Black Screen - WHEA Event 18 Fatal hardware error

Hi Marcbmann,

Are the chipset drivers updated for your computer?

Step 1:
You may check if you face the same issue in safe mode with networking –
You may refer to the below mentioned link for further assistance on safe mode. You will have to select advanced options after booting using F8 and then select safe mode with networking.
In Safe mode with networking; youhave access to only basic files and drivers and includes the network drivers and service needed to access the internet or other computers on your network-
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Start-your-computer-in-safe-mode

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode

Step 2:
Also let us know the exact STOP code you are getting when the computer crashes. Blue screens (BSOD’s) are mostly due to hardware and sometimes due to incompatible software.  In lot of cases it is a corrupted driver or a driver conflict.  The most common causes of blue screens are overheating, faulty RAM, and video card problems.

There is a setting that will prevent the system restarting immediately after a crash like that, and so allow you to see the BSOD. Refer to the steps below -

a. Click Start and then click Control Panel.
b. Select the ‘view by’ option as small icons.
c. Now select the option of System and select advanced system settings, (on the left).
Accept the "Windows will need your permission to continue" if it appears
d. Now click the Settings button under "Startup and recovery".
e. In the new window, remove the tick for "Automatically restart" under System failure.

This will at least let you see the BSOD message when the system restarts and will allow you to write down the full message. You will need to turn off the computer manually afterwards.
Try to note the exact error message you are getting and notify us about it to assist you better.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Meghmala – Microsoft Support

Visit ourMicrosoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

I have not been able to reproduce this issue for several days now, safe mode or not... However today the problem has made a reappearance. After rebooting I was prompted with the following information:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 00000000
BCP2: 87DF88FC
BCP3: 00000000
BCP4: 00000000
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\072510-16972-01.dmp
C:\Users\Marc\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-39249-0.sysdata.xml

The PC did end up restarting itself, but I had not seen any bluescreen of death. The following information was found in the event logger. The timestamp was a few minutes before the actual crash.

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger
Date:          7/25/2010 3:52:51 PM
Event ID:      18
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          LOCAL SERVICE
Computer:      Optimus_Prime
Description:
A fatal hardware error has occurred.

Reported by component: Processor Core
Error Source: Machine Check Exception
Error Type: Bus/Interconnect Error
Processor ID: 1

The details view of this entry contains further information.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger" Guid="{C26C4F3C-3F66-4E99-8F8A-39405CFED220}" />
    <EventID>18</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2010-07-25T19:52:51.474294300Z" />
    <EventRecordID>62158</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation ActivityID="{C31E5745-0093-4347-B2A2-CDA034F625C4}" />
    <Execution ProcessID="2044" ThreadID="2516" />
    <Channel>System</Channel>
    <Computer>Optimus_Prime</Computer>
    <Security UserID="S-1-5-19" />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data Name="ErrorSource">3</Data>
    <Data Name="ApicId">1</Data>
    <Data Name="MCABank">5</Data>
    <Data Name="MciStat">0xf200001010000e0f</Data>
    <Data Name="MciAddr">0x0</Data>
    <Data Name="MciMisc">0x0</Data>
    <Data Name="ErrorType">10</Data>
    <Data Name="TransactionType">256</Data>
    <Data Name="Participation">3</Data>
    <Data Name="RequestType">0</Data>
    <Data Name="MemorIO">3</Data>
    <Data Name="MemHierarchyLvl">3</Data>
    <Data Name="Timeout">0</Data>
    <Data Name="OperationType">256</Data>
    <Data Name="Channel">256</Data>
    <Data Name="Length">928</Data>
    <Data Name="RawData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ata>
  </EventData>
</Event>

I get the exact same error in the Event Log , after Windows 7 has booted up.  I don't get any blue screens or issues during use.

It's related to the processor either overheating, not seated properly or being damaged from physical handling or from overheating.

Try changing the processor and see how that goes.

Happens on Socket 775 Pentium 4 3.06GHz which run hot.