DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION: what causes it and how to fix it
Drivers are meant to do their most urgent work in tiny slices of time. DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION, stop code 0x133, means one held on far too long, and Windows stopped. Microsoft puts it down, in general, to driver code that does not finish its work in the time allowed — so the fix is finding which driver.
Updated 10 November 2026
Find the driver
- The dump file. After the crash Windows normally saves a small dump in
C:\Windows\Minidump. Open it in Microsoft’s free WinDbg and run!analyze -v: the lineIMAGE_NAMEoften names the driver —iaStorA.sysorstorahci.sysfor storage,nvlddmkm.sysfor an NVIDIA card, or, in Microsoft’s own example,BthA2DP.sysfor Bluetooth audio. - Event Viewer. Errors in Windows Logs, System just before the crash — a disk or storage controller timing out, a device resetting — often point at the same part.
The usual suspects
- Storage: an SSD on old firmware, or the storage controller’s driver.
- The graphics driver.
- Bluetooth, sound and network drivers, especially old ones or those for USB devices.
- Programs that install drivers of their own: fan and lighting control, VPNs, older antivirus.
- New hardware whose drivers are not ready for this version of Windows.
How to fix it
- Update the SSD’s firmware with its maker’s tool: Samsung Magician, WD Dashboard, Crucial Storage Executive and the like.
- Install the newest chipset and storage drivers from the motherboard or PC maker. For SATA drives, if the dump names an old Intel storage driver, Windows’ own Standard SATA AHCI Controller driver is a known alternative: Device Manager, IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, update the controller’s driver and pick it from the list.
- Clean install the graphics driver.
- If the dump names a driver, update it from its maker, or disable that device for a while to confirm — Microsoft’s advice too.
- Unplug USB devices you do not need, and remove recently added hardware, to see whether the crashes stop.
- Update the BIOS.