6 Effective Solutions to “Your Device Ran into a Problem” Error

“Your PC/device ran into a problem and needs to restart” is a BSOD error that occurs in Windows PCs. It usually indicates that a fatal error has occurred in the system, caused by driver conflicts, hardware instability, or corrupted system files.

When you receive the “your device ran into a problem and needs to restart” error, the PC should be in one of the three cases.

1. Restarting the computer resolves the issue, and it doesn’t reappear.
2. Restarting the computer only temporarily solves the problem, but it keeps recurring.
3. Restarting the computer doesn’t solve the problem, and the computer may fail to boot, possibly getting stuck in a loop.

If the “your PC ran into a problem” issue prevents your PC from booting up or appears frequently, try the following solutions.

Common Stop Codes of “Your PC/Device Ran into a Problem” BSOD

In most cases, when your device runs into a problem and needs to restart, it would display a stop code to help you troubleshoot the issue. The common stop codes and typical reasons are as follows:

List of Fixes for “Your Device Ran Into a Problem and Needs to Restart” Error

In most cases, the BSOD issues can be solved by the following solutions.

Fix 1. Run DISM and SFC

Run DISM first to repair Windows components and then run SFC to repair system files.

1. Type “cmd” in the Windows Search bar.
2. From the result list, right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
3. In Command Prompt, type “dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth” and press Enter. Wait until the command completes successfully.
4. Type “sfc /scannow” and press Enter. Wait for the result.

If your PC won’t boot up, sequentially restart the PC 3 times to enter WinRE automatically. Then, go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings, click Restart, and finally press F5 to Enable Safe Mode with Networking. Now, run DISM and SFC commands in Safe Mode.

Fix 2. Uninstall Recent Windows Updates

If you can enter Windows 11, open Settings and go to Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates. According to the installed date, identify the latest update and then click Uninstall next to it.  

If you can’t enter Windows, enter WinRE and then go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Uninstall Updates. Select Uninstall latest quality update and then click the Uninstall quality update button to remove a cumulative update.

Fix 3. Troubleshoot Driver Issues

Step 1: Identify what driver file is causing the issue.

1. See if the “your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart” screen displays this message: what failed: *.sys.  The .sys file is usually a driver file.
2. If not, you need to analyze the dump file. Go to C:\Windows\Minidump to find the newly created .dmp file.
3. Install WinDbg and launch it. Click File > Start debugging > Open dump file and then select the .dmp file.
4. After the dump file loading is complete, in the text bar, type “!analyze -v” and press Enter.
5. View the analysis to find the faulty driver file.

Step 2: Search for the driver file online to find what software or device is related to this driver file.

Step 3: Update or uninstall the software or device driver related to the driver file.

If your PC won’t boot up, do these in Safe Mode.

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Fix 4. Perform System Restore

If you can enter Windows, follow the guide below:

1. In the Windows Search bar, type “create a restore point” and open it.
2. Click System Restore.
3. On the pop-up window, follow the wizard to select a restore point and click Finish to start the restore process.

If your PC is unable to enter Windows, enter WinRE, and go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore to revert the Windows state.

Fix 5. Test RAM and Disk

Here is how to test RAM:

1. In the Windows Search bar, type “Windows Memory Diagnostic” and open it.
2. Click Restart now and check for problems (recommended).
3. The computer will restart and run a standard test automatically.
4. Results will appear in the notification area after Windows restarts.
5. If not, check in the Event Viewer under Windows Logs > System > Source “Memory-Diagnostics-Results”.
6. If the result says “Hardware problems were detected”, replace the RAM.

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Here is how to check the hard drive health:

1. Open Command Prompt as administrator.
2. Type “wmic diskdrive get status” and press Enter. It will return the hard drive status.
3. If the result is “Pred Fail”, replace the disk.

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Fix 6. Recover Data and Reinstall Windows

If the PC won’t boot up and you cannot solve it, recovering important files and then a clean install of Windows with a USB is a good choice.

#1. Recover Data from the Unbootable PC

To recover the data, MiniTool Partition Wizard can help you. This professional partition manager allows you to create a bootable USB and then use the rescue the data within minutes. Here is the guide:

MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1: Create a bootable USB drive.

1. On a well-running PC, connect a USB drive, and install MiniTool Partition Wizard.
2. Launch this software and click Bootable Media.
3. Follow the wizard to create a bootable USB drive.

Step 2: Insert the bootable USB drive into the unbootable PC and then make the PC boot from the USB drive.

Step 3: Recover the data.

1. Wait until MiniTool Partition Wizard opens automatically, and then click Data Recovery.
2. Select the system disk for scanning.
3. Wait for just a few minutes and then stop the scanning process.
4. Find important files and save them to another disk.

#2. Clean Install Windows

On a normal PC, download the Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft’s website and then use it to create a Windows installation USB drive.

Boot the unbootable PC from the Windows installation USB drive and then follow the wizard to install Windows.

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Bottom Line

This post lists many common BSOD stop codes and their typical causes. It also offers 6 common solutions to the “your device ran into a problem and needs to restart” BSOD.

The last resort is to clean install Windows. To avoid erasing important data, you can first use MiniTool Partition Wizard to recover the data. If you encounter issues when using this software, send an email to [email protected] for assistance.