How to Fix System Thread Exception BSOD Caused by cmusbdac.sys

Frequent Blue Screens of Death (BSODs) are a nightmare for any Windows OS users because they simply won’t allow you to continue working on your computer. Your system freezes and the BSOD appears explaining just what happened and there is usually an error code displayed at the bottom of the screen which serves for you to research just what caused the issue.

However, the solutions for particular error codes are often incomplete, especially the official solutions which are sort of general for any type of BSOD. That is why we decided to create this article for the SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (CMUSBDAC.SYS) error message.

Fix SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (CMUSBDAC.SYS) BSOD on Windows 10

This particular BSOD usually appears during resource-heavy processes such as gaming which is also a big problem because freezing you system during a video game session can make you lose your entire progress and it can also cause some irreversible damage to your game files or your entire system.

There is also a possibility that your computer has been infected by a malicious application which is causing your system to freeze often. If an infection is the real cause for this particular problem, you may be able to notice it if the BSOD appears at completely random intervals without demonstrating high CPU usage beforehand. Read the instructions and solutions below in order to return your system to a normal state!

Solution 1: Reinstall Your Drivers

The BSOD usually creates a minidump file which can show just which program, driver, or device caused the BSOD and you can use these information in order to fix your issue by uninstalling the driver or the program. However, in order to create and read the minidump files, you would need to possess some Windows OS expertise.

Luckily, you can simply update your all of your drivers which may be outdates and that will definitely fix your issue if it is driver-related.

1. Click Start and type Run. Select Run, A Run dialog box will appear.
2. Type “devmgmt.msc” in the run box and click OK button. This is to open Device Manager Window.

3. Locate some of the devices which may be in need for a new driver. Your best bet is to update as many devices as you can as you don’t know which one caused the issue.
4. Right-click on the device and select the Update driver option from the context menu.

5. Click Search automatically for updated driver software. Then Windows will search and install the new driver for you.
6. Restart your PC for the change to take effect.

Note: Sometimes this particular file is related to C-Media USB Audio Class 1.0 and 2.0 DAC Device Driver for certain sound cards so make sure you update these drivers before anything else.

Solution 2: Analyze the Minidump File

However, if you think you can analyze the minidump file correctly in order to figure out which driver caused the issue, follow the instructions below in order to configure this feature and in order to realize which driver caused the issue.

1. Right-click on This PC, and then click on Properties.

2. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Startup and Recovery, click Settings (or Startup and Recovery).

Under System Failure, click to select the check boxes for the actions that you want Windows to perform if a system error occurs:

1. The Write an event to the System log option specifies that event information is recorded in the System log. By default, this option is turned on. To turn off this option by modifying the registry, type the following information at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

wmic recoveros set WriteToSystemLog = False

2. The Send an administrative alert option specifies that administrators are notified of the system error if you configured administrative alerts.. To turn off this option by modifying the registry, type the following information at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

wmic recoveros set SendAdminAlert = False

3. The Automatically restart option specifies that Windows automatically restarts your computer. By default, this option is enabled. To turn off this option by modifying the registry, type the following information at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

wmic recoveros set AutoReboot = False

Under Write Debugging Information, select the type of information that you want Windows to record in a memory dump file if the computer stops unexpectedly:

1. The Small Memory Dump option records the smallest amount of information to help identify the problem. To specify that you want to use a small memory dump file by modifying the registry, type the following information at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

wmic recoveros set DebugInfoType = 3

2. To specify that you want to use the D:\Minidump folder as your Small Dump Directory by modifying the registry, set the MinidumpDir Expandable String Value to D:\Minidump. For example, type the following information at a command prompt, and then press ENTER:

wmic recoveros set MiniDumpDirectory = D:\Minidump

3. The Kernel Memory Dump option records only kernel memory. This option stores more information than a small memory dump file, but it takes less time to complete than a complete memory dump file.

There are other options as well but we recommend you use the Small Memory Dump option as it’s small in size but it still contains enough information for you to solve your issue. Additionally, you will need to use this option in order to read and open the minidump file properly.

Let’s find out just how to open and read the minidump file. You will need to download a certain tool made available by Microsoft. Firstly, it was a part of the Debugging Tools for Windows but Microsoft decided to create a standalone package.

1. Visit here in order to download Windows Driver Kit. You can also download WinDbg as a standalone package which is actually the only tool you will need.

2. Download the installer and follow the instructions on screen in order to install it properly.

3. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
4. Change to the Debugging Tools for Windows folder. To do this, type the following at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:

cd c:\program files\debugging tools for windows

5. To load the dump file into a debugger, type one of the following commands, and then press ENTER:

windbg -y SymbolPath -i ImagePath -z DumpFilePath

kd -y SymbolPath -i ImagePath -z DumpFilePath

6. If you decided to save the file in the C:\windows\minidump\minidump.dmp folder, you can use the following sample command:

windbg -y srv*c:\symbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols -i c:\windows\i386 -z c:\windows\minidump\minidump.dmp

7. Check the file for any errors and bugs related to system files and make sure you google each file next to the error message to make sure it’s a driver or a part of a certain third-party app.

Solution 3: Uninstalling Your Sound Card

Sometimes this error message is caused by a faulty driver called C-Media USB Audio Class 1.0 and 2.0 DAC Device Driver which can be found with some Xerox sound cards. Updating the driver may not fix the issue properly so you might try uninstalling the driver completely and letting the Device Manager replace it with the default sound card driver.

1. Click Start and type Run. Select Run, A Run dialog box will appear.
2. Type “devmgmt.msc” in the run box and click OK button. This is to open Device Manager Window.
3. In Device Manager, expand category “Sound, video and game controllers“. Under this category, right-click on anything related to C-Media USB Audio Class 1.0 and 2.0 DAC Device Driver. A context menu will pop up. Then select Uninstall device.

4. You may be required to confirm the uninstallation. Check the box next to “Delete the driver software for this device” and click OK button.
5. Restart your PC for the change to take effect. After restarting, Windows will attempt to reinstall the driver and replacing it with the manufacturer’s driver.
6. If Windows doesn’t replace the sound card driver, open Device Manager again, select Action and click on the Scan for hardware changes option.

Solution 4: Reset Your PC

Resetting our PC is considered to a last resort for this issue but it is definitely efficient and it’s able to fix most of the BSOD issues, including the one described in this article. Here’s how to reset your PC in Windows 10.

1. Navigate to Settings. You can get there by clicking the gear icon on the Start menu.

2. Select “Update & security” and click Recovery in the left pane.

3. Windows presents you with three major options: Reset this PC, Go back to an earlier build and Advanced startup. Reset this PC is the best option for starting fresh. Advanced startup lets you boot off a recovery USB drive or disc and “Go to an earlier build” is made for Windows Insiders who want to roll back to a previous version of the OS.
4. Click Get started under Reset this PC.

5. Click either “Keep my files” or “Remove everything,” depending on whether you want to keep your data files intact. Either way, all of your settings will return to their defaults and apps will be uninstalled.
6. Select “Just remove my files” or “Remove files and clean the drive” if you chose to “remove everything” in the prior step. Cleaning the drive takes a lot longer but will make sure that, if you are giving the computer away, the next person will have a hard time recovering your erased files. If you are keeping the computer, choose “Just remove my files.”

7. Click Next if Windows warns you that you won’t be able to roll back to a prior version of the OS. Click Reset when prompted.

8. Windows will then restart and take several minutes to reset itself. Click Continue when prompted.

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