Machine_check_exception

[ultimatehandyman]

Help, my home PC keeps crashing

I am trying to make some new pages for the site, but the PC seems to want to crash all the time!

I keep getting the blue screen of death and this message-

machine_check_exception

0x0000009c (0x00000000,0x8054d570,0xc4404000,0x00000136)

I filled in a error report and microsoft said this-

Problem caused by computer hardware

This problem was caused by an unrecoverable hardware error that caused the operating system to stop functioning.

Troubleshooting

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


If you have received this error more than once, it could indicate a serious problem with your computer. We recommend that you do the following:

Back up your files to avoid data loss in case of a complete hardware failure.
Contact the original manufacturer of your computer to determine the specific component which is failing.
Additional technical information

Although we know the problem is caused by a hardware component, the error report does not contain enough information to tell us the specific component. It is likely that the problem is being caused by one of the following computer components:

Random Access Memory (RAM)
System board
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Power supply

Does anyone have any good ideas, apart from throwing it out of the window

[skiking]

My only suggestion is to boot up from a previous good load and then see what happens.

To trace the problem I think you need to work backwards to see what you've done/added recently and remove 1 by 1 rebooting each time to work out what causing it.

Other than that, throwing out of the window seems a good bet

[ultimatehandyman]

I have not done anything to it for months.

Yesterday I tried to use google sketchup to do some 3d drawings and it would not work and said I needed to download new version, after messing about for a bit with it I decided not to use it and so I made the pictures in microsoft paint. Then when I was using dreamweaver it crashed and has done so three times

I uninstalled sketchup after the first crash and some other software that I no longer use then defragged it.

This morning I left it switched on for about 4 hours and then as soon as I almost finished making a page it crashed again

Not happy

[RichieP]

Could be several causes, but most likely hardware, and it's going to make you tear your hair out even more trying to narrow it down.

MS suggestion

You need to take it back.

[ultimatehandyman]

I might swap the hard drive for my spare one then I can make sure it is not software related

[ultimatehandyman]

Still having problems here

It's still crashing, but no error message or blue screen of death- it just restarts now!

I have just removed 512mb of Ram and I'll see if the problem is still here or not. I still have 1Gb of ram left!

[ultimatehandyman]

After removing a stick of ram the pc has been fine

I might get some more pages added to the site this week

[skiking]

I'm not well up on the internals of a PC anymore but it used to be a case of matching up memory and getting them in the correct slots so it could be a case that you've got the wrong type or not put it into the correct slot or even paired the memory up correctly. Also, you say you have taken out 512Mb but still left with 1gig - that seems a odd combination as it usually doubles ie 512Mb -> 1Gb, 1Gb -> 2Gb etc.

RichieP probably has a better grasp on this than me - its just a thought, probably well off the mark, if so, I'll shut up

[ultimatehandyman]

It's been in my pc for 18 months with no problems and so it must of gone faulty

[seprim]

buy a new hdd - eg £50 for a 80 GB IDE/sata whatever
take the old hdd out
Install the new one
install the operating system on the new one
get a good av and make sure your OS is patched/Updated to the max
install your old hdd
scan it for viruses and such like
remove all valuable files and place them in a permanent repository ( like dvd)
clear your old hdd and use it for a swap drive - improve the performance of your pc :)
hard set your swap file to at least 1.5 gb min and 1.5 gb max (yes the same as min) as you are using dw and prolly photoshop or fireworks
for £50 and some time you could remedy your worries

incidentally have you considered reading your motherboard manual ? - cos most motherboards only accept matching pairs of memory - and u dont seem to have that with 1.5GB ram
could be a reason
at any rate you will want to do a hdd scandisk and defrag my friend
:)