DPC stands for 'Deferred Procedure Call.' The violation happens when the bug checker, called a 'watchdog,' detects a DPC that is running too long. While multiple stop codes can cause Windows to shut down, the most common is the 'DPC Watchdog Violation.' This error, often displayed as 'DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION,' has a bug check value of 0x00000133, which may also appear in the error message.

For example, if an unknown hardware device appears to pose a threat to your computer, it may trigger a 'stop code,' which will abruptly stop the current processes. So why does the infamous BSOD appear? It is actually a precautionary alert that halts system processes to avoid corrupting data or damaging your computer. That means your programs will automatically close and you will lose any unsaved work. The only fix is restarting your computer. In Windows 8, the blue screen of death is displayed with a more friendly blue color, but the result is no more favorable than in other versions of Windows.

This is because the error message is displayed with a blue background and says your PC needs to be restarted. It is so frequently attacked that Microsoft issued a 'FixMe' for this.Answer: A major system error in Windows is often called a 'blue screen of death' ( BSOD). However, it is a prime candidate for malware/virus infections though so I would do a virus scan of afd.sys. I doubt a hardware problem would be the cause of a failure of this driver. It's interesting that there appears to be a problem with the afd.sys (Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock) as I have posted on the forum regarding this driver before. Given that DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION errors are, I believe, primarily triggered by system calls not responding or taking an unexpectedly long time to respond, it is possible that your initial thoughts regarding an HDD fault could be valid. It's not inconceivable that a hardware failure could manifest itself as a hal.dll fault. In simple speak, it allows a common set of kernel routines to interface with many differing hardware components rather than needing to be individually tailored for each manufacturers hardware. Hal.dll is the Hardware Abstraction Layer dll that deals with interfacing between the kernel and the hardware.

Dpc watchdog violation