New HP desktop freeze / BSOD

Hi,

I am hoping someone here can offer some help. I am not particularly literate on hardware/bug details so not sure how to proceed in doing further checks (though I intend to try).

I have a new HP customized desktop, fairly high spec and have had 2 BSODs and a couple of hangs in the less than two weeks I've had my machine, while performing basic tasks - ie. it isn't a power or overheat issue. I've updated drivers, run HP diagnostics with no obvious issues, but still I get occassional hangs (once every 2 or 3 days).
The first two issues resulted in BSODs (attached minidumps) - at the time I was surfing the internet, with no other desktop programs running. Other couple of times it has hung was when playing the bundled chess game (firefox open also); and while using "Sandra" to run diagnostics this morning (froze on module scan)

Eventlogs - not sure on how to read all this (should there be so many errors on a new, normally functioning pc??) but errors occurring at freeze times were mainly WMI & SCM, there are also someLanguagePackSetup errors that pop up at various times (the native OS is Japanese, I use English pack)

I haven't installed many extra applications on the machine, as this started to happen I was waiting to see if the situation would improve before installing more. So, basically, for a high-performance system pretty much out of the box, drivers updated, I shouldn't have any of these issues (IMHO).

I will contact HP support soon, though I am in Japan, and support is only in Japanese, so that's why I am asking here first.

CPU: Corei7-950
MOBO: Pegatron IPMTB-TK Model: TRUCKEE-UL8E
Memory: 6 slots - full. 9GB DDR3 RAM @1GHz (3x2, 3x1)
GPU: GeForce GTS250 1GB
PSU: 460W
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit, Japanese, English Language Pack

Thanks in advance for any of your time and effort. Hope you can help! (as I'm not sure HP helpdesk will be able to, and I don't want to have to send the pc back already..)

0x124 WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR are very difficult errors to deal with because it is hard to pin down the exact cause.Through research I have come across IT professionals who confess the trouble of zeroing on the cause.

The 0x124 is the newer code in Vista. Under XP the older code is 0x9C and here is a description:

0x0000009C: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
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).

As the definition says, it is definitely a hardware issue. Microsoft in their brief 0x124 definition also says it is definitely a hardware issue. The answer may be found in your second log: CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101) An expected clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor in anMP system within the allocated interval. This indicates that the specified processor is hung and not processing interrupts. This has to do with your CPU. Re-read the above definition.

My first and best advice is to get a hold of HP and have them fix this. Since it is new it has to still be under warrenty. Seriously, I know people who get close to tearing out their hair in trying to find the cause of their problem.

When you contact them make sure you have your logs with the information you have showed us here. That is valuable info.

* Please do us a favor and keep us up-to-date and tell us how HP resolved this because such info is valuable for the community. Thanks and good luck.

Thanks Route44!

Yesterday, I restored windows from scratch to see if it would make a difference. Was going along fine (this time, eventually, all the menus and even start-up was in English!), and I was hoping this would be all I needed to do - while giving it some time before installing all but the most basic of programs.
Well, just tonight, with the pc idle (internet was the only appl running), the pc shut down and rebooted (no BSOD, no minidump file either). Looking at the event log, there's nothing pre-shutdown, just the eventlog for an "unexpected shutdown", followed by 4 WHEA-logger warnings (first time I've seent hese):

> A corrected hardware error occurred.

Error Source: Corrected Machine Check

Error Type: Internal Timer Error

Processor ID Valid: Yes
Processor ID: 0x7
Bank Number: 5
Transaction Type: N/A
Processor Participation: N/A
Request Type: N/A
Memory/Io: N/A
Memory Hierarchy Level: N/A

and a WMI error (this seems to occur quite often):
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.


Anyway, I'll contact HP again - they originally suggested to run HP diagnostic: nothing. And then to restore Windows and install every appl/update one by one, a few days apart to see if there are any issues in between - who would actually do that?!?!
I'll try to explain to them (via a Japanese friend) the minidump contents and see what they say. A little surprised that the CPU would be a problem given that it is supposed to be high-quality Corei7...

Will keep you posted on the outcome - could take some time tho...

Cheers!