[RELEASED] Windows 10 - NEW THREAD

I've had Windows 10 for a few weeks now, upgraded from Windows 7. I like it; it's a bit noddy in comparison to Windows 7 (all programs are now apps, apparently ), but it's not too much of a shock to the system having bypassed Windows 8.

 

I have one lingering issue that's becoming a pain: a very occasional BSOD accompanied by a DPC_watchdog_violation error message, which pops up after the mouse becomes laggy and eventually freezes, along with access to task manager.

 

My blu-ray player software was the initial culprit - that triggered the error with every attempt to play a blu-ray - but since that's been removed and replaced, the error message only pops up every few days.

 

All drivers updated where necessary, with the exception of the bit of kit I use to switch between headphones and speakers, which has apparently yet to provide updated drivers.

Not sure if you have read this already, but have a look at... http://pc.net/helpcenter/answers/windows_8_dpc_watchdog_violation

I know it's for Windows 8, but 10 is pretty similar with improvements, and the information will still be relevent...

Reading through that lead me to fix the same issue on a friends computer (Windows recently, and that was caused by a USB sound card he had left plugged in a hub hidden under his desk that he had forgotten was there and plugged in, the sound card was quite old (5 years or so), and he used to use it for headphones but didn't any more...

Not sure if you have read this already, but have a look at... http://pc.net/helpcenter/answers/windows_8_dpc_watchdog_violation

 

I know it's for Windows 8, but 10 is pretty similar with improvements, and the information will still be relevent...

 

Reading through that lead me to fix the same issue on a friends computer (Windows recently, and that was caused by a USB sound card he had left plugged in a hub hidden under his desk that he had forgotten was there and plugged in, the sound card was quite old (5 years or so), and he used to use it for headphones but didn't any more...

Thank you. Reading your post, and the interesting article you linked to, leads me to believe that the sound device really is the likely culprit. I think this is going to be to Windows 10 as my lovely old scanner was to Windows 7.

Sounds like a PSU issue to me, your GFX card is asking for more power than your PSU can provide, so it's crapping out.... I had this issue a few years ago (almost exactly the same, but another game not BF4) some games worked, odd ones crapped it out, as did benchmarks...

 

Swapped the power supply, and problem solved!

This rang bells with me and I looked to swap the PSU out as a test but the one I wanted to use was only 260W and didnt have the right connectors for my current build.

I got half way through swapping it when I realised this.

I rebooted and got a black screen with curser and nothing else. Hard booted and got white screen - no curser. Oh crap!:rant:

Booted a couple more time and got to the recovery option - and got the "We cant fix it" reply!!!

Booted again and it slooooowwwwllly went from black, to white to 1 icon, then eventually booted. All in about ten minutes!!!

Ran DISM with the health and then restore options. Left it to it and have come to the machine and it is working - going to shut down now and reboot in the morning.....perhaps!! Will let you know but never had anything like this beofre.....

EDIT: going to look at getting the win10 iso so at least I can boot into recovery/repair from it.

This rang bells with me and I looked to swap the PSU out as a test but the one I wanted to use was only 260W and didnt have the right connectors for my current build.

 

I got half way through swapping it when I realised this.

 

I rebooted and got a black screen with curser and nothing else. Hard booted and got white screen - no curser. Oh crap!:rant:

 

Booted a couple more time and got to the recovery option - and got the "We cant fix it" reply!!!

 

Booted again and it slooooowwwwllly went from black, to white to 1 icon, then eventually booted. All in about ten minutes!!!

 

Ran DISM with the health and then restore options. Left it to it and have come to the machine and it is working - going to shut down now and reboot in the morning.....perhaps!! Will let you know but never had anything like this beofre.....

 

 

EDIT: going to look at getting the win10 iso so at least I can boot into recovery/repair from it.

With a suspected PSU issue you are taking a huge risk doing all that, as it could just further corrupt your data and there is no telling what it may be doing to your hardware.

If your motherboard has on-board video I would be tempted to remove your video card and put it somewhere safe, so at least THAT won't get fried if the PSU fails completely.

Well wierd or what. After running the DISM with the health and then restore options run I booted up today and everything is working good.

Could it be a bad driver/conflict??

Could still be a PSU or GPU - not sure how to test each positively - if I load the GPU it could fail or it could stress the PSU and I still wont know.

My alternative PSU doesnt have the right connection to enable me to test so I am a bit stuffed.

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

I suppose it could be a driver, but it seems unlikely from the symptoms you described.

PSU faults can be impossible to diagnose, as without an expensive tester you won't be able to test it under different loads or see the ripple.

If its definitely not under warranty you could try opening it up and see if there is anything visually wrong. With PSUs generally running quite hot, you usually find the capacitors will show signs of leakage if they are failing.

I know where you are coming from AlexAtkin, symptoms are more hardware than software on first glance.

Coincidence with going to Win10? I dont know. I did have major problems after upgrade until nvidea released the Win10 drivers, but the two or three updates since....do I dare suggest these might have something to do with it? I have deleted all nVidea drivers and then installed driver 353.62. Working fine at the moment???

Wierd.

Usually if it's GPU, you will get artifacts and sparkles on your display before a crash, if it's a PSU or other, you'll usually just get random freezes and blue screens, or total reboots / power off...

Usually if it's GPU, you will get artifacts and sparkles on your display before a crash, if it's a PSU or other, you'll usually just get random freezes and blue screens, or total reboots / power off...

That's the thing, I have never heard of sudden power loss from driver issues, at most you get a reboot. So I would be very concerned.

I also had problems with the nVidia driver after upgrading from 7 to 10, it was random black screens. But never once did the machine power off.

I have had GPUs fail before and gotten beeps during boot, reverting to on-board (it thinks no card is installed), blank screens, graphics corruption and reboots. But I do not ever recall getting a power down.

Apologies if this has been covered but I thought I'd ask if anyone has done a clean install after doing the upgrade from Win 7?

I've got the USB install downloaded and on a USB key and Win 10 is running fine and activated but I'd like to do a clean install.

Anyone done this? Any issues? Can I set my BIOS back to UEFI drives again? Had to disable UEFI boot options for Win 7.

Cheers

That's the thing, I have never heard of sudden power loss from driver issues, at most you get a reboot. So I would be very concerned.

 

I also had problems with the nVidia driver after upgrading from 7 to 10, it was random black screens. But never once did the machine power off.

 

I have had GPUs fail before and gotten beeps during boot, reverting to on-board (it thinks no card is installed), blank screens, graphics corruption and reboots. But I do not ever recall getting a power down.

I must agree with you AlexAtkin. It does look like the PSU and as such I will get one ordered.

Only sems like yesterday I bought this but I think it is now about 5 years old......

I must agree with you AlexAtkin. It does look like the PSU and as such I will get one ordered.

 

Only sems like yesterday I bought this but I think it is now about 5 years old......

I highly recommend you do the research so you get a decent brand and model, especially if you want it to last another 5 years.