CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED

Hi John,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community and being part of Windows 10.

I understand the inconvenience you are facing with Blue screen error on Windows 10. We will help you with this issue.

Do let us know the following to assist you better with this issue:

1. Were you able to see any error code along with the error message?
2. Have you made any hardware/ software changes to the device prior to this issue?
3. Have you checked if the issue persists on Safe mode with networking as well?

The CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED bug check has a value of 0x000000EF. This indicates that a critical system process died.

Step 1: As you have performed SFC scan, found some corrupted and couldn't fix, try the below and check if it helps.

If you are not able to repair some files after performing SFC scan, I suggest you to refer to the point 3 “Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them. Details are included in the CBS.Log %WinDir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log”. Under the section “Run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe)” to repair the corrupted files after performing SFC scan.

Refer: Use the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files

Step 2: If the issue still persists, I suggest you to perform DISM on your system to fix corrupted system files.

Refer: Fix Windows corruption errors by using the DISMor System Update Readiness tool

Step 3: I suggest you to install the pending updates on your device and check if it helps.

Steps:

1. Connect to the internet.
2. Press Windows key and type updates.
3. Click on Check for updates.
4. Under Windows Updates, click on Check for updates.
5. Try to install the updates being shown.

Hope it helps. Kindly get back to us with an updated status of this issue for further assistance.

Thank you for this reply. There is no error code apart from  the blue screen and CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED message. I have made no hardware or software changes for several months. I have no problem starting Windows. Windows updates says that all updates are installed. A virus scan and malware scan identify no threats. The DISMor System Update Readiness tool gives me a failure message: The source files could not be found.

Usually, if the laptop has been sleeping, the blue screen appears (and the laptop shuts off and restarts) about a minute after I wake the computer up. If I have been working on a document, it seems to be taking about an hour before the blue screen appears. Since it appears without warning, I lose any unsaved work.

Have you or has anyone another suggestion I might try?

Thanks.

Hi John,

Thank you for responding and apologizes for the delay in response to your issue.

As you are facing blue screen errors while access the documents, do let us know the following to assist you better with this issue:

1. Is this issue confined while accessing any specific file/ document?
2. What is the size of the file/ document you are working with?

I would like to inform that when you are working with the huge files/ documents, the device might not be able to process the high volume content and hence you may face Blue screen errors.

I suggest you to close all other applications and documents, try to access the document that is causing the issue and check if the issue still persists.

Get back to us with the required information, we will be happy to help you accordingly.

The issue is not confined to any specific file or document. It happens at random. It also happens every time I turn the computer on or wake it from a long sleep. About 30 seconds after booting up and getting my desktop, the blue screen appears, the computer shuts off and restarts and then it is good to go for about 30 to 60 minutes, after which no matter what I am working on (or even if I am not working on anything at all and have no files open) the blue screen appears suddenly again and the process repeats itself. 

When I open Computer Management I get system event error messages such as:

  - The server {784E29F4-5EBE-4279-9948-1E8FE941646D} did not register with DCOM within the required timeout.

  -  The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.  The bugcheck was: 0x000000ef (0xffffe0005c2837c0, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: ef70bdfa-674e-4fa9-b465-95bb89c2b1ba.

  -  The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

  -  The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID 
{D63B10C5-BB46-4990-A94F-E40B9D520160}
 and APPID 
{9CA88EE3-ACB7-47C8-AFC4-AB702511C276}
 to the user NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM SID (S-1-5-18) from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (Unavailable). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

And others.

Hi John,

Thank you for responding.

Try the below troubleshooting steps and check if it helps.

Step 1: I suggest you to boot the device to Safe mode with Networking and check if the issue persists.

Refer: Start your PC in safe mode in Windows 10

Step 2: If the issue still persists, I suggest you to perform Clean boot to check if any third party application is causing the issue, as clean boot helps in eliminating software conflicts.

Disclaimer: Putting your system in Clean Boot state helps in identifying if any third party applications or startup items are causing the issue. You need to follow the steps from the article mentioned below to perform a Clean Boot.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows 

(Applies to Windows 10 as well)

Note: After troubleshooting, refer to the section “How to reset the computer to start as usual after troubleshooting with clean boot” to return the computer to a Normal startup mode.

Step 3: Follow the below steps to place the computer in normal mode. 

1. Press Windows + R keys to open Run command.
2. Type msconfig and press Enter.
3. In the System Configuration window, click on General tab.
4. Select Start-up selection as Normal startup, click on Apply and Ok.
5. Follow onscreen instructions.

More information about the Blue screen errors refer: Troubleshoot blue screen errors

Hope it helps. Update the status of this issue for further assistance.

I am having a problem too with my computer shutting down with a critical process died notation.  the computer restarts eventually.  this has happened when I am replying to an email, making a new email, opening Microsoft Word, and  other seemingly benign computer uses.  This had never happened in  Windows 8.1.  I am not technical enough to understand how or why to do your huge list of potential problems/solutions.  Because I see many others have this same issue, is there something you all can do to fix the software?  I will tell you specifically - if I open in a clean boot, I don't know what this means and there is no book to tell me how to do this.  if i follow instructions online, then it will go away when i reboot and i will not  know what to do next.  if there is something wrong, I will not know if there is anything wrong.  I am not a technician.  Probably speaking for most computer users, I do not spend a lot of time on the computer, I just want it to work when I do need it. I imagine that there is someone who is being paid at Microsoft who can fix this.  I would appreciate if you could ask that person to fix it.  If you insist that it is my problem despite the fact that windows 10 is the only new thing on my computer, then please post a specific list of what button to push and when to push it in the right order.  please make a list that will print easily.  please look at what shows on the computer.  please be clear for someone who is not well versed.  such as above when you say press windows key - i don't even know what that is or where it is....  Thank you. 

I have had the same problem with my Surface Book.  CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED - 30 seconds after every single freaking boot. 

None of the repair steps have worked because there is a BSOD thirty seconds after every boot -- even in Safe Mode.

There are no dump files and yes, it is configured to save dump files.

I am about to rip open my $3,000 Surface Book and yank the hard drive out (if I thought I had a chance of even being able to read it).  I am a MS fan, but I am just out of my mind and a week behind in my work.

The one thing I have found is that getting to a prompt, I can read some, but not all of the hard drive.  The same files and folders are there are readable in the 30 seconds before the BSOD on a normal boot, but not on the prompt boot (or USB boot).

Also, if anyone else is trying to get a Surface Book to boot to a USB drive...  the USB drive must be formatted with FAT32, not NTFS.   That took way too long to find out, so here's hoping that this saves someone else hours of frustration.

After more than two months of trying unsuccessfully to fix it and then just putting up with this terrible glitch, I found that after installing the latest MS updates (April 2016) the problem of the blue screen of death and the CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED message disappeared. My Surface Pro 3 seems to be back to normal. I hope others have been having similar good fortune. While I am grateful to have my computer back, I think Microsoft might have found and fixed this problem much earlier--or at least informed us that they knew about it and were working on it.

We do need the actual log files (called a DMP files) as they contain the only record of the sequence of events leading up to the crash, what drivers were loaded, and what was responsible.

Please follow our instructions for finding and uploading the files we need to help you fix your computer. They can be found here

If you have any questions about the procedure please ask

Please read this wiki to find out how to find and upload your event viewer logs