Random reboots due to AMD Northbridge? (Windows 7 x64 Ultimate)

[griven1]

So it's been a while and when I'm here it's normally serious.


As the title states, I am getting these random reboots. I have gone into the event viewer to finally get a message from it and this time it left behind a dump file. It's the first one it has.

The event viewer states this:

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.

In the details view I have this:

- System 

  - Provider 

   [ Name]  Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger 
   [ Guid]  {C26C4F3C-3F66-4E99-8F8A-39405CFED220} 
 
   EventID 20 
 
   Version 0 
 
   Level 2 
 
   Task 0 
 
   Opcode 0 
 
   Keywords 0x8000000000000000 
 
  - TimeCreated 

   [ SystemTime]  2015-03-22T03:31:47.029756800Z 
 
   EventRecordID 12491 
 
  - Correlation 

   [ ActivityID]  {13884991-ECC4-4AEE-BF30-73ED4B20E233} 
 
  - Execution 

   [ ProcessID]  1716 
   [ ThreadID]  4032 
 
   Channel System 
 
   Computer bchzd22-PC 
 
  - Security 

   [ UserID]  S-1-5-19 
 

- EventData 

  ErrorSource 3 
  ApicId 0 
  MCABank 4 
  MciStat 0xfe00000000070f0f 
  MciAddr 0xfeac86fc 
  MciMisc 0xc00a0fff01000000 
  ErrorType 7 
  Length 928 
  RawData 435045521002FFFFFFFF03000100000002000000A0030000181E030016030F140000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000BDC
407CF89B7184EB3C41F732CB57131FE6FF5E89C91C54CBA8865ABE14913BB279CFC835064D00102000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000058010000C0000
0000102000001000000ADCC7698B447DB4BB65E16F193C4F3DB0000000000000000000000000000000001000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000018020000
800000000102000000000000B0A03EDC44A19747B95B53FA242B6E1D00000000000000000000000000000000010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000980
20000080100000102000000000000011D1E8AF94257459C33565E5CC3F7E8000000000000000000000000000000000100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
007F010000000000000002040000030000200F600000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000700000000000000000000000000000020
F6000000806000B32983EFFFB8B170000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000B3F8F31CB1C5A249AA595EEF92FFA63C030000000000000
09E07C0E607000000FC86ACFE00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000010000000200000048CF70885064D001000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000040000000F0F0700000000FEFC86ACFE0000000000000001FF0F0AC0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Bluescreenview shows no problems.

I have not made and hardware changes and cannot seem to find a straight answer anywhere.
I have been reading that the north bridge needs better cooling but since it's on the cpu these days, that would sound like I am having an issue with the HSF yet my temps never go over 60c and that is really stressing it.

All the components are new but will give the hardware rundown.

MoBo: ASRock 960GM-VGS3 FX
CPU: AMD FX 6300
Video: ASUS Radeon HD7790
HDD: 2x ST3500414CS (465 GB)
PSU: Unknown 550 watt (can't get to it at the moment)
Ram: 2x8Gb Kingston HyperX KHX1600C10D3/8GX

If any other information is needed, just let me know.

Thanks.

[Midknyte]

Did you update the motherboard's BIOS?

[griven1]

I did think about this but it is on V1.30 which is the latest bios.

[Train]

Look at the diagram on page 12 of the manual to see the location of the 760 chipset. Which has a passive heatsink.
ftp://66.226.78.21/manual/960GM-VGS3%20FX.pdf

This tells me you need to clean the case. To include removing the front bezel and cleaning the air passages behind it. Believe me, they do get all kinds of plugged up.
Definitely not getting enough airflow through the case to get rid of the heated air.
Been there many a time.

[griven1]

That would be a great thought Train except.... that this pc has it's side open and sits in a room that never gets above 5c. I as well did point a fan at it. I will check the heat sink though.

[Train]

If you had the fan blowing on it and in a room that cold, that says there is a air pocket in the thermal adhesive to allow that overheating to happen.

Either replace the adhesive or RMA the motherboard being you choices that I see. If you can RNA, tht would be a better choice in my book.

[griven1]

At that point I would just RMA it and order another (different board) today as well. I mean on the better side, considering this was supposed to be a budget build originally.
Do you think the GA-990FXA-UD5 would make for a great replacement or should I go with the Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 for a replacement (since this has now become my problem).

[Train]

MSI is my favorite but the GA-990FXA-UD5 would be the better of the 2 you selected.
Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)

Specs tab
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...px?pid=3891#sp

ASUS seem to work just fine until 30 - 60 days after warrantee is up.