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.
For the record, I have the following setup:
Athlon 64 3500+ Orleans AM2
Gigabyte M55S4-SLI Nforce4 Mainboard
2 x 512 Corsair DDR2-800 Dual Channel
WD Raptor 36gb SATA 10,000 HD
2 x PNY 6600GT PCI-E in SLI
-More on the setup in the description
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 25W (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.
-Zwink
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