0x124 STOP Error - Possible nVidia?

Hi everyone,

Over the last few days, I have been getting blue screen stop errors, with the 0x124 error. Originally, I thought it was a software issue, so I reinstalled Windows 7 from scratch, but this obviously did not resolve the problem.

I had a look at some possible causes, and like usual, received a number of mixed results for the possible causes. I have tested each RAM module individually and each one checked out without errors; I have also stress tested the CPU and RAM, but everything was stable.

The reason why I point to my GTX295 is that I noticed that when the system would crash, when I would go to install Company of Heroes, the self-test on the installer would show up something like the pixel shader as 0. When I would reinstall the driver, it would show up as 3.0. Again, when the system failed, this same thing happened again. I also just ran the Windows Experience Index tool, and the first round, it gave me a blue screen when testing the Direct3D. The second round, it completed, but it has reported "Graphics" back with 1.0, and "Gaming Graphics" is 7.8 like usual. It should not be 1.0 as it used to always measure to 7.7. I have tried rolling back drivers and also using the latest version, but nothing changes. I have tried running FurMark, but the system does not crash at all - and the graphics seem to run perfect.

I really am out of ideas to what it could be. I have the dump files, which unfortunately I cannot read, so I was hoping that someone on here could give me some advice from them to what could be causing this failure.

I appreciate any help and thank you in advance,

Jase.

Your error 0x124: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred. This bug check uses the error data that is provided by the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).

This is a tough error to work with because the hardware issue can be anything and is generally difficult to pinpoint, since the minidump is not specific enough to help much.

The only thing you could do is run some standard diagnostics. Since you have already been testing RAM, you can do the following additional:

1) Go into your BIOS and make sure the memory voltage is set at the manufacturer's specs.

2) Run harddrive diagnostics.

3) Update your network drivers. You never know.

Bill2,

Thanks for your response. I have once again tried to run the Windows Experience Index and it has crashed on the Direct3D test. I have my network devices disabled - but I will try to update the drivers to rule that out.

The voltage level with an i7 is variable according to the setting chosen in the motherboard software in Windows, which I had tried different options, and this does not change anything. These are all set by the manufacturer and are all set to Auto in the BIOS (which I have also tried upgrading, but no difference).

I think it could possibly be a hard drive problem, as I have just checked my hard drive monitor and it has dropped from 95% health to 85%. I will post back after further testing has been done.

Is it possible that the GTX295 could be the cause of this? Or would it generally throw an error when I ran FurMark?

Thank you,

Jase.

Furmark is like hell for hardware, so if it doesnt throw any errors, it should be OK. But if you can lay your hands on another card, you could experiment.

Also, check your PSU. Hard to believe but dirty PSUs can cause bsods. Maybe also swap out the PSU with a spare and check.

Bill2,

I am running a Seagate 500GB drive, and I am using SeaTools to test this. It is throwing an error on the short test and long test. Could this be because I am running running Windows on that drive? Is it better to run the test in DOS?

The power supply is near new, and I am more led to believe it is the hard drive. It might be just out of coincidence that it is crashing on the 3D tests.

Thanks,

Jase.

I would suggest you try with other diagnostic tools. Download the Ultimate BootCD (UBCD) and use the included hard drive diagnostic tools.

Bill2,

I am using SeaTools which is included in the UBCD, and as my drive is a Seagate, this is the appropriate tool. I receive a warning that my drive has been 'overtemp' and hit 75 degrees. The short test failed almost instantly and suggested that I try a long test. I have run the long test and I am getting a numerous amount of errors. I think a new hard drive might be the way to go?

If I may ask, how could the hard drive be a cause of this error? Especially on a clean install, so nothing would be stored on the bad sectors. Any insight would be great if you know.

Thanks,

Jase.

I still wouldnt go by a single tool. There have been many instances of Seatools reporting incorrect temps. Does your hard drive feel hot? Do you hear clicking sounds? Have you monitored hdd temps with something like speedfan?

But, overheating can definitely damage the hdd. Manufacturers measure a modest range of operating temperatures for hard drives, from +5 to +55C as a rule, and occasionally to +60C. This operating range is much lower than processors, video cards, or chipsets. Moreover, hard drive reliability depends heavily on their operating temperatures. According to some research, increasing HDD temperature by 5C has the same effect on reliability as switching from 10% to 100% HDD workload. At the physical level, this causes the internal parts of the hard drive to expand and come into contact with each other, due to which you may hear clicking sounds.

Is your case well ventilated? You can open the side cover or maybe place a large fan in front of it.

Also, try updating to the latest chipset drivers.

But it would make sense to image/ backup your drive. If you have an older one lying around you could swap and test before getting a new one.

Bill2,

The chipset has been updated to the latest drivers. The hard drive is sitting at 55C right now during the test - I have never really had an issue with overheating before. I did notice the other day though, when the hard drive was loading, that it was very loud. I mean, usually when a hard drive is accessing the disks, you can hear it - but this time it was much a much louder clicking. From this, I figured my drive was on the way out. Do bare in mind that the hard drive has been running for a combined 860 days according to SMART. I have been meaning to upgrade my hard drive, so maybe I'm due for an upgrade anyway.

However, I still don't really understand how this would cause random BSODs because the system has crashed probably about 4-5 times after I originally made this thread. Is it simply trying to access a piece of memory which it cannot actually reach?

I suppose I will make an image of my drive and partition my 2TB storage drive (which has only been running for 60 days) to test it. If the error persists, then I could probably rule out the hard drive.

Thanks,

Jase.

Hi,

I am just wondering, when I ran a test in MemTest86+ with all my RAM in there, it would hang when checking the 3rd stick of RAM at 7% of testing. I swapped the sticks around and it hangs at the same spot. But all RAM modules were tested and passed individually by making it to 100%

Could this be a problem with the software? Or could it be an issue with the onboard memory bus as they are running on triple channel?

Thanks,

Jase.