The nightmare of event logs...

Soldato
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Since moving to Z97 from Z87 I've expereinced no end of BSOD's, 9 times out of 10 its just the WHEA_UNCONTROLLABLE_ERROR - but it doesn't document the error code in event viewer, but what I did find was this...

broken.jpg

Nearly all of those are drive related, some of its spouting something about not enough room for shadow play to operate, others saying disk x: requires chkdsk etc...which its had and reported back fine.

Even though the above BSOD's only seem to happen when OC'd (especially straight after splash) and only on Windows 8.1, I can't help but feel this is something chipset related thats taking a hit when I start manually entering settings.

I even went and purchased another copy of Windows 7 - which runs flawlessly, even with a big OC.

So any ideas before I do my 3rd Windows 8.1 install of the year? Honestly don't have time for this either :(

System:
4770K
Z97 XPower AC
8GB TridentX (have tried multiple memory configurations with many kits, all are faultless!)
3 x 256GB SSD (Agility 3, Vertex460 & Vector150)
1 x 1TB Samsung HDD
780 SLI
Antec HCP 1000w
 
Hang fire, in true pebkac fashion it appears Intel management engine install is corrupt, so repaired that now stressing again...

Edit: nope still happening...straight after splash with a manual oc.
 
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Was up quite late last night reading up, from what I gather...

Whea errors are formed from reports sent by he CPU to the os, from what I can make out its stop code 0x124, which I believe to be vcore related. My overclocke was fine on z87 with the same os install. Any current oc with z97 is fine on windows 7, windows 8 gives the above bsod on login. If I use the motherboards oc genie, it auto clocks to 4.2ghz - and is stable in 8.1.

This leads me to believe one of the following things may be happening:

-oc genie is changing some setting somewhere that I've missed
-CPU is incorrectly reporting voltage to the os causing the bsod
-other fault I'm missing, bad ram/ssd or something.

I'm fairly certain my hardware is fine, 4.4ghz 1.4v (high Intentionally to rule out low vcore/droop) posts to windows 7 fine, will let me torture it as long as I like, fails to get past splash logon with win 8.1. Always at the same point, presumably when either a driver loads or when something is being reported.

Any ideas at all guys, this error is driving me nuts.
 
Cheers huddy!!

To round up, drive related errors in op appear to have cleared up with repairing the management engine, but the whae bsods persist with a manual oc only within windows 8.1. Auto oc functions fine in 8.1 and manual oc is fine in windows 7. Previous z87 motherboard held a manual oc fine, have since changed PSU and moved to z97 xpower.
 
Hi these common BSOD Error Codes for Overclocking any use?

0x101 = increase vcore
0x124 = increase/decrease QPI/VTT first, if not increase/decrease vcore...have to test to see which one it is
on i7 45nm, usually means too little VVT/QPI for the speed of Uncore
on i7 32nm SB, usually means too little vCore
0x0A = unstable RAM/IMC, increase QPI first, if that doesn't work increase vcore
0x1A = Memory management error. It usually means a bad stick of Ram. Test with Memtest or whatever you prefer. Try raising your Ram voltage
0x1E = increase vcore
0x3B = increase vcore
0x3D = increase vcore
0xD1 = QPI/VTT, increase/decrease as necessary, can also be unstable Ram, raise Ram voltage
0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency or uncore multi unstable, increase RAM voltage or adjust QPI/VTT, or lower uncore if you're higher than 2x
0x109 = Not enough or too Much memory voltage
0x116 = Low IOH (NB) voltage, GPU issue (most common when running multi-GPU/overclocking GPU)
0x7E = Corrupted OS file, possibly from overclocking. Run sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r

BSOD Codes for Sandy\Ivy Bridge\Haswell:

0x124 = add/remove vcore or QPI/VTT voltage (usually Vcore, once it was QPI/VTT)
0x101 = add more vcore
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency add DDR3 voltage or add QPI/VTT
0x1E = add more vcore
0x3B = add more vcore
0xD1 = add QPI/VTT voltage
0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0X109 = add DDR3 voltage
0x0A = add QPI/VTT voltage
 
I have a hunch that this is a badly written driver issue - misbehaving itself with memory - only a hunch though. Have you tried running whocrashed to get more info - as it may show which driver or service is at fault. The long way of diagnosing this would be to manually use msconfig, and de select all Microsoft from the view and then disable groups of say three programs at start up to narrow down - until you perhaps find the culprit.

Alternatively use Microsoft verifier - google it to check all system drivers and there reliability - this usually works well to identify misbehaving drivers/services and hopefully eliminate the problem. Of course it could also be a bios setting somewhere related to the overclock which is set wrong. Have you tried upping the boot voltage for the chip - just the boot voltage, which I believe you can do via minimum boot voltage -as it may just be this that is causing it to fall over just after boot.

Just a few suggestions for you - see how you go?

Mark
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

Yer I saw those BSOD codes, already knew 0x124 was supposed to be vcore related, as I've had it in the past while OC'ing! Only this time I know the limits of my hardware and what works at what voltages.

