Page Fault error When Trying to Restart Win8 64bit Pro

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When I restart my Windows 8 64 bit Pro system, it will not boot and gives me a “Page Fault in Non-Paged Area” error. It automatically tries to reboot 2 more times, before presenting Advanced Startup Options. The only way I have found to non-destructively get the system to boot successfully is to turn the machine off for a minute. Upon powering up, the system boots normally. When I then go into the Reliability History, I see an error for the time of attempted restart which states that Windows shut down unexpectedly. I say “non-destructively” boot because Restore often fails and I have to reboot from a system
image which is always a few days behind, and which throws my system out of synch (updates, email, etc).

Would definitely appreciate any help to solve this problem.

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While I have no idea what your exact problem may be, I suspect it may relate not to ‘restart’ (in the sense of the ‘restart’ shutdown option) but to booting up after a normal shutdown. Unlike previous versions of Windows, ‘shut down’ doesn’t really mean ‘shut down’ any more, but rather means ‘hibernate’ (a special kind of hibernation that preserves only the system context in the hibernation file and facilities a fast startup – in fact, the default option is I think called ‘fast startup’).

Thus when you think you’re performing a ‘cold’ start you’re actually resuming from this variety of hibernation, and something is going awry during that process. By contrast, when you simply flip off the power switch, Windows does not have the opportunity to save state to the hibernation file and your next boot is a truly ‘cold’ one (it reports that Windows terminated unexpectedly when you flipped off the power switch but does not encounter the problem that resuming from hibernation encounters).

Apologies if you’re already familiar with this default ‘fast startup’ option and are in fact referring to the ‘restart’ shutdown option (which, interestingly, DOES perform a relatively cold boot without resorting to the hibernation file).

The first thing I’d check is the integrity of your RAM – see http://techmell.com/windows-tips/run-start-windows-8-memory-diagnostics-settings-configuration/ (I haven’t verified this article, it’s just the first one a quick Web search came up with): if your RAM is flaky, it could cause what you’re seeing. It might also be prudent to run a ‘system file check’ – see http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/3047-sfc-scannow-command-run-windows-8-a.html – just in case one of your system files is corrupted and thus causing the problem. It wouldn’t hurt to run a disk diagnostic as well, though that’s probably less likely the culprit in this case.

Good luck.

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Thanks, Bill, for your post. I think I understand your second para – which is why I am puzzled by the problem I’m having which stems from a “Restart” command. Yet the reliability log states “Shut down unexpectedly”, like I would expect if I just flipped off the power switch (something early experience trained me to never do). I am on a Dell XPS 8500, and I think I remember that when I switched to Win8, there was something from Dell about the fast start option having to be disabled. Hmmm…wonder how I find out if it really is. – I’ll figure that out.

Ran sfc /scannow with zero problems found. Will cut a new system image, new restore point, and run the Win8 mem tester. Hope that helps!

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I have actually disabled Fast Startup in our PCs as well. When I choose to Shutdown, I want to Shutdown! I did not see any unusual problems associated with Fast Startup, but since I only boot my PC once per day, the 15 seconds of savings with boot was inconsequential so why take the chance that Fast Startup was causing any glitches.

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A graphics driver was responsible in this instance: Windows 8 – page_fault_in_non_paged_area

Bruce

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To check if fast startup is disabled go to power options and click on “Choose what the power buttons do” on the left side of the page.

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To recap: Ran sfc /scannow – no problems, disabled Fast Start, ran the Win 8 Mem Tester with no problems, ran all the Dell diagnostics I could find – no problems. At last restart, it booted normally. Perhaps disabling Fast Start did the trick, but who knows.

Thank you to all who posted suggestions.

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