Error codes

0x000000CE

DRIVER_UNLOADED_WITHOUT_CANCELLING_PENDING_OPERATIONS

What it means

A driver was removed while work it started was still pending, so the kernel had nowhere to send the result.

Common causes

• A broken or old third-party driver
• Antivirus or firewall filter drivers
• A driver update that did not finish cleanly

How to fix it

1. Note the driver name on the blue screen and search which program owns it.
2. 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).
3. Uninstall the program behind that driver (VPN, firewall, antivirus, RGB tool) and test.
4. 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.