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Seemingly Random BSOD. STOP ERROR: 0xA, 0x7E, 0x124 mostly.
**The following will be a pretty long post of what I've tried over the past couple days from reading this forum as well as a few others to get an idea of where to start.**
**In case someone only glances at this and ask me to post the memory.dmp file as I have explained below at this point in time the computer will not boot into Windows.**
Basic System Info:
- x86 (32-bit) or x64 ? Windows 7 Ultimate x64
- the original installed OS on the system? None
- an OEM or full retail version? Full Retail
- What is the age of system (hardware)? 2½ Years
- What is the age of OS installation (have you re-installed the OS?) No more than 24 hours.
=More Detailed Specs=
Model: Sager NP8120
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-840QM
GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 x2 in CrossFire
RAM: 8BG (Two 4GB sticks)
HDD1: The one that wouldnt install Windows was a SeaGate 500GB, currently a Hitachi 320GB)
HDD1: Came with a WD Scorpio Blue 640GB, currently have the SeaGate 500GB in this slot as I wanted to try it one more time with the Windows 7 install, ofcourse it failed.(See below).
Other less detailed things: Had my Razer Naga/Laptop fan plugged into 2/3 USB ports (removed this when trying to boot into safe mode), nothing in USB 3.0 ports. Built-in Webcam/Fingerprint Reader. RealTek 8168D and Intel Centrino Ultimate 6300-N.
I dont know if all of the above information is relevant but might as well post it as well.
Last week I decided to reformat my Sager laptop and do a fresh install. Everything was fine for a while until about this weekend.
I started getting random blue screens or the computer would just restart. Sunday night I continued reading up on the issues and doing some of the troubleshooting steps listed on this site. At first I figured it was a driver issue, and tried to reinstall the OS again, and its been a couple days so I dont remember the exact error now. I ran a HDD check with SeaTools, it found a few errors. I told SeaTools to repair it, once it was complete I ran the check again, and it came back clean. I tried to reinstall Windows however it would come back with a 0x124 STOP ERROR. It would expand the system fils, install, and I think about the time it went to boot into the new system is when the BSOD would occur. Still getting BSOD on a new install I understand this would not be a driver issue. I burned a copy of memtest86+ to a USB with the executable from the site, and let it run as I slept. Wake up 5 hours later, no issues. Pulled a Hitachi 320GB HDD out of the Gateway laptop I'm typing on now, put it into my Sager and proceeded to install Windows.
SUCCESS! Or so I thought. After finishing to install drivers on my new OS (downloaded them from the www2.sagernotebook.com website), checked device manager, all seemed find. Installed windows update, 113 updates on a fresh install, and it blue screened again (as per the title, I have gotten 3 different stop codes, I believe this one was another 0x124). I ran the Windows Update again and checked it for BSOD in the meantime. First thing I did upon reinstalling Windows 7 was uncheck auto restart upon failure so if it did BSOD I wouldnt miss it. Last I saw it was on around update #87 or so, almost finished but it however BSOD'ed again.
Forgot to mention the next thing I did after disabling auto restart was download RealTemp/Furmark. Earlier last week when all I had was an occasional BSOD and a random restart, I always had MSI Afterburner running in the background while playing SWTOR and the GPU's never hit above 60°C. Running FurMark for a while the GPU's would reach around 70/74°C for GPU1/GPU2 respectively. Idle the GPU's were around 38~40°C. Idle the CPU would sit around 38~40°C and I think the most it got while I was running Windows Update/the test on the CPU with RealTemp was around 50°C, but never for long. Also before I forget I also ran the Windows Memory Diag on Basic (2 passes) and again on Standard with 5 passes after more blue screens, no errors reported. Though I have read that it could report no errors and the RAM actually is bad, so who knows.
I had set Windows to run a chkdsk upon the next reboot, and this is wear I'm currently at. Upon booting into Safe Mode it loads all of the devices/core drivers, and hangs. At the very top of the screen is a small row of artifacting. This happened when I first tried to boot into Safe Mode with Networking as I just received a BSOD and wanted to boot into safe mode, load BlueScreenView, note the driver and look at it with WinDbg for further explanation. I held the power button, booted back up, and chose just Safe Made, no networking, same issue. Safe Mode with Command Prompt? Same issue. Boot using last known good configuration and it starts the chkdsk I told it to run just to make sure the Hitachi wasnt already bad as well. When it tells me to press any key within 10 seconds it reaches 1 second remaining to skip it and then seems to hang.
I have received the STOP ERROR codes 0x124 the most or equal to the amount of 0xA's, and a couple odd 0x7E's as well. One I know pointed to Netwsw00.sys which I have read is from Intel's Wireless driver, which was before I tried to reinstall, failed, replaced the HDD with the Hitachi and installed successfully. The 2nd most recent said something to the effect of Netws64.sys or along that which makes me believe it could be the wireless driver, but with the 0x124 it's my understanding this is usually hardware itself. From what I can tell however BlueScreenView mostly list only ntoskrnl.exe as the cause, or every once in a while it will also list hal.dll, very few times does it actually list the driver.
That given the old HDD that would not install as mentioned above is in the 2nd slot, and disabled. The RealTek 8168D showed a yellow ! caution and was previously disabled, with the driver software removed. All drivers were downloaded directly from www2.sagernotebook.com, and driver installs/updates downloaded by Windows 7 was disabled upon install.
I would love to post the MEMORY.DMP log for further advice, however I cant even boot into Windows and read it myself. ^^; I've read through some of the post on this forum, and even skimmed over the STOP ERROR 0x124 what it means and what to try, however this is a laptop which is a PITA to try to take apart unlike a desktop. I'm more curious on what the horizontal row of artifacting at the top means and what some of you think of this/what it points to as this seems to be the newest symptom. I'm assuming maybe RAM/GPU/CPU? but I'd like to have an idea of where to start before I go around taking parts out of the computer again. I'd rather not send it off to have it repaired if I can get a reasonable diagnosis myself as I'm sure it would cost me a kidney in the process. Any ideas/tips/theories would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.