Bsod when running on battery and hours of bootloops to start up again.

Hi Johannes Kr

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, I understand that your laptop can experience BSOD with boot loops, and I know exactly how you feel!

I think we might be able to start with the BSOD issue first, because generally after a blue screen the system generates a small dump file (dmp file) that can help us find what's causing the problem or narrow it down after a deeper analysis.

You can upload the dmp file to a cloud drive (e.g. OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.) and include the file sharing link in your reply.

I have additionally enabled private messaging for you, so you can also share the dmp file with me in a private message.

After receiving your dmp file I will analyze it and give you some targeted solutions.

The path where the dmp file is stored is: C:\Windows\Minidump\

If you find that there is no dmp file in that folder, please open the dump file as follows. This way, after the next blue or black screen appears, there will be a dmp file stored.

Click “Windows Logo Key” to open the search bar -> In the search bar, type “Control Panel” -> Under “Large icons”, click “System” -> “Advanced system settings” -> Select “Advanced” in the upper tab -> Under “Startup and recovery”, select “Settings” -> Select “Small memory dump (256KB)” in the “Write debugging information” list

I hope that you will be willing to work with me on this issue, as it may be a “tough battle” after all.

I look forward to hearing back from you. 

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hi Arthur,

thank you for your fast reply. I shared the Minidumb files in a pm with you.

I am willing to work on this for sure ;) just need some guidance on how to fix this.

I appreciate your help,

cheers

Thank you for your reply and private message.

I analyzed the five dmp files and found that when sorted by date, the first three dmp files yielded consistent results and the last two dmp files yielded consistent results.

I will start by describing the analyzed results for you:

1. mfeelamk.sys: This is a driver module for the McAfee antivirus software that protects the system from malware. Antivirus software can sometimes cause a conflict in system resources, especially during system startup and power state switching (e.g. from plugged-in to battery-powered).

2. tbs.sys: This module is a driver for the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) service, which is used for hardware encryption and security features such as BitLocker. problems with tbs.sys can be related to BitLocker lockout issues, especially during power state changes (e.g., when the battery level drops or switches to low-power mode). decreases or when switching to low-power mode).

3. hwpolicy.sys: This is a module of Windows Hardware Policy that manages system hardware resources. Problems usually mean a mismatch between hardware compatibility or drivers and hardware policy.

4. mcupdate.dll: This module belongs to the Windows Update system and is responsible for microcode updates (e.g. CPU microcode), especially processor-related updates. It fails to load during startup and may cause boot problems or system instability.

5. AuthenticAMD.sys: This module is the core driver for AMD processors and is responsible for managing CPU performance and power management. The location of the error is in PpmUpdatePerformanceFeedback, which is a feature related to power management and performance feedback, indicating a possible power management issue on battery power or switching.

And so on.

Among other things, I noticed that 1 and 2 disappeared in the last two dmp files, so I suspect it's possible that you've recently updated your drivers or uninstalled McAfee to cause this.

Here are some scenarios that I have come up with based on what is known so far that I hope will help.

Option 1: Update AMD processor and power management drivers.

Visit AMD's official website or Lenovo's support page to find the chipset driver and power management driver for your laptop model (Ideapad Gaming 3 15ARH7).

Once downloaded, install the drivers and restart your computer to complete the changes.

Option 2: Uninstall McAfee completely (you may have already performed this step or disabled it)

We can try to use McAfee Removal Tool which is a special uninstaller provided by McAfee to cleanly uninstall the program.

A clean uninstallation is meant to leave no files or registry residues that might otherwise still cause problems.

Option 3: We will try to perform a power discharge on the laptop.

(1) Make sure the computer is completely shut down

(2) Remove all external connections, including: keyboard, mouse, etc. If you have a laptop, you will need to additionally remove all external connections. Since you have a laptop, you will need to remove the charging adapter additionally.

(3) Press and hold the power on button (power button) for about 30s.

(4) Turn on the power normally.

Repeat the above operation 4~5 times to ensure complete discharge.

Option 4: Since this issue occurs when switching to battery power, battery health may be a factor.

