Windows 7 Video Hardware Errors, frequent crashes, screen freezes.

Ok, sounds good, I am going to try resetting the CMOS and updating my BIOS drivers.

Where would I get a SATA update from? I'm assuming that wouldn't also be on the HP web site?

Also, is there any way I can find out if my PCI slot is bad, short of trying the graphics card in another PC?

By the way, things are getting busy for me again, so it might be a while before I can actually do this troubleshooting and get back.  Don't be surprised if I don't post about the troubleshooting for 2-3 days.

Thanks.

No problems with any capacitors, and the board doesn't have any residue.

By the way, do you have any explanation for why my GTX 650 fan runs at very high speeds when not connected to power in my PC?

It usually takes more like five or more years for capacitors to start having problems, but there are

exceptions, so it was worth a check.

I believe the fan is controlled from the PCI-e slot power, but I'm not sure why your gpu fans would be

spinning up.

I only meant for you to leave the power leads off earlier as a test to see if the machine crashes just from having the card in the slot, so it would be best to leave the power connected if the drivers are not installed, as the card will still be inactive until you reinstall the drivers, and the machine should not crash.

It may be the fan speed controller is activated from the main power lead.

• I know that fans will sometimes spin up before Windows finishes loading, but normally the fans

don't spin up when uninstalling and reinstalling drivers, so I'm not sure of the connection.

However, I did unplug the power from my card before my post on 27 Feb to verify if it would show in Device Manager without power (didn't),  but the fans didn't speed up during that short period.

• Resetting the CMOS is a way of resetting the BIOS to default when you can't boot into Windows.
• To reset the CMOS you switch the machine off and pull out the battery from the motherboard.

There should be a two pin jumper on two of three pins. You pull the jumper and switch it to the other

pin (still on two) and then put it back in the original position. Replace the battery and the BIOS

will be back at default settings.

• If the BIOS has never been updated it may help. Note that is can be risky if the machine is not

stable. If the machine crashes during the update it can bork the BIOS. If your motherboard has

dual BIOS there is hope, if not a crash could spell disaster.

• You manual should give an outline of the update options available for your machine. I usually

download and install rather than risking an on line automated install.

• NIC are network adapter drivers - RAID are for HDD's but are often bundled as SATA/RAID,

so while you may not need updated RAID for your single HDD configuration a SATA update

may be beneficial.

If you can find the driver page for your machine on the HP web site try them first, but you may

also be able to use drivers direct from FOXCONN.

.

By the way, I actually have not seen BSOD for over a month now, the computer simply crashes, and then when it restarts, tells me it didn't shut down properly and asks me to choose how to boot up.

1.  I have never overclocked anything in my computer, I don't even know how to.

2.  By monitoring the temperature of my computers components over time I have already determined that heat is not an issue.  I have even moved my computer off the floor and opened the case to confirm that the components are being cooled properly while under load.

3.  I have updated sound and video drivers, but what are RAID and NIC drivers?

4.  I have never updated my BIOS drivers, I will try this.  What exactly do you mean by "clear the CMOS"?

5.  I always keep my computer updated with windows updates (I choose when to install but always install all recommended ones).

6.  I ran a RAM check using windows with no problems, would you suggest I use memtest86 as well?

I ran CHKDSK on my terabyte drive and not a single bad sector was found.

Is there any way I could check to see if the PCI slot for my GPU is the problem?

Thanks for the advice.

Stop 0x124 is a hardware error

If you are overclocking try resetting your processor to standard settings and see if that helps.

If you continue to get BSODs here are some more things you may want to consider.

This is usually heat related, defective hardware, memory or even processor though it is"possible" that it is driver related (rare).

 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 and clear the CMOS.

 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 3rd-party memtest86 utility to run many hours worth of testing. (6-8 passes to stress the ram out)

 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.

Source: ZigZag

Just checked my motherboard, it looks like its in surprisingly good condition for the PC being about 3 years old.  No problems with any capacitors, and the board doesn't have any residue.

By the way, do you have any explanation for why my GTX 650 fan runs at very high speeds when not connected to power in my PC?