nipalk.sys causing BSOD stop 000000c4 Win7 64bit

[grcutter]

I'm running Win 7 64 bit and installed "Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8 Consumer Preview" today.

Now, I'm getting BSOD Stop error 0x000000C4 on every boot from nipalk.sys

The only work around I've been able to come up with is to rename the driver to nipalk.bak, obvisously I can no longer use it in this case so this is not a solution.

There is a PAL 2.6.5 update on the ni.com site but this did not solve the problem for me.

nipalk.sys is version 2.1541.3.0  from 2/14/2011.

I would appreciate any solutions.

Here is a partial output from the minidump:

MODULE_NAME: nipalk

FAULTING_MODULE: fffff80002e1e000 nt

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP:  4d59b378

BUGCHECK_STR:  0xc4_f6

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  WIN7_DRIVER_FAULT

CURRENT_IRQL:  0

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER:  from fffff800033243dc to fffff80002e9ac40

STACK_TEXT:  
fffff880`0d12f138 fffff800`033243dc : 00000000`000000c4 00000000`000000f6 00000000`00000390 fffffa80`111945e0 : nt+0x7cc40
fffff880`0d12f140 00000000`000000c4 : 00000000`000000f6 00000000`00000390 fffffa80`111945e0 fffff880`0148f191 : nt+0x5063dc
fffff880`0d12f148 00000000`000000f6 : 00000000`00000390 fffffa80`111945e0 fffff880`0148f191 00000000`00000018 : 0xc4
fffff880`0d12f150 00000000`00000390 : fffffa80`111945e0 fffff880`0148f191 00000000`00000018 fffffa80`111945e0 : 0xf6
fffff880`0d12f158 fffffa80`111945e0 : fffff880`0148f191 00000000`00000018 fffffa80`111945e0 fffff800`03339ae4 : 0x390
fffff880`0d12f160 fffff880`0148f191 : 00000000`00000018 fffffa80`111945e0 fffff800`03339ae4 00000000`00000390 : 0xfffffa80`111945e0
fffff880`0d12f168 00000000`00000018 : fffffa80`111945e0 fffff800`03339ae4 00000000`00000390 fffffa80`111945e0 : nipalk+0x8f191
fffff880`0d12f170 fffffa80`111945e0 : fffff800`03339ae4 00000000`00000390 fffffa80`111945e0 00000000`00000002 : 0x18
fffff880`0d12f178 fffff800`03339ae4 : 00000000`00000390 fffffa80`111945e0 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000963 : 0xfffffa80`111945e0
fffff880`0d12f180 00000000`00000390 : fffffa80`111945e0 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000963 fffff880`0148f191 : nt+0x51bae4
fffff880`0d12f188 fffffa80`111945e0 : 00000000`00000002 00000000`00000963 fffff880`0148f191 00000000`00000000 : 0x390
fffff880`0d12f190 00000000`00000002 : 00000000`00000963 fffff880`0148f191 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`10d4d880 : 0xfffffa80`111945e0
fffff880`0d12f198 00000000`00000963 : fffff880`0148f191 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`10d4d880 00000000`0000001c : 0x2
fffff880`0d12f1a0 fffff880`0148f191 : 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`10d4d880 00000000`0000001c fffff800`03175375 : 0x963
fffff880`0d12f1a8 00000000`00000000 : fffffa80`10d4d880 00000000`0000001c fffff800`03175375 fffff800`03339878 : nipalk+0x8f191


STACK_COMMAND:  kb

FOLLOWUP_IP:
nipalk+8f191
fffff880`0148f191 85c0            test    eax,eax

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX:  6

SYMBOL_NAME:  nipalk+8f191

FOLLOWUP_NAME:  MachineOwner

IMAGE_NAME:  nipalk.sys

BUCKET_ID:  WRONG_SYMBOLS

[Mike.F]

Hello,  

I found that the cause of this error might be related with the Deadlock Detection of windows.

Please take a look at this KB from Microsoft website. 

Fatal System Error: 0x000000C4 If Deadlock Detection in Driver Verifier Is Turned on and Norton Antivirus Is Installed

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325672  

Best Regards,

Miguel Fonseca

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

[grcutter]

Hi Miguel,

Thanks for your reply.

I had previously read that kb and tried the solution but it did not work for me.

Deadlock protection was indeed turned on for all drivers.

I followed the steps in the kb and created a custom verify setting with no deadlock protection for nipalk.sys only.

I rebooted and got the same BSOD related to nipalk.sys.

I'll note that the kb applies to Win2000 and WinXP but not Win 7 which I'm using.  Maybe that is why it didn't work.

Any other ideas? 

[Mike.F]

Hi,

I found this second link related with nipalk.sys errors, are you using Visual Studio on your computer?

This is the article: Visual Studio Projects Referencing National Instruments Drivers May Cause Blue-Screens and File Corruption

 http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/302297D3EFE5BE13862578390065C39C?OpenDocument 

Best Regards,

Miguel Fonseca

Applications Engineer

National Instruments

[Brad_K · Accepted solution]

Hi grcutter,

This specific Driver Verifier assertion, STOP 0xC4 in nipalk.sys with P1=0xF6, was reported to R&D as CAR #185772. It will be fixed in a future version of NI-PAL, which should be bundled with some future version of whichever NI drivers you are using. Until then, the workaround is to disable the "Security checks" setting in Driver Verifier.

Brad

[grcutter]

Hi Miguel,

I'm not using Visual Studio but I did try that suggestion anyway and it didn't help.

This was the PAL 2.6.5 update that I mentioned in the original post.

I noticed that the version information for nipalk.sys did not change as a result of running this patch.

Should nipalk.sys version have changed?

[Brad_K]

Hi grcutter,

The problem described in Visual Studio Projects Referencing National Instruments Drivers May Cause Blue-Screens and File Corr... causes a STOP 0x8E or STOP 0x1000008E error, not STOP 0xC4.

NI-PAL 2.6.5f0 has a file version of 2.1541.3.0 and a date of 2/14/2011, so it sounds like you already have it:

If turning off Driver Verifier's "Security checks" setting doesn't help, please post some information about what NI hardware and drivers you are using.

Brad

[grcutter]

Brad,

Disabling "Security Checks" in Verifier seems to work.

At least I've been able to boot once without a BSOD.

Thanks for your help!

[patu]

Are there any actual fixes to this planned? The security check disable is a temporary bandage at best. Everytime Windows updates, it gets disabled and the BSOD pops up again.

[Brad_K]

Hi patu,

CAR #185772 (STOP 0xC4 in nipalk.sys with P1=0xF6) was fixed in NI-PAL 2.9. This version of NI-PAL is included in NI-DAQmx versions 9.6 through 9.8.

Brad