Error codes

0x000000D5

DRIVER_PAGE_FAULT_IN_FREED_SPECIAL_POOL

What it means

A driver read or wrote memory that it had already handed back to Windows, so the address no longer belonged to it.

Common causes

• A driver with a use-after-free bug
• Third-party antivirus or RGB/audio utilities hooking the kernel
• RAM errors flipping the freed-memory bookkeeping

How to fix it

1. Open the crash dump in WhoCrashed or BlueScreenView: it usually names the driver file that caused it (for example nvlddmkm.sys is the NVIDIA driver).
2. Update the graphics, chipset and network drivers from the maker's site (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel or your board vendor), not from a driver-updater tool.
3. Remove one kernel-level utility at a time (antivirus, RGB, VPN, virtual drive) and test between removals.
4. Test the RAM: run Windows Memory Diagnostic (search mdsched) or MemTest86 from a USB stick. Any error means a stick or its speed setting is the problem.