Windows stopped with a DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (bug check 0x0000009F) because a driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state. This almost always occurs during or immediately after a power state transition — such as waking from sleep or hibernate, or shutting down — because a driver failed to correctly handle the transition.
A device driver (commonly network adapter, GPU, audio, USB, or Bluetooth) did not respond correctly to a power state change request — most often sleep (S3), hibernate (S4), or shutdown.
A recently installed or updated driver introduced a regression in its power management handling.
Fast Startup (hybrid shutdown) in Windows is conflicting with a driver that does not correctly handle the resulting S4 hibernate state.
A USB device or peripheral's driver is holding a reference that prevents the power manager from completing the state transition.
Outdated BIOS/UEFI firmware has a power management compatibility issue with the installed hardware.
How to fix it
Note the driver named on the blue screen or in the minidump — this is the driver failing the power transition. Update it from the device manufacturer's website.
Disable Fast Startup: Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > Turn on fast startup (uncheck). This forces a full shutdown instead of a hybrid hibernate and often resolves the crash.
Update all device drivers, particularly for network adapters, audio devices, GPU, and USB hubs.
Disconnect USB devices before sleeping or shutting down to test whether a peripheral's driver is the culprit.
Update BIOS/UEFI firmware from the motherboard or laptop manufacturer's site, as firmware updates often include power management fixes.
In Device Manager, for each suspect device (especially network adapters), go to Properties > Power Management and uncheck 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power'.
Run `powercfg -energy` in an elevated Command Prompt to generate an energy report that may identify devices causing power management issues.
