Computer crashing... total lockup software/hardware

[rexehuk]

Righty. I am running Windows vista x64 with ATI 9.7 drivers and the latest window updates etc.

Computer is pretty new (2 months)

The current problem is rare but happened a few times this week. The problem usually crops up when im watching bbc iplayer (clicking full screen button) and involves the displays stopping (displaying static image of my desktop) and the sound loops very fast. During this, the reset button on my case doesn't work and the computer then turns itself off, powering back up after 3-5 seconds.

I currently have to RMA my RAM as it shows up a couple of errors in memtest @ 1600mhz but is fine at 1066Mhz. Will try RMA it next week. (This possibly could be the issue so ill add this into the mix).

What would cause this, from your experience people?

 

[rexehuk]

Anyone? I'll bake you a cookie...

 

[rexehuk]

thats pretty unusual, as i cant see iplayer putting any particular load on the systen, does vista give you any error information in report?

No error information... windows boots up like nothing happened

What voltage are you pushing through the RAM? Ensure you try 2.1v before you RMA it!

All left on auto in bios, not pushing 2.1v through it as its tested at 1.6v 1600Mhz, so it should do that out of the box! 2.1v is too high for me given the limited information on damage to the intel ddr3 memory controller over long term.

 

[rexehuk]

Will do, the RAM says on the side 1600 @ 1.65V, so tbh if it's marked as that it should do it. Current timings (all auto bios) are 9-9-9-24. Pretty sure the side of the chips say they are tested at 8-8-8-25 @ 1.65V @ 1600Mhz so my timings are pretty loose.

I'll give them a run through on 1.65V tomorrow @ 1600Mhz, if that fails I may drop it a bit to maybe 1333 as suggested, annoying though as what is the point of buying the RAM if it can't hold it stable!

As for the QVL, I don't think they are on there, they don't have any 6GB OCZ 12800 on there. Not sure if that matters much tbh, maybe peace of mind at most

 

[rexehuk]

I missed that your system is clocked.

Try dropping the CPU to defaults and run the test at 1600MHz - if it passes then the instabilty will be a result of your clock and may be tweakable.

Nah, this is running stock. Totally reset CMOS when I did the memtest+ so its running at 2.67Ghz.

Just running this low clock will I sort memory out to slow down crashes.