Machine Check Exception sad face BSOD –now can’t even reset PC, OS missing from hard drive?

[sheryll_net]

Evening all.

I came back from lunch Saturday to find that my husband’s Pavilion Elite 367C had had error message Machine Check Exception and sad face BSOD. "Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. Stop code: MACHINE CHECK EXCEPTION."

Rebooting took him to HP Recovery Manager. We tried System Restore (no restore points). CHKDSK C: /R came back good (in hindsight, C: is now one of the boot partitions,so I am running a CHKDSK /r on the real C drive, which happens to be G: ).

I made a Windows 10 recovery drive (using my old recovery drive chip that didn’t work in April-May when I was here for a problem with my machine).

I also decided to overwrite my (probably perfectly acceptable) old Windows Installation USB chip that I had used in April-May with the current one from the M$ site.

Over the course of the next couple of days, I was able to use the recovery USB chip, but in spite of at least 3 attempts, any installation USB chip I made was not recognizable as being bootable.

I used Notepad to copy his personal data files to a backup external disk drive. This is done by using the Open command, finding the folders to copy, and right click + Send to… backup drive.    These were for the most part under the Users directory.

Meanwhile, I tried all the advanced options and eventually, as the startup repair or recovery would not work, ended up clicking on Reset your PC.

This, after telling me it was resetting, then recovering, told me “Could not reset this PC. No changes have been made.”

Depending on how I booted (using the recovery tool, or the “dead” chip or the hard drive, I sometimes got the message “no operating systems to be found”.

I have used DISKPART to work out what partitions I have. The only one that is active is one called SYSTEM. The other two are called WINDOWS and WINDOWS RE. They appear to be part of the attempt at Resetting the PC. There is no description of what they are (no OS, or Boot or any descriptor). I can look to see what files are on there through the DIR command, but there doesn't appear to be anything much. No Users data, no boot info that I recall, but there is a Windows/system32 folder on the WIN RE partition.

_ __ _ _ _ _ _

Thanks for reading this far. I need to find a way to reinstall Windows and get this machine back to my husband before he goes crazy cleaning up the house, and am up for suggestions.

Side questions are:

Why can’t I make a bootable W10 installation USB chip when I made a perfectly good (up to a point) recovery chip.

Do I need to find a boot partition on the hard drive?

Should I reformat the hard drive, and if so, what options should I use?

[savvy2]

too much info..

the F11 key is the restore feature, if this fails you , someone ?damaged the  HP windows installer with say a W10 install disk.

we don't know how you got w10 nor how you performed the install.?

1: used a w10 disk?  and formatted the hdd"? see?  that is one way.

tell all how W10 got there.  ?

2: free w10 upgrade from MS last year, the inline upgrade?   do tell/??  what was your install method  and media.

3: did you boot to w10 install media. and say did a fresh W10 Install?

4: did you do any formatting or partition changes,  with install media>?

"–now can’t even reset PC"  (does that mean F11 is dead?) as in power on , hammer the F11 key.? this is dead?

[mdklassen]

> MACHINE CHECK

This indicates that the motherboard has detected a hardware fault.

Turn your HP computer off.

Turn your HP computer on, and look for the text "Press <blah> to run HP Hardware Diagnostics".

Press that <blah> key.

Run the tests.

Does any component, e.g., the disk-drive, "fail" its test?

> The only one that is active is one called SYSTEM. The other two are called WINDOWS and WINDOWS RE.

> They appear to be part of the attempt at Resetting the PC.

The SYSTEM partition contains the Windows "Boot Manager" (only useful if you have installed additional operating systems, side-by-side with your Windows 10 partition).

The WINDOWS RE partition is the "Windows System Recovery" partition.

You said that you have booted from this partition, only to find no "System Restore Points".

> I can look to see what files are on there through the DIR command,

Use the 'DIR' command with the '/A' option, to show all "hidden" files/folders -- stuff that you are not supposed to be tampering. 

> there is a Windows/system32 folder on the WIN RE partition.

Yes.  That "recovery" system is a stripped-down copy of Windows 10 -- just enough to let you try to "recover".

[mdklassen]

> to [sic] much info.

Not really.  The author reported 'BSOD' (Blue Screen of Death) with the 'MACHINE CHECK EXCEPTION'.