Thanks tipes, whocrashed is a wonderful little program - far more informative then event viewer :)

I've managed to get into 8.1 at x43 with 1.38v vcore, any higher on the multi it bails as soon as I hit the login page. I KNOW this chip does 4.6ghz @ 1.28v, as thats what it was at for the 8 months prior to changing motherboard and it also still loads up win7 and stresses in that just fine.

whocrashed reports:

On Thu 12/06/2014 16:57:17 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\061214-9656-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: hal.dll (hal+0x37203)
Bugcheck code: 0x124 (0x0, 0xFFFFE00057E03028, 0xBF800000, 0x124)
Error: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR
file path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred. This bug check uses the error data that is provided by the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).
This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time.

Also a few of these, the most recent being last night:

On Wed 11/06/2014 22:44:11 GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\061114-11906-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: Unknown ()
Bugcheck code: 0x0 (0x0, 0x0, 0x0, 0x0)
Error: CUSTOM_ERROR
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error.
Google query: CUSTOM_ERROR

I also know its not a thermal issue, chip is delidded, liquid pro and under a waterblock. Temps are fine in windows 7, and were previously in windows 8.1 with Z87.

I've disabled all non-essential programs from startup and windows 8.1 safe mode still posts up fine (though reporting programs in SM say clocks are 3.5ghz?).
 
Aye I've had it before due to sa needing a bump, bit as is my memory is running stock 1600 c11 to take it out of the equation.

I have two instances of Intel watchdog timer driver in add/remove, one gives no info (version number etc...) And says I don't have permission to remove and the other instance does nothing when I ask it to uninstall.

So any ideas on tools that can force remove these? Trying to get to an as-good-as driverless state and iirc the watchdog timer will bsod the system if it detects issues with the CPU? Could be on to something here.
 
Oh, I did have SSD's in the back of my mind, I have 3 in total, all OCZ!

Agility 3 256GB - Sandforce (Windows 8.1)
Vertex460 256GB - Indilinx Barefoot 3 (windows 7)
Vector 150 256GB - Indilinx Barefoot 3 (Empty)

Think it might be worth mirroring the 8.1 install over to the vector 150?
 
Aye I've had it before due to sa needing a bump, bit as is my memory is running stock 1600 c11 to take it out of the equation.

I have two instances of Intel watchdog timer driver in add/remove, one gives no info (version number etc...) And says I don't have permission to remove and the other instance does nothing when I ask it to uninstall.

So any ideas on tools that can force remove these? Trying to get to an as-good-as driverless state and iirc the watchdog timer will bsod the system if it detects issues with the CPU? Could be on to something here.

Interesting that you mention Intel watchdog timer - just checked my 8.1 windows, and I have the same as you, two instances, one blank the other not , but interestingly both with the same install date. These may be part of the Intel management engine - so uninstalling that may get rid of both - failing that a restore point perhaps? Can't think of anything else, but maybe uninstall both in safe mode perhaps?

Mark

Paul - found this on the net:

A watchdog timer is an independent counter that increments on each clock edge regardless of the state of the main CPU.

A watchdog timer can be configured to reset the machine if the count reaches a certain value. It is up to the main CPU software to reset the counter periodically. This means that if the CPU gets locked-up, the watchdog timer will hit it's limit and reset the machine.

This could well have something to do with your problem - but it seems this will only action if the cpu has already locked/crashed - if I read it right. Suggest uninstall the watchdog timer and see if the problem disappears. Don't however understand why you need so much more voltage for you oc on this board though?

Just found out there is an uninstall program for the watchdog timer in the intel folder in Program files(x86) folder - go to the watchdog folder, x 64, uninstall drv64.
Hope this helps.
 
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Cheers tipes I'll try that tomorrow.

Intel management engine refuses to remove too, I can repair it but it still gives an error about failing to uninstall, though the log says windows uninstall shield removed but produced error 1603 and it stays as recognised as installed on 8.1.

Its all looking a bit like z87 and z97 intel drivers have screwed up together in the process putting out false info to cause the bsod.

If this doesn't sort it then its clean install time unfortunately, I've grown to like 8.1 quite a lot.
 
Cheers tipes I'll try that tomorrow.

Intel management engine refuses to remove too, I can repair it but it still gives an error about failing to uninstall, though the log says windows uninstall shield removed but produced error 1603 and it stays as recognised as installed on 8.1.

Its all looking a bit like z87 and z97 intel drivers have screwed up together in the process putting out false info to cause the bsod.

If this doesn't sort it then its clean install time unfortunately, I've grown to like 8.1 quite a lot.

Hi Paul,

Hope the uninstall works for you - if not the clean install i'm afraid, but a clean install should nail it. I too am growing to like windows 8, having initially rejected it.

Mark
 
We will see, I don't think a clean install would be such a bad idea anyhow, just a shame Microsoft haven't released any 8.1.1 images, only 8.0, so a long old string of updates to come.
 
We will see, I don't think a clean install would be such a bad idea anyhow, just a shame Microsoft haven't released any 8.1.1 images, only 8.0, so a long old string of updates to come.

Paul,

Please pm me - might be able to help regards image.

Mark
 
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