0

Short summary:

Windows 8.1 Blank screen on boot, after System Restore gets bugcheck 0x124: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR, argument 0x00: MCA error.

Possibly related earlier minidump (it won't generate one now) points to halmacpi.dll.

Possibly also interrupted windows update or is caused by it.

I can enter Safe Mode with Command Prompt, but not Safe Mode.

Fresh install of Windows 8.1 also gives the same bug check. sfc can not be run: "There is a pending system repair...".

More detailed story:

(Sorry for the wall of text below. Points can be referred to by number...)

  1. Computer started to behave erratically, rebooting out of the blue.
  2. At one point failed to boot, not recognising the HDD, jiggling the SATA cables didn't help.

That information is all I have, it's my father's computer and I wasn't handy except by phone.

  1. After the computer was sent to me, I jiggled the SATA cables. It immediately recognised the hard drive, but upon boot showed blank black screen.

3.5 This degraded into BSOD (WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR) when I did a system restore to a few-days-old restore point.

  1. It failed to produce a minidump ("Collecting info..." stays at 0%) but there is an older minidump (three, in fact) from a few months back, two of which are bugcheck 0x124 (WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR). I have included all three at the bottom of the question.

  2. Refresh, automatic repair etc didn't help.

5.5 Neither did changing the HDD, the SATA cable, port or controller, or exchanging memory sticks.

  1. I proceeded to image the drive and install windows 8.1 x32 fresh on the drive (it was due a spring cleaning anyway). After the install process completed (after the first restart) it tried to boot into the rest of the installer but again bug checked.

  2. Automatic repair, refresh etc again failed. Also, I couldn't even try Safe Mode (WinRE->advanced options etc, after choosing Start-Up Settings it said "Failure" with reboot as the only option).

  3. I restored the drive from the image, and started to dig in. I can enter WinRE command prompt on the machine, and I transferred the minidumps.

8.5 There is also a MEMORY.DMP that by date looks associated with one of the 0x124 error minidumps. I'm not including it on account of the size (215 MB), but it's available if necessary.

  1. I got it to create a bootlog. Also included at the bottom. (Tho I think the file has appended two bootlogs, one from safe mode boot and one from Start-up settings -> create bootlog. I trasfered the file in WinRE command prompt).

  2. Restarting in safe mode (now able to) said "Failed to configure Windows Updates. Rolling back changes" followed by "Configuring Windows Updates" and "Restarting"

  3. Restarting got me again to the black screen.

  4. Trying to boot to Safe mode gives the same black screen, with the caveat that after a while it displays the blue "Restarting..." screen and then restarts. The caveat being that this time it happens before loading graphics drivers (identifiable by a screen refresh).

  5. I can enter safe mode with command prompt on the OS itself!

  6. sfc /scannow fails to run: "There is a system repair pending..."

My impression:

There is SOME hardware failure (The BSOD). However, the windows update or something else prevents the computer from reaching the point where it is invoked, causing the black screen. When this is resolved by the system restore it reaches the BSOD condition in halmacpi.dll.

I honestly don't know what to do next. I installed the windows debug tools on the computer I'm posting from, but the dumpchk output is full of "missing symbols" errors. BlueScreenView identifies halmacpi.dll, but googling that I reached nothing I could recognise as relevant.

Dump files and bootlog:

EDIT: Files have timed out on the sharing server I used back then, and I no longer have them (not that they're that interesting) due to the external hard drive I used giving up the ghost.

9
  • There is a command that will solve the "There is a system repair pending..." error generated by sfc but honestly even if you do that command you don't have a system corruption problem considering you just installed your operating system again. halmacpi.dll indicates a power problem. I am going to assume you have all updates installed.
    – Ramhound
    Mar 12, 2015 at 12:19
  • I can't really assume that, see point 10 and 11. AFAIK half of the problem is DUE to windows updates being scheduled while the computer crashed (due to loose SATA cable? lots of ifs.) acpi seems to indicate power, yes, but that could also be so many other things, I believe sleep state management for different devices goes through that also?
    – Jostikas
    Mar 12, 2015 at 12:25
  • I would recommend adding a brief summary right at the top. Not only will that help with question previews, search results and the likes, but it will also give the reader a good idea of what to look for. Detail is good, but as it stands, you pretty much have to read the entire question to have a chance of knowing what to look for when reading the question.
    – user
    Mar 12, 2015 at 12:28
  • Thanks @MichaelKjörling, also made it more readable with headings
    – Jostikas
    Mar 12, 2015 at 12:39
  • That looks a lot better, thanks for taking the time to.
    – user
    Mar 12, 2015 at 12:39

