Computer Woes: Core i5, 5850 and Windows 7 - please help!

kidscruff

kidscruff

kidscruff

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23 Feb 2003
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So, my new build (see sig) has been playing up rotten in XP, and now the same in Win7.

In XP [32-bit Pro], the computer would just crash out during idle, resulting in a BSOD (ati2dvag in an infinite loop) or the VPU recover would kick in and drop back to a VGA desktop. I tried every combination of CD/beta drivers I could find, with no luck. Updated BIOS didn't fix the problem either. However, disabling the EIST/C1/C3 CPU states in the BIOS seemed to help the situation, which kind of implies the CPU 'halt' modes may be choking the video card / driver somehow?

Stressing/testing each of the components separately seems to be fine: Prime95 blend ran fine for an hour, Memtest86+ ran fine for an hour, FurMark runs happily, and Prime95 + FurMark running together doesn't seem to bother the PC. HD Tune reports good speeds for the HDD, although occasionally I get some big dips in the graph. Memory is set to 1333MHz, 7-7-7-20 @ 1.64V, but have also underclocked this to 1066MHz on Auto timings, with no difference to stability.

Windows 7 [64-bit home premium, clean install, default drivers + Cat 9.10] appears more stable in general, although I have had the VPU recover message a couple times (doesn't cripple the desktop/resolution in win7).

Running Windows Experience Index crashes the computer most of the time:

Usually, about 2/3 of the way through (video decoding maybe) the screen refresh starts to 'chug', then the whole display goes black, then back to desktop, then black again, etc... as if the screen is refreshing once every few seconds (monitor is not powering off). Shut down PC using power button.

It has BSOD during the data transfer test (rebooted before I could read the message).

Computer has also "VPU-recovered" when accessing the HDD. Went to 'Program Files', nothing there for a few seconds, then VPU recovered. Then HDD accessing fine.

I've scanned and tested the HDD and there are no errors reported. No relocated bad sectors in Everest SMART either.

----

Apologies for the long post, but I'm just at a loss to what's going on with the computer. It all seems related to the video driver, although the most mundane of things seems to crash it out. Power supply is low, I know, but I shouldn't be drawing that much power from the system, especially in idle!

My option now seems to be replacing components to see what's causing this incompatibility. Unless anyone can suggest things to try?
 
I think your suspicions about the PSU could be the problem. Can you try something 600w plus? Perhaps you could get one in and if it dosn't work, take it back.
 
Everything in your post points to a bad graphics driver or bad graphics card.

Have you tried a different video card? An NVidia card maybe?
 
I don't have any other components to try. I may be able to borrow a bigger power supply, but don't have another video card to try.

I had hoped it was just the graphics driver, but other 5850 users don't have these problems (or at least have much more serious issues, such as no display whatsoever). Perhaps it is the video card, or just a system incompatibility somewhere.

I forgot to mention that all temps seems fine. CPU maxes out at around 50°. GPU around 70° in Furmark.
 
Realised I have been running Windows 7 with "EIST/C1/C3..." CPU states in the BIOS enabled. I have disabled these (again!), and so far so good it seems...

From Bit tech's article on overclocking the Core i5 (here):

Intel SpeedStep/C1E/Power Saving Technology: This underclocks the multiplier when the CPU is idle to save power, however it can also affect performance sometimes, especially SATA throughput as we've seen in a few cases.
Click to expand...

Not an ideal situation, seeing as I can't make use of the CPU power saving. And also disabling EIST/C1 locks the Turbo at 21x for all cores. So using just a single core I don't get the 24x (3.2GHz) clock either.

Found some similar stories:
http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga-p55-ud3-i5-750-windows-7-x64-rtm-very-unstable-34410/
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-271358_13_0.html
http://communities.intel.com/thread/6900?tstart=30

Hope this may be of some help to anyone else?
 
Intersting post. I have just built a new system but based on i7 860 and I don't have that problem (yet....)

I have a decent oc on my platform as well 166*22 with turbo off. However the board allows me to offset the voltage, I put another 0.075 or so through it. This still allows me the benefits of power saving, i.e. it drop to 166*9, to about 0.85 vcore and uses about 30w.

Shame really that the i5 seems to have this issue, one of the main benefits of the system is the power saving mode it really is an excellent feature.
 
Quick update. All "crashes" for me are the same thing. Win7 screen goes blank, then desktop/active window reappears (partially), then blank again... in a continuous cycle as though something is trying to recover the system. This goes on for as long as I leave it, until I shut down using the case power button (windows properly shuts down which is ok). Crashes occur any time so it seems, mostly if I'm bringing up a menu or flicking between windows. There's a delay, then fans whiir, then blank screen.

Code: 
All CPU options enabled:    CPU cores: idle (single x9 - x24),   stressed (multi x21) - [B][COLOR="Red"]CRASHES[/COLOR][/B]
Disable EIST:               CPU cores: idle (single x21 - x24),  stressed (multi x21) - [B][COLOR="Red"]CRASHES[/COLOR][/B]
Disable EIST & C1:          CPU cores: idle (single x21 - x24),  stressed (multi x21) - [B][COLOR="Red"]CRASHES[/COLOR][/B]
Disable EIST & C1 & C3/6/7: CPU cores: idle (single x21 locked), stressed (multi x21) - [B][COLOR="Green"]OK SO FAR[/COLOR][/B]
Disable C3/6/7 only:        CPU cores: idle (single x9 - x21),   stressed (multi x21) - [B][COLOR="Green"]OK SO FAR[/COLOR][/B] (plus gives me x9 power save!)

Currently looking like C3/6/7 state (which bumps the single core to x24 in idle) may be the naughty one!

TBH this shouldn't happen and if it's definitely the motherboard, then it's a faulty product.
 
Bugger, crash again. Just tested WEI for a laugh, and the following suddenly occurred:

Blank screen (monitor enters standby) with GPU (&CPU?) fans on maximum. All the lights on the motherboard (the CPU power phase leds) had gone off.

Had to hold power to switch off. Diagnosis?
 
A quick update to close my threads. Thanks for everyone's help.

Problems seem to have been resolved with a new BIOS, and updated chipset/lan/audio from the Gigabyte website.
 
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