Random BSOD (possibly having to do with NIC driver)

[Dantheman84]

Hi Guys,

I am really hoping you can help salvage this rather old but decent system. I still use it for gaming so it does have a purpose!

Okay I am getting a BSOD and it seems to be happening when I stream media over the network or if someone is watching a video file from my machine from another computer. It doesn't happen immediately but that seems to be the trigger. I noticed almost every night when I would try and stream music from my media server it would go out shortly after, and I use about 2-3 different media streaming programs so its not just 1 particular program.

The stop error message is 0x00000124. I have included the minidump file. I just got the BSOD this morning and I was streaming video before it happened.

Please help with any suggestions.

Dan

 

[Route44]

Your error is 0x124: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR and is described as "A fatal hardware error has occurred."

This error code and definition has replaced the older XP code 0x9C: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION and though it is older the definition still is applicable: This is a hardware issue: an unrecoverable hardware error has occurred. The parameters have different meanings depending on what type of CPU you have but, while diagnostic, rarely lead to a clear solution. Most commonly it results from overheating, from failed hardware (RAM, CPU, hardware bus, power supply, etc.), or from pushing hardware beyond its capabilities (e.g., overclocking a CPU).

Honestly, this is a very difficult error to work with because as it says a clear diagnosis rarely comes forth and I have never seen a minidump with either error codes give a definitive answer. I know IT techs that don't like working with it. What makes it so difficult is that it can be any hardware in your system -- and I mean any. Your dump simply cited hardware as the issue and nothing more definitive.

Here are some of the causes that were determined to be the source of 0x124/0x9C errors from posters here and abroad: NIC, DVD/CD drives, dust build up around the CPU that caused overheating of said CPU, bulging capacitors hidden by heatsink, video card, psu, motherboard, and external harddrive connected by USB.

* So it could very well be your NIC card is bad in light of how old the system is.

See this link for further information: http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lockup-debug-how/35349-stop-0x124-what-means-what-try.html

 

[Dantheman84]

Thanks for the prompt response

Hi Route44,

I do have an OC capable Graphics card in there, and I only started recieving the BSOD's after i plugged in my graphics card, and updated the drivers. It is a
EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0
. It plays great and it never BSOD's when i am playing a game, only seems to do it when idle. I've done stress tests on it to make sure. When I boot up in safe mode I never get the BSOD, and the only thing plugged in is the video card. I could try to plug that same video card into my other machine but i just don't want to mess that one up, since its a brand new one i got.I probably should though right? Can you even get BSOD's in safe mode? I had it running for a week straight and no BSOD's. As soon as i booted out of safe mode it took at least 16-24 hours to get another BSOD.

hmmm.

Now that I think of it, maybe its coincidental that I got the BSOD after media sharing, because i booted in safe mode with networking, and i was able to browse the internet and look at other peoples files on the network...I bet its the video card, but I need something foolproof that says its the video card before i submit an RMA...Last time i was getting horrible artifacts on screen, i updated the drivers, fixed the artifacts, but then it seems that maybe the drivers i installed were possibly causing the BSOD....But you are saying its not software, but failed hardware, so that doesn't seem to make sense either....still stumped....

 

[Route44]

Try rolling back your video drivers to the previous latest release.

keep in mind oced hardware can cause this error.