CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT bsods

Question

In July of last year I've purchased the Gigabyte AORUS 15 XE5 (2022) gaming laptop and I had issues with it ever since. When I'm using my web browser it randomly either blue screens with said error code or freezes requiring a reset, it even crashed while writing this question. It never crashes during heavy workload like gaming. I've tried an SFC scan, DISM healthscan, windows memory diagnostic (as well as MemTest86), updating to latest BIOS, updating drivers, driver verifier and lastly reinstalling windows, but still crashing.

My cpu: i5-12500H

I have no minidump folder since I only had 2 crashes since reinstalling windows and no minidump files were generated, usually thats because after blue screen it gets stuck at 0% and requires reset.

Edit: For anyone having a similar issue, remove Realtek audio drivers so you only have the Microsoft ones.

Answer 1

Here is a quick update, so far it looks like the entire cause of the issue was the audio driver, specifically Realtek High Definition Audio 6.0.9384.1, the only one on the gigabyte website for this laptop, also it installs when u download their software. Last week I uninstalled it and the moment I reinstalled it today my laptop crashed, there were no crashes until now. Now I'm not sure which driver to use, since the one that Windows downloads is newer but its still from 2022 and I have no input from my microphone from my headphones (only the internal laptop microphone works). Any ideas?

Answer 2

The Realtek Network driver I have is from 2022 and its the newest on the Gigabyte website, but I can look for a newer one. The crash with HWinfo happend after I've tried opening it with the verifier open (before reinstalling windows). Anyways, I got the verifier to work in Windows and finally got a minidump.

File: https://www.mediafire.com/file/0cd6ygtymo78eu0/051424-9093-01.zip/file

Answer 3

Your minidump files indicate the Realtek Network drivers and a virtual driver associated to the HWInfo software caused the system crashes.

If you have HWInfo installed, uninstall it, then go to the support page for your PC on the manufacturers website to download and re-install the version of Realtek network drivers they provide to see if that stabilizes your system.

Answer 4

I followed the guide but I kept getting crashes immediately after booting, which said DRIVER_DETECTED_VIOLATION with either wudrfd or ipf failed (I have unchecked all of the Microsoft drivers in verifier) and still no minidump. In Safe mode all I got was a black screen with a cursor so couldn't get the usual crash to happen. As for the good news I noticed I have the minidump folder in the Windows.old directory, although I'm not sure if these crashes are still relevant after reinstalling windows, but I will upload them here anyway. I will try again to get the verifier working in Windows.

System info file: https://www.mediafire.com/file/uv3r36o3rsbjegd/msinfo.nfo/file

Minidump zip: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bk67axu6ve3z0g1/050724-11078-01.zip/file

Answer 5

Hi, I am Dave, I will help you with this.

It is not really possible to find the underlying cause of the system crashes without dump file data to analyse.

To try to force Windows 11 to create minidump files and show any faulting drivers, the best option would be to turn on Driver Verifier, let your PC crash 3 times, then you must turn off Driver Verifier, and finally, upload any newly created minidump files

Before you run Driver Verifier, please create a new System Restore Point

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/for...

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Note, if you have any difficulty getting into Windows with Driver Verifier enabled:

Start your PC, just as Windows attempts to load (spinning dots), press and hold Power Button for 5 - 10 seconds to perform a Hard Shut Down

Do this twice

On the third start Windows will boot into the Recovery Environment and from there you can access System Repair, Safe Mode, Command Prompt... etc.

Go to Troubleshoot - Advanced Option - Startup Settings and click Restart

Upon restart, press 4 to enter Safe Mode

Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run these two commands, then restart your PC.

verifier /reset

verifier /bootmode resetonbootfail