What does this error mean?

[Black Panther]

Some 10 days ago I did a fresh install on my desktop rig - replaced my Seagate Barracuda HDD with a 160GB Intel SSD and installed a newly purchased Windows 7 on it.

The only applications I have installed are utorrent, Adobe Flash Player, ATI Catalyst, Avast, CCleaner, Creative drivers for my sound card and Creative ALchemy, Fallout New Vegas, Fraps, Steam and WinRAR.

Used this rig since then with no problems, mainly for surfing the net and to play Vegas..

Today I had a BSOD upon startup, computer rebooted and I was prompted to run the repair tool which prompted me to do a system restore..

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 0000000000000000
BCP2: FFFFFA8005979038
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\110910-9562-01.dmp
C:\Users\BlackPanther\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-15069-0.sysdata.xml

Any idea what could have caused this, or where I could start investigating?

Thanks

 

[cadaveca]

If you go to control panel, administrative tools, conputer management, then event viewer, it should tell you how many errors have occured over the past hours, 24 hours, and week...take a look there and let us know how many errors you have there, and what they say...they should tell you what caused the crash a bit better.

 

[Fourstaff]

http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/topic/260603-bsod-on-windows-7-bccode-124/

this might help, it might not.

and this http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic125985.html

 

[sneekypeet]

0124 errors are usually related to voltage when you overclock. for P55 its related to Vtt, I cant remember the voltage for 775 chipsets though, not the NB volts its something else.

 

[Kreij]

This is a MCI device problem.
MCI devices are drivers that provide Windows based programs device-independent capabilities for controlling multimedia hardware and software.

Try uninstalling the Creative drivers and see if it goes away.

 

[yogurt_21]

second taking a look at the event viewer but you might want to try removing the creative drivers as kreij suggested as well. also did you chekc out the dump file the error pointed out? can you post what it says?

 

[Black Panther]

This is what happened:

This is a MCI device problem.
MCI devices are drivers that provide Windows based programs device-independent capabilities for controlling multimedia hardware and software.

Try uninstalling the Creative drivers and see if it goes away.

I forgot to say that after I got the system back up and running I had no sound. Clicking the sound icon on taskbar said I had 'headphones' (I don't have & never had headphones on this pc). Sound properties didn't show up speakers. Speakers showed up and sound came back only after I rebooted again... hmmm

 

[cadaveca]

I want to suggest Avast gets off your system. I have many issues in 3 locations because of users installing Avast. Microsoft Security Essentials does the same job, and is free, too, without the headaches.

ANYWAY, now that's off my chest, I suggest you look into Sneekypeet's suggestion, as the WHEA-Logger entries are cpu-stability problems. The 7044, 7022, and 7023 errors are due to the system losing it's gourd.


But, Kriej has a good suggestion as well.

Event ID's can be easily identified via this portal:

http://www.eventid.net/

 

[Namslas90]

Must be a driver issue.
Stop Error 124 is overheating
Locale ID: 1033 is GPU
Product 768_1 is a driver issue.
WHEA-Logger is Hardware error related to overheating.

http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lockup-debug-how/35349-stop-0x124-what-means-what-try.html
http://social.technet.microsoft.com...f/thread/7174ca7c-445c-4bad-894a-de368bd15feb
http://www.techsupportforum.com/mic...t/465107-bsod-locale-id-1033-windows-7-a.html

 

[Black Panther]

Well I'm confused:

I've been running this overclock (stress-tested for 12+ hours) for over a year now with no problems:

Temps aren't awesome, but there's no serious overheating:

Also I never got any BSOD ingame while the cpu and gpu are being stressed out.

 

[cadaveca]

Well, you know, SneekyPeet and I were just discussing this on the teamspeak...


After a year running an overclock, your board's capacitors and such will have taken some abuse, so it might be time to up some voltages.


Basically, seems like either memory or memory control is losing it's noodle, and then the crash happens when that area of memory needs to be accessed again. it might be cpu as well...hard to say, but ot me, I'd be looking at the board first.

FYI, good idea of voltages needed here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=194629

 

[sneekypeet]

Well I never got a 124 error without an overclock. I'm banking on the fact that the OC is a year old, and due to a bit of cap aging and normal use, the voltages being supplied aren't what they once were. Just basic degradation. What dave said

Also after looking I'm gonna say CPU VTT is what I was going to say to bump one or two notches.

 

[Black Panther]

Thanks guys.