1. we try to enter the following command in the command prompt as administrator. this command will produce a battery report.

powercfg /batteryreport

2. We tried adjusting the power settings.

Go to Control Panel -> Power Options, select the “High Performance” power plan or custom power plan setting, and set the Minimum Processor Status in Processor Power Management to 50% or higher. This will help minimize the effects of power state switching in low-power mode.

Option 5: Try to disable fast booting. Fast booting can sometimes cause boot problems by preventing the system from shutting down completely, which can lead to hibernation file corruption.

Go to Control Panel -> Power Options -> Select Power Button Functions -> Uncheck “Enable Fast Startup

Option 6: Since I analyzed five files with some homogeneity, especially hwpolicy.sys and mcupdate.dll, and since these were the last drivers loaded before the crash, it's worth considering a potential power or hardware problem.

Option 7: Temporarily disable BitLocker.

Since your BitLocker screen crashes and sometimes we need to repeatedly enter the BitLocker secret key to access it after a crash, try temporarily disabling BitLocker protection:

Open Control Panel -> BitLocker Drive Encryption -> select “Suspend Protection” and reboot your system to see if this reduces the startup problems

I sincerely hope that the above information will help you.

Okay so those are a lot of steps let me adress them one by one.

1. I allready uninstalled Mcafee in a previous attempt to fix this a couple of days ago. I have AVG antivirus installed instead

2. I am decrypting my Harddrive right now.

4. Indeed bootloops get way worse when windows is installing a new update and the last few times It installed new system updates it took a couple of hours of bootloops to get the Laptop running again.. Updates are all done for now but the problem normaly also accures when everything is up to date. I might turn of System updates for now to avoid this from happening again.

5. I Upadeted all relevant drivers with Lenovo Support website. Power Managment drivers are up to date(should i reinstall them maybe? if so how.) I downloaded the AMD software und installed all the updates it suggested to me.

Only Driver still out of date is my Bios version: JNCN44WW(2.04) new version would be JNCN44WW(2.11).

Option 2: Will try the mcAfee cleaner after i am done with all the other updates, even though its probably not the issue anymore. Since it the error didnt accure after i uninstalled mcafee. Turning my laptop of and on again can take hours/days so i am very carefull about that haha

Option 3: do i have to drain the battery/or simply unplug it from the Motherboard to do this? Or just disconnet power adapter and everything else?

Option 4: I send you the battery report in a pm. I have allready set the power mode to high performance to avoid the laptop from going into low energy mode which normaly means it crashes. Also changed the min processing power from 5% to 60% on battery power, maybe this helps the Laptop to not crash on battery mode. Min and max are both set to 100% when connected to power adapter so nothing to changer there.

Option 5: I allready did disable fast booting. Sorry i should have been more clear in my first post which measures i have allready taken, i dont wanne waste your time.

anyways i will try restart now and hope that the laptop turns back on again in the next few hours ;) Will also try the power discharge thing you mentioned above, but i dont want to perform to many changes at once so we actually know which steps helped and which ones didnt. So one( or maybe two) steps at a time.

Thx so much for your help, i will update you with results

Edit:

So restarting took about 1-2 hours, no bitlocker now but same bootloop and same Bsod.

Used the McAfee removal tool just to be sure.

Only step i can think of now is update the Bios? Could this be the issue?

I tried booting from a USB stick a few days ago as well and it didnt change anything btw.

Can it really be a hardware issue if the Laptop is running smoth and without any problems apart from starting up/battery mode?

I also tried all the hardware scans available on Lenovo vantage(the support center) and according to test everything is fine but who knows...

Thank you for your detailed response.

1. I have carefully analyzed the battery report, according to which the battery was designed for a capacity of 60,000 mWh, while the current fully charged capacity is 57,000 mWh (battery-report). Although there is a reduction in battery capacity (~5% degradation), which does not affect normal use, it may accelerate the instability of the battery charge at lower power levels or in standby mode.

As the problem is exacerbated in battery mode, this decay may affect the power management module, making it difficult for the system to remain stable in battery low-power mode, leading to frequent crashes or startup problems.

And in conjunction with the dmp file showing errors such as hwpolicy.sys, AuthenticAMD.sys and PpmUpdatePerformanceFeedback, these are all closely related to power management.

