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Solved dpc_watchdog_violation

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spnielsen

PCHF Member
Apr 28, 2019
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Hi PCHF
My laptop keeps getting DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION blue screens for the last two months.
Usually they happen when i've got my 4-slot USB hub plugged in, and am working in ableton. Everything will freeze, with audio still playing for a few seconds, then the bluescreen.
I don't recall any crashes before i started using a hub with multiple midi controllers. I usually have these things plugged in to my USB ports:

Mouse
Keyboard
Komplete audio 6 soundcard
Midi keyboard, launchpad or novation launchcontrol.

I've read that this issue can be caused by bad drivers, though i haven't had any luck with updating anything.

speccy

I've got two latest generated minidump and dmp here:

Please let me know about any additional information i can provide.
 
Welcome to PCHF spnielsen,

Windows is shown to be out of date and the driver identified in your latest crash dmp as having caused the crash is available via updating Windows.

USBXHCI.sys is the driver identified and the update info can be found here and here

Usually they happen when i've got my 4-slot USB hub plugged in, and am working in ableton.
Does the hub have its own power supply, reason I ask is because overloading a notebooks USB ports will cause issues, power loss and overheating being two such issues you will encounter.

Noted a couple of other things in Speccy but for now will only mention the one additional, you have the Power Plan set to Performance, this is a form of overclocking that also causes instability/overheating, change it to Balanced in the Windows Power Plan.

Once Windows has been fully updated (it should be version 1809 and not 1803) post back with an update for us.
 
Thank you so much for the speedy reply!

The usb hub does have it's own power supply, but it is generally not that good. With more than two devices plugged in i get random disconnects of the mouse and launchpad. Power issues i think.

I changed my power settings to balanced, i didn't think it would be overclocking but oh well. I did make it a custom plan, since for working with audio i need to change my minimun processor state to 100% to avoid anomalies.

I'll keep up normal use and come back with another update if the same crash happens. If it seems to be fixed i'll reply in a few days time once i'm certain.
edit:
Tomorrow i have a day in rehearsal, so it'll definately crash if this didn't help.
 
Exact same cause as the last crash.

Windows is shown to be out of date and the driver identified in your latest crash dmp as having caused the crash is available via updating Windows.

USBXHCI.sys is the driver identified and the update info can be found here and here
Once Windows has been fully updated (it should be version 1809 and not 1803) post back with an update for us.
Not much we can do until we can see that Windows is fully up to date, any one of a number of updates may well resolve the issue.
 
I don't understand, i DID update. I uninstalled the devices with that driver, ran windows update, it downloaded and installed a large update and now says i'm up to date.
 
Ah right, forgot about speccy.
(can't connect to their server right now, so it's a .txt)

Yes, it has never crashed unless the hub is attached.
 

Attachments

  • spec.txt
    102.7 KB · Views: 8
Everything looks ok in Speccy with the exception of one thing that has failed to install on a few occasions, that said I reckon that you have pretty much nailed the culprit yourself by confirming that it is the USB hub that is causing the crashes.

Do you have the latest chipset, storage drivers and BIOS installed.

Going offline now but will check back sometime after work tomorrow.
 
It WAS pretty cheap...
I'll look into the failed installs when i get time tomorrow and i'll check chipset and so forth, update if possible.

I'll give an update when i've done so, hopefully it's as simple as getting a new hub.
 
Nothing untoward showing in speccy.

In the meantime i've uploaded the latest dmp files to the onedrive link i posted earlier, can you confirm that the crash has the same cause?
Sorry but I don`t work that way, please see my preferred method below for attaching dmp files;

1. Copy any dmp files from C:\Windows\Minidump onto the desktop.
2. Select all of them, right-click on one, and click on Send To> New Compressed (zipped) Folder.
3. Upload the zip folder using the Attach button, bottom left of the dialogue input box
 
Try and use the computer as much as you can without the hub attached to see if it crashes, you are wasting your time troubleshooting this while having the suspect USB connected tbh.
 
Well, so far it has never crashed without it being attached, and i do use this PC a lot.
I'll give an update if it should crash without the hub, or when i've thoroughly tested the new hub.
If a new hub doesn't help i might just do a clean install of everything.

Thanks again for the help, my next update will come sometime next week if all goes well.
 
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