WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

[motocrossmann]

I keep getting windows event errors like the following and occasional BSODs:

Error Source: Corrected Machine Check
Error Type: Bus/Interconnect Error or Memory Hierarchy Error

This machine was bulletproof on XP SP3.

Here are the specs:

GA-K8NF-9 (rev 2.2) Mobo
AMD 64x2 3800+ (Manchester)
2Gb Mem (1Gb x2, Kingston PC3200)
Bios: FFB (10/22/08)
Vista sp1, 32bit

Any ideas? I've tried different memory and various bios settings, but nothing has helped so far.

[Nickel020]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

If it went from perfectly stable to unstable, then you probably have a hardware issue, maybe one of your RAM sticks is dying. Changing settings shouldn't resolve your problem if your hardware used to run fine with your current settings.
Try each RAM stick seperately and test it with Prime 95 (google it and download it). Try each one for at least one hour (unless you get errors earlier) and report back.

[motocrossmann]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

I already replaced the memory with new Kingston memory in an attempt to solve the problem. It didn't help.

Does Prime 95 let you test the cache on the processor? I'll download it and give it a go.

[Nickel020]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

It checks cpu, mainboard anr RAM but not the video card.

[VorLonUK]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

I keep getting windows event errors like the following and occasional BSODs:

Error Source: Corrected Machine Check
Error Type: Bus/Interconnect Error or Memory Hierarchy Error

This machine was bulletproof on XP SP3.

Here are the specs:

GA-K8NF-9 (rev 2.2) Mobo
AMD 64x2 3800+ (Manchester)
2Gb Mem (1Gb x2, Kingston PC3200)
Bios: FFB (10/22/08)
Vista sp1, 32bit

Any ideas? I've tried different memory and various bios settings, but nothing has helped so far.

The difference between XP and Vista in the memory stakes is ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization), which appears in practice to "find" the "less than perfect" installed Ram.

In XP some parts of memory may have never or seldom be used, whereas Vista will load items in a random memory address fashion.

Use Vista's memory diagnostic in extended mode (around 3 hours) or to see more info use Memtest. Memtest 2.11 www.memtest.org

[Nickel020]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

Are the problems only happening under ehavy load (e.g. games) or in normal usage as well? This could also be the PSU dying.

Have you checked the temps? Remove any dust from the fans if there is any.

[motocrossmann]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

The problems occur somewhat randomly and do not seem to be load related. Prime95 ran last night for 8 hours with no problems. I do have case/cpu/video card temp monitors, but all stay below 45C (including the processor).

I've been doing a bunch of research and there appears to be lots of issues with the older 939 processors and their ability to control the memory/bus. Even my new 1gb x 2 ram still has the problem (I was trying to make sure only 2 memory slots are full, as filling all 4 reportedly causes the 939 to start to struggle).

I'm not sure what else to try, perhaps this machine is meant for a life on XP. I'll look into the PSU as well.

[Nickel020]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

Ah, I completely missed that you changed the OS from XP to Vista. Do you still ahve the old Win XP installation to check if that is stable? This check would be nice just to rule out a hardware problem.

I'm pretty sure this is a driver issue, you got some bad driver installed which causes the system to crash when the OS does something with it. Verify you have the correct drivers installed and Vista is fully updated. You may need to re-install Vista and update prior to isntalling drivers for it to work properly

Also Google for your error code, I jsut checked quickly and there are many resulsts, maybe one can point to the cause of the problem (the first few don't).

[VorLonUK]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

As per my previous post, have you tried testing your memory with at least just one pass of memtest?

It's helpful to rule out different bits of hardware and seeing one pass of memtest (the one I gave the link to above) can take around 40minutes (4GB), it's well worth doing.
A created memtest disc is an essential PC tool.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: WHEA Errors on Vista SP1

Have you been overclocking that 3800? I have noticed a lot of machines I built for friends on 939 have been having memory controller issues after prolonged overclocking. These errors still show up in memtest regardless of whether the ram is good or not, run memtest as suggested and try more than one set of memory if possible. If you get errors consistently I would blame the onboard memory controller. (I find most memory controller errors happen in tests 5 and 8)


Also run Prime95 using small fft's they fit into the chache of the CPU and could identify that being the issue. I generaly use one Small FFT and one Large FFT test to test the CPU.