New Windows 11 Update Causing BSODs (Blue Screen) with certain Western Digital SSDs

09 December, 2024

We have been getting many contacts regarding users with certain Western Digital NVMe SSDs that are experiencing Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) crashes.

It has come to light that this issue is caused after installing the Windows 11 24H2 update. The issue comes from changes in how Windows handles Host Memory Buffer (HMB) allocation in the new update.

List of potential affected Drives 

• WD Black SN770 - 2TB
• WD Black SN770M - 2TB
• WD Blue SN580 - 2TB
• WD Blue SN5000 - 2TB
• Sandisk Extreme NVMe drives - 2TB

Users will experience 

• Frequent Blue Screen of Death crashes with the "Critical Process Died" error.
• Event Viewer errors related to:
  • storNVMe
  • "The driver detected a controller error on \Device\RaidPort1" or "RaidPort2"
• System instability and BSOD loops
• Failed fresh Windows installations

As stated previously, the issue stems from Windows 11 24H2 update handling of Host Memory Buffer (HMB) allocation. 

Previous versions of Windows 11 allocated 64MB of HMB, while the 24H2 update allows up to 200MB of HMB allocation. 

The increased allocation causes instability with affected drives.

Solution:

Firmware Update

Western Digital has released firmware updates to address this issue.

• Download and install [Western Digital Dashboard]
• Follow Western Digital's firmware update guide [here]

This should resolve the issue on the majority of systems.

NOTE: If continuing to experience severe stability issues you can try to rollback your computer to a previous version or to completely reinstall Windows.

Additional Information

• Disabling HMB may impact SSD performance
• This issue may affect other NVMe drives using HMB technology
• Microsoft is reportedly working on a solution and may pause the 24H2 update rollout for affected configurations
• Western Digital SATA SSDs are not affected by this issue
• The 24H2 update has also been reported to cause other issues:
  • Installation problems
  • Creation of an 8.63GB undeletable cache file

For the latest updates on this issue, check the Western Digital support forum or Microsoft's Windows release health dashboard.

About U-Reach Data Solutions Inc.

With 20 years of experience, U-Reach Group specializes in the design and production of stable, high-speed data solution equipment, with a competitive product portfolio which includes duplication, inspection, and sanitization and covers Flash, HDD, and M.2 PCI-E SSDs.

In 2012, U-Reach Data Solutions Inc. established in California as the USA headquarter, extending the manufacturer's services to North America, offering quality deliveries to meet ever-changing market needs.

Its well-known brand “U-Reach” has been marketed worldwide, and its data equipment has been adopted by many leading manufacturers and companies in the semiconductor IC design field, electronic foundries, military and government institutions, medical and healthcare centers, schools, film production and entertainment industries. To date, U-Reach has become the designated supplier for many semiconductor IC design factories.

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