or blue screen of death?, this a.m.. Now powers on with fans and power on led but no boot sequence at all, backed out video card and ram and reset still ng, where to begin:confused:

STOP: 0x0000009C..."MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329284)

STOP: 0x0000009C..."MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329284)

read it, can't send ms any error report as not booting up


changed out bad power supply a couple months ago:confused: :confused:

You need someone with more knowledge and understanding than myself, but until such a person appears...

What I'd try:
(a) Fit a new/good CMOS battery [and resetting to defaults] after noting all the present BIOS config settings.

(b) Make sure cooling [of CPU in particular] is OK.

(c) Try booting one or more Linux live optical disks.
Include Puppy Linux and Knoppix.
If these work without any sign of problems it would suggest the hardware isn't at fault...
Whereas if they too exhibit hardware related problems, then...

(d) Test hardware with the FREE version of #1-TuffTEST-Lite (http://www.tufftest.com/free.htm).

It definitely speaks of a hardware error. I would start by unhooking unneeded components such as hard drives and optical drives. Try one stick of ram at a time, known good ram, etc. Basically a bare bones boot without taking the system out of the case. I wouldn't worry too much about that since it ran fine inside the case before.

If no go, and if you have the means, try your CPU in another board. I am concerned that it may be the CPU or motherboard. :( I wouldn't want to try a known good CPU in the board until you can rule it out since bad CPUs won't kill a board, but a bad mobo can fry a CPU depending on what's wrong.

You need someone with more knowledge and understanding than myself, but until such a person appears...

What I'd try:
(a) Fit a new/good CMOS battery [and resetting to defaults] after noting all the present BIOS config settings.

(b) Make sure cooling [of CPU in particular] is OK.

(c) Try booting one or more Linux live optical disks.
Include Puppy Linux and Knoppix.
If these work without any sign of problems it would suggest the hardware isn't at fault...
Whereas if they too exhibit hardware related problems, then...

(d) Test hardware with the FREE version of #1-TuffTEST-Lite (http://www.tufftest.com/free.htm).

a-may try to change batt but at this point not able to access bios
b-will inspect for dust etc
c-? disc availability
d-no can do, no?

It definitely speaks of a hardware error. I would start by unhooking unneeded components such as hard drives and optical drives. Try one stick of ram at a time, known good ram, etc. Basically a bare bones boot without taking the system out of the case. I wouldn't worry too much about that since it ran fine inside the case before.

If no go, and if you have the means, try your CPU in another board. I am concerned that it may be the CPU or motherboard. :( I wouldn't want to try a known good CPU in the board until you can rule it out since bad CPUs won't kill a board, but a bad mobo can fry a CPU depending on what's wrong.,

will try all of the above I guess, no quick fix to this one, I'm dealing with a 3 1/2 year old AMD64 cpu in an MSI MB, nvidia chip set, home build, sumpin just crapped out i guess, I was getting some weird noise for a while recently but it cleared itself somehow, now this:rolleyes:

This is for everyone out there who has had a machine_check_exception error, and cant for the life of them figure out why its caused.


So heres the deal -- I am both a computer technician and a disgruntled pedestrian thanks to my latest setup. After slapping together my system and installing Windows x64 Professional (this error occurs on XP 32-bit as well), I was greeted with the machine_check_exception error. Im going to skip the horrible details about the headache I went through in diagnosing this problem, and simply skip to the remedie(s), which I recommend following in order.

If you get the error, do the following in order, until it is fixed:

1. Make sure your power supply is not overloaded. Even if it is a 550W and your system only needs 350W, make sure that the 12V rail supports at least 25amps (especially if you are using an SLI board with 2 cards or a haus graphics card).

2. Run MEMTEST86 for at least two passes (99% of the time, if it passes twice, the memory is perfectly fine). If the memory is showing errors, first try the following before replacing it:

Increase the memory voltage in the Bios by .1V or .2V (start out with .1). Run Memtest again; if it passes this time, you are fine. My memory was not showing errors, but I increased the voltage by .1V and it fixed the problem for me.

3. If something is overclocked, set it back to norms. This error can be caused by a pissed off CPU (overheating or just generally disgruntled). If not, flash your BIOS to the latest version.

