BSODs hal.dll 124 Norton Scans or randomly, Gigabyte Appcentr now Off

[grinder15]

New Win7 Pro build w/ i5-4690K, Gigabyte MB GA-Z97X-UD3H, GTX 750Ti restarts in particular with full Norton Security Suite (NSS) system scans after updates and maybe randomly otherwise. Did full uninstall with Norton tool (by NSS help tech) and reinstall of NSS (comcast). Currently not running OC with Gigabyte Appcenter, but did try it and CPU never saw more than 38°C.

 

[Laith]

Hello and Welcome to Sevenforums!rb:

The dump is pinponting to the hardware. I would first try to run Memtest86+ and then run SeaTools for DOS and Windows

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/313457-seatools-dos-windows-how-use.html

 

[grinder15]

Laith, Thank you for the guidance on where to go next. I did find that the BIOS rev for the MB and processor combination should have been changed from the F4 rev on the MB (as supplied) to F9 and I flashed the MB this morning. However, this does not resolve the problem. I still see a consistent pattern which induces a BSOD: fetch a Norton Update, then go for full system scan and I get the BSOD. I am sure I am in the default BIOS setting, no OC. I have downloaded Speedfan to look at my temperatures and I can see Core 0 tends to run about 2 to 5 C hotter than other cores, but none get to more than ~48 C under the loads of an NSS scan. Is SeaTools OK to run on my (boot) SSD? I only use an STX drive for my data directories (My documents redirected/moved to the HD.)

 

[Laith]

Yes, it should be safe. However read the whole post before you run it. Make sure you run memtest86+ too. If they turn off fine then im suspecting the motherboard might be the fault.

 

[grinder15]

Laith, You are wonderful getting back to me so soon. For work I routinely call a vendor in Germany; so, I know if your location is Sweden it must be late for you now. I'm impressed. I will be reporting back. Interesting your comment on the MB. Thank you very much, Grant PS MemTest through ~26% in ~30 minutes, so that should be done in a few hours. No errors so far.

 

[Pauly]

Unfortunately I haven't got access to my debugging tools at the moment but from what you say with the consistency of creating a bsod I would tend to suspect a software related problem
One of the drivers delivered with speedfan package is known to cause bsod problems on some particular systems as is some gigabyte motherboard software in particular their tune/oc software
I would recommend removing speedfan and all gigabyte utilities as a test measure until you regain system stability
If Norton is producing bsods then maybe you should consider removing that also even if only temporarily

On a side note memtest needs to run for multiple passes recommend min 6-8 which will take many hours best to leave this to run overnight to get multiple passes

 

[grinder15]

Pauly, Appreciate your chipping in quickly. No complaints from me about getting help, esp. as this is over the weekend and late in Europe. I too was suspicious of software from the standpoint that early on I had tried the max OC setting in Gigabytes Appcenter (thus, heating components) and the PC was stable although I only had IE browser to provide a workload. I had thought of Gigabyte's Appcenter maybe being part of a software conflict, and that is one reason I went with speedfan as an independent way to poll thermistors. (I found a thread indicating the "SensorDetect" process in Gigabytes S/W was the source of BSODs.) I was getting my BSODs before installing Speedfan, but understand I should remove it to not introduce another BSOD souce. Any other way to monitor thermistors you might recommend? After the memory and disk check are done (might as well be thorough) I can do the software diagnostic removal (remove all, then if stable reintroduce individual elements). Question would a clean install make sense? Rational: from my install notes 1.) during the Gigabyte drivers install the pc hung on IRST or USB3 drivers and I restarted, 2) Graphics drivers install and Windows updates and Gigabyte's Appcenter (with updating) all installed OK and I left the machine for ~44 minutes for lunch (no issue), 3) then with Norton Install I got a BSOD. So time- and complexity-wise, I wondering if it is clearer to continue to debug the build with the present history, or if instead a clean install plus stepwise addition of S/W elements makes for more efficient diagnostics.

 

[Laith]

@Pauly The dump pinpointed to the hardware. It's is an 0x124 code.
@grinder15 Follow paulys step. However im still suspicious of the motherboard.

 

[Pauly]

Laith, although an 0x124 code would report as an WHEA error indicating hardware that purely means windows has recorded a problem from a piece of hardware.
Sometimes that problem can be generated by a faulting driver causing a piece of hardware to show a fault state or to not respond within a given time parameter.

The clue here is that the bsod is consistently triggered by running a piece of software that initiates a crash, to me (but not for sure) that would indicate a possibly faulting software/driver and that is the point I would start at, its still good to run hardware tests to be thorough though

 

[grinder15]

Good news with positive results to report: stable so far.

Memcheck86+: ran 11+ passes and there were no failures. OK
SeaTools: ran full scan on boot SSD and on data directory Seagate HD and found no defect. OK

Uninstalled Speedfan and all Gigabyte Apps.
I have run some three or four Norton Updates followed by selection of a Full system scan resulting in *no BSOD* restarts. I'm very encouraged as this suggests the conflict is between Norton and Gigabyte software. To be confirmed with more continuous operation of the computer and periodic tests of the full scans.

I am not necessarily wedded to Norton, but it is more important to me than the Gigabyte apps, so long as the system is stable with this virus protection/security application. If this proves to be a stable config, I will try the Gigabyte applications individually (keeping an eye out a running "sensordetect" process in particular, to see if it's operation correlates with the NSS conflict).