Samsung NP350V5C MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION 0x9c

Hi,

I have an NP350V5C, with Windows 8, bought from Staples about 1 year ago. It always had problems with freezing or showing bluescreen errors. I'm trying to figure out what is causing the laptop's problems. Samsung's tech support suggested I restore the operating system and included software back to how it was when we bought the laptop. I doubted that would fix whatever was causing the MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION bluescreen errors (BugCheck 0x0000009c) but I did it anyway. A short time after restoring the laptop to factory condition and installing updates from Samsung I saw a bluescreen error. The error message was the same. Then I uninstalled the Bluetooth Suite (x64) and Norton Internet Security software that came with the laptop, upgraded the operating system to Windows 8 Pro with Media Center Pack, and installed several updates from Microsoft's Windows Update. Later, after the updates installed, I saw the same bluescreen error again. I read some web pages about BugCheck 0x0000009c and learned there are a couple problems that can cause that error. However, I haven't found much info about how to fix those problems. I'm not sure they are fixable. Any suggestions?

 

I suspect there is a hardware issue.

Did you contact Samsung within the one year warranty period? If so, you should be able to ask them to fix it now you did the OS reinstallation and the problem has reappeared.

John

 

Hi John,

The day I sent an email to Samsung about this issue was exactly one year after the purchase date shown in the BIOS. However, when I bought the laptop it had a 6 month warranty, according to Staples. The warranty extended 3 months by registering the purchase with Samsung. I'm not sure if I used the date in the BIOS or the date the order was placed when I registered the purchase. Maybe, at some point, Samsung changed the warranty to a full year. I don't know. Samsung replied to my email. After some communication back and forth, and trying some things, Samsung concluded I need to ship the laptop to some place for repair. By that time we were about 1 month beyond the warranty expiration date and I didn't feel like trying to convince somebody at Samsung to check exactly when the warranty expired. If the warranty expired on the date I contacted Samsung then I'd still have to convince them to accept the laptop for repairs. Some other manufacturers provide a way to check if a product is still under warranty by using their website. I like that but I haven't found the same website based service offered by Samsung.

I disassembled the laptop. I found the ribbon cable that connects the USB 2.0 ports was crookedly placed in its socket on the motherboard. I'm not sure how important that was but I straightened the ribbon cable. A thermal pad on the south-bridge chip did not completely cover the chip. The pad was crookedly set on the chip. I straightened that so the chip is covered now. I've disassembled a few laptops- not a lot but a few- and found the plastic in this laptop was the most brittle I've seen. All the nuts for the screws that fasten the left hinge were broken free from the plastic. Plus a couple nuts in other places were broken free.

After putting the laptop back together I ran it and checked Event Viewer a few times. Looks like the Qualcom Atheros Bluetooth software that Samsung provides for Windows 8 really doesn't work with Windows 8. I uninstalled the software. There was a permissions issue in the registry and with a component service that I fixed. Currently, seems like I fixed whatever was causing our bluescreen errors but still the keyboard, mouse, or whole computer freezes sometimes. I have no idea what is causing that. There are no errors about the freezes in Event Viewer. The laptop has to be powered off to unfreeze it.

 

Thanks for the update.

The Series 3 is the cheap end of the Samsung range and it appears that both materials and assembly are not the best. Was there any indication whether the computer was made by Samsung or another company?

Freezing that leaves no entry in the event log is difficult to trouble-shoot. Does the HDD have a problem? I've known dying HDDs to cause temporary freezing. Such problems might show up in the HDD's SMART data. Try downloading the diagnostic utility from the HDD manufacturer's website.

John