Windows 7: BSOD when booting. Error 0x00000101

My machine is a custom build machine that I built myself. The parts in it are probably around 3 or 4 years old. I know for a fact that the processor is out of warranty as I've already filled in the RMA paperwork for AMD and they've come back to me to say it's out of warranty.

I'm running a chkdsk now on the hard disk to see what that comes up with. While I was able to get some stability this afternoon I was able to make sure all the drivers were updated which is another thing that is ticked off the list.

I'm not getting enough stability to run some of the other tests in terms of graphics and CPU, as I'm lucky if I get 15 mins out of it before it re-boots today. Which to be fair is 15 mins more than I've been getting that past 2 weeks.

update: Just a little update from my last post. Unable to run a full chkdsk as it crashed out to BSOD before it had finished. Putting it away for the day now. Been at it for the better part of the day on and off, and it's just annoying me now.

Time for a break and come back to it another day with a clear head.

Taking a break is a good troubleshooting step sometimes. Sometimes it lets you go at it from different angles and work more patiently. Frustration is always a danger when debugging system issues, and it is usually counterproductive.

Let us know how things go. Glad you are taking a break.

So back to it today to see if I can nail this problem once and for all, or just ditch Windows, and go get me a MAC!

Installed Core Temp to check what's going on with the cores, and off the bat it looks like Core #0 runs a little hotter than Core #1 while doing stuff. It starts pushing 51degrees, which is close to the 52degrees max on the app.

Oooooh interesting update to report.

I've been troubleshooting this all day again. Took out all none essential internals. Took out individual sticks of ram and tested, and still got the 0x101 error. So I decided to just use one of my old spare hard drives and try a clean install on that. Part way through the install, and got the BSOD 101 error again.

So I'm now of the opinion that it is definately a hardware issue. It's either CPU or motherboard. As I haven't got a spare CPU or motherboard to test, it's looking like a shopping trip for some upgrades.

Good troubleshooting. That does likely point to the CPU or motherboard.

For further confirmation, please check compatibility of your CPU and RAM: Download and install CPU-Z and Upload screenshots of the CPU, Mainboard, Memory, and SPD tabs. In the SPD tab, upload an image of each slot.

I know for sure that my memory is compatible with my motherboard. I built this machine and sourced the parts myself, and this isn't the first PC build I've done. So I know about making sure that hardware is compatible with each other.

Well done! You are ahead of many I help on here in that regard.

There are some CPU tests included with Hiren's Boot CD and Ultimate Boot CD that you may be able to do if you cannot get Windows to stay up long enough to run such tests.

Hiren's BootCD 15.1 - All in one Bootable CD » www.hiren.info

Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

Thanks a lot of those links. Invaluable. I'll see if I can make a bootable USB drive with them on.

I've been building/upgrading PCs since back in the old 386sx days. I've done pretty well when I can honestly say this is the first major hardware failure I've had on any machine I've either upgraded or built for myself or anyone else. I've had the usual windows issues, virus's, MBR issues etc, but this is the first hardware failure.

I've found that the pace of technology improvements has pretty much outstripped the life of the machines and what people want to do on them.

And true to form, this is the first PC build where I've gone without any form of optical drive, installed. When I built it going on 4 years ago, I pretty much saw everything moving towards online storage or portable storage, so I've been building up my USB tools library, down to full windows install USB's, but CPU tools is one I've been missing. So thanks

You're welcome. I have both of those tools in my library, and they have served me well in the past.

Best of luck tracking down the problem. Let us know if you find out what it is.