Periodically I get a blue screen of death and I can not figure out why it is happening. I am running Windows Vista Home Premium with service pack 1 installed. The blue screen just says:

"Blue screen error caused by a device or driver. You received this message because a hardware device, its driver, or related software has caused a blue screen error. This type of error means the computer has shut down abruptly to protect itself from potential data corruption or loss. In this case, we were unable to detect the specific device or driver that caused the problem."

It just sits on the blue screen and doesn't reboot itself. I rebooted the machine and checked the Event Log in Vista. Each time this has happened there are corresponding Kernel Processor errors. I have attached the text of these errors below. Does anyone have any guesses as to what might be going on or where I can look next???? This is driving me crazy (it only happens about once or twice a week but still). Thanks in advance.

Error 1

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power
Date: 6/19/2009 8:47:27 AM
Event ID: 2
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: sj
Description:
Performance power management features on processor 1 are disabled due to a firmware problem. Check with the computer manufacturer for updated firmware.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power" Guid="{0f67e49f-fe51-4e9f-b490-6f2948cc6027}" />
<EventID>2</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-06-19T12:47:27.404Z" />
<EventRecordID>38787</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="60" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>sj</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="Processor">1</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>


Error 2

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power
Date: 6/19/2009 8:47:27 AM
Event ID: 2
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: sj
Description:
Performance power management features on processor 0 are disabled due to a firmware problem. Check with the computer manufacturer for updated firmware.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power" Guid="{0f67e49f-fe51-4e9f-b490-6f2948cc6027}" />
<EventID>2</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-06-19T12:47:27.404Z" />
<EventRecordID>38788</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="60" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>sj</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="Processor">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>


Error 3

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power
Date: 6/19/2009 8:47:27 AM
Event ID: 4
Task Category: None
Level: Information
Keywords:
User: SYSTEM
Computer: sj
Description:
Processor 1 exposes the following:

1 idle state(s)
0 performance state(s)
0 throttle state(s)
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Processor-Power" Guid="{0f67e49f-fe51-4e9f-b490-6f2948cc6027}" />
<EventID>4</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>4</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-06-19T12:47:27.404Z" />
<EventRecordID>38789</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="60" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>sj</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="Processor">1</Data>
<Data Name="IdleStateCount">1</Data>
<Data Name="PerfStateCount">0</Data>
<Data Name="ThrottleStateCount">0</Data>
<ComplexData Name="IdleState">01000000</ComplexData>
<ComplexData Name="PerfState">
</ComplexData>
</EventData>
</Event>

Has this always been the case? Or did the blue screen recently occur. It is a hardware issue... either a defect, indadequate memory, or driver. Do you see any flags in the device manager?

No, it has not always been the case, but I have not made any changes recently. When I look in the Device Manager there are no warnings or flags on any of the devices.

OK, just a little more information. When Vista has recovered the last couple of times Windows said that Nvidia nForce SATA drivers stopped working correctly and to get new drivers. The mother board that I have is a MSI P6N SLI Platinum. I downloaded the latest drivers I could find but still no luck. I booted into safe mode and let the computer run for a while and once again I got the blue screen with error code 0x00000124, even from safe mode. I then booted into Ubuntu and so far no issues. Anyone have any ideas? I am kind of stumped.

This is the basic Error information:
You are high on my list for using the Event Viewer before being asked to! It is a great troubleshooting tool in Windows XP and Vista!

Have a look here about Vista power management & CPU frequency:
http://blogs.msdn.com/richardt/archi...frequency.aspx

Another reference here for different ways to determine CPU speed in Windows Server 2003:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888282

Yeah, I just wish Event Viewer would give me a better idea of what is actually wrong. I read the links that you provided, but I am still not sure what action to take to resolve the issue. I am wondering if I should just buy another motherboard and processor to fix the problem and then build an Ubuntu box off of the old P6N Platinum board and processor since Ubuntu seems to run good on it. I am just wondering if a new motherboard and processor will fix the issue. At this point I am willing to dish out the bucks if it will fix the problem. Thoughts?

Well, I'll state the obvious> there is a power management problem which may be due to lack of firmware update, most likely the BIOS. Check the homesite and see if there is a BIOS update.

From Microsoft:
Please follow Steps 1,2 and 3 here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927393

OK, I just ran a BIOS update on the machine. It is back up and running now. I will let you know if I get any more BSoD's. So far so good, but it has only been back up for about 5 minutes.

Well, that seemed the most reasonable place to start! Hopefully, it will be the place to stop also. Let me know.

So far it is the place to stop. I have had it running for over 24 hours now and no issues. If I never see a BSoD again it will be too soon. Thanks for all of your help.

Glad to help. Hope you never see 'blue' again! but let us know if you do.