Windows 7: HP dv6 Random 0x124 BSOD While Using Games, Videos, and Internet

Hello,

So I have an HP Pavilion dv6z notebook running 64 bit Windows 7, it originally came with Vista pre-installed but I received an upgrade disc when 7 came out, that I have for about 3 years now. It was running great until about August or September last year when I would occasionally get a blue screen when playing Fallout New Vegas, which I had been playing on and off since Christmas 2010. This happened once every couple of weeks. Since then slowly more programs things have been tripping the blue screen and the frequency has increased. Now a number of games, though mostly newer 3d games and minecraft, have been setting it off. Then I started having it also occasionally blue screen when using a web browser or watching a video file.



The notebook is a HP Pavilion dv6z (s/n: CNF9351VRX, p/n: NT594AV), with an AMD Turion x2 Dual-Core Mobile RM-75 cpu, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 graphics card, an Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter, a 300 gig hard drive, 4 gigs of ram, and a blu-ray drive. I don't know what the motherboard or sound cards are. It is not being overclocked, I don’t even know how to overclock things even if I wanted to. Also it is not a RAID drive as it only has one drive.

I have been trying to troubleshoot this myself, and with the help of some friends who work in IT and electrical engineering, but at this point I have run out of ideas. I have reset to factory settings in December, though that was due to a virus creeping in and ravaging windows, so reinstalled 7 and it now has a cleaner version on, but the problem persists. I've driver swept and reinstalled me drivers with no luck. I have also virus, spyware, trojan, and malware scanned finding nothing. I've torture tested the CPU and it passed with flying colors. I stress tested the memory with much the same result. I replaced the hard drive thinking it could be an issue, and no go there. Then figuring it was a thermal issue I got a friend and we ripped the notebook open and replaced the thermal paste. The fan seems fine and since doing it on the whole it has run quite a bit cooler since the CPU paste was pretty stiff. That seemed to work for about two to three weeks and bam again another blue screen, which is always the same regarding hal.dll and ntoskrnl.exe. I know it is a 0x124 error and as such different to diagnose the issue since it is likely hardware related but I don’t know what else to try to test figure out the problem. Any advice on how else I can figure out what is wrong would be welcome since I cannot afford to replace this machine right now.

Welcome

Your bug check is 124

Go through this for an insight:
Stop 0x124 - what it means and what to try
Let us know what you've tried.

1) Ensure that none of the hardware components are overclocked.

I don't know how to overclock nor to I care to so they should still be on standard settings.

2) Ensure that the machine is adequately cooled.

A few weeks ago I got help to tear the laptop apart and replaced the thermal paste. It is sitting on a nice open table, the fan setting is always on, and I have a cooling pad for it. Since replacing the paste is has never passed 80c and is running 10 degrees cooler than it previously had so heat should no longer be the issue unless there was some kind of thermal damage, but none of the components were physically ruined when we took it apart.

3) Update all hardware-related drivers

According to Slimdrivers almost everything is up to date. Anything that it doesn't have listed as up to date I believe I had already tried but I could always check those again. It is possible there is a driver issue or conflict, but I don't know how to test for that.

4) Update the motherboard BIOS according to the manufacturer's instructions.

I did this early on, of course HP is not very good in providing updates so there was only one.

5) Rarely, bugs in the OS may cause "false positive" 0x124

Ok not sure how to check for that, but windows has been re-installed, plus this is a new drive now and there problem is still there.

6) Attempt to (stress) test those hardware components

Torture tested the CPU and stress tested the RAM, both passed fine going for hours without a problem. Have run chdsk both the original and the new drive and found no issues. I don't think I had a program to test the GPU.

7) As the last of the non-invasive troubleshooting steps, perform a "vanilla" reinstallation of Windows

Done this, in fact that is what I am running for Windows 7.

8) Clean and carefully remove any dust from the inside of the machine. Reseat all connectors and memory modules. Use a can of compressed air to clean out the RAM DIMM sockets as much as possible.

Did all of that when I replaced the thermal paste as a dv6 requires a complete tear down.

9) If all else fails, start removing items of hardware one-by-one in the hope that the culprit is something non-essential which can be remove

I simply can't do this, it is a laptop and if I could afford replacement parts for it I would have replaced the entire unit.

Having dealt with this on and off for the last year I have done a lot of the possible fixes, including tearing the machine apart for the thermal paste and general cleaning. The electrical engineer that helped me didn't notice any piece that looked damaged externally. This of course doesn't mean there isn't something damaged but nothing looked like it had gone bad. Right now I would just settle for a way to identify what is wrong with the machine. Again it usually seems to be slightly more intensive things like videos or games, as well as occasionally with really busy sites like the weather channel with the map open, though that hasn't happened in months it did happen prior to replacing the drive the the first quarter of the year.

Thanks for the elaborate reply.

May I know the age of this laptop?

Seeing this part of your reply, I would suggest you to keep away from intensive tasks like the ones you already mentioned. You should either change parts one by one, or arrange to get a complete new one when you're prepared.

80 C sounds to high to me. Speccy - System Information - Free Download is a good program to check the temp.

I will request a friend to come and take a look at your thread for more suggestions.

The laptop is a few weeks over 3 years old now. The blue screen problems started about a year ago, about 2 years after I bought the pc for grad school.

As to the temp I was giving 80c as the absolute highest I've seen it go since replacing the paste, it has been averaging in the 40s to 50s. It is an AMD. I am certainly endeavoring to keep the strain on the machine down, sadly the modern internet does not feel like playing along with so many video ads.

As for changing parts I don't have a clue how I could to that since it is a laptop and the noted lack of cash to throw at the problem. Of course is the problem only shows up while the pc is using more intense processes I am not sure how to diagnose a specific component since I would think you would need most of them running.

Ok so I installed and ran speccy, I had been using HWMonitor but speccy definitely has more robust info, and while the cpu is currently about 44c and the gpu is about 31c the motherboard is running at 80c. That can't be good correct? Assuming that is bad how would I go about fixing that?

You have an outdated BIOS, let's do some hardware/software comb.

• Search your hardware parts on the Windows 7 Compatibility Center, and ensure that Microsoft has approved the product to be 7 ready.
  • End with the Upgrade Advisor afterwards.

• Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows

-


Best Regards,
Frederik.

So I ran the checks as you asked and yes all of the parts are Windows 7 compatible, which was a selling point of the pc that it would be 7 ready and came with an upgrade disc when 7 released. As for the BIOS that is the most recent one HP provides on there site. As an OEM they are down right awful since there is practically nothing for drivers, BIOS, or other downloads post 2009 for this particular model, and some of the drivers they provide are not even the correct drivers as they give you broadcom drivers for an atheros wireless card. Of course I am rather concerned that I found out today that the motherboard is running very hot.

Alright. Just a few questions-

• Is everything in BIOS running at default?
• Have you tried resetting BIOS to default ( Be a little careful unless you know what you're doing)
• How does your computer act in safe mode?

Best Regards,
Frederik.

The should BIOS running at default, I have never changed anything other than the singular BIOS update.
I have not tried resetting BIOS to default.
The computer runs fine in safe mode, though I have never checked the heat in safe mode since HWMonitor doesn't work right in safe mode and I just installed speccy so I haven't had an error to go to safe mode yet.