4. Remove and/or disable any wireless cards or devices in your system.

5. Uninstall all Nvidia drivers on your system (chipset and graphics). When reinstalling the drivers, DO NOT install the IDE SW driver. Make sure your system is still working at this point by rebooting. If so, install the 77.XX Nvidia graphics drivers if you have an Nvidia card, and work your way up to the 9XXX series until you find instability.

6. Disable your IDE channels in the bios. This problem has been known to occur due to DVD and CDROM IDE conflicts.

7. In XP or x64, go to Start -- Control Pannel -- System -- Advanced -- Performance -- and click "adjust for best performance".


In general, as far as I could tell, many Nforce4 systems are very picky about the CPU, Memory, and Drivers. Start out with your CPU at norms, and memory +.1V if you are having these issues. Install the minimal drivers needed. The standard windows IDE drivers are sufficient. Some people seem to think that the Nvidia SmBUS drivers can cause this, but they shouldnt. Those are going to have to be installed regardless... if you think they may be the culprit after everything else, use an older version.

Naturally, I didnt think to increase my memory by +.1V, so I didnt do that first. This error is almost always hardware, and is simply catlylized by drivers... seemingly the newer the drivers, the more hell the error will give you and the more frequently, until you actually fix it. I did tons of research on this, and the culprit is almost always memory or sometype of hardware. Remove any optical drives, PCI cards, anything you dont need to run your computer. Add them back one by one until you find the device that hoses you.


Good luck to those out there, and please dont RMA all your parts. It will only be one part thats bad or misconfigured usually, it just takes patience to sort out.


received this from a member of my fishing website, will use as possible and thought I'd share it here.

So you got it sorted out then? :)

One thing I definitely disagree with is that if you are not over clocking but you still need to bump up the voltages on your ram past the stock voltages then it is defective in my opinion.

So you got it sorted out then? :)

One thing I definitely disagree with is that if you are not over clocking but you still need to bump up the voltages on your ram past the stock voltages then it is defective in my opinion.

not sorted out no:( , just more info
:confused:

1. "not able to access bios"
Is the POST completing or not?
I thought things were getting to the stage of loading WinXP, and it was at that point you were getting the XP BSOD for which I gave a link.

2. "c-? disc availability"
Would you like links for some Puppy Linux puplet ISO's?
Can you make DVD's and/or CD's? [Muppy Linux needs a DVD]
I normally make re-writables, so I can erase them and re-use.

3. "d-no can do, no?"
Why no can do?
Is the POST not completing?
TuffTEST uses its own machine code which accesses the hardware directly, so doesn't need DOS or any other operating system environment to run within.

1. "not able to access bios"
Is the POST completing or not?
I thought things were getting to the stage of loading WinXP, and it was at that point you were getting the XP BSOD for which I gave a link.

2. "c-? disc availability"
Would you like links for some Puppy Linux puplet ISO's?
Can you make DVD's and/or CD's? [Muppy Linux needs a DVD]
I normally make re-writables, so I can erase them and re-use.

3. "d-no can do, no?"
Why no can do?


TEST uses its own machine code which accesses the hardware directly, so doesn't need DOS or any other operating system environment to run within.
no part of boot is completing, power comes on and thats it at this point, havn't had time to do any bare bones etc yet

what happened was it booted up fine as usual the other morning ,after a couple of minutes the M_C_E blue screen happened, it would not take a control alt delete or anything so I manually powered it down and up, it started to boot up and went directly to MCE, powered down again and then no boot since, starting to wonder what the lifespan of an MSI mobo is, this one is 3 1/2 years old

woohoo, it mysteriously comes back to life just now after I power it on:confused: , will see what happens, maybe it was on vacation:D, by the way whats a good way to back up files

1. "whats a good way to back up files"
My present favorite:
Is to use any one of 3 FREE programs ["Puppy Universal dd"=Pudd; "X File Explorer"=Xfe; FREE-SyncBack->(run under WINE)] run within any one of say 3 [of the many] FREE puplets of Puppy Linux .
Puppies can work upon each other and upon Windows.

(a) [B]Pudd: Makes [and restores] compressed image backups to a file that can be saved anywhere handy; I normally use an external USB HDD.
Pudd is natively included with all Puppies.
Works with both Windows and Linux partitions/contents.

