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Fix Watchdog timeout error in Windows 10: While playing a video game, your PC could suddenly restart and you could face a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with the error message CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT. You may also face this error when trying to run a clean install of Windows 10. Once you face the CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT error, your PC will freeze and you will have to force restart your PC.

You may encounter Clock Watchdog timeout error in Windows 10 for the following reasons:

  • You may have overloaded your PC hardware
  • Damaged RAM
  • Corrupt or outdated graphics card drivers
  • Incorrect BIOS settings
  • Corrupt system files
  • Damaged hard drive

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According to Microsoft, the CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT error indicates that an expected clock interrupt on a secondary processor, on a multiprocessor system, was not received within the allotted interval. Anyway, without wasting any time, let's see how to fix Watchdog timeout error in Windows 10 with the help of the following tutorial.

Fix Clock Watchdog Timeout Error in Windows 10

Make sure to create a restore point in case something goes wrong.

Note: Before continuing with the steps below, make sure that:

A. Disconnect all USB devices connected to your PC.

B. If you are overclocking your PC, make sure not to and see if this fixes the problem.

C. Make sure your computer doesn't overheat. If it does, it may be the cause of the Clock Watchdog timeout error.

D. Make sure that you have not changed the software or hardware recently, for example, if you have added extra RAM or installed a new graphics card, then it may be the reason for the BSOD error, just remove the recently installed hardware and uninstall the software from your PC device and see if this fixes the problem.

Method 1: Run Windows Update

1.Press Windows Key + I and then select Update & Security.

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2.Then in the update status, click "Check for updates".

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3.If an update is found for your PC, install the update and restart your PC.

Method 2: Temporarily disable antivirus and firewall

1.Right-click the Antivirus Program icon in the system tray and select Disable.

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2. Next, select the time during which the Antivirus will remain disabled.

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Note: Choose the shortest amount of time possible, for example 15 or 30 minutes.

3.Once done, try again to start the application or program and check if the error is resolved or not.

4.Press Windows key + R, then type control and press Enter to open the Control Panel.

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5.Then click on System and Security.

6. Then click on Windows Firewall.

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7.Now, from the left pane of the window, click Turn Windows Firewall on or off.

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8.Select Turn off Windows Firewall and restart your PC. 9.Try again to start the program and see if you can fix Clock Watchdog timeout error in Windows 10.

Method 3: Reset BIOS to Default Settings

1.Shut down your laptop, then turn it on and simultaneously press F2, DEL or F12 (depending on manufacturer) to enter BIOS setup.

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2.Now you will have to find the reset option to load the default settings and it can be named as Reset to default, Load factory defaults, Clear BIOS settings, Load setup defaults, or something similar.

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3.Select it with the arrow keys, press Enter and confirm the operation. Your BIOS will now use its default settings.

4.Once you've logged into Windows, see if you can fix the watchdog clock timeout error in Windows 10.

Method 4: Run MEMTEST

1.Connect a USB flash drive to your system.

2. Download and install the Windows Memtest86 Auto-Installer for the USB key.

3.Right-click on the image file you just downloaded and select the "Extract here" option.

4.Once extracted, open the folder and run the Memtest86 + USB installer.

5.Choose your connected USB drive, to burn the MemTest86 software (This will format your USB drive).

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6.Once the above process is finished, please insert the USB into the PC where the "Watchdog Clock Timeout Error" appears.

7.Restart your PC and make sure USB flash drive boot is selected.

8.Memtest86 will start to test for memory corruption on your system.

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9.If you have passed all the tests, you can be sure that your memory is working properly.

10.If some of the steps were unsuccessful, then Memtest86 will encounter memory corruption, which means that the "Watchdog Clock Timeout Error" is due to bad / corrupted memory.

11.To fix clock timeout error in Windows 10, you will need to replace your RAM if bad memory sectors are found.

Method 5: Run SFC and DISM

1.Press Windows Key + X and then click Command Prompt (Admin).

