Solved Random BSOD x124 caused by hal.dll

[Jakeulas]

Greeting Win7 Forum,
I know many of you have already heard this one. I've read the enormous amount of people that have gotten this ever frustrating general hardware BSOD. Of course, each case is slightly different and personal to the poster as is mine.

So without further ado,

I have gotten the BSOD while watching a video online, surfing the web, playing a game, and even putting my pc to sleep. I've updated the BIOS, Ran memtest86+ (6passes, no errors) ran furmark to test the GPU, ran chkdsk and another hard drive diagnostic, all passed, and then some days I'll be on for 10 hrs, running 7 youtube windows simultaneously, downloading a file, and running a game and won't get anything.

I've already ordered an SSD to reinstall windows onto. Should be here Tuesday because of the holiday, also got new memory just to add to my existing 8gb set, but wanted to be sure it wasn't them.

I can't think of anything else to add at the moment. Here's my dump file. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Anthony]

Hi Jake, All your BSOD point to a hardware problem: 0x124_AuthenticAMD

Are you overclocking? Might want to have a look in the BIOS and check everything is set up right. Make sure your CPU is running at Stock speed and check your RAM Timings and Volts etc. While your in there check your temps!!

Another thing you could do is download Speccy and have a look at your temps etc while your in windows.

Report back if you find anything amiss

Thanks

 

[Jakeulas]

I do not overclock. I checked the BIOS when I updated, everything looked normal. I have Speccy and monitor my temps very closely. All below normal, max gpu 62°c and core at 47°c on most video or gaming sessions. I also use speedfan to monitor temps and fan speeds.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Jakeulas]

So I decided to not wait til I got the SSD to reinstall windows. I copied my stuff to an external, then did a clean install (deleted my previous partition) and reinstalled windows. Everything booted up fine, then I added my drivers for chipset, LAN, graphics, and audio. Then ran windows update and installed all updates. Also, I decided to move my pc and disconnect it from my tv. I was only using the monitor. Everything ran perfect. I surfed, download files, and games for 4+ hrs, no problem. Next morning I jump on, hook the tv back up and start gaming. I decided to open Speccy and put it on the tv to monitor my temps. After 20 min, bsod!

I reboot, everything is the same. Bluescreen viewer says it's Hal.dll, x124 hardware failure. So decided to disable the tv in AMD's Eagle vision program. And I realize the case is blowing hot air. It's only got 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan. I pull the side off and point a small fan at it. Reboot and go back to what I was doing before. Open a few web pages and start gaming again. Runs all day, no BSOD.

So is it the tv, possibly EDID causing errors? Could it be the PSU? Is it a lack of cooling? Temps stayed under 65°c on gpu and 45°c on core. I've ordered a water Cooling heatsink for the CPU.

I'll leave the tv disconnected for a week and see what happens. Sad cause I love playing movies while I work.

If anyone else can offer suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

 

[Jakeulas]

So, I got my SSD. Haven't yet installed it because I wanted to test my tv/ monitor theory. Well, as of 2 days with NO bsod, I thought I was safe. However, I just noticed after putting my pc into sleep mode, it woke up to a "Windows wasn't shutdown properly" message and a BSOD. So, the tv/ monitor isnt the problem.

However, I've now read that windows 7 has a hotfix if you are operating with a stand alone large hdd (1tb or larger). I attemped to download the hotfix from microsoft, but it didn't seem to take. I need to call mircosoft to walk me through the hotfix they sent. Error "not compatible with your system". :sarc:

I really hope my hdd is ok and this is the only reason I keep getting this stupid bsod.

Anyone want to chime in on this topic? I feel like I'm all alone

 

[Jakeulas]

Nope, tv theory was a no go. Got a BSOD today while gaming. <sigh>

 

[Arc]

Nope, tv theory was a no go. Got a BSOD today while gaming. <sigh>

Upload the dump, following the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions

 

[Jakeulas]

Here's the dump. Thank you for taking the time to look at my post. This is driving me crazy.

 

[Arc]

Mate, all your dumps show hardware error.

.....
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

[COLOR=Red][B]BugCheck 124[/B][/COLOR], {0, fffffa8008611028, b6004000, 64000135}

[COLOR=Red][B]Probably caused by : hardware[/B][/COLOR]

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

In this situation, you are follow the Generic "Stop 0x124" Troubleshooting Strategy .
For the information, follow the link : http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lockup-debug-how/35349-stop-0x124-what-means-what-try.html.

Follow all the steps from #1 to #9. One of them must work for you, but it is very difficult to say which one is the most appropriate one for you.

Still, a further look says this one:

Event[1117]:
Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 2012-09-01T16:38:19.745
Event ID: 7034
Task: N/A
Level: Error
Opcode: N/A
Keyword: Classic
User: N/A
User Name: N/A
Computer: MasterJake-PC
Description:
The AMD FUEL Service service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 1 time(s).

