KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED

[dnaumov]

I ran into this exact problem 2 days ago and posted about it here: https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Operating-Systems-and-Recovery/kmode-exception-not-handled/td-...

Looking at the dump it seems that after a recent HP update, Windows Anti-Malware service no longer likes the Windows 10 kernel. In my case, I had no other option but to do a reinstall as I didn't have System Protection enabled and couldn't revert to an earlier snapshot as the result. Now after the full reinstall and having enabled system protection, I ran into this issue again literally 15 minutes ago. This time, since system protection was enabled I was able to restore to an earlier snapshot from recovery mode and now the system let me boot just fine so I set Windows Update to defer any updates for 35 days.

This is ridiculous. It’s a good thing I happen to be an IT infrastructure admin, so I don’t get thrown off by things like this, but I can only imagine how this situation must feel to a regular PC user.

[rocknwave]

I have the same problem....how to fix ?

Omen 875-014 win10 64bit.

Did a win10 reinstall....did not fix it.

Still bsod KMODE loop.

You are right very frustrating  !

[dnaumov]

A reinstall DOES fix things, but after reinstalling or reverting to a previously working snapshop, you need to block/defer Windows Update so that it doesn’t immideately install the very same update causing the problem.

[Emma1011]

Thank you so much for pin pointing the problem! It was very helpful. Just wondering, in which way did you see that it was the windows kernel that caused the problem?

Agreed that this was very frustrating - I ran into the same problem on May 9th in the evening, resetting the system worked for me, at least for a few days. But same thing happened again this morning (May 12th), so I don't think resetting the system will forever solve the issue. I went to a youtube video about handling "Kmode Exception Not Handled" error, and saw quite a few replies during the past week with the same issue as me. This made me realize that probably something was wrong with the updates. I restricted my google search to within a week and found here. I'm happy!

[philip42h_2]

OK, the advice I got from HP Support was to download Windows 10 from Microsoft, create USB installation media and perform a clean install from there. And that has worked, so far, in as much as I can now boot and even post from my desktop. So this is a clean install with no HP specific software updates.

I've started the long and rather tedious process of reinstalling the apps I normally use and getting the beast configured the way I like it ...

There is an ominous list of Windows Updates downloading in the background that will, presumably, be installed tonight! I'll let it go ahead and install the "missing important security and quality fixes" to see whether this breaks the PC again - someone has too - and post back tomorrow on the results.

Meanwhile, I'll take some good old-fashion system images backups on a daily / regular basis 'til I know things are stable again. 🙂

Philip

[dnaumov]

I dropped into WinPE based Windows 10 command-line recovery mode, grabbed the memory crashdump to an USB stick and run a debugger on it on another machine.

[dnaumov]

The exact same problem WILL return if you just let Windows Update fully install all HP-related updates unless they specifically pulled it in the past 24 hours. After my reinstall I was more prepared - I enabled system protection allowing me to roll back any system changes to a previous state. 4 hours later the same HP update applied itself leading to another repeatable BSOD. Only this time I was able to roll back via restore and then defer Windows Update for 35 days in settings.

[philip42h_2]

Dnaumov,

I'm confused - and running Windows 10 Home; System Protection is on for my system disk and I have created a specific Restore Point for the state of the PC right now ... so I should be able to roll-back if I need to though my previous experience is that earlier restore points got wiped by the offending update (which is what got me here in the first place). I've also got a current System Image backup and repair disk for old school recovery.

But I'm not expecting Windows Update to apply any HP specific updates. I'm no longer running the HP Support Assistant so am not expecting any HP specific updates to get applied automatically. Am I getting very confused?

Either way, I'll find out in a few hours ... 🙂

[dnaumov]

Presence of HP Support Assistant is irrelevant to whether you continue getting HP updates via Windows Update. Both my previous install that got broken as well as the re-install were from a Microsoft Windows 10 image that has nothing to do with HP and has no HP-specific things whatsoever. Yet, Windows installed "HP Privacy Settings" app on it's own accord within a few hours of the installation being complete and HP-specific driver updates are definitely coming through.

As for System Protection: make sure you let it use enough disk space (say, 15-20gb), otherwise you will indeed end up with a situation where previous restore points get removed way too quickly.

[philip42h_2]

Thanks again ...

I've allowed 20GB ish for restore points - currently using <1GB - so I should be safe for quite a while.

I have now applied all available updates via Windows Update including a 2020-05 Cumulative (KB4556799) and all seems well. The optional update that I foolishly applied on 9th May is no longer offered - I wasn't going to risk that again even if I could. And I note that the Windows Defender platform update (KB4052623) failed to install (0x80240017).

Enough playing for tonight ... 😉