BSOD, hal.dll involved, processor suspected.

[JetstreamXT]

Hello,

 

Thank you for taking time to look at my problem. Recently, when I try to play a game such as League of Legends or World of Warcraft, my computer sometimes experiences a garbled screen, followed by a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) with the bugcheck code 0x00000124. Also, when I used NirSoft's BSOD viewer, it pointed to a file called "hal.dll" as the culprit. I attempted to upload my minidump files, but I was unable to upload that type of file to the forums. I also tried zipping it into a .rar file, but that was also rejected. Instead, I am going to post the parameters from the bugcheck itself:

- System

    - Provider

      [ Name] Microsoft-Windows-WER-SystemErrorReporting       [ Guid] {ABCE23E7-DE45-4366-8631-84FA6C525952}       [ EventSourceName] BugCheck

    - EventID 1001

      [ Qualifiers] 16384

      Version 0       Level 2       Task 0       Opcode 0       Keywords 0x80000000000000     - TimeCreated

      [ SystemTime] 2013-09-05T00:23:32.000000000Z

      EventRecordID 117843       Correlation     - Execution

      [ ProcessID] 0       [ ThreadID] 0

      Channel System       Computer TuftsBuild1       Security

- EventData

    param1 0x00000124 (0x0000000000000000, 0xfffffa8004ece028, 0x00000000b6764000, 0x0000000000000175)     param2 C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP     param3 090413-26364-01

 

Is there any way that someone can help me find the cause of my BSOD with the information I've given, help me upload my minidump files, or tell me where to go to find additional files related to the crash?

 

Thank you for your assistance.

 

Edit: Forgot to mention my computer's specifications. I am running Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, and using a 64-bit operating system. My processor is an AMD A8-3850 APU with Radeon graphics, and my motherboard is a GIGABYTE GA-A55M-DS2. Thank you again.

 

 

[Raa]

Have you tried running a www.memtest.org?

Also a chance it's a graphics driver, worth updating that too just in case!

[John.D]

That can mean a faulty CPU too. Youre not overclocking are you? Overclocking can cause that stop error too. Does the BIOS  support hypertransport?? If it does disable it, this can also cause that stop error

[JetstreamXT]

Have you tried running a www.memtest.org?

Also a chance it's a graphics driver, worth updating that too just in case!

I actually have used memtest. My computer completed 2 passes with no errors. It appears that my graphics driver version was created 7 years ago,and there is an update on the AMD website. Is there any chance that updating the graphics driver will cause additional problems, or is it a relatively safe process?

 

That can mean a faulty CPU too. Youre not overclocking are you? Overclocking can cause that stop error too. Does the BIOS  support hypertransport?? If it does disable it, this can also cause that stop error

I am not overclocking, to the best of my knowledge. I'm using the default settings for my processor, even though there is software to overclock the processor (AMD Vision Engine Control Center, if anyone has heard of it). I am not sure if my BIOS is hypertransport-enabled, or if it even supports hypertransport. I'm planning to access my BIOS from the boot screen and check for hypertransport support without changing anything. I will make sure to post if I find anything involving hypertransport. I am using Award Software F3 BIOS, if that gives any clarification. There are updates available, but I haven't utilized them because several sources have told me that doing so may create additional problems.

 

Thank you for your assistance, and please let me know if there is any other information I can post to help solve the problem.

[Tews]

Stop 0x124 - what it means and what to try

Synopsis:

A "stop 0x124" is fundamentally different to many other types of bluescreens because it stems from a hardware complaint. Stop 0x124 minidumps contain very little practical information, and it is therefore necessary to approach the problem as a case of hardware in an unknown state of distress.


Generic "Stop 0x124" Troubleshooting Strategy:

1)

 Ensure that none of the hardware components are overclocked. Hardware that is driven beyond its design specifications - by overclocking - can malfunction in unpredictable ways.

2)

 Ensure that the machine is adequately cooled. If there is any doubt, open up the side of the PC case (be mindful of any relevant warranty conditions!) and point a mains fan squarely at the motherboard. That will rule out most (lack of) cooling issues.

3)

 Update all hardware-related drivers: video, sound, RAID (if any), NIC... anything that interacts with a piece of hardware. It is good practice to run the latest drivers anyway.

4)

 Update the motherboard BIOS according to the manufacturer's instructions. Their website should provide detailed instructions as to the brand and model-specific procedure.

5)

 Rarely, bugs in the OS may cause "false positive" 0x124 events where the hardware wasn't complaining but Windows thought otherwise (because of the bug). At the time of writing, Windows 7 is not known to suffer from any such defects, but it is nevertheless important to always keep Windows itself updated. 

