Dell XPS L501x, BSOD 0x00000124

[sine]

Here is an image of the error.

I currently have no OS installed on the machine and I'm therefore unable to run the debuggers as described on this forum. The Blue Screen seen was first encountered when Windows was installed, I attempted to flatten the system (as I was unaware that it was hardware related) only to find the error recurred during the installation. When I try to recover directories such as

$WINDOWS.~BT\Sources\Rollback

from an Ubuntu Live CD, I get kernel panics after the system has been running for a variable amount of time. (By which I mean a random amount, sometimes it happen instantly and others it runs for 30+ minutes)

The system shipped with an Intel Core i3 370M processor which I've since upgraded to an Intel Core i5 540M. There's no issues with regards to compatibility with this upgrade, in fact it's been running fine for months. I did however apply very cheap thermal paste from eBay very thick and messy. I suspect the issues are a result of overheating since the system has been running quite hot prior to the errors, however I'm not 100% sure.

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[DELL MOHAMMED]

Hi Sine,

My name Mohammed and I am from DELL social media outreach team.
Run a hardware diagnostic to make sure hardware is working fine. If the diagnostic passes then install the operating system

Link for the PSA test

How to Run the Dell 32-bit Diagnostics Utility | Dell

Regards
DELL-Mohammed

 

[sine]

Hi Mohammed, thanks a lot for your reply,

I ran the diagnostics utility, which returned no problems on the quick run. I chose to continue with the full test which ran for 1 hour (despite the 30 minute estimated time) and stuck on 5%. (It was running lots of CPU and Memory tests) The system started to get hot (as I'd expect) to I cancelled. Is this normal?

Still getting the same Blue Screen error in the Windows installation.

 

[usasma]

Start with these free, bootable diagnostics: Initial Hardware Diagnostics

Also, if the system is getting hot during the Dell diagnostics, then you've got to take a look at what's happening with your cooling solution (CPU, RAM, HDD, Chipset). Check the temps when running the tests that make it hot. If you don't have an infrared sensing thermometer, try unplugging the system from the wall, grounding yourself by holding onto the metal of the case, and feeling NEAR (DO NOT TOUCH) the different components. Things that seem too hot to touch are probably in need of investigation. FYI - I have received 2nd degree burns from touching hot components inside of a case.

Additionally, there are other bootable diagnostic tests available on things like the Ultimate Boot CD. Have a search with Google/Bing to get more info.

 

[DELL MOHAMMED]

Hi sine

My name Mohammed and I am from DELL social media outreach team.

Adding to the above steps also wanted to know if you have installed any PCI card on your computer, if yes it will be helpful if you provide us the details about it.


Regards
DELL-Mohammed

 

[sine]

Hi,

I've cleaned and repasted the CPU and GPU, then cleaned out all of the cooling system. Windows 7 still will not install, but for some reason Vista will. When monitoring the temperatures I see an average of 50-60 degrees Celsius on the CPU (idle), is this normal?

I have some dumps and logs from a BSOD that I experienced in Vista.

Thanks a lot

 

[usasma]

DELL-Mohammed is probably more familiar with the temps - but if this is a laptop, the temps appear to be normal.

Did you run the diagnostics that I suggested? If so what were the results?

 

[sine]

Ah, sorry, I'll get that done right now. It's still getting the blue screens, I attached a mini dump that was created is that of any use?

I'll get back to you as soon as I get the test results.

 

[usasma]

The memory dump shows that it's a hardware error (STOP 0x124).
As there are no 3rd party drivers listed (this is very unusual), we have to suspect either a hardware problem (most likely) or a Windows problem (less likely).

The tests that I asked for are just the start - there's a whole bunch of stuff to do to try and figure out which piece of hardware it might be.

FWIW - if it is the hard drive, your first step should be to backup everything that you can. There's no telling when the hard drive will die completely, so backing it up now will save you from having to pay a professional recovery service a whole bunch of money later on.

 

[sine]

None of the diagnostics flag up any problems, just like the onboard Dell diagnostics didn't. There's nothing on the HDD to recover anyway, it's just a mess. There was no third party drivers installed as I was running Vista at the time and that is unsupported for my system. (Windows 7 kept failing so I tried a Vista disk to see if it was a problem with the 7 DVD)

What would you suggest I do next?

I don't think this will help at all, but the Windows 7 installation always fails around 40%

 

[usasma]

It depends on what OS you own that can legally be installed.
In most cases it doesn't matter if the system supports that OS - we can usually find drivers that will work.

I'd try a fresh install of XP. Finding drivers is a real pain, but we can help with that. It's important to get SP2 installed ASAP so we can get more details on the devices.

If you don't have XP, then we'll try Vista. We can usually find the appropriate drivers somewhere on the web. Does your Vista disk have SP1 installed? If not, you may want to figure out how to slipstream it into the disk - as that may help to avoid the infamous 3 of 3 boot loop ( Update 3 of 3 Boot Loop )

EDIT: I changed the post as I mistakenly posted advice about another system.

 

[sine]

I can get Vista installed ligit with SP1. I'll search around for Vista drivers direct from the hardware vendors, although some may cause a headache. (such as its sound card) I'll get onto it right away.

 

[usasma]

Let us know what drivers you can't find and we'll see what we can locate.
Zip up and upload the memory dump files from any BSOD's.

 

[sine]

All was going well until I decided to do a restart, not the first one, and now Windows will not boot. It's a blue screen but mini dumps are on and it's set up to not show the error screens. I was monitoring the temps whilst the system was running and they were just normal. I'll try to get the dumps from an Ubuntu Live CD.

I installed all of the drivers minus any NIC and the dedicated vid chip. I had the on board graphics working find with the screen res at full 1080p. I got quite a few blue screens, but it booted fine after and lasted nearly an hour this time without doing it.

EDIT: it will not boot in Safe Mode, the OS is useless now. You mentioned earlier the HDD, could it be to blame for something like this?

 

[sine]

Here's some new Minidumps. :banghead:

Again, the Windows installation is now nonbootable.

 

[sine]

Okay, I'm starting to think this problem is out of scope for me. Do you think that I should just take the machine into a repair shop?

 

[usasma]

I'm starting to think that there's a serious problem somewhere in the system.
The memory dumps are all STOP 0x124 (hardware).

Have you checked the USB ports to see if any are damaged? How about unplugging the USB headers on the motherboard (that's the wires that lead to USB devices/ports that aren't fixed to the motherboard.

We'll either continue to troubleshoot the hardware issues, or you can take it to a shop.
I'd suggest trying some of the hardware diagnostics on the Ultimate Boot CD (especially a CPU stress test because of the previous overheating issues). The Ultimate Boot CD is free with a google/bing search.

Good luck!

 

[sine]

I'll continue to troubleshoot over the weekend.

We originally thought it was an issue with the NIC (that's what the dumps pointed to), since the NIC is on the external header I'll disconnect it and try. (There's a few USB 3.0's, a SATA port, HDMI and Gigabit Ethernet) I'll let you know the result of that.

I'll get going with UBCD as well.

Thanks for all of this, I really appreciate your help.

 

[sine]

Same problem with USB's removed and UBCD keeps getting a kernel panic. Look fit for the bin at this stage.

 

[sine]

Sorry to reopen this old thread. So I still have the same problems with this machines and I have replaced both the motherboard and CPU... what else could be causing this problem? (Tried new RAM and HDD also... no luck)