How to troubleshoot 0x0000009F BSOD error on Windows 10?

0x0000009F is the STOP code that tends to come up with the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE Blue Screen of Death error on Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7. Blue Screen of Death errors (commonly referred to as BSODs) are often the results of fatal system crashes.

When Windows encounters problems of such severity, your computer will reboot itself automatically. Most times, you will see a message of this form:

A problem has been detected, and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE….

…

*** STOP: 0x0000009F (0x00000001, 0x00000001, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

Causes of the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE BSOD on Windows

The Blue Screen of Death error here is closely related to problems involving drivers. In other words, it often appears after the introduction of a new driver or after the corruption or invalidation of an already installed driver.

Other times, the error is a result of the incompatibility between the power management setup of your PC and one or more installed drivers. In such scenarios, your system probably displayed the notification during one of the following power state transitions:

• When your computer is about to enter its sleep mode or when it is returning from it
• When your computer is about to enter its hibernate mode or when you are booting up your PC from such a state
• When your PC is shutting down or booting up Windows

If you encountered this particular Blue Screen of Death error once and it failed to come up again, then you probably need not bother yourself with its resolution. However, if the error frequently comes up to bother you, then it is imperative you address the issue in view and any related underlying problem.

We have gone through enough details to help further your general understanding of the problem. It is time we moved on to show you how to fix DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 0x0000009f on Windows devices.

Note: Although Windows 10 serves as the base OS for our instructions and guidelines, users running older builds or versions of Windows are welcome to carry out the required operations albeit through slightly modified paths.

How to fix STOP 0x0000009f: Driver Power State Failure on Windows 10?

For obvious reasons, we advise that you begin your troubleshooting journey with the first fix on the list. Continue with the solutions in the order you find them listed here (if necessary).

Undo recent changes:

If the BSOD appeared not long after you connected a new peripheral (for example, external speakers, microphones, gamepads, and so on), then you will do well to disconnect the recently introduced hardware device. To be honest, we recommend you unplug any hardware component currently connected to your computer and see the new state of things.

The same thing applies to users who recently installed a new driver or updated an already existing driver. Follow these instructions to reverse such events involving a driver:

• Open Device Manager. You can do this quickly by pressing (and holding) the Windows button on your computer, tapping the letter X key to see the Power User menu, then clicking on Device Manager from the list of options and programs you see
• After the required program window shows up, you see all the drivers available on your computer grouped into categories. Go through them. Double-click on a category to expand it and view the drivers it contains
• Expand the essential categories until you find the required driver. Now, you must right-click on the driver in view, then select Properties from the short menu list that shows up
• After the Properties window shows up, you must navigate to the Driver tab, and there, you must click on the Roll back button (if you want to restore the previous driver version) or click on the Uninstall button (if you want Windows to delete a driver because of issues affecting your computer)
• A dialog box or window will come up to get confirmation for the operation you initiated. Click on the required button to confirm your action. Windows will move to do as requested.

In either case, you must restart your system. If you rolled back an older version of a specific driver, then the old driver will become active after the reboot, but if you uninstalled a driver, then Windows will probably reinstall a stock replacement for it instead.

If you had installed a particular app or group of applications before the BSOD error appeared, then the uninstallation of the new programs is the right move in your case. Here are the instructions you must follow:

• Open the Settings program by pressing on the Windows button on your keyboard (or clicking on the Windows Start icon that is always visible on your desktop screen), then selecting Settings from the available programs and options.
• Click on System, and once you are inside its menu, click on Apps and Features (one of the options on the left pane). Go through the list of installed applications to locate the program you need to remove
• Click on the app you intend to get rid of to highlight it, then click on the Uninstall button that shows up. Confirm the operation you initiated by clicking on the Uninstall button on the dialog box Windows brings up
• Windows will act to delete the app. Perform this action on any other application you intend to remove. After you finish uninstalling all the needed programs, you must reboot your computer.

After you undo recent changes or reverse the events that occurred in the build-up to the appearance of the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 0x0000009F error message on your computer, you are free to recreate the BSOD and see how things go.

Fix problem with drivers:

We earlier explained how the Blue Screen of Death error is closely related to issues affecting drivers. Suffice to say that in the vast majority of cases where users encounter this particular BSOD, a driver is either missing or has become corrupted.

Therefore, to resolve the problem, a replacement must be provided for the affected driver. Unfortunately, there are far too many drivers operating on a computer at any given point, so it is incredibly difficult to identify the problematic drivers.

