BSOD one to two times a day

Question

Recently I've been getting a BSOD 1 to two times a day. It doesn't seem to be associated with anything particular. I can be playing a game or doing nothing and the computer blue screens and then reboots and runs fine until the next crash. Every time it reboots I get a "Windows has recovered from an unexpected crash" pop-up, but I'm not computer literate enough to know what to do with that info. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium. If anyone could tell me what the info means then I would be very appreciative.

Edit: Here's a link to the DMP files my computer had.

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=8906139F29F6F934!108&authkey=!AH36hdtyesHZtLc

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen

OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3

Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:

BCCode: 124

BCP1: 0000000000000000

BCP2: FFFFFA800ABC2028

BCP3: 00000000B6544000

BCP4: 0000000068000135

OS Version: 6_1_7601

Service Pack: 1_0

Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:

C:\Windows\Minidump\090113-18891-01.dmp

C:\Users\Brandon Simmons\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-42884-0.sysdata.xml

Answer 1

Great, thanks!

All of the attached DMP files are of the WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124) bugcheck.

A fatal hardware error has occurred. This fatal error displays data from the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).

BugCheck 124, {0, fffffa800abc2028, b6544000, 68000135}

If we run an !errrec on the 2nd parameter of the bugcheck (address of the WER structure) we get the following:

===============================================================================

Section 2     : x86/x64 MCA

---

Descriptor    @ fffffa800abc2138

Section       @ fffffa800abc22c0

Offset        : 664

Length        : 264

Flags         : 0x00000000

Severity      : Fatal

Error         : DCACHEL1_DRD_ERR (Proc 1 Bank 0)

  Status      : 0xb654400068000135

  Address     : 0x000000030ace0600

  Misc.       : 0x0000000000000000

In all of the dumps, it's a consistent DCACHEL1_DRD_ERR (always Proc 1 and Bank 0 as well).

DCACHEL1_DRD_ERR = Implies there was a Cache L1 Data Read error.

MODULE_NAME: hardware

IMAGE_NAME:  hardware

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID:  X64_0x124_AuthenticAMD_PROCESSOR_CACHEBUCKET_ID:  X64_0x124_AuthenticAMD_PROCESSOR_CACHE

^^ Implies that this was NOT caused by any sort of software complication (drivers, etc) but hardware... processor cache also furthers our diagnosis in the CPU itself (L1 Cache) possibly being faulty.

There is only so much you can do with a bugcheck like this until it comes down to a faulty processor that will need to be replaced. Start from 1 and work downward:

1. Ensure your temperatures are within standard and nothing's overheating. You can use a program such as Speccy if you'd like to monitor temps - http://www.piriform.com/speccy

2. Clear your CMOS (or load optimized BIOS defaults) to ensure there's no improper BIOS setting or to clear overclock settings - http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/tp/clearcmos.htm

3. Ensure your BIOS is up to date.

4. The only software conflict that can usually cause *124 bugchecks are OS to BIOS utilities from manufacturer's like Asus' AI Suite. If you have something like this software-wise, remove it ASAP.

5. If all of the above fail, the only left to do is replace your processor as it is faulty.

Regards,

Patrick

Answer 2

Hi,

Very glad to hear. If you go without crashes and you are comfortable I helped you solved your issues, I recommend marking my original post that assisted you as answered so this thread no longer shows up as requiring an answer.

Regards,

Patrick

Answer 3

fairly certain it fixed it. Thank you very much for all the help.

Answer 4

Ah, yes, as I mentioned above in step #1, overheating is a very large cause of *124's. Thanks for letting me know as I will know include in future 124 posts to run OCCT or a similar stress program.

Keep me updated on everything once you manage to get the temperatures down.

Regards,

Patrick

Answer 5

It has, but I'm fairly certain I found the issue. I'm not 100% sure on it, but fairly certain. A friend who is a computer tech had me run OCCT and the idling temp on CPU doing nothing, but watching a stream on Twitch.tv on low quality it was at 50C. He told me that it shouldn't be that high doing basically nothing and actually running the test the program does it got up to 80C in about 3 minutes and the computer started freaking out, going extremely slow, almost unresponsive and I was told to just shut the program down and it was more than likely overheating and I need new thermal paste on the heat sink. I'll probably be going out later today and purchasing some. Hopefully that fixes the issue.