Persistent BSOD "Driver Power State Failure" in Aspire A315-23 (AMD Ryzen 5 3500U)

zpa53

Hello Folks,

I've got, some weeks ago, an Aspire A315-23 (AMD Ryzen 5 3500U), that worked like charm for some weeks, despite the Win 11 installed was all but pleasant, according to my taste and habits with Win 10.

[OT/] Actually, this is the first machine with Win 11 I own and use, and the experience so far has been quite disappointing...I will try to stick with Win 10 on all my other machines for as long as possible, but sadly, this laptop was born that way and i should have to keep it as is, even if I'm already seriously considering downgrading to Win 10 and getting back in control. [/OT]

Now, for a couple of weeks, the laptop has begun to have continuous, unexplained BSODs "Driver Power State Failure": it crashes, restarts, runs for a variable time from 10' to a few hours, and this without doing anything in particular -it also happens when the laptop remains idle-: I use it, mainly, to browse with Firefox, during breaks, the news of the main newspapers, websites and social that I follow, while I carry out serious work on my multiview desktops.

I don't think it's a hardware problem, because, as far as I know, a laptop with hardware problems just bricks, shuts down and won't start again... it must necessarily be a software problem, but where is it hiding?

SFC /scannow says no errors, DISM Check Health says everything is fine, System Image was successfully repaired, drivers, according to Device Manager, are all working fine, except seeing yet another BSOD "Driver Power State Failure" (always the same) with random cadence.

I searched the Net for news, solutions, suggestions, even on the detestable Microsoft pages, which most of the time recommend updating the OS, drivers, and all the usual things, except that, in my opinion, it must have been some particularly stoned update among the last ones received automatically, of those who fix a bug and create 10 new ones.

Since initially everything worked, always within the limits of Win 11, it must necessarily be a buggy update that messed up, I just don't understand how to find the bug and fix it; I don't know about other countries, but the so-called local Microsoft experts, more often than not, recommend a "fresh install", excellent for those who have time to waste and a DVD with the OS to be used for a rollback, less so for those who have to work -with the computer- and not -for the computer- and have Win 11 pre-installed, like me and all laptop owners, I think.

I've already updated, changed, tried all possible drivers, network drivers, video drivers, installed and uninstalled the AMD Adrenaline software for Vega 8 several times (downloaded from the AMD site, trying various versions, old and new, but nothing changes)... it works for a while, then crashes with the usual BSOD "Driver Power State Failure": since it's a normal laptop connected only to the LAN, via Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi (with one or the other the problem still occurs), with a wireless mouse and speakers plugged into the headphone output, there's not much to search for.

As for starting from scratch, it is not obvious that it works with Win 11, otherwise I just have to look for a way to downgrade to Win 10, which should be somehow possible, but I need to find out more.

Having a brand new laptop (which, in itself, I really like, as hardware, I chose it because I liked it at first sight) that acts like a crazy horse is particularly frustrating... in the meantime, I trust in the well-known wisdom and distributed knowledge of the Community.

I'm asking here if anyone else encountered the same problems and found some working solutions, before resetting everything and rebuilding the machine from scratch... any suggestions or advice will be highly appreciated.

Thanks all in advance.

 [Edited the thread to add model name to the title]

rich1974

open the registry editor and enter this in the adress bar. then look for "start" entry and make the editing from 3 to 4.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AmdPPM

rich1974

you can try to change registry value of AMDppm from 3 to 4. as i understand, it disables some processor power management.

just give it a try.

also, you can run the computer with a live ubuntu usb pendrive and see if the machine restarts. if yes, it means that is a hardware problem.

William_mk2

@zpa53

If it is still not working then we have to do a refresh and reset

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started 

or 

on start - type here to search - type reset this pc - click on reset this pc on the top - click on get started 

It will show you keep my files and remove everything

chose keep my files 

chose the account - type the password - click on local reinstall - click on reset 

It will be in progress.. 

login to computer and start using the computer. 

If it is still not working 

click on start - settings - update and security - recovery - reset this pc - get started 

chose remove everything 

click on local reinstall - just remove my files - click on reset

It will be in progress

Note:

If you do refresh ( keep my files ) - all your personal files like pictures, music , documents , videos will still be intact.  Only the applications will be lost

If you do reset ( remove everything ) - you are doing a factory default.  It will become like a day one computer.  It will wipe out everything and take your computer to day one like a new computer. 

You can also do the recovery in an alternative way..

There are two alt keys on the keyboard. If you look at the bottom row of keyboard you can see the one on the left side of space bar and the other on the right side of space bar. The alt key on the right side will be looking like alt, alt gr or alt car. Turn off the computer. Hold the alt key on the left and tap f10 continuously.  It will go to repair mode. It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot.  If it is not going to repair mode, turn off the computer. Turn on the computer. Hold the right alt key ( alt gr or alt car or alt ) and then tap f10 continuously. It will go to chose an option continue and troubleshoot..

It will show you chose an option, continue, troubleshoot

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc

click on keep my files ( only applications will be lost )  chose your account and type your password  - click on local reinstall - click on reset

It will be in progress 

If the keep my files option is not working 

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – just remove my files – click on reset 

It will reinstall windows. 

If the just remove my files is not working.. 

Go to troubleshoot - click on reset this pc – click on remove everything – click on local reinstall – Fully clean the drive – click on reset 

It will reinstall windows. 

Note: You can also go to chose an option , continue , troubleshoot by holding the alt key + tapping f10 or alt gr + tapping f10 on the keyboard while turning on the computer.  Once you see the troubleshoot option, you can stop tapping the f10 and stop holding the alt key.  Then you can try the keep my files and remove everything ( just remove by files and fully clean the drive ) by following the steps which was mentioned above. 

If it is still not working after reinstalling windows then you can always go back to windows 10.

zpa53

@rich1974

&

@William_mk2

thank you both.

I would try, at first, that " to change registry value of AMDppm from 3 to 4", I guess via regedit.

I'm not so keen with regedit, though, so far I just seldom followed like a donkey the instructions I found online to solve some rare issues.

@rich1974, can you tell me where I could find that key "AMDppm" you mentioned above?

If I get no improvements, I'll follow the suggestions and instructions by @William_mk2, even if I'm not so happy to reset all, with or without saving my files, since on this laptop I just have some apps that I should reinstall in any case and my true files are on the NAS.

As soon as I'll have some spare time, I'll start my trials and then I'll let you know what happened.

For now, thank you both very much for your time and attention. :)

rich1974

open the registry editor and enter this in the adress bar. then look for "start" entry and make the editing from 3 to 4.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\AmdPPM

zpa53

@rich1974

... done.

AmdPPM\start set from 3 to 4.

Now let's cross our fingers and see what happens.

For now, thanks, I'll let you know if you got it right. :)