A machine-check exception (MCE) is a type of computer hardware error that occurs when a computer's central processing unit detects a hardware error in the processor itself, the memory, the I/O devices, or on the system bus; in some architectures, an MCE only occurs for an unrecoverable error. On x86 architectures, a machine-check exception is not caused by software. However, on other architectures such as PowerPC, certain software bugs such as invalid memory accesses can cause machine-check exceptions. The error usually occurs due to component failure or the overheating or overclocking of hardware components. Most machine-check exceptions halt the operating system and require a restart before users can continue normal operation. Diagnosing the failure can be often difficult because so little information about what caused the problem is captured during the error.
Modern versions of Microsoft Windows on IA-32 and x86-64 processors handle machine-check exceptions through the Windows Hardware Error Architecture. When WHEA detects an uncorrectable machine check exception, it displays the error in a Blue Screen of Death, with the following parameters (which vary, but the first parameter is always 0x0 for a machine check exception):
*** STOP: 0x00000124 (0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000)Older versions of Windows handle similar exceptions through the Machine Check Architecture. In this case, the Blue Screen of Death will show an error similar to the following:
STOP: 0x0000009C (0x00000030, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x80003CBA)On Linux, a process (such as klogd) writes a message to the kernel log and/or the console screen (usually only to the console when the error is non-recoverable and the machine crashes as a result):
CPU 0: Machine Check Exception: 0000000000000004Bank 2: f200200000000863Kernel panic: CPU context corrupt referenceEver curious about what that abbreviation stands for? fullforms has got them all listed out for you to explore. Simply,Choose a subject/topic and get started on a self-paced learning journey in a world of fullforms.
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