Kernel Security Check Failure 0x139

Question

how to fix the screen pop up about a kernel security check failure 0x139

Answer 1

Please check to see if your PC is producing any minidump files, I will check those to see if they provide any insight into a potential cause of the system crashes.

Please do not upload a very large Memory.dmp file.

Open Windows File Explorer.

Navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump

Copy any minidump files onto your Desktop, then zip those up.

Upload the zip file to the Cloud (OneDrive... etc.), then choose to share those and get a share link.

Then post the link here to the zip file, so I can take a look for you.

Answer 2

0x139 KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE means Windows detected corruption of a critical kernel data structure. A common cause is a faulty or incompatible driver, though recent hardware changes can also trigger it.

Try these steps in order:

1. Check what changed recently
   • If hardware was added recently, remove or replace it temporarily.
   • If a new driver or system service was installed recently, remove it or update it.
2. Check Event Viewer
   • Open Event Viewer and review the System log.
   • Look for critical or related errors that happened at the same time as the blue screen.
3. Check Device Manager
   • Open Device Manager.
   • Look for devices with a yellow exclamation mark.
   • Open the device properties and review the driver events, then update the related driver if needed.
4. Run a malware scan
   • Run a virus detection program.
   • Make sure it checks the Master Boot Record as well, because disk corruption from malware can contribute to bug checks.
5. Review crash dumps if the issue keeps happening
   • This stop code often requires examining one or more dump files to identify the exact driver or component.
   • If available, review multiple dump files to see whether the same code path or driver appears each time.
6. If the crash started after a specific app install or launch
   • Some 0x139 crashes have been fixed by Windows updates.
   • If the problem began after installing or launching an app, install the latest Windows updates.
   • If the PC restarts before sign-in, use System Restore to return to a point before the app was installed.
7. Special case: Windows 8.1 / Windows Server 2012 R2 with Avast
   • Install update 2919355, which addresses a known 0x00000139 issue in that scenario.

If the popup is actually a blue screen and restart loop, the most useful next step is dump analysis, because 0x139 is a symptom category rather than a single root cause.

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• Bug Check 0x139: KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
• Known Issues with packaged desktop apps
• Stop error 0x00000139 when you run Avast in Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2