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Windows PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA — Advanced Diagnosis Guide

Criticalbsod

Overview

Advanced troubleshooting for PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA including minidump analysis, driver identification, pool tag analysis, and hardware testing.

Key Details

  • Stop code 0x00000050 — code attempted to access invalid memory that should always be resident
  • Nonpaged pool memory is kernel memory that cannot be paged to disk — it must always be in RAM
  • Parameter 2 = 0 means read access, Parameter 2 = 1 means write access violation
  • The faulting address (Parameter 1) helps identify if it is a null pointer, freed memory, or random corruption
  • Minidump analysis with WinDbg is the most reliable way to identify the root cause

Common Causes

  • Faulty driver accessing freed memory (use-after-free bug)
  • Defective RAM causing bit flips in nonpaged pool
  • Antivirus filter driver with memory corruption bug
  • Corrupted page table entries due to hardware or driver faults
  • Kernel pool corruption from buffer overflow in a driver

Steps

  1. 1Enable minidump: System Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Small memory dump (256 KB)
  2. 2Analyze dump with WinDbg: !analyze -v to get the faulting module name
  3. 3If a .sys driver is named: update or uninstall that specific driver
  4. 4Run extended MemTest86 (8+ passes) to check RAM thoroughly
  5. 5Use Driver Verifier on suspected drivers: verifier /standard /driver suspicious.sys

Tags

windowsbsodpage-faultnonpaged-areawindbg

More in Bsod

windows-0000000A-irql-not-less-or-equalWindows Error 0x0000000A — IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL
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windows-00000050-page-fault-in-nonpaged-areaWindows Error 0x00000050 — PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA
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windows-0000007E-system-thread-exception-not-handledWindows Error 0x0000007E — SYSTEM THREAD EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED
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windows-0000007A-kernel-data-inpage-errorWindows Error 0x0000007A — KERNEL DATA INPAGE ERROR
Critical
windows-000000EF-critical-process-diedWindows Error 0x000000EF — CRITICAL PROCESS DIED
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windows-00000133-dpc-watchdog-violationWindows Error 0x00000133 — DPC WATCHDOG VIOLATION
Critical

Frequently Asked Questions

Install WinDbg from the Windows SDK. Open the .dmp file from C:\Windows\Minidump\. Run !analyze -v to get automatic analysis.