Random monitor shutdowns, event viewer shows dwm.exe as issue


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For the last few weeks, whenever I leave my system alone (idle) I have, on occasion, come back to both monitors in standby and do not come back on with mouse/keyboard activity. Up until this one this morning, the event viewer has not shown any possible issues, just the standard Kernel Power events due to improper shutdown, etc. Now today I get about 6 errors regarding dwm.exe, so I ran sfc and no integrity violations were discovered. Power management is disabled for turning off the display, and I have double checked that it is still configured that way. Windows is up to date as is the Nvidia drivers. I am not sure what else can be causing this issue.

Hello,

That would be the Desktop Window Manager (filename: DWM.EXE).  Perhaps a conflict with a third-party start menu, user interface tweaker or wallpaper management program?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

  On 14/04/2022 at 16:36, goretsky said:

Hello,

That would be the Desktop Window Manager (filename: DWM.EXE).  Perhaps a conflict with a third-party start menu, user interface tweaker or wallpaper management program?

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Expand  

Thanks for the response, I was aware of what DWM was, the only program that I have that it might be conflicting with is DisplayFusion, which I use for multi monitor support, but I have been using it for sometime without issue.

something like that more often then not points to an issue with the GPU or display drivers from my experience.

 

which GPU do you have? Could try a clean install of the drivers to see if that makes any difference

  • Like 1

Hello,

Have you tried uninstalling the third-party DisplayFusion app for testing purposes?  Even though it may not have changed, it is possible that Microsoft Windows or your Nvidia video card's device drivers contained a change that introduced an compatibility with the software.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

  • Like 1
  On 15/04/2022 at 13:08, Brandon H said:

something like that more often then not points to an issue with the GPU or display drivers from my experience.

 

which GPU do you have? Could try a clean install of the drivers to see if that makes any difference

Expand  

I agree on this. For example, here is an instance where Intel drivers were causing DWM issues https://www.neowin.net/news/new-intel-3001011191-driver-fixes-stability-issues-in-windows-10-and-11-dwm-and-more/

 

Do you have some spare video cards that you can use or borrow from someone?

  On 15/04/2022 at 13:08, Brandon H said:

something like that more often then not points to an issue with the GPU or display drivers from my experience.

 

which GPU do you have? Could try a clean install of the drivers to see if that makes any difference

Expand  

Asus ROG Strix 2080, I do a clean install of the drivers each time a new version is released

  On 16/04/2022 at 05:44, goretsky said:

Hello,

Have you tried uninstalling the third-party DisplayFusion app for testing purposes?  Even though it may not have changed, it is possible that Microsoft Windows or your Nvidia video card's device drivers contained a change that introduced an compatibility with the software.

 

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky
 

Expand  

Not yet, as the problem is so random that it has not happened again.

  On 16/04/2022 at 06:41, hellowalkman said:

I agree on this. For example, here is an instance where Intel drivers were causing DWM issues https://www.neowin.net/news/new-intel-3001011191-driver-fixes-stability-issues-in-windows-10-and-11-dwm-and-more/

 

Do you have some spare video cards that you can use or borrow from someone?

Expand  

I do not have a spare GPU, I also really need to RMA this card due to a fan issue, that apparently is common on this specific card, but since I do not have any other GPU, I would be without the system for however long it takes to get the card repaired/replaced.

  • Sad 1
  On 16/04/2022 at 14:36, jnelsoninjax said:

Asus ROG Strix 2080, I do a clean install of the drivers each time a new version is released

Not yet, as the problem is so random that it has not happened again.

I do not have a spare GPU, I also really need to RMA this card due to a fan issue, that apparently is common on this specific card, but since I do not have any other GPU, I would be without the system for however long it takes to get the card repaired/replaced.

Expand  

Just buy a super cheap GPU to enable you to use the PC for basic tasks.

  • 2 weeks later...

So I have had no problems for 2 weeks, then today it did it again while I was away. I have captured the event viewer errors and put them here: https://pastebin.com/kb7wvJ48

It looks like DWM.exe and the Nvidia driver seem to the responsible files.

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