Machine Check Exception Frozen

[Peter_E]

Last night, lightning hit nearby my house. At the exact same time, my internet went out and my pc started running very slowly. I could barely move the cursor and no programs would respond smoothly. The next day I start my pc up and I get a blue screen “Machine Check Exception” error, that say’s it is trying to fix the issue but never budges past 0% progress, no matter how long i leave the pc on that screen. Every time I boot my pc from now on, it either goes to the Machine Check Exception screen, or it goes to a “Automatic repair” screen in which the loading circle eventually freezes and stays like that. I’m in the process of trying to boot the os from a usb, but im not sure it will work. Is there anything I can do to fix this issue? And if one of my parts is completely fried, which is it? I suspect the cpu, but i dont want to replace a part that is perfectly fine.

Also I am unable to boot into safe mode using the f8 key.

[Peter_E]

Also, the very first time I started up my pc after the lightning strike, I got a “Clock Watchdog Timeout” blue screen error. This error only appeared once though.

[veeg]

Hello

There is a good chance that your mobo experienced an electrical surge,which is not good! Have you tried your system restore?
Hopefully more of our members will chime in soon.

jmarket @phillpower2

[Peter_E]

Hello

There is a good chance that your mobo experienced an electrical surge,which is not good! Have you tried your system restore?
Hopefully more of our members will chime in soon.

@jmarket @phillpower2

I’m not sure how to get to system restore without being logged into a booted up windows 10. In my current state, I can’t even boot past the loading screen with the blue windows logo. I’m still trying to create a boot-able usb drive but im having some difficulties with that too.

[jmarket]

Hi there @Peter_E and welcome to PCHF

Sorry to hear about the thunderstorm. Did you have your computer plugged into a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) / battery backup?

[Peter_E]

Hi there @Peter_E and welcome to PCHF

Sorry to hear about the thunderstorm. Did you have your computer plugged into a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) / battery backup?

Hello,

I did not have a ups connected or any sort of power backup. my pc was plugged in from the transformer directly into a wall socket.

[jmarket]

Are you able to take a picture of the error?

Did you try a system restore?

[Peter_E]

I am not able to do a system restore. I just tried to boot windows 10 from a usb but that froze on a black screen with a white console cursor. All the symptoms point to a fried cpu. The motherboard seems to be fine since i can access the BIOS with no problems. here’s a couple photos of the frozen and error screens

[veeg]

I hate to say it but it does seem to be an electrical surge issue. Unless you are comfortable going inside your pc,you may have to take to a shop.

[jmarket]

The motherboard seems to be fine since i can access the BIOS with no problems.

Sorry to say that being able to reach the bios does not mean the motherboard is ok. Hope it is though.

[Peter_E]

I need an upgrade anyway so i’m going to go ahead and get a new mobo and cpu. hopefully that will resolve the issue.

[veeg]

I need an upgrade anyway so i’m going to go ahead and get a new mobo and cpu. hopefully that will resolve the issue.

I would think that is a sure bet.

[jmarket]

Don’t want to give you more bad news, but the first component to receive the surge from the lightning strike would be the PSU and indeed the same as when they fail it is not uncommon for them to take out everything in the system, including any graphics cards and associated connected hardware. Whilst I would not say that is the case here, and hope not, just be prepared for the worst and for a whole new system:cry:

[Peter_E]

Update: Just installed a new motherboard and cpu. Everything appears to be fully functional and no hard drive data was lost.

thank you guys for the fast replies.

[veeg]

Glad you got that sorted.