(b) Xfe: Is a BRILLIANT file browser with a folder display and twin file panes.
You can display your Windows partition contents in one pane and some handy folder in the other, and highlight the folder file contents of the Windows partition root folder, and right-click those and choose "Move to..." or "Copy to..." and you will be offered the other pane as the default.
Just OK that and watch the contents move or copy to the destination.
Xfe is included with Muppy Linux [big, so needs a DVD]; Puppy & BoxPup need it installed [easily done].
Works with both Windows and Linux partitions/contents.

(c) [B]SyncBack: This does basically the same as Xfe, but in a much better [if less simple?] way.
You make a "Profile" for each item [partition?] you wish to backup, specifying the "source" [partition contents?] and "destination" [folder?]
You then configure each profile to either "backup" or "restore".
e.g. If set to backup, you can double-click one or more profiles and they can run concurrently, or do one at a time.
I usually run C: D: E: F: backups and/or restores one-at-a-time.
You will be presented with a list of folder/file "differences" for each.
[At 1st backup, the destination is empty, so the list includes EVERYTHING]
It can be useful to see these changes that have taken place between the last backup and the present.
You can choose to make exclusions/deletions, or whatever.
Give the OK, and the remaining differences ONLY are copied over, be they backup or restore.
Hence no wasted effort/time.
Works with only Windows partitions/contents.

thanks Syl, note to self: use one of the above soon, very soon:eek:

No time better than the present to make a beginning. :)

Would you like one or more links to a Puppy or three?

The latest Puppy 4.2.1-rc3 has the latest features [rather nice they are too].
Desktop image isn't great [tropical ocean scene]; I changed mine.

BoxPup is missing a couple of the latest features of Puppy 4.2.1, but it is more stylish,and elegant and has some features that 4.2.1 doesn't.

Muppy has lots more extras.
Just too big to get on a CD; needs a DVD.
Mark Ulrich [its maker] certainly knows his stuff.
Has programs and features that the others don't.

It's easy to try all 3 and see which you like.
Some people go Puppy-hopping to attempt to try all of them.

spoke to soon, dead in the water again, may be time to move on, my ques now is what would be salvageable, the mobo, cpu, mem, and vid card don't sound like they are if one of them is bad due to obsolescence, would the hd and soundcard be reusable:confused:

Mobo , CPU, and ram won't be reusable. Video card is if it is PCIe x16, which it should be, but you may want to upgrade while you are at it depending on your needs. This is also assuming it isn't the source of the problem.

Sound card and hard drive should be reusable. If the hard drive is IDE consider picking a new SATA drive and putting the old drive in an external enclosure for backups. SATA is better in several ways.

spoke to soon, dead in the water againYou have had BSODs and then intermittent failures to POST. That smacks of a faulty PSU or a failing HDD or one with loose connections (data or power) to the motherboard. A poor PSU can help destroy a hard drive. I would suggest you try replacing with a good PSU, double check hard drive connections (nice tight molex connections from the replacement PSU) and then run diagnostics on the hard drive. Swapping in a brand new IDE cable and putting in a new CMOS battery are other cheap things to try.

Having a good quality PSU around as a backup is not a bad idea in any event - even if you go for a new system.

You have had BSODs and then intermittent failures to POST. That smacks of a faulty PSU or a failing HDD or one with loose connections (data or power) to the motherboard. A poor PSU can help destroy a hard drive. I would suggest you try replacing with a good PSU, double check hard drive connections (nice tight molex connections from the replacement PSU) and then run diagnostics on the hard drive. Swapping in a brand new IDE cable and putting in a new CMOS battery are other cheap things to try.

Having a good quality PSU around as a backup is not a bad idea in any event - even if you go for a new system.

thanks, will try your suggestions, the power supply was recently replaced, a few months ago, so a loose connec possible, will try a new one also, it was also a warranty replacement that was diff from the orig but of equal or more wattage, so who knows how stable it is

as for the HD its a sata, now this machine was making some wierd noise a while back, don't know if it was from the HD or one of the fans but it cleared itself so anything is possible

recently fired this up after long non-use as was using a laptop, it booted up ok and failed again but after pushing on the power connector to the video card it came up again and it appears this may have been loose and the problem, will see what happens as it hasn't failed yet after a days use

my next ques is what are the optimum resolution settings for win xp something doesnt seem right, seems like the print should be clearer or maybe it was like this and the diff machine use matters to the eyes

crashed again, need to try new pwr sup