[pipitous]

had BSOD a couple times. Need to know how to read/open dump files.

[ClaudeMarkus]

just tell me what the bsod said and i'll work from there

Most bsods are caused by either a driver issue (usually video) or ram failures. Upgrade your video card drivers and run a memtest

[FEti0TUI]

I downloaded a program called WhoCrashed and this is what it shows.


Spoiler:
On Wed 3/28/2012 12:55:12 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\032712-28111-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7CD40)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA800C171060, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8006CCA010)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Wed 3/28/2012 12:55:12 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\memory.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlmp.exe (nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x0)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA800C171060, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8006CCA010)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Thu 3/22/2012 3:29:50 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\032112-38485-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7CD40)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA80071D6A10, 0xFFFFF80004957748, 0xFFFFFA80073A76B0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Fri 1/6/2012 3:48:40 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\010612-14866-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7CC40)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA80071B2060, 0xFFFFF800049553D8, 0xFFFFFA800D38E140)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Mon 1/2/2012 2:02:31 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\010112-27877-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7CC40)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA800D85C060, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA800D90AC10)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.


On Fri 12/2/2011 2:37:32 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\120111-24897-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7CC40)
Bugcheck code: 0x35 (0xFFFFFA800C829EE0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0)
Error: NO_MORE_IRP_STACK_LOCATIONS
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check occurs when the IoCallDriver packet has no more stack locations remaining.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.

[fiettariaps]

update the drivers to all your hardware, then run a windows update.

[viagsjicguara]

is there a easy way to update all drivers?

[simmons latex mattress]

No not really. Just google each driver.

[Phassetus]

So is there a way to know what exactly is causing this?

It usually happens once the computer comes back from sleep.