2. You mention that the problem worsens significantly when updating the system, which suggests that the system is experiencing problems switching power states or managing power consumption.

The power management drivers have been updated, but reinstalling them reconfigures the system's power management settings to minimize instability during startup or battery mode.

3. Your current BIOS version is JNCN44WW(2.04), while the latest version, JNCN44WW(2.11), may contain optimizations for power management or fixes for battery status (battery-report). BIOS control of the system hardware is critical when running on battery power, and upgrading the BIOS has the potential to improve power management issues.

The following scenarios are based on the current situation:

Option 1: Reinstall the power management driver.

Device Manager -> Battery -> Uninstall the following devices Microsoft AC Adapter, Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery -> After restarting the computer, Windows will automatically reinstall these drivers, which can help to solve the power management configuration problem.

Option 2: It is recommended to update the BIOS as it may contain power management improvements.

Disclaimer: If you are going to modify BIOS Settings, please back up all your personal files first to ensure you do not lose data.

Option 3: Battery calibration helps the system to detect the battery status more accurately and helps to improve stability in low battery mode. (This option also corresponds to the question you asked in your reply)

Calibration Steps:

1. Fully charge the battery to 100%.

2. Disconnect the computer from the power source and use it until it runs out of power and shuts down automatically.

3. Recharge to 100% and avoid interrupting or using the computer during charging.

4. Repeat the process 2-3 times.

I sincerely hope that the above information has helped you.

So i updated the Bios, which somehow improved the bootloop situation. I didnt get any frozen screens afterwards and it only took 5 min to turn on.

I send you a new dumb file at this point hoping that it might contain new information.

As next step i uninstalled the drivers which you mentioned. Performed a restart and the bootloop was back to 'normal' meaning it froze about 5 times forcing me to hard shutdown the Laptop and took about 30-60 min to turn back on.

Next i will discharge the laptop a couple of times which will take me a couple of hours/rest of the day. I will update this post with results when i am done.

Thx for your continued support,

cheers

Thank you for your reply.

Below are my results after this analysis, but this dmp file makes me seem more certain that the issue is related to the power management module or virtualization, and is almost identical to the results after previous dmp file analyses.

1. HvlSkCrashdumpCallbackRoutine+81: This is a crash function, a callback function related to the Windows Hypervisor layer, suggesting that the problem may be related to hardware virtualization or power management, especially in low-power states or power switching.

2. hwpolicy.sys: Windows hardware policy module, mainly responsible for managing hardware policies (e.g. power management, hardware performance) at boot time

3. mcupdate.dll: responsible for updating CPU microcode, related to processor instruction set and compatibility, especially in AMD CPU systems.

4. ntkrnlmp.exe: Windows kernel module, responsible for underlying system functions. This crash can be triggered by conflicts in power management, virtualization support (e.g. Hyper-V) or CPU state switching.

This time the dmp file still prompts for hwpolicy.sys and mcupdate.dll, which can let us know indicate that there may be a conflict in the system hardware policy (e.g., CPU or power-related functions).

Option 1: Disable virtualization (Hyper-V).

Open Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Enable or Disable Windows Features -> Find “Hyper-V”, uncheck the box and disable it -> Restart your computer and see if the problem still exists!

This step is to address the possible issue of virtualization affecting hardware power management from this analysis.

Since we assume that the issue is related to virtualization support, disabling Hyper-V will reduce hardware conflicts in low-power mode.

Option 2: Further update and check AMD microcode.

Go to AMD official website and use AMD auto-detection tool to check for the latest microcode and chipset driver updates -> install the latest version and reboot!

Option 3: Adjust BIOS settings.

Enter BIOS on next reboot -> C-states: try to disable, Virtualization support: try to disable.

Disclaimer:  If you are going to modify BIOS Settings, please  back up all your personal files first to ensure you do not lose data.

Option 4: Check hard disk health. A bad hard disk condition may cause the module to fail to load at boot time.

Enter the command line in administrator mode and enter the following command:

chkdsk /f /r

Disclaimer: Running chkdsk can check the file system and file system metadata of a volume for logical and physical errors. To avoid any trouble for you, do not cancel or interrupt chkdsk, and back up important data.

I sincerely hope that the above information will help you.

Cheers