BSOD 160 (INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR): causes and diagnosis

Status / error code:		Category:

Constant name:
Source:		Operating System:
Description: INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR the power policy manager encountered a fatal internal condition. Parameter 1 selects the power-management violation; the other.

Could be also:
Constant	Type	OS
ERROR_BAD_ARGUMENTS	Win32 error	Windows

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DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE	PCI_BUS_DRIVER_INTERNAL

INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR

INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR meaning

INTERNAL_POWER_ERROR is bug check 0x000000A0. The power policy manager encountered a fatal internal condition. Parameter 1 selects the power-management violation; the other parameters describe the affected object or state.

How to analyze the result

Decode Parameter 1, inspect power-manager and ACPI events, device power states, reference counts, sleep or hibernation files, firmware, and the driver stack active during the transition.

Preserve the complete dump, all four parameters, Windows build, loaded modules, and the event timeline before changing drivers or firmware while investigating this result.
Run !analyze -v and follow the parameter-specific objects and the stack associated with this result rather than relying only on the symbolic name or a single probable-cause line.
Compare multiple dumps when available; a stable instruction or object path associated with this result is stronger evidence than a module that appears only after earlier corruption.

Recovery boundary

Correct the driver, firmware, hibernation storage, or power-policy state demonstrated by the parameters. Repeatedly disabling sleep modes can mask the path without fixing it.

Official references

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