Friday, August 14, 2015

Windows 10: MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION error

After hearing all the buzz about Windows 10, I finally jumped into the bandwagon. But I hit a snag during installation. Initially I did not give a thought about it, thinking maybe it was a one off thing. Good thing is that the installation was smart enough to restore everything back after I had to hard reset the computer. So I launched the second time installation. No luck as it encountered the same problem. And so my endless install, reboot and re-install cycle began.

My PC is a self built desktop which passed all the requirement checks done by Windows 10 installation. I never had hardware failure nor crashes (BSOD) before during my last 2 years of running Windows 8. But every time I try to upgrade to Windows 10, it will always crash (BSOD with a sad smiley face) and shown together with the error code of MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION. It always happens during the "Copying file" stage and overall progress at 22%. At this junction, the computer will not restart or do anything. I have to hard reset it and let the computer reboot back to Windows 8.

So I googled up regarding this error code. It returned many results for all the previous Windows versions, but not a single result for Windows 10. Really? No one else has had this problem in their Windows 10 installation? I must be the damn unlucky one. I read up on this specific MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION error code and understand that it generally means there may be a hardware failure itself or caused by other factors like overheating. I recalled back the sequence in my installation and it always crashes during "Copying file" stage. So I presume it may be problems with my RAM, or overheating of motherboard chipsets or hard drive (as huge chunks of data are being copied before it crashes). With this diagnosis, I tried the installation one more time, but pulling out a stick of RAM (making it single channel), pulling off my unnecessary DVD and extra hard drives and then blasting my room air-conditioning to max. Voila! It worked and the installation proceeded smoothly.

Windows 10 works so beautifully now. When I logged in for the first time, everything was intact where I left off in Windows 8; down to the very icons and their placements in the desktop. All programs, games and apps work as they were in the old version. The best experience is the new Internet Explorer called the Edge browser. It is giving Google's Chrome a run of its money. Apart from the installation issues, I am all praises for this new Windows 10. I do not blame Microsoft for it because they really did a good job in the OS. The installation issue is just a one off thing. With so many different hardware parts in the PC market, it is beyond Microsoft's control to make it compatible with all machines; unlike Apple who only has one type of hardware to play with. So it will be unfair to compare.

I hope this sharing will help others who encounter the same problem like me. Do not fume if you encounter it. We do what we PC geeks do best. Troubleshoot and solve it. It's the fun and privilege that Apple users do not enjoy. And lastly, enjoy Windows 10. It's worth to upgrade.