Windows 7 Computer suddenly freezes up for no apparent reason?

[hg3300]

So I'm just listening to music & browsing the web, when my PC suddenly slows, the music slows down (i think 1/4 speed) and shoots back to normal and slows down again at random intervals for a few seconds.

I go into Task Manager and end the first process I see (ACDaemon.exe). I figure this is part of my webcam software (ArcSoft IS something I installed for my webcam, and this is "Arcsoft Connect Daemon") and could be causing the problems. However, this causes my PC to completely freeze up and it needs to be restarted.

Here's what I could find in Event Viewer:
1:37:18 The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x00000124 (0x00000000, 0x8b4b28fc, 0x00000000, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\Minidump\042310-32812-01.dmp. Report Id: 042310-32812-01.
1:37:25 A fatal hardware error has occurred.
Component: AMD Northbridge
Error Source: Machine Check Exception
Error Type: HyperTransport Watchdog Timeout Error
Processor ID: 0
The details view of this entry contains further information.
Details view:
- EventData
ErrorSource 3
ApicId 0
MCABank 4
MciStat 0xf200000000070f0f
MciAddr 0x0
MciMisc 0x0
ErrorType 7
Length 928
RawData 435045521002FFFFFFFF03000100000002000000A00300003424110017040A140000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000BDC407CF89B7184EB3C41F732CB57131FE6FF5E89C91C54CBA8865ABE14913BB4557698B0BE3CA0102000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000058010000C00000000102000001000000ADCC7698B447DB4BB65E16F193C4F3DB0000000000000000000000000000000001000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000018020000800000000102000000000000B0A03EDC44A19747B95B53FA242B6E1D0000000000000000000000000000000001000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000098020000080100000102000000000000011D1E8AF94257459C33565E5CC3F7E8000000000000000000000000000000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007F010000000000000000040000030000420F10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007000000000000000000000000000000420F10000008040009208000FFFB8B170000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000B3F8F31CB1C5A249AA595EEF92FFA63C01000000000000009E07C0E607000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001000000020000007602428F0BE3CA010000000000000000000000000000000000000000040000000F0F0700000000F2000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
1:37:26 Custom dynamic link libraries are being loaded for every application. The system administrator should review the list of libraries to ensure they are related to trusted applications.

I figure the "fatal hardware error" may be at fault, although it happened AFTER I restarted my computer (maybe Event Viewer is a bit slow on reporting errors, because there were no errors after restart. Regarding the BugCheck: I never noticed a Blue Screen error. I just restarted my computer manually. Maybe the 1st two errors are somehow tied together).

I have submitted my minidump file from the bugcheck. All the info from the "hardware error" (#2) has been posted above.

 

[hg3300]

happened again this morning. computer apparently froze @ 10:30 (restarted too) and was frozen on the login screen when I returned @ 2:25. No idea why, but it came out of sleep mode and did this.

 

[iBen95111]

I have read that removing KB943899 can help, but not that much.
This may have something to do with the BIOS... I have no experience with the BIOS, except for updating and changing settings inside (not flashing and downgrading, etc)

 

[hg3300]

i'm afraid that update only applies to Vista. I have 7.

 

[ickymay]

windows debugger shows this as a BUGCHECK_STR: 0x124

Debugging Details:
------------------


BUGCHECK_STR: 0x124_AuthenticAMD

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME: System

CURRENT_IRQL: 0

STACK_TEXT:
88399cc4 832d0fc5 8b4b28e0 83369c28 83369c20 nt!WheapCreateTriageDumpFromPreviousSession+0x32
88399ce4 832d1def 83369c20 8b4b28e0 83369c50 nt!WheapProcessWorkQueueItem+0x56
88399d00 8326ff3b 83369c20 00000000 859c9798 nt!WheapWorkQueueWorkerRoutine+0x1f
88399d50 834106bb 00000001 a1fe51e4 00000000 nt!ExpWorkerThread+0x10d
88399d90 832c20f9 8326fe2e 00000001 00000000 nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x9e
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 nt!KiThreadStartup+0x19


STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: hardware

IMAGE_NAME: hardware

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 0

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x124_AuthenticAMD_PROCESSOR_BUS_PRV

BUCKET_ID: 0x124_AuthenticAMD_PROCESSOR_BUS_PRV

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

and mentions your CPU\memory controller in the crash which isn't actually naming a specific driver or component but I would suggest the first thing to try is test your RAM ?

To test memory I get consistent results by burning to CD (using an ISO burner) & running from boot Link Removed for at least 5 passes and moving the sticks between slots running them together and singly to verify motherboard ram slots work as well as each ram stick.

0x124 errors are:- hardware problems- compatibility issues (hardware or driver)- corrupted driver (not all agree with this) stress tests needed, so the next check would be to run the most effective stress test I recommend which is Link Removed

your drivers mentioned in the crash look up to date so unless there's interference from your antivirus and or third party firewall then this is very likely to be a hardware component failing , or your power supply or thermal issues ?