Troubleshooting Random Lockups, Narrowed down to hardware

Well hey there everyone.

I'm having random lockups with my computer, at first I thought it could be driver related, but it isn't because I've reinstalled Windows and it's made no difference. I've tested different ATI drivers as they have a history of being garbage anyway.

The only thing I have tested so far is I've swapped my 5830 for my old 4670, and it made no difference, still having the lockups.

What's next on the list then? Help please.

Don't really fancy just randomly RMAing things, but I don't know anyone with an AM3/DDR3 rig locally to test with.

EDIT: It now won't boot at all, no matter what I do. Interestingly, removing the CMOS battery and leaving it out for 5 minutes+ (yes it's unplugged) makes no difference. Borked BIOS chip/motherboard?

Whats it crashing under?

Fresh install of Windows 7, it would start then lockup in the middle of something, now after taking the 4670 out (couldn't get it running with 2 monitors) and putting the 5830 back in, I can't get it to boot and the BIOS won't reset.

EDIT: New information! I got the BIOS to reset, had to leave the battery out for over 10 minutes, but it reset and booted.

What are the full specs of the rig...

With lockups I would prob be looking at PSU / Motherboard...

Just to confirm is it everything freezes or does it blue screen? any error messages to go on etc?

basic build time imo. 1 ram stick, cpu, gfx (only if no onboard).

Then memtest boot and run.

I'd likely be looking at ram 1st just because it tends to be the thing that goes wrong the most. And is easiest to test.

gamesaregood said:

What are the full specs of the rig...

With lockups I would prob be looking at PSU / Motherboard...

Just to confirm is it everything freezes or does it blue screen? any error messages to go on etc?

Click to expand...

Yep Windows just locks up and nothing will do anything, if I press the power button the HDD light doesn't flash or anything.

Spec is:

AMD Phenom II X4 Quad Core 965 Black Edition 3.40GHz
Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply
Asus M4A79XTD Evo Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache (Storage)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 320GB SATA-II 16MB Cache (Main)
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 5830 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler
Sony Optiarc AD-5240S 24x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter
Arctic Cooling MX-3 Thermal Compound
3x Xigmatek case fans, all on a Zalman Fan Mate 2 controllers.

Crowort said:

basic build time imo. 1 ram stick, cpu, gfx (only if no onboard).

Then memtest boot and run.

I'd likely be looking at ram 1st just because it tends to be the thing that goes wrong the most. And is easiest to test.

Click to expand...

I left it on last night to see how long it'd take to crash, it didn't. Memtest is on the list for today though cheers! (Although I understand that this doesn't completely rule out RAM trouble?).

Everything is set to Auto in the BIOS, apart from the RAM, which is set to 1600mhz at 1.64v, which are the settings recommended for it, but on Auto the motherboard defaults the RAM to 1.8v which I felt was a little high if G.Skill so it's on rated to 1.65V...

EDIT: It stayed alive all last night, but within the last 5-10 minutes I've had 3 BSODs, D1, 124 and then 0A, I'm going to look them up now. It's now refusing to post again...

Also I've just remembered, I get a lot of static noise through the on-board sound, reinstalling the OS hasn't solved this so it's not a driver problem. It happens when I shut down, and when I remove the power cable and let the light on the motherboard use up the rest of the power. To reset the BIOS I need to leave it unplugged with the CMOS out for over 15 mins now, whereas whenever I've had to do it in the past it's only needed 20 secs. Think it might by time to RMA the motherboard? :/

Can't really run Memtest if I can't get it going again...

Got it going again, looked up the BSODs I was getting, one points to a hardware error, another 2 point to a RAM or possible driver error. I remembered a mate of mine having problems with this board and RAM, it wouldn't boot at 1600mhz, so I've knocked it back to 1333mhz and running Memtest now.

EDIT: IIt crashed running Memtest, but has been fine for 2 hours of Prime Blend. Soon it will be time to start testing each stick and slot to see how it goes.

Seems to have been fine for 3 hours of prime blend now.

I'm going to experiment with turning CnQ off, I've heard of it making overclocks unstable before, maybe it's making my stock settings unstable...

Anything else I should check? Any helpers?

Does Memtest normally take ages to run? It's taken about 2 hours so far to cover 48%...

This can't be normal surely?

It does take a long time, yes.

The way I see it, it's most likely to be RAM, then motherboard, then PSU. I'd normally put PSU first but that Corsair unit is a very good one.

I'm inclined to agree with you, as I looked up the BSODs I have had, and they all pointed to either RAM, or RAM/Driver issue. Shouldn't be a problem with any drivers as I've just reinstalled with all the latest ones.

Thanks for all the help you guys, I've been very keen to get this sorted ASAP as I need this computer to earn moneys, but I've sorted a tempory solution out now.

what was the problem and what was you're solution, having similiar probs with same board myself.

Not found a solution yet really, running the ram at 1333mhz @ 1.64v and turning off CnQ seems to have made it more stable though, the crashes are less frequent.

I've read a few stories of these boards suffering badly from vdroop, if that's the case then I've no idea why mine was able to run 1600 @ 1.64v before...

Solution found! The on-board sound is knackered. I've known about this for a while now though, because when I shut down I get a load of staticy feedbacky nastiness through the speakers.

Anyway, I replaced the speakers the other day so stumbled on the solution by accident! (USB speakers so the on-board is now disabled).

Disabled the drivers and disabled on-board sound in the BIOS, also now back to my old RAM settings and CnQ is re-enabled. (These are not tested yet though, so it may still turn out that something else is the problem).

EDIT: Solution dis-proved, I re-enabled CnQ earlier and put the ram up to 1600mhz, and it just crashed again. Going to test at 1333mhz now and see how things go. (Fed up of computers!)

More testing done, removing one stick of ram seemed to make it last longer before it crashed, but then it did anyway. I have changed the ram now for the other stick in the other slot.

I can see a motherboard RMA coming on, although it could be the memory controller, which I think is on the CPU die on these Phenom IIs...

Try running Prime 95, see if it errors...

Sounds like ram issue, but possibly HDD producing bad sectors. You might want to check the integrity of your HDD.

gamesaregood said:

Try running Prime 95, see if it errors...

Click to expand...

Already have for 2 hours, and memtest for 4 hours, neither brought up an error.

mithrandir said:

Sounds like ram issue, but possibly HDD producing bad sectors. You might want to check the integrity of your HDD.

Click to expand...

How do I check that?

EDIT: Never mind, found out. Going to run the scan now.