Tammy's machine Bluescreens

[Indianatone]

Hi BSOD experts. My wife's machine randomly blue screens. I have checked for overheating but I am too unwell to track it down myself. Just had an epidural in my back for pain so I am somewhat stoned so to speak.
Like I said this is Tammy's machine so I logged on to my account and ran the SF tool. Here are the system Specs. This machine has a Enermax 720 PSU so it "should" not be that, the hard drives all read OK according to HD sentinel
Sysytem Specs:
Operating System
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit SP1
CPU
AMD Phenom II X4 955 36 °C
Deneb 45nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 803MHz (9-9-9-25)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A77T/USB3 (AM3) 38 °C
Graphics
LG W2353 (1920x1080@60Hz)
1024MB NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 (Gigabyte) 43 °C
Hard Drives
149GB Seagate ST3160212SCE ATA Device (SATA) 34 °C
298GB Seagate ST3320418AS ATA Device (SATA) 31 °C
298GB Seagate ST3320418AS ATA Device (SATA) 32 °C
Optical Drives
ASUS DRW-24B1ST a ATA Device
MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000
Audio
NVIDIA High Definition Audio
This time it BSOD when she was out shopping and I was at my machine. All I heard was a BEEP. Thanks for looking. I think this might have started after the last NVidia driver update recently but with my fuzzy head I am not sure.

 

[YoYo155]

Hi Tony .
First of all I hope you're feeling better .

The bugchecks are 0x124 with a consistent CPU bus timeout error.

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)
A fatal hardware error has occurred. Parameter 1 identifies the type of error
source that reported the error. Parameter 2 holds the address of the
WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure that describes the error conditon.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000000, Machine Check Exception
Arg2: fffffa8007c358f8, Address of the WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure.
Arg3: 0000000000000000, High order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.
Arg4: 0000000000000000, Low order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.

===============================================================================
Section 2     : x86/x64 MCA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ fffffa8007c35a08
Section       @ fffffa8007c35b90
Offset        : 664
Length        : 264
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal

Error         : [COLOR=RoyalBlue][U][B]BUSLG_GENERIC_ERR_*_TIMEOUT_ERR (Proc 0 Bank 4)[/B][/U][/COLOR]
  Status      : 0xfa00000000070f0f

This could be any other hardware that the CPU is communicating with
or even the CPU itself (although pretty rare).
How old is the Motherboard?
Just from personal experience it's not the first time I've seen a 0x124 on this MB.

As you said the the PSU should not be the issue but it's always good to keep that in mind
as a possible option.

It's time to start testing the hardware .
I'm positive you don't need any guidance on how to go about performing them but I'll post the detailed
instructions for future searches that may be.


Start with the CPU using Prime95 then Furmark for the GPU followed with
an overnight run of Memtest86+ .

Test for thermals and stability:

• Download Speccy and post a Screenshot of the summary window, one at idle and another while putting load on the PC using Prime95 for the CPU side and Furmark for the GPU.
  • Before running Prime95 make sure to enable Round-off checking (see 1st post under the tutorial).

Reset the BIOS back to default in case you're unaware that your CPU is overclocked:

• CLR CMOS

   Note

Write down the current value of the SATA Mode!
Its either AHCI or IDE.
After resetting the CMOS go back and verify the value for SATA Mode is what it was
when the OS was installed.

   Note

If any component is overclocked reset it back to stock speeds!

Testing the RAM:

Test and Diagnose RAM Issues with Memtest86+:

• RAM - Test with Memtest86+

   Tip

• :info: Pay close attention to part 3 of the tutorial "If you have errors"
• :tip: Test the RAM with Memtest86+ for at least 7-10 passes. It may take up to 22 passes to find problems. Make sure to run it once after the system has been on for a few hours and is warm, and then also run it again when the system has been off for a few hours and is cold.

When done with the testing procedure take a picture and upload it here.


Good places to read more:

• Stop 0x124 - what it means and what to try
• Stop 0x124 Troubleshooting - 'New Method'

 

[Indianatone]

Ok, Thanks for analyzing the reports YoYo155.
Here is what I have done so far.
I tortured the CPU and RAM with Prime 95. Ran for 8 hours CPU temp was 47C maximum. No issues. Ran Memtest overnight and ram was tested OK. Checked and double checked the bios settings, everything was as it should be. Tested the hard drives with HD Sentinel and scan disk. No problems found. All updates are present. Ran the disk cleanup update and removed 6.2gb of old updates. Checked bios and drivers are all up to date. Tortured the VGA card with Furmark that raised the temp to of the VGA Card to 79C. She has good cooling in the case, front fan, side fan, and rear fan with a push pull Hyper 212 on the CPU. Never over-clocked.
Got on-line and ordered a new motherboard and CPU for me so I can swap out my motherboard for hers to RA both MB and CPU if needed. We both have machines with that MB in them.
Thought I had it when the voltage in Hardware monitor for the 12V rail reads 15V, mine does too with exactly the same PSU so out came the voltmeter 12V is 12.347.

