[whoranzone]

Hi folks,

for a few weeks I am experiencing a strange problem with my Lenovo L420 laptop running on Win7 x64. Generally it runs pretty smoothly under normal circumstances. I had no problems with week-long uptimes before.
However, from time to time when the computer automatically goes to "sleep" or "power save" mode (or when I close the laptop lid) it freezes with a "Driver Power State Failure" BSOD.

One observation is that this problem is apparently correlated to memory load and/or system load. In fact, the BSOD is more likely to occur the more programs or browser tabs are open in that very moment.

Here is my PC information:
Windows 7 64 Bit
What was original installed OS on system? Windows 7 64 But
Age of system (hardware) - Bought in sept '11, according to the label its July '11
Age of OS installation, have you re-installed the OS? - Sept '11, no

CPU - Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz
Video Card - onboard Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000
MotherBoard - Intel HM65
Power Supply - Sorry, no idea
System Manufacturer - Lenovo
Exact model number (if laptop, check label on bottom) - please check attached picture

I attached the last several crash dumps.

My own personal analysis of these dumps did not lead to any consistent finding. To me (as a relative uneducated computer guy) it seems that in each crash a different driver is causing the problem... A google search turned out some people with similar problems, but to date I couldnt identify the cause of my particular freezes.

Any help would be highly appreciated, as I really do not want to format and reinstall my machine.

Best regards

Marcel

 

[VirGnarus]

In every case your Realtek NIC (network controller) seems to be causing the problem, with the exception being the latest two crashes, which blame your wifi. They may be interfering with each other. Make sure to update the drivers for both. They are dated from June/April.

 

[whoranzone]

Thanks! This solved the problem!

 

[VirGnarus]

Re: [SOLVED] Driver Power State Failure, Win7 x64, Lenovo Thinkpad L420

Wonderful. Enjoy your newly stable PC!

 

[whoranzone]

haha, looks like i have been glad too early ... unfortunately the problem persists.

I attached the latest two crashdumps that were created after the driver update...

And another one bites the dust

 

[VirGnarus]

The rtl8192Ce.sys driver (for your wireless LAN) does seem to be updated (it's now dated August 24, 2011), but it's still being blamed for the crash. Either there's an issue with the actual wifi hardware itself, or it's a bug that was not fixed with the most recent update. Unfortunately, you may need to contact Lenovo support about it. Sometimes OEMs will have hotfix versions of their drivers that are not publicly available but that they'll provide for specific cases. If you are contacting them online, you may provide them with the following info:

0: kd> !analyze -v
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (9f)
A driver is causing an inconsistent power state.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000003, A device object has been blocking an Irp for too long a time
Arg2: fffffa800444ea10, Physical Device Object of the stack
Arg3: fffff80000b9c3d8, Functional Device Object of the stack
Arg4: fffffa8009866220, The blocked IRP

Debugging Details:
------------------


DRVPOWERSTATE_SUBCODE:  3

IMAGE_NAME:  pci.sys

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  4ce7928f

MODULE_NAME: pci

FAULTING_MODULE: fffff88000e00000 pci

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR:  0x9F

PROCESS_NAME:  System

CURRENT_IRQL:  2

STACK_TEXT:  
fffff800`00b9c388 fffff800`030eacd2 : 00000000`0000009f 00000000`00000003 fffffa80`0444ea10 fffff800`00b9c3d8 : nt!KeBugCheckEx
fffff800`00b9c390 fffff800`030885fc : fffff800`00b9c4f0 fffff800`00b9c4f0 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000002 : nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x34a90
fffff800`00b9c430 fffff800`03088496 : fffffa80`06425c68 fffffa80`06425c68 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiProcessTimerDpcTable+0x6c
fffff800`00b9c4a0 fffff800`0308837e : 000000b6`c01d7dba fffff800`00b9cb18 00000000`004cc600 fffff800`031f5288 : nt!KiProcessExpiredTimerList+0xc6
fffff800`00b9caf0 fffff800`03088167 : 00000025`650898c6 00000025`004cc600 00000025`6508986b 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiTimerExpiration+0x1be
fffff800`00b9cb90 fffff800`0307496a : fffff800`031f2e80 fffff800`03200cc0 00000000`00000002 fffff880`00000000 : nt!KiRetireDpcList+0x277
fffff800`00b9cc40 00000000`00000000 : fffff800`00b9d000 fffff800`00b97000 fffff800`00b9cc00 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiIdleLoop+0x5a


STACK_COMMAND:  kb

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x9F_3_rtl8192Ce_IMAGE_pci.sys

BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x9F_3_rtl8192Ce_IMAGE_pci.sys

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

0: kd> !irp fffffa8009866220
Irp is active with 5 stacks 3 is current (= 0xfffffa8009866380)
 No Mdl: No System Buffer: Thread 00000000:  Irp stack trace.  
     cmd  flg cl Device   File     Completion-Context
 [  0, 0]   0  0 00000000 00000000 00000000-00000000    

			Args: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
 [  0, 0]   0  0 00000000 00000000 00000000-00000000    

			Args: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
>[ 16, 2]   0  0 fffffa8006932050 00000000 00000000-00000000    
	       \Driver\RTL8192Ce
			Args: 00014400 00000000 00000004 00000002
 [ 16, 2]   0 e1 fffffa8006745570 00000000 fffff800032c41b0-fffffa8004326f90 Success Error Cancel pending
	       \Driver\vwifibus	nt!PopSystemIrpCompletion
			Args: 00014400 00000000 00000004 00000002
 [  0, 0]   0  0 00000000 00000000 00000000-fffffa8004326f90    

			Args: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0: kd> lmvm rtl8192Ce
start             end                 module name
fffff880`08600000 fffff880`087b4000   rtl8192Ce T (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: rtl8192Ce.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rtl8192Ce.sys
    Image name: rtl8192Ce.sys
    Timestamp:        Wed Aug 24 21:35:57 2011 (4E55A6FD)
    CheckSum:         0011C9D0
    ImageSize:        001B4000
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

Oh, and just to be sure, you are updating the drivers from the Lenovo website, right? Not from Realtek or anything like that? While there are some special cases where a more recent update from the manufacturer of the hardware (in this case, Realtek) fixes a bug that has not been fixed with the most recent version of the OEM (Lenovo) driver, it's best to make sure that you only rely on the OEM version of the driver unless directed otherwise.

 

[whoranzone]

I downloaded the drivers through the official Lenovo update software that was provided with the machine. So I guess the drivers I downloaded must have been approved by Lenovo...

Apart from that, do you really think contacting Lenovo about this issue will yield any usable results? My personal experience is that the more technical the inquieries get, the more unlikely it is to actually get a useful answer

 

[VirGnarus]

Usually you'll need to force them some way to escalate to higher-level service departments to provide you assistance.

Oh, and just to be sure, you updated both your wifi and Realtek NIC drivers, correct? Again, if those don't work, and you're still getting problems, this is most likely you dealing with some faulty hardware, in which case you'd still need to contact Lenovo regarding it.