Random BSOD Reboot

[MikeA01730]

Hi,

My wife's desktop PC reboots apparently randomly. For a few weeks I noticed that whenever I looked at it the dialog box advising that the machine had been powered down without shutdown was almost always displayed and the screen was always lit even though the display is set to sleep after 15 minutes. Then I was in the room with that screen displayed, no applications running, no one at the keyboard or mouse, and the PC just rebooted for no apparent reason. As I recall there was no BIOS startup screen, rather it went directly to Windows.

My wife is an unadventurous PC user. She typically uses MS Word and uses Firefox to visit innocuous web sites. She’s never had any infection that I recall. I run MS Security Essentials because it’s unintrusive and doesn’t seem to slow the PC. I always apply all windows updates when they’re disseminated. Other than that no new software has been installed for a long time. The hardware is all original so I haven't overloaded the power supply.

The first thing I did was to open the case and blow out the dust with a can of compressed air. There wasn't much dust and the problem continued afterwards.

I tried running Malwarebytes several times and each time the PC rebooted before it finished. The first time when it rebooted it ran chkdsk automatically at the reboot. Finally I tried again and Malwarebytes finished and found no problems.

When I examined the information provided in the dialog box that appears when booting after an unplanned shutdown I got this information:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 0000000000000000
BCP2: FFFFFA80054868F8
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\061515-38329-01.dmp
C:\Users\Pamela Albert\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-87656-0.sysdata.xml

Since the error message says that this is a BSOD even though the BSOD doesn’t appear I’m hoping that someone on this board can provide assistance.

I've attached the file produced by "dm log collector.exe".

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Boozad]

Hi MikeA01730, I've taken a look at your dumps and will give some info below but first I have a couple of requests. There are some important files missing from the logs that we usually look at to try and get the full picture of what's happening, could you re-run the DM Log Collector tool and upload the new logs please? Also, could you provide us with the most complete system specs for the problematic PC as you possibly can? The BSODs are hardware related so we really could use that info. Follow the System Specs link in my signature for details on how to find out what hardware is installed.

Onto your dumps. All of them are 0x124 which indicate a problem with hardware, but rarely indicate what the problem actually is, as is the problem here. We usually recommend a series of stress and diagnostic tests here, but not knowing the spec of the machine I'm just going to ask you to follow steps 2 and 3 below for now until we get that info.

STOP 0x124 Troubleshooting

Read carefully before proceeding.

   Warning

:warn: If you're overclocking your system, revert back to stock clocks now. :warn:

   Note

Test the system once the overclock is removed before continuing with the steps outlined below.

Part One: CPU Stress Test
Part Two: MemTest86+ RAM Diagnostic
Part Three: Hard Drive Diagnostics
Part Four:GPU Stress Test

ONE

 CPU TEST

:ar: Run Prime95 to stress test your CPU. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html

   Warning

Your CPU temperatures will rise quickly while under this stress test. Keep a keen eye on them and abort the test if overheating occurs.

TWO

 RAM TEST

:ar: Run MemTest86+ to analyse your RAM. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

   Note

MemTest86+ needs to be run for at least 8 passes for conclusive results. Set it running before you go to bed and leave it overnight. We're looking for zero errors here. Even a single error will indicate RAM failure.

THREE

 HDD TEST

:ar: Run SeaTools to check the integrity of your HDD. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/313457-seatools-dos-windows-how-use.html

   Note

Do not run SeaTools on an SSD as the results will be invalid.

:ar: Run chkdsk http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html

FOUR

 GPU TEST

:ar: Run Furmark to stress test your GPU. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100356-video-card-stress-test-furmark.html

   Note

Run Furmark for around 30 minutes.

   Warning

Your GPU temperatures will rise quickly while Furmark is running. Keep a keen eye on them and abort the test if overheating occurs.

 

[MikeA01730]

Boozad,

Thanks for helping me out with this.

I ran System Info and automatically updated my systems specs as listed on the web site.

I tried to run MemTest86. I made a bootable MemTest86 USB drive but when I rebooted the PC it with it plugged in it still boots from C:. I moved on, but if I need to I'll circle back and figure out how to boot from a USB drive.

I ran Sea Tools for Windows. The short test was ok, but the long test failed. I ran again with Fix All Long which also failed.

I made bootable CD and ran Sea Tools for DOS. It ran (on my Seagate drive) for about 2 hours. The DST, short test, and long test all were successful and reported no errors.

I then ran chkdsk /r, and rebooted. Since then the PC has been running for maybe 3 hours with no problem. Maybe this is fixed.

If I continue to have problems I'll try some more of the steps you suggested.

Regards,
Mike

 

[Boozad]

Keep us posted Mike, we'll be here.