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2.Now type the following in the cmd and hit enter:

Sfc / scannow sfc / scannow / offbootdir = c: / offwindir = c: windows (If the above fails then try this one)

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3.Wait for the above process to finish and once done, restart your PC.

4.Open cmd again and type the following command and hit enter after each one:

Dism / Online / Cleanup-Image / CheckHealth Dism / Online / Cleanup-Image / ScanHealth Dism / Online / Cleanup-Image / RestoreHealth

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5. Let the DISM command work and wait for it to finish.

6. If the above command doesn't work, then try the following:

Dism / Image: C: Noffline / Clean-Image / Restore-Health / Source: c: N-mounting windows Desm / Online / Clean-Image / RestoreHealth / Source: c: | mount windows / LimitAccess

Note: Replace C: NRepairSourceNWindows with the location of your repair source (Windows Installation or Recovery Disc).

7.Restart your PC to save changes and see if you can fix Clock Watchdog timeout error in Windows 10.

Method 6: Update device drivers

In some cases, the Clock Watchdog Timeout error may be due to outdated, corrupt, or incompatible drivers. And to fix this problem you need to update or uninstall some of the essential device drivers. So first, start your PC in Safe Mode with this guide and then make sure to follow the guide below to update the following drivers:

  • Network drivers
  • Graphics card drivers
  • Chipset Drivers
  • VGA drivers

Note: Once you update the driver for any of the above, you will need to restart your computer and see if this fixes the problem; if not, follow the same steps to update the drivers for other devices and restart the computer. Once you've found the culprit for the Clock Watchdog timeout error, you'll need to uninstall that particular device driver and then update the drivers from the manufacturer's website.

1.Press Windows Key + R, then type devicemgmt.msc and hit Enter to open Device Manager.

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2. Expand the display adapter and then right-click on your video adapter and select Update driver.

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3.Select "Search automatically for updated driver software" and let the process finish.

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4.If the previous step was able to fix your problem then fine, if not then continue.

5.Again select "Update driver" but this time on the next screen select "Browse my computer for driver software".

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6.Now select "Let me choose from a list of drivers available on my computer".

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7.Finally, select the supported driver from the list and click Next.

8.Restart your PC to save the changes.

Now follow the above method to update the drivers for network drivers, chipset drivers, and VGA drivers.

Method 7: Update the BIOS

Performing the BIOS update is a critical task and if something goes wrong it can seriously damage your system, therefore expert supervision is recommended.

1.The first step is to identify your BIOS version, to do this press Windows key + R, then type "msinfo32" (without quotes) and press enter to open System Information.

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2.Once the System Information window opens, locate the BIOS Version / Date and note the manufacturer and BIOS version.

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Then go to the manufacturer's website, for example in my case it's Dell, so I'll go to the Dell website and then enter my computer's serial number or click the auto-detect option .

4.Now from the list of drivers shown I will click on BIOS and download the recommended update.

Note: Do not turn off the computer or disconnect from the power source while updating the BIOS, as it may damage the computer. During the update, your computer will restart and you will briefly see a black screen.

5.Once the file is downloaded, just double-click the Exe file to run it.

6.Finally, you have updated your BIOS and this can also fix Clock Watchdog timeout error in Windows 10.

Method 8: Repair Install Windows 10

This method is the last resort because if nothing works then this method will surely repair all your PC problems. Repair Install only uses an in-place update to repair problems with the system without erasing user data present on the system. So follow this article to see How to repair Windows 10 installation easily.

Method 9: Roll back to the previous construction

1.Press Windows key + I to open Settings and then click Update & Security.

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2. In the menu on the left, click Recovery.

3.In advanced startup, click Restart now.

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4.Once the system boots to advanced startup, choose Troubleshoot> Advanced options.

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5.From the Advanced Options screen, click on «Return to previous construction».

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6.Click on «Return to previous construction» again and follow the instructions on the screen.

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That's it, you have successfully fixed the Clock Watchdog timeout error in Windows 10, but if you still have any questions about this tutorial, feel free to ask them in the comment section.

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