Well, if anything, you need not identify the problematic driver. All you have to do is update all your device drivers. This way, you ensure that any driver, questionable or not, gets an upgrade (the replacement which eliminates the known issues).

Auslogics Driver Updater is an incredibly useful app in this regards. After you download and run this superb program, you can use it to perform a scan on your computer to identify the drivers that need to be updated (the missing, outdated or old, and corrupted drivers).

Furthermore, you will find the options you can use to update a specific driver to its manufacturer-recommended version, or you could go a step further to perform this operation on all the problematic drivers on your computer.

After you download and install all the required drivers, you must move to restart your computer. Most changes that occur become effective only after a reboot of Windows. After your system comes and settles down, you can try recreating the Blue Screen of Death that bothered you earlier to find out if the problem has been resolved.

Besides the automatic method of updating drivers, which is the fastest and most efficient means of carrying out the required operation, you might be interested to know that there is another way of getting the job done.

If you opt to use the manual method, then you must be ready to do all the work that a program would otherwise have done on your behalf. Considering the number of drivers you need to update and the difficulty involved or the time required in the updating of a single driver, we can easily claim that it is impractical to use this method in this scenario.

Turn off some power-saving features:

A specific power configuration or setting is known to cause problems that result in the Blue Screen of Death error you encountered. You can alter the required parameters and see how far this action goes to solve the problem in your case.

Go through these steps:

• Open the Control Panel app. You can do that by opening the Run app (press and hold the Windows button, then hit the letter R key), inputting Control into the text field you see, then tapping the Enter key to run it.
• Once you have the Control Panel program window up and running, select Small icons (from View by). Now, click on Power Options from the list you see
• Tick the radio button for Balanced (recommended) if this plan is not your current plan. Click on the Change plan settings link. Now, you must click on the Change advanced power setting link
• The Power Options window (with Advanced settings as the only tab) will come up now. Go through the list you see, expand the Wireless Adapter Settings, then double-click on Power Saving Mode to expand it
• Select Maximum Performance from the options available for Setting. Now, you must move on to expand the following items: PCI Express, then Link State Power Management. Now, change the Setting you arrive at to Maximum power savings.
• Return to the list. Expand the Sleep option. After you expand the Sleep after option, you will see the On battery and Plugged in settings. Set both of them to Never. After you expand the Hibernate after option, you will see the On battery and Plugged in settings once more. Set both parameters to Never
• Expand the Power buttons and lid. You will see the Lid close action; set the both On battery and Plugged in to Do nothing. Move to the Power action button. Here, similarly, you must select Do nothing as the setting for both On battery and Plugged in
• After you finish carrying out all the necessary changes, you will do well to go through them again to verify that everything is in order. Once you are sure of things, you can move on to click on the Apply button. Click on the OK button too
• Finally, you must reboot your PC to find out if the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE Blue Screen of Death error is gone given the changes you made. If the problem persists, then you are free to reverse them since they have proven themselves unnecessary alterations in your case.

Other things you could do to resolve the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 0x0000009F Blue Screen of Death error

Repair problematic system files:

You can fix corruption in system files and replace corrupted data by running scans using the SFC and DISM tools. You have to launch a Command Prompt window with administrative privileges and execute the necessary commands. Remember to be patient as the operations involved can take a lot of time.

Download and install Windows updates:

There is a good chance that the bugs that cause the Blue Screen of Death error in view have been resolved through patches and fixes provided in a specific Windows update, and you are only struggling with the problem because your computer lacks the update. Well, you know what to do.

Go into Safe Mode to fix the problem:

If you are struggling to boot into Windows after the error appeared, then you have no choice but to consider accessing Safe Mode through the Automatic startup repair menu. Well, Safe Mode might also serve as a useful platform for other categories of users who want a control or test environment to work on without running into complications.

Use System Restore:

System Restore comes in handy in cases where users are unable to reverse the events that occurred in the buildup to the problem (mainly because they lack knowledge as regards what happened). With the help of this program, you can restore your PC to a previous state (a given point in the past where the current problems or factors and events that gave rise to them are non-existent).

Reinstall Windows:

This fix is the most disruptive procedure you can find in this guide; consider using it only after everything else has failed in stopping the Blue Screen of Death error from reappearing. Back up your files and data at least.

At this point, we believe you must have found out a way to fix the DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE 0x0000009F Blue Screen of Death error on your Windows PC.