All those who are using Windows might have come across the error called ‘DPC Watchdog Violation‘ and a blue screen. This is a very common issue among Windows users and there have been many such incidents wherein screens display this error in the middle of work or while doing something important.
If you are one of those who encountered this error, then this article is for you. Read on to find out the solution to this troublesome error.
How To Fix DPC Watchdog Violation Error In Windows 10?
To give a short intro, DPC stands for Deferred Procedure Call and Watchdog refers to the bug checker that can track our running programs and our computer’s performance. This error pops up due to several reasons and may occur many times a day. Recurrence of this error may have a profound impact on the system’s efficiency and performance.
Below given are 5 methods to fix and resolve the ‘DPC Watchdog Violation’ error.
1. REMOVE EXTERNAL DEVICES
One of the causes of the occurrence of this error might be the external device connection. This connection might have brought conflict in the system leading to the appearance of a blue screen.
So, if there are any newly installed Hard drives, Pendrive or devices like printer or scanner, remove them and restart the system. To know which device causes the error, try connecting one at a time to identify the device.
2. CHANGE SATA AHCI CONTROLLER DRIVER:
This is one of the most effective and best methods for fixing the ‘DPC Watchdog Violation’ error. To clear off the error, you must change the SATA AHCI controller manually. But this method involves several steps which are described as follows.
1. Open Device Manager by clicking the Windows logo key and X at the same time.
2. Click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller to enlarge it.
3. Click on SATA AHCI Controller and choose the Properties icon.
4. Click on Driver details in the Driver tab to check if you have chosen the right controller.
5. Verify if iaStorA.sys is listed as a driver, then press ‘OK’ to continue.
6. Updating the driver is the next step in this process.
7. Click on ‘Browse my computer for driver software’ option.
8. Choose ‘Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer’.
9. Press Standard SATA AHCI Controller and then click ‘Next’.
10. Complete the remaining steps as instructed.
11. Restart the computer to bring in this new change into the system.
3. UPDATE SSD FIRMWARE
SSD, abbreviated as Solid State Drive has become the new trend these days for high performance and fast processing speed. Though it supports the system in a good way, unsupported SSD can result in DPC watchdog violation blue screen error.
When the above method seems a bit too hectic, you can try this method, though it may or may not work depending on the state of your SSD firmware. The procedure to carry out this method is as follows.
1. Launch Device Manager by pressing the windows and X key at the same time and then selecting the Device Manager from the menu.
2. Look at the model and try updating the SSD firmware by noting down the model number of your SSD firmware.
3. You can also go to the corresponding manufacturer’s website and download the latest version of your SSD firmware.
4. Install the downloaded firmware on your computer to fix this error.
4. PERFORM DISC CHECK AND FIX ERRORS
1. Open Command Prompt as administrator by typing ‘cmd’ in the windows search and press Ctrl. Shift and Enter at the same time.
2. When the permission dialog box opens, click ‘Yes’ to continue.
3. Type chkdsk /f /r, then press ‘Enter’ when the administrator command prompt opens.
4. Now press ‘Y’ on your keyboard to initiate the disc check.
5. When the errors are shown after the disc check is over, corrections can be done.
5. REMOVE NEWLY INSTALLED SOFTWARE
‘DPC Watchdog Violation’ error can also occur when the software is newly installed since it may not be compatible with the system. So when this error occurs after you have installed new software, then it is advisable to uninstall that software since that software may have caused this error in your system.
Also, make sure you don’t install two antiviruses software as it may lead to the occurrence of this error on your computer. So, if you have two antiviruses in your system right now, disable one right away and just keep the other one for your system’s protection.
6. CHECK AND FIX SYSTEM FILES
Antiviruses are present in almost all computers nowadays to protect the system from corrupted or damaged files since these files can corrupt your computer too and cause this error, which is the ‘DPC Watchdog Violation’ blue screen error.
So do regularly monitor your computer to make sure no such files exist. The steps to check the system files are given below.
1. Open a Command prompt as administrator.
2. Run SFC check on your system by typing sfc /scannow and hit ‘Enter’.
3. This could take some time so do wait, after which the corrupt files if there are any, are displayed.
7. RUN EVENT VIEWER
The Event viewer lets you know which driver or device causes this error on your computer. The steps are given below to run the event viewer.
1. Click the windows and X key at the same time and click on Event viewer from the menu.
2. Click on the Windows logs on the left side and click System in that.
3. You can view certain events listed in the middle part of the panel. Click on those marked by ‘Error by warning‘ to find out the details of the error’s occurrence.
4. With this, you can find out the cause of the occurrence of this error on your computer and fix it immediately.
Final Words
Any error within a certain limit can be easily fixed with little time and effort. So is the ‘DPC Watchdog Violation’ blue screen error. It can be fixed with the above-provided methods, though if the problem persists, restore and reboot your computer to a lower version of Windows.
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