Windows 7 Critical Kernel-Power ID 41 Task 63 Crash

DrScythe

New Member
After experiencing an unexplainable Kernel-Power 41 (63) crash at random seemingly unconnected intervals I decided to reformat my HD and start from scratch to try and fix the issue. Unfortunately my problem still exists. My computer hangs and will loop the last 0.1s of audio until I reach for the restart button.

I have updated all my drivers and Bios to their latest versions also all to no success :(

Ive searched multiple other sources online and have tried things like disabling certain windows squeduled tasks and disabling multiple audio devices in the device manager. Nothing has been successful so far. Any help would be much appreciated

My system is
XFX 790i Ultra
Intel 2.83 Quad Core
DDR3 2G stick (Cosair)
Nvidia GTX260

EDIT: Also it shouldn't be my Power supply as i am running an Odin 800W
 
Update: It seems that 90% of the time the crash happens while running Heroes of Newerth. Although it has also happened while just watching a movie or something in VLC. Must be any situation with a high memory or CPU usage.
 
kernel-power 41

After experiencing an unexplainable Kernel-Power 41 (63) crash at random seemingly unconnected intervals I decided to reformat my HD and start from scratch to try and fix the issue. Unfortunately my problem still exists. My computer hangs and will loop the last 0.1s of audio until I reach for the restart button.

I have updated all my drivers and Bios to their latest versions also all to no success :(

Ive searched multiple other sources online and have tried things like disabling certain windows squeduled tasks and disabling multiple audio devices in the device manager. Nothing has been successful so far. Any help would be much appreciated

My system is
XFX 790i Ultra
Intel 2.83 Quad Core
DDR3 2G stick (Cosair)
Nvidia GTX260

EDIT: Also it shouldn't be my Power supply as i am running an Odin 800W

I have been having this problem since I installed Win-7. I have read all that I can find about this and so far I have not seen anyone with a solution. This problem is happening across all types of computers and configurations. I have seen posting for disabling multiple audio devices, I am only running one. I have seen users state that it happens with games, I play no games. I have installed Win-7 three times and it happens every time. It looks like it is a Windows-7 problem and should be addressed by Micro-Soft. They should be putting out a patch to fix it, but so far I have not seen anything where they even admit it is their problem.
 
To both of you users: Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums :D
This honestly sounds like a heat problem. You say these crashes happen during high CPU usage times. Which causes increased temperatures. Any dust at all and the computer could crash. Try removing the cover, and gently cleaning any dust in the fan and other places. Alternatively, you could buy a can of compressed air and just spray it inside the fan louver.
 
check:

Temperatures CPU/graphics/system/hdd?

check the performance event viewer in the action center - look for bad drivers/ many entries (IsDegradation=true)
 
in my case it shouldnt be a heat issue. Im running a thermalright 120 extreme as a CPU heatsink. There is also 8 12cm Fans distributed around the case. Im also not overclocking at all so i cant see heat being an issue.

I will however de dust the case again and double check temperature values and return back.
 
OK these are the temperature values for my PC while doing something CPU intensive. I am using Speedfan 4.0 for the readings.

GPU: 70C
System: 80C
CPU: 35C-55C
Core 0 is the hot one the rest are around the 35 mark.
HDDs: 30-35C

Judging by these values i guess you guys were right in assuming it was a heat issue. Going to dust the case and try and increase ventilation to cool it down.

Will post any notiseable differences.

EDIT: ive opened up the sides of my case and put a little box fan up to the case blowing through it.
This has cooled down the GPU by about 5-10C and the CPU by 1-2C

System is still reading at a really high temperature.

Any other ways in which i can cool down this PC?
 
Last edited:
System 80C? are you sure?

you better leave the case open until you got a proper airflow - when you got 8 fans you have 4 blower (input) and 4 sucker(exhaust) right?

If not modify the directions accordingly -at the back is all suckers and the front/side fans are all blowers.
 
my case is the NZXT Khaos.

it runs two intake fans at the front followed by a line of 3 fans in the middle of the case with output fans on the roof and back of the case.

There is also a fan on the Thermalright 120 heatsink blowing up towards the roof outake fan.

These are all blowing in the correct direction and yet it is still so hot >.<
 
so when you are sure the airflow is balanced means you got the same number of fans for intake/out-take then we can assume the system reading is wrong.

leave the case/panel open for a few days and see if the problem goes away - if so your case may be insufficient
 
well there are two intake and two output fans so yea thats balanced. Ill pull out the GPU and check the fan in that and dust that out.

Other than that ill just see how it goes for the next few days
 
70 and 80 for GPU and system are rather high values.
Though I wouldn't recommend leaving the cover off your computer for extended periods of time, as this will only cause poorer airflow, and a quicker collection of dust.

I'll do a little research into your hardware, to see if higher temperatures are normal. :)
 
Last edited:
After opening up the GPU and dusting it out a bit idle temp is now around 50.

Ill run it under load tomorrow and see how it fairs and also see how often i crash
 
kernel-power 41

To both of you users: Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums :D
This honestly sounds like a heat problem. You say these crashes happen during high CPU usage times. Which causes increased temperatures. Any dust at all and the computer could crash. Try removing the cover, and gently cleaning any dust in the fan and other places. Alternatively, you could buy a can of compressed air and just spray it inside the fan louver.
I have had mine hang with the Kernel-Power on startup many times after the computer has been off for hours. I just cleaned all fans and removed the dust from the heat sink on the CPU, failed on startup after doing this. Do not think heat is the problem, also I do no games. Because of a drive problem I have had my case open, and with it this way there is a lot of air circulation. I have seen several people claim that it is because of two audio drivers, I have only one. I have done several clean Win-7 installs due to the drive problem which is now fixed. I have had failures multiple times as close as ten minutes and other times I go days before a problem.
 
Update: After running the PC with much more acceptable temperature values Ive still had the crash happen 3 times in the past 24 hours.

So if its not temperature.... what the hell is it?
 
Im looking in the Diagnostics-Performance of the event viewer now...

Pretty much all of the warnings and errors here relate to delays in booting up / launching an application. Cant see anything that i think could be affecting drivers or causing a crash.

Is there anywhere i can upload this log so that someone else can take a look at it?
 
Back
Top