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0X000000F4

Blue Screen (BSOD) CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION Applies to: Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows 11

What it means

A critical process or thread Windows depends on was unexpectedly terminated — often tied to a failing drive.

Also seen as: CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION, 0xF4

Quick fix steps

  1. Check drive health with "wmic diskdrive get status" from an admin Command Prompt.
  2. Run "chkdsk /f /r" on your main drive.
  3. Back up your data if this recurs, since it can indicate a failing drive.
For the full step-by-step walkthrough, see "Disk Error" or "Windows Detected a Hard Disk Problem".

Frequently Asked Questions

Does CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION relate to a specific program crashing?
It usually relates to a critical system process or thread terminating unexpectedly, which can be triggered by a failing drive, corrupted system files, or in some cases overheating rather than a single regular application.
Should I check my drive health for this specific code?
Yes — a failing or disconnecting drive is a commonly cited cause for this stop code, making a health check (via chkdsk or the drive manufacturer's tool) a sensible early step.

Other error codes

0X0000001A — MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

Points to a problem with how memory is being handled — faulty RAM, a driver mismanaging memory, or disk corruption.

0X0000000A — IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Almost always a driver issue — most commonly network, audio, or graphics drivers.

0X000000EF — CRITICAL_PROCESS_DIED

A core Windows process crashed unexpectedly — often tied to a recent update or corrupted system files.

0X0000001E — KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

A driver running in kernel mode hit an error it couldn't recover from — usually a specific faulty or outdated driver.