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Attempting to fix a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) when updating graphics drivers
Issue
When using recent Windows Insider builds, the system will crash when installing/updating the graphics drivers.
Investigation
Initial
When the system crashes an error code of WIN32K_CRITICAL_FAILURE would appear and the system would automatically reboot. When the system rebooted, I copied the dump file from C:\windows\ to my desktop for analysis. After opening the dump file in WinDBG, I analysed the memory dump by running analyse -v. Eventually I came across win32kfull!DDCIFreeMemory in the stack trace which helped me isolate what feature may be causing the issue.
What is DDCCI (DDC/CI)?
DDC/CI allows a computer to communicate to a monitor and lets the computer adjust various parts of the monitor, mainly volume and brightness.
Fix / Workaround
- Closed
Twinkle Traywhich is a program that lets me adjust the volume and brightness of my monitors. - Reattempted to update the graphic drivers again.
- Reported the issue to Microsoft after confirming that the issue can be reproduced.