Freezing computer

CGough

CGough

CGough

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27 Sep 2011
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11
Hi all... Many apologies for requesting help with my first post.

I've seen this issue a whole lot on the net but no real confirmed fixes. You see I'm having trouble with my PC freezing after a while. I know the following:

the less RAM I have installed the longer it runs before freezing

I have upgraded the PSU recently as I'd thought it was a power supply issue, however this does not seem to be the case.

I've had some luck removing the BIOS battery, this seems to allow me to run the computer but it will freeze if I try to load certain programs like "3Ds Max"


I feel quite sure that this must be a BIOS issue. I have installed the required drivers and tried updating them also...

My rig is as follows:

CPU : AMD Phenom 955 Black Edition
Motherboard : ASUS M4A785D-M Pro
PSU : Coolermaster GX Bronze 750W
RAM : Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR 2 800MHz ( 4-4-4-12 2.0 )
GPU : XFX Radeon HD 5770
HDD(s) : Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
Indeed I have. I left it running for 24 hours or so with no recorded problems... I am always wary though of RAM...

* Also, many thanks for the help and time taken out to actually reply to so many posts *

I've noticed that it freezes often when a message indicating that the Catalyst control center has stopped working. I somehow managed to keep it online long enough to install the relevant drivers via the "Automatically Detect and Install" method from AMD and have reinstalled the drivers for the Motherboard from the disk...

I also set the BIOS settings for the RAM to those specified (4-4-4-12) but there are many other settings I am unsure of in the BIOS list for RAM...

Things seem to be leaning over to this being a GPU issue but I haven't seen any artefacts on the screen, when it freezes it simply stays still, no artefacts at all... I have an older GPU so I can try installing that to see if anything changes.

Also I've ran the benchmark for "Final Fantasy XIV" it plays well but judders every second or so, this is also indicated in the "score" line where it jumps between low and high every second.
 
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check the memory for the voltage requirement (hopefully on the label on the memory), most motherboards supply 1.8 as standard, ballistix usually likes 2.0v+.

download cpu-z, and on the spd (or memory) tab it should show the timings for each speed (266/333/400 etc) and the voltage required, might be worth relaxing the timings from 4-4-4-12 to 5-5-5-18 or similar if cpu-z highlights it.

also, don't trust the "automatic detect and install" recently caused me issues with catalyst control centre due to its driver choice.

try a clean install of some older drivers, if you've tried 11.x have a look at some of the later 10.x ones.

the other graphics card would be worth a go as well, would help rule out the 5770.
 
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Hi, sorry about the delay...

I'd set the RAM to 2.0 volts as it specified in CPU-z (well 2.0100) and the timings too, those were 5-5-5-14 I believe. This didn't seem to improve or hinder anything.

I also tried the older GPU and my system died on me big time so I've had to install windows again and update... I noticed that I still had to have only one RAM module (in the second slot) in order to prevent it from freezing during install.

(( also when it freezes the lights on the RAM still change about, would this be any indication that is isn't a RAM issue? ))

I've updated the computer back to where I was before but have not installed any drivers for the card yet ((this is the 5770)) I'll see if it is stable with all the RAM before installing the drivers.

So many thanks again for the help. I hope this page can be useful to somebody though along the line.
 
Did you try the older Cat drivers as mp suggested above. Make sure you run DriverSweeper between installing the old and the new. Same when switching to other known working card. Incidentally, what make.model was your older GPU?

I know you have tried memtest86+ but try running the system using one memory stick at a time and try the single sticks in different slots and so on. If using one stick of memory fails in all slots, then its almost certainly a RAM problem. If the working RAM stick works in one slot but not another, then this is certainly going to be a memory controller problem.

If your memory looks ok, then you may need to check your PSU: Here's my full guide but typically a quick Multi-meter test will do the job:

http://www.huddysworld.co.uk/index.p...ware&Itemid=72

Finally, if you can boot into your system (try safe mode if you can't), then take a good look at the Event Manager for clues. Event manager is often overlooked and under estimated but often points you in the right direction.
 
The older card was a HIS Radeon x1650 Pro IceQ.

I haven't tried older drivers yet as I've ran memest with each stick. I've found oddly now that the system will not boot with RAM in slots 1 and 3, where as 2 and 4 will give errors within 30 minutes.. Often I can't re boot the computer with the same RAM piece as it's quite hot, not super hot but hot enough to handle it and think " Hmmm that's hot "... after replacing the RAM with any of the other cool RAM will work and memtest can start giving errors again after 20 minutes or so...

Also all the errors are the same "100000100014" I've googled this but perhaps it's all over my head now...

I'd be surprised if it is the PSU as I've only recently bought it and the same issues existed with my old PSU.
 
Ok if you get memtest errors whilst testing the individual sticks, then it's likely to be a memory controller problem which is located on - chip for the 955. Unless of course you are extremely unlucky and have two faulty memory modules. Or it could be the motherboard itself. My feeling is the way the banks are behaving it's the DC-MC on CPU. I've had a few AMD processors brought to me with failed MCs.
 
Indeed I've tried all 4 RAM sticks with simmilar results and even a spare old one I've had that still gave errors after a longer time and in slot 1 it racked up 5000+

I have an older CPU I can try tonight to see if things are any different... It's a shame but if I have to upgrade my CPU then that's that...

Any chance this may have been caused by overheating? I have an "Asus silent knight" cooler but I think I did a balls up job of installing it after removing the older CPU.
 
Just a poor job of applying the thermal paste? thought I did use my computer quite heavily while at university as I was running it almost 24/7 with aplications like Autodesk 3ds Max and many other special effects related software...

Edit : also would you be able to suggest a new CPU? as I'm unsure to stick with another 955 Black edition or go up to a hex core?
 
CGough said:
Just a poor job of applying the thermal paste?
Click to expand...

was that recently ?

CGough said:
Edit : also would you be able to suggest a new CPU? as I'm unsure to stick with another 955 Black edition or go up to a hex core?
Click to expand...

depending on your budget low end quad or low end hex either will be fine, hex might give it a bit of a longer life span, but if you dont use anything that makes use of multiple cores then the quad will be fine.
 
it was about a year ago or more.

I do indeed use software that makes use of multiple cores but was unsure of the performance difference between the quad and hex.
 
Update : It seems it was indeed the CPU, after installing an older Athlon the system has been fine, not an issue in sight... Now I sadly have to go through the hurdles of getting the CPU replaced via AMDs incredibly hard returns process.
 
Many thanks for the help. I've recently purchased the Phenom Hex core, installed it but when the BIOS starts prompting me that there is a new CPU it started to check the NVRAM and froze...

I googled this and the fixes were generally unplugging HDDs and removing the BIOS battery to reset it... this however has left me with a computer that won't start, everything whirs up, the ram stick lightls aren't changing nearly as fast as they should...

I'm a little lost here, tried unplugging all the components to no avail sadly... Again, any help would be more appreciated than ever...
 
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