 

[YoYo155]

Thanks for the update .
Sounds like a healthy PC, but it is not behaving as such.
Did you (or Tammy) notice a pattern to the bugchecks? for example when the PC is not in use and at idle?
Try running the with different power settings;

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...rn-off-hard-disk-after-idle-never.html?filter

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html?filter

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/22867-windows-does-not-start-after-sleep.html?filter

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...power-management-turn-off-windows.html?filter

Let us know how it goes after a little while.

 

[Indianatone]

It did it three times yesterday when she was using it. She was browsing the web using Firefox when the cursor changed to a hand, stopped responding and then rebooted. We even came back to the computer to find that it was back on the log on screen having crashed when no one is using it. It was getting worse and worse so I have put my motherboard in it to save having to reinstall windows and set everything up again for her. I'll need to hook up the suspect board and try to pin it down or if not send both back for repair/replacement. A good thing did come out of this, after I burned a mini cd of Memtest I booted it on one of my machines to test it and discovered I have a bad chip at 15.97 GB after one pass. Tested it several times even upped the ram voltage to see if that helped but I have just got an RMA from GSkill. That is the second set of 2 x 4Gb sticks I have gone faulty in different PC's. RMA was quick and painless.

 

[Indianatone]

OK here is where we are so far. Spend yesterday slapping my motherboard and a 965 CPU in Tammy's machine. Did not have to reauthorize except Outlook noticed and one or two minor things needed tweaking in the bios to go with this setup. Everything was working just as it should until she once again was surfing and off it went. So it is NOT the CPU or the motherboard. I have this constant nagging about the nvidia driver and there was a new one out yesterday so I have installed that. I have also disconnected the last piece of hardware added a card reader hooking to usb 2 and Sata ports to see if that is it. It has been running all night but who knows

 

[YoYo155]

Hi thanks for the update !
The (internal?) card reader sounds like a valid culprit in this case as it's a consistent
bus communication error, I'm sorry if I sent you out on a wild goose chase .
A 0x124 is not only the least informative bugcheck but is also the hardest to diagnose remotely.

 

[Indianatone]

Hi thanks for the update !
The (internal?) card reader sounds like a valid culprit in this case as it's a consistent
bus communication error, I'm sorry if I sent you out on a wild goose chase .
A 0x124 is not only the least informative bugcheck but is also the hardest to diagnose remotely.

No problem at all, hooked up the motherboard with a CPU and some ram on my test table and now it does not boot. Swapped the CPU and the RAM and the video card still not booting. Tammy's old mother board bit the dust, now I don't know if it was the constant crashing or whether the Asus board finally went bad. I will RA it. Her machine was fine today.
Thank you for yor help in sorting this out. I always build the missus a good machine so the board is still under warranty. It was damp and rainy here and I took static precautions and everything else is working so it is dead....Jim.

 

[YoYo155]

Thanks for the update good luck with the RMA process!
If you believe the issue is solved, please mark the thread as you see fit .

 

[Indianatone]

OK after much extensive testing I have found the part causing the issue. The GigaByte GV-N450C 1GI is causing the random lock ups and occasional imediate reboots. She ran over a week with no issues with a Radeon HD 6670 in the machine so I put the NVidia card back in and the problems returned. Did not matter which driver we were using either. So back the card goes to Gigabyte for repair. Thanks YOYO155 for your help.

 

[YoYo155]

Thanks for the update .
Just to make sure I have it worked out correctly, You RMA'd (or swapped) the dead motherboard
then PC was running fine (for a while) until lock-ups started occurring which is when you swapped the GPU, ran your test of switching back and forth, and the the box is now running well.
Was that GPU being used in the machine (the dead motherboard) originally?

 

[Indianatone]

An Nvidia GT450 Gigabyte Factory OC GIGABYTE - Graphics Card - NVIDIA - PCI Express Solution - GeForce 400 Series - GV-N450OC-1GI
Yes, sat in there undisturbed for almost 3 years.

 

[YoYo155]

Thanks for clearing that up .

 

[Indianatone]

Update:
Got the board back from ASUS and it is a new or refurb board not the original. Have not tried it yet but hopefully that is a win! The graphs card is on its way back from Gigabyte and should have that today weather permitting. We are in the middle of a snow storm. I'll post a further update once I have tested the graphics card in the machine.

 

[YoYo155]

Thanks for updating, let us know how it goes .