Well, if this occurs only once in a while I'm okay to live with it

The OC isn't exactly a year old.... This old P5B mobo has been enduring oc'ing for nearly 4 years now, first with an E4300 @ 3Ghz and then with the E8400 @ 4Ghz... so it has amply served its time.
The last time I touched the southbridge (in 2007 with E4300 @ 3Ghz) it was so hot my fingers nearly got stuck to it, so I never dared touch it again!

I'm afraid upping any voltages now might deal it the blow of death.

Anyway at least I know that this problem isn't down to the SSD which I bought as used. That had been my main fear - throwing $320 of just-purchased SSD down the drain

 

[cadaveca]

It's possible the SSD is causing the board to toss it's cookies...would be the first I've heard of it, but hardware conflicts happen all the time.

Verifiy everything is ok by running stock for a few days, then I'd proceed to overclock again.

One thing to note is that although things may appear fine, there may still be new events in event viewer, so I suggest you keep an eye there for further issues for the next few days as well. It really sounds like the overclock isn't as stable as it used to be, for whatever reason...you've got a pretty good chip there, anyway, if you are running 1.225v for 4ghz...

 

[Kreij]

Code 124 is not necessarily overheating.
The WHEA-Logger events in the log are what is being thrown.
The MCI devices us the WHEA (Windows Hardware Error Architecture) for reporting stuff.

 

[marvelous211]

Was this a new build?

You might want to check memory. It's usually the case 99% of the time when there are errors.

 

[Black Panther]

Was this a new build?

You might want to check memory. It's usually the case 99% of the time when there are errors.

It's more of an ever-changing built, but it's been the same since I bought the 5970 before summer. Only now I replaced the HDD with a SSD and made a fresh install of Win 7.

Memtest shows no errors.

____________________________

What is certain is that I'm having audio issues.

In the midst of using my pc I'd find myself with no sound. I wouldn't know what happened exactly since it's never happened mid-game, only while browsing the net, so I'd be like uh-oh I'm not hearing any windows sounds but not knowing since when since I'd have booted the pc making normal sounds!

Sometimes a reboot solves it. Other times I click on the sound icon in taskbar and it says I have headphones (which I don't) and when I change that to speakers I still don't get sound.

 

[mastrdrver]

The only time I ever get WHEA in event viewer was with memory errors. Usually says something about processor "insert some number here".

Never fails to be that problem when overclocking.

 

[Black Panther]

Usually says something about processor "insert some number here".

That's exactly my case as well.

So the error is due to the OC, but it's a memory error yet memtest runs fine

 

[sneekypeet]

From what I was going at, it was a memory controller issue, not a memory issue.

 

[cadaveca]

That's exactly my case as well.

So the error is due to the OC, but it's a memory error yet memtest runs fine

Becuase of the random nature of memtest's #4 test, it actually takes like 9.5hours per 2GB before a stick is acutally tested. It might be 4GB, but the 9.5hr number comes from the program's author.

Anyway, I'd make sure you get rid of the drivers, too, and reinstall them. THE OC could ahve casued the driver to corrupt, or even the driver could be causing the issues due to something like a memory leak, etc.

 

[mastrdrver]

I know this on AM3 and 1366: pass test 5 and 7 and you'll clear all the others when pushing timings and cpu-nb/uncore.

I had some blue Ripjaws that had a strange behavior on my now broke 790FXT-UD5P. I think it was because of the "high" default vdimm of 1.60v but when I would try to push the memory I would sometimes get errors in test 3 and/or 4 but I would have to loop them for hours. I never did figure out what they were related to.

That has really been the exception though.

That's exactly my case as well.

So the error is due to the OC, but it's a memory error yet memtest runs fine

read

Surprisingly, memory testing hasn't changed much even for latest X58/Core i7 platform. While it's relevance in actual memory stability has lessened for X58 in that for absolute memory stability you still need verification in windows stability tests, memtest is still very useful for diagnosing the system and memory. Most of what I wrote below for s754/s939/p35/x38/x48/p45/680i/780i systems still hold true for X58. For example, errors in test #5 are still more memory related and respond to vdimm voltage. Test #1-4 are more cpu/cache related and respond to vcore and even cpu vtt/vdimm balance voltages

If it still works the same looping test 5 and test 7 should show you the errors. I'm not 100% sure with the FSB system but I know on my i7 920 if I get errors in those two tests I always get errors in the others. I never get no errors on test 5 and 7 but errors in other tests.

Be warned: I've had to loop test 5 for 24 hrs just to get an error to pop up at the 22 hr. No joke.