Windows 10’s Kmode Exception Not Handled error or ‘KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED’ error can be very annoying. The blue screen of death can happen to anyone for a variety of reasons, but this particular one has a few culprits. If you are not afraid to poke around your PC, this is actually one of the least threatening problems to deal with.
The Kmode Exception not handled error can be resolved in minutes if you take the right steps. Follow below to find out how.
Note: Whether you’re running Windows 10 or an older version of Windows, if the blue screen doesn’t allow you to boot into Windows to try the solutions below, boot into Safe Mode instead and make the changes there .
What is Kmode Exception and why is it not handled?
The technical details of what the Kmode exception error is are in-depth and more than a little dry. However, in a nutshell, it is when applications overwrite each other’s memory, causing errors or crashing software, and in the case of a blue screen, a complete system crash.
Essentially, some software is corrupted and the Windows error handler isn’t quite sure what went wrong. It just knows something is up, and it caused the system to fail.
The most likely culprit is a problematic driver.
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The quick fix: Disable Fast Startup
Windows 10’s Fast Startup feature can be a catalyst for this problem. It’s a Windows feature that allows for quick recovery from sleep and shutdown, but that may mean loading back into any driver issues that were present.
Often, disabling Fast Startup can make your system run longer or even solve the problem completely.
Follow these steps to disable Fast Startup:
- Search for “Control Panel” in the Windows search bar and select the corresponding result.
- Click on “System and Security”, followed by “Power Options”.
- From the menu on the left, select “Choose what the power buttons do.”
- If prompted, select the blue “Change settings that are currently available” link at the top of the page.
- Under the “Shutdown settings” heading, uncheck the “Turn on fast startup” box.
- When you’re done, click ‘Save Changes’.
If you still get the Kmode exception error after disabling Fast Startup or if you want to fix the problem without losing its benefits, you can try to tackle the problem at its source.
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Update the driver for problems
Since the Kmode Exception Not Handled error is most likely caused by a driver issue, updating the driver can often fix it. To do that, however, you need to know which driver is causing you problems.
That very much depends on your system, but luckily Windows usually gives you a good indication of what the culprit could be. When the blue screen appears, you will usually see “Error: Kmode_Exception_Not_Handled” followed by a name in parentheses. That name is the driver causing the problem and the one we want to update.
Run a search for that driver to find out what hardware it affects, then follow the steps below.
- Type “Device Manager” in the Windows search bar and click on the corresponding entry.
- Find the hardware that corresponds to the driver error and right click on it. Choose “Update Driver” from the drop-down menu.
- When given the choice, select “Search automatically for updated driver software” and wait for the process to complete.
If that doesn’t work, you can always check your motherboard manufacturer’s website to see if there’s a new driver version there, or Google the hardware if the driver belongs to an expansion card or other hardware. If so, download it and run the driver update manually by selecting “Browse my computer for driver software” during the third step instead.
The process may take some time, but once it is complete you should have a system that no longer generates Kmode Exception blue screen errors.
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It could be your RAM
If you’re still having problems after the solutions above, you’re either extremely out of luck or have a hardware problem that corrupts the driver. If it turns out to be the latter, the most likely culprit is your RAM. To find out if that’s the case, you can use Windows’ own memory diagnostics tool.
- Search for “Memory Diagnostic” in the Windows search bar and select the corresponding result.
- When you’re ready, click ‘Restart now and check for problems’. Or alternatively “Check for problems the next time I start my computer”, if you need to save existing work.
Wait for the scan to complete during the reboot. If hard errors occur, you probably have faulty RAM that could be the cause of the blue screens you replaced. Try removing and reinserting the RAM first to make sure there was no loose connection. If that doesn’t work, the best thing to do at that point is to replace the problematic stick or buy an entirely new kit. These are our favourites.