That is not the "graceful" post-mortem screen that you posted.

> all we need is the sad face screen. 

There was none -- just the BLUE-COLOURED screen with the 'MACHINE CHECK EXCEPTION' text.

> how W10 got on this PC?  (lots of ways how)?

It does not matter!

Did you read what the author wrote?  The computer was running Windows 10.  The author walked away from it, without shutting it down.  When the author returned to the computer, the BLUE-coloured screen was displayed.

> your support page shows w7 is max. supported

> so how'd it get non supported w10, my wild guess the MS free upgrade? last year? 

Are you referring to a "support" page on HP's web-site.

If HP does not offer any device-drivers for Windows 10, then either:

* any necessary device-drivers are already contained on the Windows 10 Installation Media,

* any necessary device-drivers are available via Windows Update, which runs automatically after Windows 10 was first installed.

Either way, there is no need for HP's web-site to duplicate information that will never be needed -- installing Windows 10 onto this HP computer will load all the needed device-drivers.  E-zee pee-zee. 

[savvy2]

mdk....

talk to the OP, i dont need you to tell me what to do, ever.

got it./!

[sheryll_net · Accepted solution]

Thanks to those who responded.

I neglected to add a few things. Firstly that when I arrived home, my husband had already run the HP diagnostics and all was fine.

After I backed up the files (see original post for how I did that), I  went round and round the startup repair and recovery loops I don't know how many times, I have at least a page of attempts noted in the book.

Anyway, that's water under the bridge...

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Without an installation USB chip and the inability to make them (I tried again today to make a USB chiip and an ISO file, neithre of which were bootable) I was having to consider a BIOS battery problem (what a friend had had problems with, and which had manifested itself similarly).

But there was the nagging thought of the recovery chip which always was bootable. Surely the BIOS problem would be constant for all the USB devices. So...

I plugged in the recovery chip and noted the Recover from a Drive status messages. I went away and came back to see it had reached the screen with the Keyboard  list. The next screen had an option to Exit to Windows 10. I did, it rebooted and I went around the Recover from a Drive loop again.

This time I made sure to be there when the Recovering this PC status was just below 100%. Once there, it rebooted, and continued to the Keyboard screen, then to the screen with the Exit to Windows 10 option among others.

This time I had the sense to remove the chip before selecting the Exit  to Windows 10 option and - finally - we were at the Windows  10 Install screen!!

It has been plain sailing since, aside from dimly remembered passwords, the amount of hitting over the head Firefox needs to look like how my husband had it, my WL Essentials executable not installing ( I'm pretty sure I used the wrong one - will know before the night is out).

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I am still perplexed by not having been able to make a bootable instllation USB chip or Iso file. And we never did find out why the machine check exception occurred. I moved the box so that the fans on each side have some breathing space. That was my only thought for what may have caused it.

Thank you for listening and helping.

[savvy2]

Good Job !@

the chip(thumb driver, usb flash memory stick) I call them usb sticks other call them usb keys)

this threw me... as there is TPM chip in the motherboard that that can be  to uSB Password turned on.

also the helper can not see your screens.

the OS installs using CD/DVD disks are bound to the intel/MS El Torito spec. this rule forces the user to hit ANY key

(running joke I have no key marked"ANY")  this rule means  you can never get in to a cd boot . loop.. ever.

even back to the first CDs this was true. other wise the 2nd boot installing say  XP and up.  would install and boot endlessly.  IT DOES NOT, due to that rule.!~

fast forward to USB stick installs and this rule does not apply. (IMO a bad idea)

all the makers of said install sticks can do is to , freeze the screen at 100% and say, PLEASE REMOVE THE USB STICK NOw.

now you know....  how boot loops happen (there are others, )

The El Torito, rule is inside  the BIOS ROM.  for CD/DVD boots.  it has purpose few understand.

"machine exceptions fails" (bsods) there are over 51 of those now.. for w10,  even one for , cant find boot fails.

"I am still perplexed by not having been able to make a bootable installation USB mem stick chip or Iso file"

first off , you need to say who's USB stick)?

Microsoft or HP;s?   (the latter you must buy,  ) or make your  own Recovery sticks. using HP tools.'''

here is the MS way, that can be very difficult  ...  MS is not HP. so... things will be missing.

if you do a fresh MS install  (a w10 to w10 , INLINE UPGRADE is different ask) below is worse case.

