DWM Crashing randomly causing Black Screen

Question

**EDIT 2/23/22: Making this edit because I think my solution to this is getting missed by a couple people. I found that the weight of modern GPUs are what's causing the issue - If you're running into the same problem, try reseating the GPU and/or get yourself a GPU support. I still run into this problem occasionally (2/23/22), but after reseating, the problem goes away. **

For some reason, DWM.exe is crashing randomly, causing my display to go black, making my Graphics card (GTX 1070) fans go to 100%, and forcing me to either force restart/shutdown, or use the keyboard to "guess" shutdown - doesn't work all the time because these crashes sometimes make the Keyboard unusable)

Thing's I've tried:

• Adjusted Visual Effects for best performance
• Reinstalled last known Nvidia Driver that didn't cause crashes (436.02)
• Tried latest drivers (both DCH and standard drivers - 461.09)
• Restored from a system restore
• Memory Diagnostic Check
• sfc/scannow
• Reinstalled Windows

While I don't think the Event Viewer in Pinpointing my issue, I've included a snippit below (There's multiple entries like this)

Faulting application name: dwm.exe, version: 10.0.19041.746, time stamp: 0x6be51595
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 10.0.19041.662, time stamp: 0xec58f015
Exception code: 0xe0464645
Fault offset: 0x000000000010bd5c
Faulting process id: 0x3c40
Faulting application start time: 0x01d6eea666c814e6
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\dwm.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 7bbb8f92-a819-4a60-b81e-45b7c4caba33
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

---

Any Help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

--
Machine info:

• Intel Core i7 - 4790k (No overclock)
• Asus Maximus Formula VII
• 16GB Ram (Stock speeds)
• Asus Strix GTX 1070 O8G (No Overclock)
• Corsair HX1000i Power Supply

~

Software versions:

• Windows 10 Pro
• Version 20H2 (19042.746)
• Standard 460.89 Nvidia Drivers

Answer 1

Hey!

These are from the mini dump files dumps created by WER. Unfortunately WER isn't enabled by default, and you'll have to configure it to enable it. (you should be able to find instructions just by searching online for "Using WER") *you'll need a debugging tool (or the CMD command) to view the minidump files

My theory is (at least in my situation), the weight of these modern GPUs are essentially ripping the GPU out of the PCIe slot (Obviously on a very small scale, but significant enough to disconnect the GPU from the Motherboard itself.)

Anyways, if you're having the same problem as me, I'd suggest that you try reseating your GPU.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Hello everyone, I had the same problem. Especially when playing, the black screens appeared regularly (for a few seconds). At first I thought it was my GPU. When I bought a new one at the beginning of the year, the problem didn't go away. Today I found the solution: It was due to my XBOX ONE controller that I use to play on the PC. I came across the solution through a couple of other internet forums. So if you're using a controller to play, it could well be that that's why. The solution is to install the XBOX accessories app from the app store and connect the controller to the computer via a USB-C cable. You can then download the latest firmware for the controller in the app. Since then I do not have problems anymore!

Sry for my bad english - i used google translator!
Greetings from germany!

Answer 3

Hello, I am also having the same problem as in the screen goes black and computer fan goes fast, I tried installing Microsoft accessories app and update the controller update but it made no difference. Does anyone else have a solution for this?

Answer 4

Hi,

We are facing the same issue. Display is getting black out randomly and below is the event viewer log details. We are facing this issue while taking remote of a Virtual machine.

Faulting application name: SecurityHealthService.exe, version: 4.18.1907.16384, time stamp: 0x868e1587

Faulting module name: smartscreenps.dll, version: 10.0.19041.2364, time stamp: 0x5d32e52f

Exception code: 0xc0000005

Fault offset: 0x000000000000d851

Faulting process id: 0x2320

Faulting application start time: 0x01d9481be2c8b138

Faulting application path: C:\Windows\system32\SecurityHealthService.exe

Faulting module path: C:\Windows\System32\smartscreenps.dll

Report Id: 57ea6ff5-3f5c-4ae9-baca-53c907cee47b

Faulting package full name:

Faulting package-relative application ID:

Answer 5

Hello, I hope this might help for people suffering the same problem.

I had the same problem causing dwm.exe failures related to NVidia driver DLLs. Tried reinstalling Windows 11 and various versions of Nvidia drivers but issue persisted. Occasionally I saw that one of power LEDs on my video card (Asus TUF 3080 10G) is lit for about 2-3 seconds, indicating the power loss and causing black screen. I changed the PCIe cables and issue has gone away.

If you tried any benchmarks or tests but found nothing odd, try checking power cables or PSU.