1 Answer 1

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Your extremely old AMD Athlon 64 3000+ seams to be damaged. You get a BUSLG_GENERIC_ERR_*_TIMEOUT_ERR error:

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR (124)
A fatal hardware error has occurred. Parameter 1 identifies the type of error
source that reported the error. Parameter 2 holds the address of the
WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure that describes the error conditon.
Arguments:
Arg1: 00000000, Machine Check Exception
Arg2: 8a82e8fc, Address of the WHEA_ERROR_RECORD structure.
Arg3: b2000000, High order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.
Arg4: 00070f0f, Low order 32-bits of the MCi_STATUS value.

Debugging Details:
------------------


BUGCHECK_STR:  0x124_AuthenticAMD

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  WIN8_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME:  audiodg.exe

CURRENT_IRQL:  1f

ANALYSIS_VERSION: 6.3.9600.17298 (debuggers(dbg).141024-1500) x86fre

STACK_TEXT:  
nt!KeBugCheckEx
hal!HalBugCheckSystem
nt!WheaReportHwError
hal!HalpMcaReportError
hal!HalpMceHandlerCore
hal!HalpMceHandler
hal!HalpHandleMachineCheck
hal!HalpMcaExceptionHandler
hal!HalpMcaExceptionHandlerWrapper


===============================================================================
Common Platform Error Record @ 8a82e8fc
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Record Id     : 01d00430f037d3f9
Severity      : Fatal (1)
Length        : 928
Creator       : Microsoft
Notify Type   : Machine Check Exception
Timestamp     : 12/11/2014 5:44:38 (UTC)
Flags         : 0x00000000

===============================================================================
Section 0     : Processor Generic
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ 8a82e97c
Section       @ 8a82ea54
Offset        : 344
Length        : 192
Flags         : 0x00000001 Primary
Severity      : Fatal

Proc. Type    : x86/x64
Instr. Set    : x86
Error Type    : BUS error
Operation     : Generic
Flags         : 0x00
Level         : 3
CPU Version   : 0x0000000000020ff0
Processor ID  : 0x0000000000000000

===============================================================================
Section 1     : x86/x64 Processor Specific
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ 8a82e9c4
Section       @ 8a82eb14
Offset        : 536
Length        : 128
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal

Local APIC Id : 0x0000000000000000
CPU Id        : f0 0f 02 00 00 08 00 00 - 01 00 00 00 ff fb 8b 07
                00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
                00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

Proc. Info 0  @ 8a82eb14

===============================================================================
Section 2     : x86/x64 MCA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ 8a82ea0c
Section       @ 8a82eb94
Offset        : 664
Length        : 264
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal

Error         : BUSLG_GENERIC_ERR_*_TIMEOUT_ERR (Proc 0 Bank 4)
  Status      : 0xb200000000070f0f

Replace the PC after 10 years with a newer, much more powerful PC, Laptop or Tablet.

5
  • I am suspect of audiodg.exe being called out. That indicates to me an audio device is doing something really really bad.
    – Ramhound
    Mar 12, 2015 at 18:42
  • @Ramhound If it really is a processor issue, then the file where the issue occurs is probably not much use.
    – Jostikas
    Mar 12, 2015 at 18:57
  • I would like to point out to potential googlers that BUSLG_GENERIC_ERR_*_TIMEOUT_ERR is not necessarily a broken processor, if you google the name then it can boil down to something as simple as a motherboard driver that needs updating. In this case, however, mr. Magic is likely right. I will try one more thing over the weekend (changing the PSU, which is as old as the CPU).
    – Jostikas
    Mar 12, 2015 at 19:01
  • Changing PSU did nothing (of course). So now the PC is replaced. With a Pentium Dual Core E5400...
    – Jostikas
    Dec 13, 2015 at 11:59
  • yes, this is expected. The CPU was damaged. Dec 13, 2015 at 19:59

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