I've been facing a tricky issue with my Windows 11 machine where I keep getting a DMA driver verifier violation. I've heard about options for disabling driver verification, but my BIOS settings don't show anything relevant that I can change. I've only got settings like 'Secure Boot' and 'Virtualization,' which I've already tried disabling without any luck.
At one point, I managed to reset my PC (keeping personal files), and it seemed to work for a bit, but now I'm back to square one with frequent BSODs right after logging in.
I can at least boot into Safe Mode, although it seems to be stuck in S Mode, which complicates things further because in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, I can't run it due to a "Microsoft verified apps only" restriction. I've also tried Safe Mode with Networking, but my Wi-Fi is disabled there for some reason.
I'm really at a loss and would love any suggestions on how to either disable this DMA verification or get my system out of S Mode so I can diagnose the issue properly. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
3 Answers
Hey, have you checked if your motherboard has the latest BIOS? Sometimes, older hardware doesn’t play nicely with newer versions of Windows. Also, think about any external devices connected to your laptop—things like printers, USB hubs, or even Bluetooth devices could be causing interference. Eliminating those one by one could help you pinpoint the issue.
Definitely get those dump files shared if you can! By the way, just so you're clear, DMA stands for Direct Memory Access, and it allows devices to access RAM directly. Recent Windows updates tightened security around this feature, which is often why you’re seeing the error—something is trying to access memory incorrectly. It could be a driver or hardware issue, so getting those dumps analyzed will be key.
First off, make sure you back up your data before messing around with system settings—just in case! If you're able to boot into Windows normally or even in Safe Mode, check for crash logs by navigating to C:WindowsMinidump. If you find any dump files, zip them up and upload to a file-sharing site like catbox.moe or mediafire.com, as those are currently working well. Multiple dump files are helpful for analysis.
Got it! I’ll look for those files and upload them. Thanks for the tip!
It's a pretty new HP laptop, but I’ll see if there's a BIOS update available. I haven't checked that yet.