6)

 Attempt to (stress) test those hardware components which can be put through their paces artificially. The most obvious examples are the RAM and HDD(s). For the RAM, use the in-built memory diagnostics (run MDSCHED) or the 3rd-party memtest86 utility to run many hours worth of testing. For hard drives, check whether CHKDSK /R finds any problems on the drive(s), notably "bad sectors". Unreliable RAM, in particular, is deadly as far as software is concerned, and anything other than a 100% clear memory test result is cause for concern. Unfortunately, even a 100% clear result from the diagnostics utilities does not guarantee that the RAM is free from defects - only that none were encountered during the test passes.

7)

 As the last of the non-invasive troubleshooting steps, perform a "vanilla" reinstallation of Windows: just the OS itself without any additional applications, games, utilities, updates, or new drivers - 

NOTHING AT ALL that is not sourced from the Windows 7 disc. 

Should that fail to mitigate the 0x124 problem, jump to the next steps. Otherwise, if you run the "vanilla" installation long enough to convince yourself that not a single 0x124 crash has occurred, start installing updates and applications slowly, always pausing between successive additions long enough to get a feel for whether the machine is still free from 0x124 crashes. Should the crashing resume, obviously the very last software addition(s) may be somehow linked to the root cause.

If stop 0x124 errors persist despite the steps above, and the harware is under warranty, consider returning it and requesting a replacement which does not suffer periodic MCE events. Be aware that attempting the subsequent harware troubleshooting steps may, in some cases, void your warranty:

8)

 Clean and carefully remove any dust from the inside of the machine. Reseat all connectors and memory modules. Use a can of compressed air to clean out the RAM DIMM sockets as much as possible.

9)

 If all else fails, start removing items of hardware one-by-one in the hope that the culprit is something non-essential which can be removed. Obviously, this type of testing is a lot easier if you've got access to equivalent components in order to perform swaps.

 

Should you find yourself in the situation of having performed all of the steps above without a resolution of the symptom, unfortunately the most likely reason is because the error message is literally correct - something is fundamentally wrong with the machine's hardware. 

[Top Qat]

Have a look here http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/getting-blue-screen-error-code-124-on-windows-7/a90b0860-235c-4541-81cf-346bca661c24

 

This article seems to suggest CPU over heating. Maybe your system is bunged up with dust? Or maybe the CPU needs to be re-seated with new thermal paste.

 

Also, has there been any hardware or driver changes recently that may be the cause?

[JetstreamXT]

Have a look here http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/getting-blue-screen-error-code-124-on-windows-7/a90b0860-235c-4541-81cf-346bca661c24

 

This article seems to suggest CPU over heating. Maybe your system is bunged up with dust? Or maybe the CPU needs to be re-seated with new thermal paste.

 

Also, has there been any hardware or driver changes recently that may be the cause?

 

 

 8) Clean and carefully remove any dust from the inside of the machine. Reseat all connectors and memory modules. Use a can of compressed air to clean out the RAM DIMM sockets as much as possible.

2) Ensure that the machine is adequately cooled. If there is any doubt, open up the side of the PC case (be mindful of any relevant warranty conditions!) and point a mains fan squarely at the motherboard. That will rule out most (lack of) cooling issues.

 

 

At this point, it looks like my CPU may in fact be overheating. The last time I changed drivers was two months ago, and I can't think of any simpler solution. I'm going to point a small fan at my computer, play one of my games, and see if it still crashes. A crash should effectively rule out cooling issues. Also, I did notice that my computer was a little dusty. I've cleaned out the vents to see if that will help. As for re-seating the CPU with thermal paste, I don't know how to do that, so I should probably leave it alone.

I'll report back with my results.

 

Thanks again for all of your help.

 

 

[JetstreamXT]

Just an update on my situation. I've started using a fan to cool my computer, and I have not had one crash today, in comparison to the 1-2 crashes per hour I used to get. I think that it was in fact a cooling problem, and that the fan is helping prevent further crashing. I still have to test to make sure that the problem doesn't come up again, but until then, my problem looks to be solved.

 

Thank you to everyone who posted for their input and helping with my computer problems.  

[xendrome]

Just an update on my situation. I've started using a fan to cool my computer, and I have not had one crash today, in comparison to the 1-2 crashes per hour I used to get. I think that it was in fact a cooling problem, and that the fan is helping prevent further crashing. I still have to test to make sure that the problem doesn't come up again, but until then, my problem looks to be solved.

 

Thank you to everyone who posted for their input and helping with my computer problems.  

 

Hopefully it's not a fan with an electromagnetic motor inside of it sitting close to your tower. The magnetic field created by that and sitting very close to your system could cause drive corruption, I've seen it happen with RAID'ed drives before. You need to properly cool your system/case with the right stuff, not a quick fix.