Laptops are designed from a convenience standpoint, allowing you to close and open the lid whenever you want without having to shut down the PC. However, it seems that this convenient feature has been causing aggravation among Windows 10 laptop users lately.
It has been observed that a weird Windows 10 bug is causing laptops to crash if you open and close the lid too many times. Microsoft has acknowledged the issue, but hasn't said anything about how exactly the issue is caused. Microsoft stated that the Desktop Windows Manager (DWM.exe) process can stop working "when you repeatedly close and open the lid in Windows 10."
The crash is known to occur in two specific scenarios, and both of them involve 4K resolution. In the first scenario, the bug can occur when you connect the laptop to an external monitor via HDMI and configure the laptop to run at 4K resolution. Additionally, you'll also have to load a 4K H264 media file in the 'Movies & TV' app. During this scenario, opening and closing the laptop lid while the media is playing can cause the crash.
In the second scenario, you'll have to take specific actions to manifest the crash. The series of actions are as follows:
- Connecting two 4K monitors to a Thunderbolt 3 docking station.
- Connecting a native 4K resolution monitor to the docking station and configuring a triple 4K display configuration.
- Repeatedly undocking and redocking the laptop.
Neither of these scenarios is the result of faulty hardware. Microsoft has stated that the issue is related to the DirectX video management (Dxgmm2.sys) component.
Microsoft is also currently working on a fix, but hasn't said when it will be available. We guess that the fix will be included in the upcoming Patch Tuesday update. The patch is set to roll out on August 10.
