COMPUTERS
Windows 11 Blue Screen of Death: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
A simple fix for a Windows BSOD and how I discovered it.
This system settings change worked for my AMD Ryzen 9 based desktop PC.
I’ll go into the details later, but for those desperate for a possible solution I’ll get right to it:
- Change your classic Windows Power Options settings to switch the power plan from Balanced to High performance.
That’s it!
I’d also recommend rebooting your PC, though you shouldn’t need to. I like to reboot after changing any settings during a troubleshooting session. There are technical reasons for that, but let’s just say decades of using Windows gives you an intuitive understanding of its sometimes-peculiar inner workings…
If you don’t know how to find the classic Power Options in Windows 11, one of my other articles can help you:
There are quite a few reasons why your Windows 10/11 desktop or laptop may experience a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with error DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE.
Driver updates can often fix problems that might cause this issue. However, in my case updating drivers and applying Windows updates had no effect.
I wanted to share my findings on this issue as at the time I experienced it I couldn’t find a concrete solution on any of the usual online forums.
I was eventually able to figure out a solution over a couple of weeks by analysing crash log files, trying driver updates and reading a lot of forum posts.
Hopefully, this simple fix will also work for you and save you from a lot of lost time and frustration!
The following sections are provided for those who want to understand a bit more about this issue and how to diagnose it.
A Brief Overview of the BSOD Issue Effecting my PC
Towards the end of February 2024 my Windows 11 Pro system started crashing with a BSOD and error code DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. This would regularly happen at the start of the day, typically within 2–30 minutes of first powering on the PC and booting into Windows.
Strangely, the PC would sometimes settle down and stop crashing after extended periods of use. If I played a game (e.g. Starfield) then that could sometimes have the effect of preventing further BSOD events for the remainder of the day.
The PC was only just over a year old, so I thought it unlikely there was a hardware fault already. Otherwise, a faulty motherboard or power supply might have been possible culprits.
My core system specifications:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
- Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI
- RAM: 32GB Corsair Vengeance 5600MHz
- GPU: 24GB ASUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX TUF GAMING OC
- PSU: Corsair HX1000i Modular Silent 80PLUS PLATINUM
At first, I had assumed a recent Windows Update may have introduced the issue, but I wasn’t really keeping track of them to know which update might have triggered the problem.
I tried the usual fixes such as downloading the latest Windows Updates and updating all hardware drivers for the motherboard and graphics card. I also tried disabling some motherboard devices (any that were flagging up in crash logs) via the Device Manager. None of that fixed the BSOD problems.
After the usual hunt around the internet on various support forums, it was evident many people were experiencing the same issue across a range of different systems (laptops, desktops, Intel or AMD).
However, I never managed to find a documented solution that would fix the problem for my PC.
Discovering that the ‘High performance’ Power Plan Fixes the BSOD Issue
Buried in the classic Power Options, under Advanced settings, there is an option under the PCI Express group named Link State Power Management.
When I was trying to diagnose the issue on my PC via the Windows Event Viewer and WinDbg application, the common causes of BSOD crashes were due to device drivers closely related to the PCI Express bus.
You can find out more about how to use the Windows Event Viewer and WinDbg application in one of my other articles:
I eventually discovered the Link State Power Management option within the Balanced power plan where it was set to Moderate power savings. After I changed it to Off, my system stopped crashing with BSOD errors.
Given the above, you could try the same and just modify the existing Balanced power plan (if that’s what you currently have selected) rather than switch to High performance.
The default High performance power plan sets Link State Power Management to Off along with various other differences from the Balanced power plan. As such, it’s easy to change to this plan and you might also get other system stability benefits depending on what the original cause of the issue is on your system.
The Link State Power Management option allows PCI Express devices to be put into lower power states when not in direct use. The purpose of this option is to save on the use of electricity and would be of particular benefit to laptops if you wanted to try to make the battery last a little longer.
Here’s a helpful article that provides more in-depth information on this option:
Normally I would use the Balanced power plan on my PC and laptop to try to reduce the use of electricity and so save a little money over time.
By monitoring our home energy usage display, I could see that my PC wasn’t really using any more electricity when on High performance vs Balanced, so I’ve just left it on the former setting now.
I’d rather the PC was stable rather than save a few pennies (if even that) in electricity over the course of a year.
I do hope this article has been of help to you in some way.
If you would like more guides or troubleshooting articles for other issues, please do let me know in the comments.
Copyright @ 2024 Anthony Gliddon. All rights reserved.
