How to Fix BSOD KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (0x0000008E)
What error 0x0000008E means
Windows runs in two layers. Your apps live in user mode, where a crash kills just that app. Drivers live in kernel mode, a privileged layer with direct access to memory and hardware, where a crash cannot be contained — so Windows stops the whole machine with a blue screen instead of risking corrupted files. The stop code 0x0000008E, KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED, means exactly that: a kernel-mode program generated an exception, such as trying to read memory it was not allowed to touch, and no error handler caught it.
The exception itself is the key detail. The most common one behind this code is an access violation, code 0xC0000005, which happens when a driver reaches for a memory address that is not valid. That points in two directions at once. On the software side, a buggy or outdated driver — video drivers above all — is the usual offender, and the blue screen sometimes even names the driver file in brackets, giving you a direct lead. On the hardware side, defective RAM returns wrong data that looks like an invalid address to the kernel, producing the same crash. Newly installed hardware, an outdated BIOS, overclocked memory, and corrupted system files round out the causes. Because the code covers both worlds, the fixes below work through drivers first and then hardware, in an order that narrows the culprit fast.
Common causes
- Faulty or outdated drivers: video, chipset, and network drivers are the top trigger — a driver that mishandles memory crashes the kernel.
- Defective RAM: a failing memory cell returns bad data that the kernel reads as an invalid address, producing the same exception.
- New or incompatible hardware: a recently added card, stick, or peripheral that conflicts with existing drivers or the motherboard.
- Outdated BIOS or BIOS memory options: old BIOS versions and memory caching or shadowing settings are documented triggers for this stop code.
- Corrupted system files or disk errors: damaged Windows files and bad drive sectors can feed the kernel bad data and trip the exception.
How to fix error 0x0000008E — step by step
Work through these fixes in order. Step 1 gives you the clue that makes the rest of the diagnosis much faster, so do not skip it.
- Read the blue screen and stop the auto-restart. The next time the blue screen appears, note down the stop code and any file name shown in brackets, such as a .sys driver file — that file is your best clue. If the screen vanishes too fast, stop Windows from restarting automatically: go to Settings > System > About > Advanced system settings, under Startup and Recovery click Settings, and uncheck Automatically restart. The blue screen will then stay on screen until you restart manually, giving you time to read it.
- Boot into Safe Mode to check stability. Interrupt the boot process three times in a row (hold the power button during the Windows logo) to reach the Recovery screen. Go to Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart, then press 4 for Safe Mode. Safe Mode loads only Microsoft's own drivers, so if the PC is stable here, a third-party driver or program is almost certainly involved. Pay attention to what you were doing when the crash happened — gaming, plugging in a device, or right after an update — because the pattern points at the culprit.
- Update or roll back the suspect driver. Press Win + X and open Device Manager. If the crashes started right after a driver update, find that device, right-click it, open Properties, go to the Driver tab, and click Roll Back Driver. If nothing recent changed, update the graphics driver, the chipset driver, and the network driver from your PC or motherboard maker's support page — the manufacturer's versions matter more than Windows Update's generic ones here. Video drivers and BIOS versions are the two most common triggers for this particular blue screen, so update the BIOS too if your manufacturer offers a newer version.
- Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic. Press Win + R, type
mdsched.exe, and choose Restart now and check for problems. Let the scan complete fully — a partial test can miss bad memory cells. If it reports any error at all, a memory stick is defective and needs replacing, which directly fixes the memory corruption behind this blue screen. If it passes with zero errors, the RAM is probably fine and the cause is one of the software or settings issues in the steps below. - Repair system files with SFC and DISM. Open an admin Terminal (right-click Start > Terminal (Admin)). First run
sfc /scannowand let it finish — it repairs protected Windows files. Then runDISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth, which repairs the component store that SFC relies on. If SFC reported corruption it could not fix, run it once more after DISM completes. Restart the PC and use it normally to see whether the crashes stop. - Check the drive and disable BIOS memory options. Bad sectors can corrupt the data the kernel reads, so open an admin Terminal and run
chkdsk C: /f /r, then type Y and restart when prompted so the check runs before Windows loads. Then restart into BIOS/UEFI setup (usually Del or F2 at boot) and disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing if they are present, and turn off any XMP, EXPO, or DOCP memory overclocking profile so the RAM runs at stock speed. Save and exit, then use the PC under the load that used to crash it. - Remove recent hardware and clean boot. If you installed new hardware shortly before the crashes began, remove it or reseat it properly — incompatible or badly seated hardware is a classic cause of this stop code. Then perform a clean boot to rule out software conflicts: press Win + R, type
msconfig, go to the Services tab, check Hide all Microsoft services, click Disable all, then open Task Manager from the Startup tab and disable every startup item. Restart and test. If the PC is stable, re-enable services and startup items a few at a time until the crashes return — the last one you enabled is the conflict.
Did this fix it? Quick checklist
- Blue screen read: stop code and any named driver file noted
- Drivers updated or rolled back, BIOS checked for a newer version
- Windows Memory Diagnostic completed with zero errors
- SFC and DISM completed, CHKDSK run, clean boot tested
If crashes continue after all seven steps, check the minidump files Windows saves at C:\Windows\Minidump — the faulting driver is usually named inside, and free tools like BlueScreenView can read them without any debugging knowledge. If the dumps keep pointing at memory with no driver named, test one RAM stick at a time: power off, unplug, and boot with each stick alone to find the defective one. And if the crashes started after a BIOS update or a hardware change, reverting that one change is worth trying before a full Windows reinstall.
Frequently asked questions
What does KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (0x0000008E) mean?
It means a program running in kernel mode — the privileged layer of Windows where drivers live — generated an exception that no error handler caught. Windows stops everything with a blue screen rather than let the damaged kernel keep running. The exception itself is usually a memory access violation, which is why faulty drivers and defective RAM are the two leading causes.
Is 0x0000008E caused by RAM or by drivers?
Either, and the blue screen itself rarely tells you which. Faulty drivers are the more common cause, especially graphics drivers, followed by defective RAM. That is why the fix order updates or rolls back drivers first and then runs the memory diagnostic: the two tests together separate a software cause from a hardware one.
What if the blue screen names a file like ntoskrnl.exe or a .sys file?
The named file is your strongest lead, but read it carefully. A .sys file usually belongs to a specific driver — search the file name online to find which hardware it serves, then update or roll back that driver. ntoskrnl.exe, the Windows kernel itself, is almost never the real culprit; it is just the component that caught the fault, so a driver or RAM problem elsewhere is still the likely cause.
Will reinstalling Windows fix 0x0000008E?
It can fix it only if the cause is software — a bad driver, corrupted system files, or a conflicting program. It will not fix defective RAM, an incompatible hardware addition, or an unstable BIOS setting, and the blue screen will return after a reinstall. Run the driver updates and the memory diagnostic first, since a clean install is a last resort that wipes your setup.