NMI: Channel Check/ IOCHK

[SamuelBiddulph]

Somewhat related to hardware i know but the solution may lie in the operating system config so though i'd post here as well.... please see below.

I have a laptop that when it's NOT plugged into the mains and is booted or attempted to be used the system blue screens with the following information;

*** Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support
NMI: Channel Check/ IOCHK
*** Thesystem has halted ***

Anyone have anyideas? I suspect that it may either be a power issue (although the system doesn't turn off) or possibly a hard disk problem, again possibly relating to a power consumption.

Anyone seen this before or have any suitable ideas?

 

[bcastner]

There are several possible causes. But in the end it is usually a failing hardware component. A disk drive problem could cause this, but look at your less expensive components first. Bad Network Adapters and Modems are high on the list for this problem:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q222973

 

[mwil]

I have the same problem.

What laptop are you using?
Mine is a Toshiba Tecra 9100.

To attempt to eliminate some items I have removed the
DVD (its all plug&play) and switched off the wireless LAN.
So I don't think it is those.

Again, plugging into the power resolves avoids the blue screen.

I am wondering if it is something to do with the power saving features?

On battery CPU, screen, disk spin, etc. are reduced, whereas on mains no power saving is applied.

I have an external mirrored disk (thanks to AMACOM).
So I will be trying:
* Swapping hard disks
* Turning off power saving options when on battery

If this helps I'll post any findings. Failing that I
guess it's off to PC repair, which I get free through
my company.

 

[mwil]

Having just posted the previous response I found this:

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...port/kb/articles/q222/9/73.asp&NoWebContent=1

Which makes me suspect the PCs memory. Again, I will check this out.

 

[SamuelBiddulph]

It's a Tecra 9100 which i've now sent off for repair as i went through everything you could possibly get your hands on to remove without taking it appart myself. I'll post any information that i recieve once the unit is returned.

 

[ajbb]

I have exactly the same problem with a 18 month old Tecra 9100. Problem only occurs on battery, its fine on mains. I recently installed an additional memory, which like mwil I suspect to be part of the problem. But, since we all have Tecra 9100, that looks certain to be part of the problem too.

 

[ajbb]

Update to my previous email. On my Tecra, the NMI/IOCHK blue screen invaraibly comes within about 2 minutes of switching to battery power. The only software fix I have devised for this is to suspend the toshiba power management software while the computer is on mains electricty, then switch to battery. On my machine this can be done by

1. While on mains, bring up Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL)
2. End the process TPWRTRAY.EXE
3. Safely remove to mains power.

Having done this my machine will then run to the end of its battery with no blue screen. Nothing else I have tried works (e.g. uninstalling toshiba power management software does not help). Once in this mode, my PC will suspend and resume happily, but will not restore from hibernation without causing a blue screen.

 

[SamuelBiddulph]

I've had some very interesting issues with the power management with Toshiba laptops myself. It seems not to be too stable if for whatever reason it doesn't quite perform correctly - i.e. once it's gone belly up it just continues to get worse.
In my origional case as i couldn't actuall boot the machine to do anything the repair involved the system board being replaced - i'm sure the board itself wasn't burned out or anything like that - it's more likly that the system gradually got itself to a point of no recovery.
If people can i'd recommend either not using the power management features at all or rapidly address any sort of strange activity that could relate to a power issue - it'll save headaches!!

The origional machine went form stable to completly dead in about a space of 2 days.

 

[mwil]

Engineer finally came out to fix my Toshiba Tecra 9100 (took over a week - next day ha!)

Apparently, the system board was completely replaced!

Now everything is fine - BUT FOR HOW LONG???

I've been impressed with the Tecra 9100, but I am now concerned what the future holds in terms of reliability. If anyone from Toshiba reads these postings then may be they could shed some light on what seems a common problem (does this mean a design or manufacturing problem?).

Does the replacement system board have a different revision which will address this problem?

No information about what the issue is and if, what have been an expensive replacement/fix, has completely resolved the problem forever?

 

[richardion]

One of our Tecra 9100s has this very problem and the Toshiba authorized repair engineer I spoke to said that it is a known problem to do with a short between the motherboard and some other part of the notebook.
It is fixed by relocating the board in the casing and (normally) replacement of the board. Presumably, the only part of the motherboard affected has some relation to the battery and the flexing of the case over time brings about the short????
Unfortunately we wont be returning this for repair just yet so it'll be a some time before we find out if this correct.

 

[poggs]

I have exactly the same problem with my Tecra 9100, and it started only a couple of weeks ago. I've seen the BIOS setup utility crash too.

My machine is dual-boot and runs Linux - I never have any problem when running Linux, but with XP, it bluescreens after a random amount of time.