Our computers are fantastic machines that allow us to perform tons of tasks, such as browsing the internet for information, playing games, using software applications like word processors or spreadsheets, and much more. What allows us to switch from one task to another in a quick manner is the amount of random-access memory (RAM) that our system has and how well our hard drives can store the data we have installed or downloaded onto our computer. The Windows 10 error, “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area ” with an error code of 0x00000050 is directly related to your computer not being able to find the data that should be stored in the nonpaged area, which results in a blue screen of death (BSOD). This can cause your system to frequently crash, lose valuable data, make programs inaccessible, or even make hardware malfunction. In this article, we are going to take a look at what this error means, when it occurs and why, and 7 methods for fixing it on Windows 10.
What does the “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area” error mean exactly?
The “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area” also seen as “Page_Fault_In_Nonpaged_Area” is a blue screen of death error, known as a bug check or stop check, that indicates that the system is having issues retrieving or accessing a page of memory. The reason that your computer crashes when this happens is because the computer requires this memory data to continue running (it is essential to the operation of the computer), and when it cannot access it, it crashes.
The data that your computer is trying to access is always stored in your RAM (random access memory) because a nonpaged area always needs the data. This makes it so that the data does not have to be exchanged between the RAM and the page file due to it being stored here.
When does this error occur and why does it happen?
Unfortunately, the 0x00000050 error can occur at any time and often results in random blue screen of death crashes. Between these crashes, the computer is quite usable, and restarting it may even temporarily fix the issue. Due to the crashes being very randomized, this error can be quite difficult to troubleshoot.
While the cause of the error can be software or hardware related, it usually occurs due to the following root causes:
- When Windows cannot find the data that should be stored in the nonpaged area, it will crash and display a blue screen of death (BSOD).
- When the wrong system service or wrong driver code is installed on the computer, you may get this error.
- This error code can pop up if there is faulty hardware or when hardware malfunctions, such as corrupted RAM or when there are damaged sectors in your hard drive.
- If you have corrupted NTFS volumes or faulty antivirus software, this can also cause the error to pop up.
The error can be accompanied by a stop code: 0x00000050, the error code 00000050, or STOP: 0x50. It may also have a file name attached to it, which are sometimes drivers like ntfs.sys or ntoskrnl.exe.
7 methods for fixing the “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area” on Windows 10
If you are reading this article and you have only seen this error come up once (this is the first time), restart your computer and wait to see if the error occurs again. Sometimes restarting the computer can fix the error if there was a temporary issue that caused the data to be inaccessible. If your computer has blue screen crashes on multiple occasions with the “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area” error, then it is recommended that you boot into safe mode and try the following methods.
How to boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10
You are going to want access to the advanced recovery options in Windows 10. To do this, you will need to start up your computer and shut it down before it reaches the boot screen, twice. On the third time that you do this, Windows 10 will go into recovery mode; hit ESC to get the options. Choose to troubleshoot from the menu, click on Advanced Options, and choose the Startup Settings and hit restart. From here, you will want to press F4 or F5 to boot into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking. Once you are booted up, try to fix the error with any of the methods below.
Fix 1. – Reset your computer to the previous configuration settings
If the issue is related to an aborted Windows update or a recent installation of new software, you can always set your computer back to a previous configuration to fix the issue.
- Use the above instructions to boot yourself into Windows Advanced Options menu.
- Choose the “Last Known Good Configuration” from the menu and hit enter.
This should stop the error from occurring. If you know that the error is happening because of an update or new installation, it is recommended that you wait for the software to get another update before installing again.
Fix 2. – Disable automatic paging
Another common root problem for this error is automatic paging. This is a function used by your system in conjunction with virtual memory. To disable automatic paging file size for all of your drives, do the following.
- Open up your File Explorer and right click on the “This PC” option.
- Choose Properties from the menu that comes up.
- In the properties menu, choose the Advanced system settings located on the left-hand side.
- Under the Advanced tab, choose the Settings option under the performance section.
- Then click on the Change button under Virtual Memory.
- Uncheck the “Automatic paging file size for all drives” option.
- Click okay and restart your computer.
Fix 3. – Update faulty device drivers
This error pops up a lot when there is a device driver out of date, damaged, or a driver that is incompatible with your system. It is recommended that you uninstall the device or update the driver.
To do this, do the following:
- Open up your File Explorer and right click on the “This PC” option.
- Choose the “Manage” option from the menu that comes up.
- Choose the “Device manager” under the System tools menu in the new window that comes up.
- Under the Disk drives section, right-click on the device and choose to update the driver.
- Reboot to see if this fixes the problem.
Fix 4. – Check for any RAM issues
Sometimes physical problems with your RAM sticks can be the reason behind the error. You can run a Windows Memory Diagnostic to see if any errors pop up with it by doing the following:
- In your computer search, type in “memory diagnostic” and click on the desktop app called Windows Memory Diagnostic.
- In the window that pops up, choose the first option that has you restart the computer and check for problems.
- Wait for the computer to check for problems and see if there are any that are detected. If there are none and you still think it might be an issue with your RAM, do a physical check.
To do a physical check of your RAM, turn off the computer completely and unplug all power cords. Open up your computer and disconnect/pull out your RAM sticks. Reinsert them in, one by one, and make sure that they are secure and tight. Make sure to check for dust and remove any present. Then reassemble the outside of your computer, plug everything back in, and boot up.
Fix 5. – Check for disk errors
If your hard disk has faulty sectors, this could be the root cause of the “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area” BSOD. To check your disk for problems, do the following:
- Use the Command Prompt application by either typing in “CMD” into your computer’s search or typing in “command prompt“.
- Right click the application and run it as an administrator.
- When it pops open, type in “chkdsk C: /f /r” (with C being the letter of the drive where your operating system is stored).
- Press enter.
- Restart after it has run through its process.
Fix 6. – Disable antivirus applications
If you have installed or updated an antivirus recently, this could be the root cause of the error. To find out if this is the case, you will need to disable Windows Defender and any third-party antivirus that you have.
For Windows Defender, do the following:
- In your computer’s start menu, click on Settings.
- Choose the Update and security option from the menu.
- Choose the Windows security option and then Virus and threat protection.
- In the Virus and threat protection window, click Manage settings and turn off the real-time protection.
- Reboot and see if the error persists.
Fix 7. – Troubleshoot your hardware
Hardware errors can cause the “Page Fault in Nonpaged Area” error to come up. To check to see if there is a problem with your hardware, you will need to run the hardware troubleshooter.
- In your computer’s start menu, click on Settings.
- Choose the Update and security option from the menu.
- Click on the Troubleshoot option and choose Hardware and devices.
- Run the troubleshooter and wait to see if any problems are detected.
If none of these work, you can reset your computer by heading into the Settings menu, choosing Update and security, then Recovery. Hit the “get started” button under Reset this PC and choose whether you want to keep your files or remove everything.
If this does not work, you can also reinstall your operating system completely.