And:

BUGCHECK_STR:  [COLOR=Red][B]0x124_AuthenticAMD[/B][/COLOR]

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME:  Gw2.exe

CURRENT_IRQL:  f

So, You first pay attention on the CPU. Do a stress test.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-hardware-stress-test-prime95.html

One more thing, if you dont use Internet Explorer, you disable it in features. But if you use it, please upgrade to IE9.

Inform us with the results.

 

[Jakeulas]

Thanks ARC, I've read through these but I'm going to slow down and take them one at a time and carefully check and recheck each bullet point. I've got a couple day off, so I'll install my SSD and I'm going to add a water cooler to the CPU. Thanks again for your help. I'll post back when I've completed the list.

 

[Arc]

You are welcome Take your time, if needed, ask for help.

Best of luck!

 

[Jakeulas]

Hey ARC, do you have any recommendations for driver scanning/updating software? I noticed a few drivers are from clear back in 2006.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Arc]

Mate you may try DriverMax for this purpose.

 

[Jakeulas]

Well, in the middle of writing an update of how well everything seemed to be going...
I got another BSOD.

As of this morning, I removed the stock heat sink and installed a Corsair H60 water cooler on the cpu. Then ran Prime95 for 2 hours. (txt file included)

I only had a couple of outdated drivers, installed those. I'll keep working on the list.
Thanks. Please let me know if you see anything in the dump file.

 

[Arc]

Very good news that the test successfully passed.

But, all the three crashes of today indicated the same thing, as earlier.

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

[COLOR=Red][B]BugCheck 124,[/B][/COLOR] {0, fffffa8008d8c028, b6004000, 64000135}

[COLOR=Red][B]Probably caused by : hardware
[/B][/COLOR]
Followup: MachineOwner
---------

It is a hardcore hardware issue. So, suggestion will be just the same as earlier.

In this situation, you are follow the Generic "Stop 0x124" Troubleshooting Strategy .
For the information, follow the link : Stop 0x124 - what it means and what to try.

Follow all the steps from #1 to #9. One of them must work for you, but it is very difficult to say which one is the most appropriate one for you.

If all fails, follow the step #9.

 

[Jakeulas]

Thanks ARC, I will continue through the list. I was reading about the AMD FUEL.SERVICE.EXE and a lot of forums indicate that users are having similar issues with it. I disabled it in the startup services (msconfig) and also deleted this associated driver (AODDriver4.1) causing issues from Control Catalyst 12.8.

Doing this, people have posted as solving their issues with that BSoD error.

We'll see what comes of it.

 

[Arc]

Thanks ARC, I will continue through the list. I was reading about the AMD FUEL.SERVICE.EXE and a lot of forums indicate that users are having similar issues with it. I disabled it in the startup services (msconfig) and also deleted this associated driver (AODDriver4.1) causing issues from Control Catalyst 12.8.

Doing this, people have posted as solving their issues with that BSoD error.

We'll see what comes of it.

Well done!
CCC is always a trouble. I wish it will help you to solve your problem.

 

[Jakeulas]

A New day, a new problem discovered. Lol

So, I decided to run a dskchk and defragment last night, all night.

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 5)...
99328 file records processed. File verification completed.
98 large file records processed. 0 bad file records processed. 0 EA records processed. 44 reparse records processed. CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 5)...
136906 index entries processed. Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned. 0 unindexed files recovered. CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 5)...
99328 file SDs/SIDs processed. Cleaning up 4 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 4 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 4 unused security descriptors.
Security descriptor verification completed.
18790 data files processed. CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
36162984 USN bytes processed. Usn Journal verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
99312 files processed. File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
228615636 free clusters processed. Free space verification is complete.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

976657407 KB total disk space.
61909132 KB in 76310 files.
54992 KB in 18791 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
230739 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
914462544 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
244164351 total allocation units on disk.
228615636 allocation units available on disk.

Internal Info:
00 84 01 00 89 73 01 00 60 d8 02 00 00 00 00 00 .....s..`.......
b3 03 00 00 2c 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....,...........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

Windows has finished checking your disk.
Please wait while your computer restarts.

Everything looks fine, but when the machine rebooted I got this error and noticed every time I reboot I get this error in event viewer.

Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.

I researched it a bit and only came to one solution, a Microsoft Fixit. I applied the patch, lets hope it helps.

If you have anymore suggestions, I continue to appreciate your help and namely just the idea I'm not doing this by myself.

 

[Arc]

Continue with your plan. Best of luck.

If needed, we are here.

 

[Jakeulas]

Hey Arc,
I've nearly completed my work through the list. Ran tests now all on pieces of equipment. Ran memtest86+ for 7 hrs, no errors. GPU furmark bench test, and everything else I could think of. The last thing to do is a "vanilla" install. I plan to do this on my SSD, was hoping to fix this before I switched over.

Today, I decided to just leave the pc on without actually using it. BSoD when i woke the pc from idle. I can't understand that. I guess, I'm just going to have to rebuild.