says about it:
...................................................................
Wmiprvse.exe, also known as the WMI Provider Host, is a Windows process that allows applications to access system information. It's a key part of the Windows operating system and is used for system management and monitoring.
What it does
Acts as an intermediary between system hardware and software
Allows applications to request information about your system
Monitors hardware performance
Integrates with system management tools
Provides a standardized interface for querying and manipulating system settings, applications, and hardware components

How it works
Runs in the background and often doesn't use many system resources

May use a lot of CPU if another process on your system is behaving badly
Managed by the WMI service
Has a predefined threshold or resource quota that it can use when it's active
.............................................................

Certain errors are somewhat more likely with heavily loaded systems -- see if you can find any correlation with load
Memory errors can cause some really weird stuff, so you could try running MEMTEST overnight
What are the key specs of your PC?

Guy54435

OmegaWolf747 I would run chkdsk followed by running sfc /scannow see what that comes up with, if anything.

PL1

OmegaWolf747 I checked the Event Viewer logs around the time that this happened and found that it listed a BSOD.

You could try Nirsoft's Blue Screen View. It will give you a pretty good indication of the problem that you can search for. In my case, it was NETBIOS.SYS which referred to my Intel network driver, which there was an update for.

Somewhat-Reticent

Guy54435 Aren't those for disk storage? This was in RAM, right?

OmegaWolf747

Guy54435 I ran it. No errors reported.

OmegaWolf747

Somewhat-Reticent I'm assuming it was RAM. Something about a driver trying to access an address in RAM that it's not supposed to. The problem is I have no idea which driver. I've updated all the drivers I can, updated the BIOS, and run MemTest64 for two hours, with no RAM errors returned. I have no idea what to do beyond that.

Guy54435

OmegaWolf747 Sorry that was of no help, I was hoping maybe a driver or something was corrupted that that could have fixed.

OmegaWolf747

PL1 I'll check that out.

I did find an Intel driver update for my machine's wifi card. Could that be the same, or do you mean your LAN card?

Here's the link from Blue Screen View.
Pastebin

PL1

OmegaWolf747 I did find an Intel driver update for my machine's wifi card. Could that be the same, or do you mean your LAN card?

It was my LAN card, I have no WIFI on this PC. One tip I read from an MSFT employee, he said you must uninstall it first, which I was not aware of, and reboot. When I rebooted it reinstalled itself. So, my Intel installation package, had an option to uninstall the previous driver. Then when it did install, part of the install was blocked by the "Microsoft Vulnerable Driver Blocklist". Once I turned that option off, it installed properly. This is on Windows 11, 24H2, same as you.

OmegaWolf747

PL1 OK, so I'll uninstall my LAN card in Device Manager, reboot my PC, let it redetect the hardware, then I should download a new driver from the maker's site and install it?

PL1

OmegaWolf747 OK, so I'll uninstall my LAN card in Device Manager, reboot my PC, let it redetect the hardware, then I should download a new driver from the maker's site and install it?

No, you should find out what the Blue Screen says. I was just pointing out what MY blue screen pointed to.

OmegaWolf747

OK. It says Bug Check String : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Bug Check Code : 0x0000000a
Parameter 1 : fffff80297c94083 Parameter 2 : 0000000000000002
Parameter 3 : 0000000000000008 Parameter 4 : fffff80290f2dbc3
Caused By Driver : ntoskrnl.exe
Caused By Address : ntoskrnl.exe+4b85d0

But I can't translate what that means.

PL1

OmegaWolf747 OK. It says Bug Check String

You need to scroll over to the right. There should be a driver.

OmegaWolf747

I scrolled to the right. It says Caused By Driver ntoskrnl and Caused By Address ntoskrnl.exe+4b85d0 in the top pane. I read that ntoskrnl isn't really the culprit, more like the victim of the crash, with another driver being the actual cause.

There are a bunch of other files listed in the bottom pane.
Pastebin

How do I determine which one's the culprit?

Thanks again.

PL1

Just to be sure, you are looking at BlueScreenView?

PL1

If that is the case, it points to your Memory.

Ntoskrnl.exe is a core Windows file that manages memory, handles processes, and abstracts hardware. It's also known as the kernel image.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/ntoskrnlexe-causing-crashes-and-bsod-even-in-safe/73055535-78e0-417e-9b64-d9c91bc7997b

PL1

Other than that, I have nothing else to offer. Sorry!

OmegaWolf747

So does that mean it's definitely my RAM? I've run it through MemTest64 and it finds no errors.
I've been doing a little reading. On my previous BIOS, (F.20), I had my RAM running on XMP 1, OCing it to 3200 MHz, because all the computer would allow by default was 2400. Could OCing the RAM have been leading to the crashes?

Guy54435

OmegaWolf747 Yes, overclocking is an art, if things are not correctly set all kinds of stuff can happen.

OmegaWolf747

Guy54435 I just don't understand because I had it OCed for years and then all of a sudden this starts. Maybe it's starting to wear out. I've had this machine since 2021.