Windows 10 DPC Watchdog Violation BSOD

GoblinM_ode

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Jan 6, 2024
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I've been getting a weird BSOD issue. I suspect it's related to my DJ software/controller, Traktor Pro 3 with the Traktor Kontrol S4 MK3. The BSOD only happens when turning the controller off, or when recovering from a BSOD caused by turning the controller off.

I've attached my BSOD files, the most recent of which was triggered by the Driver Verifier. I've also attached the files generated by SysnativeFileCollectionApp.

Edit: Sys specs

9900KF
Gigabyte Z390 Gaming SLI motherboard
32GB Corsair RAM, don't know exact model. All slots in use.
3080TI EVGA FTW 3
EVGA 1000 power supply, unsure on model
Malwarebytes as an antivirus
I use ProtonVPN intermittently
Any overclocking on my system will be from-factory
Windows 10
OS install about a year or two old



If anyone has any suggestions on what I can try to fix this, I'd appreciate it.
 

Attachments

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

The four dumps in the upload happened for three different reasons (two of the dumps are the same) and I'll walk you through each of them with some suggestions...

The two similar dumps (010624-11531-01.dmp and 010224-13890-01.dmp) fail because a DPC (the back-end of device interrupt processing) ran for too long. In both dumps the likely faulty driver is niks4m3usb.sys, a driver for your DJ controller. The driver version you have installed is quite old, dating from 2018...
Code:
1: kd> lmvm niks4m3usb
Browse full module list
start             end                 module name
fffff805`aa6a0000 fffff805`aa6b8000   niks4m3usb T (no symbols)      
    Loaded symbol image file: niks4m3usb.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\niks4m3usb.sys
    Image name: niks4m3usb.sys
    Browse all global symbols  functions  data
    Timestamp:        Thu Jun 28 11:53:15 2018 (5B34A1FB)
    CheckSum:         000168DE
    ImageSize:        00018000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4
    Information from resource tables:
I would first suggest that you contact the vendor and see whether there is a more recent driver available. Of course, it's also possible that the problem is with the controller itself and the DPC ran for too long because the device failed to respond to the driver properly. There's no way to know from these dumps whether it's a driver or a device problem. If updating the driver doesn't help then it's more likely to be the device itself.

The 010724-13203-01.dmp is also because a DPC ran for too long. However your DJ Controller driver is not directly implicated in this dump. The problem here appears top have been with an NVMe storage drive, which must therefore be your Kingston NVMe. This appears to be your system drive(?), however the Samsung 870 EVO also appears to be partitioned as a Windows system drive. Do you have more than one online storage drive with a Windows system on it? This can cause all manner of strange issues, so if this is the case please take whichever drive is not your active system drive offline - better yet, remove the drive completely. Also, sometimes M.2 drives have issues if they're not seated properly. The M.2 port does seem to have some issues in this area. Try removing the Kingston NVMe drive and reseat it firmly.

The other dump (010724-10546-01.dmp) fails for a different reason. This is a BSOD generated by Driver Verifier, which you do have enabled. Has someone asked you to enable it and, if so, are they also assisting you in resolving these issues? The driver that Driver Verifier flagged as misbehaving in this dump is GUBootStartup.sys, a component of Glary Utilities. You can see it clearly on the call stack...
Code:
0: kd> knL
 # Child-SP          RetAddr               Call Site
00 ffff9688`29607448 fffff802`62de8e34     nt!KeBugCheckEx
01 ffff9688`29607450 fffff802`62ddeb7c     nt!VerifierBugCheckIfAppropriate+0xe0
02 ffff9688`29607490 fffff802`62df4045     nt!VfUtilSynchronizationObjectSanityChecks+0x70
03 ffff9688`296074d0 fffff802`62df2c5e     nt!ViKeInitializeMutexCommon+0x19
04 ffff9688`29607500 fffff801`89971156     nt!VerifierKeInitializeMutex+0xe
05 ffff9688`29607530 00000000`00000000     GUBootStartup+0x1156
In my opinion these kinds of tune-up and optimising tools are little better than snake-oil. Any differences they might make to performance are marginal at best, but they do cause BSODs - as you have just seen. My peronal advice is to never use them, so I'd suggest you undo everything that Glary Utilities has done and then uninstall it completely. If you do still want to use it then you should look for an update to the product, or at least to the GUBootStartup.sys driver. The version you have is dated 2022...
Code:
0: kd> lmvm GUBootStartup
Browse full module list
start             end                 module name
fffff801`89970000 fffff801`89979000   GUBootStartup T (no symbols)      
    Loaded symbol image file: GUBootStartup.sys
    Image path: \??\C:\Windows\System32\drivers\GUBootStartup.sys
    Image name: GUBootStartup.sys
    Browse all global symbols  functions  data
    Timestamp:        Fri Aug 19 10:05:41 2022 (62FF3645)
    CheckSum:         00019CB0
    ImageSize:        00009000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4
    Information from resource tables:

To summarise then:
  • You have an issue with eityher the DJ Controller iteself or with one of its drivers (niks4m3usb.sys). If a driver update doesn't fix the problem then suspect the device itself.
  • If you have more than one online drive containing a Windows installation you should ciorrect that. You only want one WIndows system drive active.
  • I advise uninstalling Glary Utilities - and any other similar tune-up tools you may have installed. You really don't need them.

Let us know how that all goes. If you still get BSODs afterwards please run the file collection app again and upload the output. There is no need to upload minidumps sperately, they are in the file collection output.
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum!

The four dumps in the upload happened for three different reasons (two of the dumps are the same) and I'll walk you through each of them with some suggestions...

[cut to save space]
Wow, thanks for the extremely detailed reply! I've only ever experienced unexplained BSODs recently since adding the controller into the mix, but I'll uninstall Glary Utilities anyway.

I believe I have the most up-to-date driver supplied from the manufacturer, but I'll double check that (I double checked, the most recent driver was released 29-10-2018). It would be a weird fault for the controller to have, considering it otherwise functions fine, but I'll reach out to Native Instruments if I can't track down a more up-to-date driver.

The NVMe drive issue definitely surprised me! I'm not seeing any issues being recorded by the S.M.A.R.T feature. But I do in fact have a Samsung SSD that previously served as my boot drive. I'll reseat the Kingston NVMe drive and get the Samsung SSD reformatted correctly to avoid it causing further issues, even though it doesn't actually contain a Windows install anymore I never fully reformatted the drive. It is weird, however, as that BSOD happened at the exact moment that I powered off my DJ controller. Do you think the controller could still be related to it even if it wasn't directly implicated in the BSOD, given the circumstances it happened in?

Thanks for the help!
 
From what I've seen I think that your main problem is either the DJ controller or its driver. The only real ways to tel are; update the driver and/or swap test the controller.
 

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