• go to ms.com  get the MS windows 10 ISO. 
• the new way , burns USB stick from the EXE you down load,
• you boot he key and install w10, you loose all HP structures and HP apps,  and drivers, all are gone now.
• you reboot (take out key) then its w10 , neat,  nothing more and if lucky the ethernet chip or wifi work.
• If lucky then many HP drivers work for all  the other chips dead, download during, the PnP plug and play actions, now.
• the W10 then does updates, you activate (fails,  OEM keys  are not any good for Retail so must pay $120.
• Ok MS w10 is loaded and you go th hp web site get all your missing drivers, and all HP APPS. end story fresh w10 .
• and all other apps lost (will all of them missing) 

the HP USB stick is purchased from HP media kit sold here,  this truly is the best of the best way.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/bph07143

now lets say you tripped over a w10 ISO file that you found, say "Larry the cable guy" loaned you his.?

its huge file.

you down load RUFUS (free) and burn the ISO ,to USB stick, watch out for the new size limits , now larger.

RUFUS burns the stick and it is now ready to run.

to burn a w10 DVD, we use imgburn (free) from ISO.

W10 allows Inline upgrades now, (a new feature from MS) 

say you have buggy w10.

you boot your W10 usb stick and it has an option to re Install and not loose, your APPS. 

or to do a fresh install.(above)

go to ms., click the get w10,

it downloads now  it is not an ISO but is  a w10.exe program (called it the MAKER Program) this is MS new way.

you run it and you get choices then and now how to make  ISO/DVD or STICK.  

They do it this way now (no simple ISO)so

that there are no errors in ISO data created by Internet  noise, the program does the CRC checks to insure MD5 matches.

A key step in successful , down loads for any ISO. file.

do know the HP and MS media are NOT THE SAME.

[mdklassen]

>  my WL Essentials executable not installing ( I'm pretty sure I used the wrong one - will know before the night is out).

Microsoft pushed "Windows Live Essentials" to its "sunset" in January 2017.

So, if you have saved/used the "online" installer (a small download), it will fail to download the rest of the package from Microsoft's file-server, since Microsoft has removed the file.  Thumbs-down to Microsoft!

See if you can find the "full" (or "offline") installer package at some site like www.MajorGeeks.com

[savvy2]

they,MS, have this,  the mediacreationtool.exe

this DL's the binaries, then runs an MD5 on it to make sure its not corrupted (so common) (way to go MS !)

and then lets you decide what to do. what more can you want?

works for  me.. every time.

run it.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10

is not this page above clear what it can do...?

btw it will not ask for the COA as you DL it. ( way to go MS)

with W7 it asks (demands) a COA key,  and the OEM FAILS. (why not to go MS)

this way also works  best because MS can now add (slipstream) updates !  (w7 has over 350 , well did, ? IDK now.)

that means not having to wait days, doing DL updates and packs, for  that, on say DSL.(slow internet connections)

best is always start here, and avoid all that wasted effort.

Also W10 can do W10  to W10 inline upgrade,  and not lose apps. etc.

one of the best things about W10, IMO

[sheryll_net]

Thank you both for your replies.

Yes, the Majorgeeks download file was what I should have installed, and so yes I did and it worked. wlsetup-all.exe, not wlsetup-web.exe  

I tracked down his Message Store file but am at present stymied on how to load his Contacts.

So far I have either been able to download things from the internet, copy them from my program files or downloads folder or find them in the data I saved after the error occurred.

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Re the other questions. Firstly, the W10 was a free upgrade when the upgrades were free. All 4 computers were upgraded at that time.

Financially I have been trying to spend 0 dollars on this (and my other computer problems), so we don't have any HP recovery disks.

The file MediaCreationTool.exe is the one I used to make all the installation media that didn't work.

In April I did make a successful USB installation chip, and was able to have the data copied to a windows.old directory, as well as having copied all the Users files onto a backuup drive. I cannot see what I am doing wrong this time.

Yes, it is possible that I could have recovered the PC earlier if I had taken out the chip after the Recover with a Drive process. I do not recall the Exit to Windows 10 option before though, so maybe not.

Thanks again!