Help me diagnose a problem please

NutterzUK

NutterzUK

NutterzUK

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Joined
18 Feb 2010
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940
Hi,

I'm a bit stuck, scratching my head. I know what I think it is (motherboard) but I want to try to rule as much out as possible. I'll try to list this as simply as I can in terms of specs, and symptoms / steps taken.

Specs (all at stock settings)
Gigabyte G1 Sniper motherboard.
i7 920 D0 stepping
24gb Corsair Vengeance memory.
AX1200i Corsair PSU
3x r9 290 graphics cards (used for mining at times).
Mouse/keyboard/monitor etc plugged in, no other USBs.
Corsair SSD and some WD hard drives.

Symptoms/steps:
First, my sometimes when I am playing a game the screen would go black or I would get a BSOD (WHEA Not less or equal I think it said). I updated drivers etc and it still happened, probably once every 2 hours or so.

Second, today I turned my PC on and during the post it got a point where it says "Checking DRAM...", and then it restarted. It kept restarting, until it eventually booted after I think 3 restarts.

Very odd, so at this point I decided I *Need* to look into it rather than ignoring it. I downloaded memtest and saved it to a bootable flash drive. I couldn't boot at all now as it couldn't get past the POST (Same "Checking DRAM"), so I couldn't run memtest. I then took out all but 1 memory stick, and then instead of showing anything, now the monitor stays on standby. I put all the memory sticks back in (there are 6), and it remained the same (no display).

So at this point I wonder if its the graphics cards. I take out the bottom 2 so it is just using the top one, the same issue occurs. I then replace it with one of the ones I took out, and still get the same problem. So I then moved it down to the second slot, and still get no display.

I'm not sure what changed when I removed the memory and reinstalled it, but it didn't make it any better (now instead of failing to boot, I just get no screen at all, but the system also isn't restarting - it just whirrs away. No beeps or anything).

So, i'm now kinda stuck. Memory, GPU or motherboard.. or even PSU? I think the only thing I can rule out is my SSD. No display makes me think graphics card but then since i've tried different ones and different slots, i'm thinking motherboard.

On a side note, the light on the power supply link thing which comes with it doesn't light up, but i'm not sure if it ever did until windows started and it began to communicate.
 
Jamin280672 said:
try clearing the cmos/bios and then try booting with just 3 memory sticks in tri channel mode instead of 6 and also just 1 GFX card
Click to expand...

Thanks! - I used just one graphics card and actually went down to 1 stick (I believe it should work with 1). I booted it and it did the same, then comes the interesting part. Since I was without a jumper, I switched the PSU off and removed the battery. Replaced it, turned it on and it started up to a Windows recovery screen and a message which says "Windows hasn't loaded correctly", which is totally new but at least I can see the display now. It seems like your suggestion was spot on.

So, I suppose questions are:
- What happened to the CMOS, I didn't tinker or change anything then suddenly it's not working.
- I wonder why it kept turning off during gaming, I would like to fix that. This happens in both elder scrolls online and League of Legends. Interestingly though when I mine it will usually run for days without an issue.
- I wonder if the motherboard is just plain dying, it's a bit old (a few years), i'm open to the idea of buying a new CPU and motherboard at some point - but only really if necessary.

I should add another couple of strange symptoms i've noticed, often my sound goes all crackly then I restart the PC and it becomes OK. Again, I put this down to the motherboard and just put up with it. Also regularly if my PC "sleeps", it then won't wake up (Black screen), and I need to restart.

I will now replace the memory, boot up.. if it's working i'll add the graphics cards back. I get the feeling i'm going to end up back on my desktop, working, but without knowing what actually happened (which will drive me up the wall). Any ideas for any more diagnostic steps?
 
Another quick update. I put the memory back (yet to do graphics cards), and sure enough i'm back on my Windows desktop.

I will now replace the other 2 graphics cards, I don't think that will change anything which means the answer to the problem was that the CMOS needed clearing, but I'm totally clueless as to why this would happen. For a change, I haven't actually messed with anything on my PC in the last few months - other than buying a new mouse.
 
Jamin280672 said:
The bios could have got corrupted with the removal and adding of memory sticks, if your running 6 sticks you need to make sure command rate is set to 2T and also add a bit more VTT voltage than stock, This is memory controller voltage in the CPU.

The GFX card problem could be related to the 2 different types of bios's, your GFX cards have a UEFI bios, where as your motherboard has a legacy bios, its not uncommon for this conflict to occur.

The board you have has a clear cmos jumper on it, 2 pins just below the battery if I remember right, wasnt so long ago that I had this board too, you can short them with any metal object, you dont need a jumper, I just used to use a screwdriver or eating knife.
Click to expand...

Ok about the BIOS being corrupted by me messing with memory sticks -I think that is spot on too, leaves me still wondering a tad about why it broke beforehand though with the checking DRAM message, however that is no doubt why you suggest changing the settings (Which I will do straight away now).

Interesting about the GFX card having a UEFI bios, I never knew that. It could be that problem, if it just hangs in there at least I can now save up knowing that I should probably get a new motherboard, the i7 920 is no doubt the bottleneck in my system anyway so it's time.

Yes - I found the cmos jumper but didn't have the little metal thing. I was going to try with a screwdriver but I didn't fancy my hands at staying steady, so I just went for the battery.

You've been such a massive help, thank you for getting my PC back up and running. I think you are correct with memory settings & the differences between legacy / UEFI, so I'll put it all back together, change my settings and start saving. I really appreciate your help, thank you!

With the other motherboard problems (Crackling sounds and hating the Killer E2100 chip which doesn't have linux drivers) I think it's time for a new MB and processor.
 
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Update - after putting it back together it seems to be running fine. I'll play some games and see if it crashes, if it does then i'm back to the old problem, but at least it's "kind of" working for now.
 
Hi,

So yesterday I was making an update to an Android app, just using Eclipse and I got a BSOD saying "WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE" (Or something to that effect).

This is one i've seen before, hopefully fixing this would in turn fix something else.
So far I have done a memtest, which had 2 passes (it took an awful long time).

So I am assuming my memory is OK. Anything else I should check?

I used a BlueScreenViewer which shows the crash with the following information:
050214-19125-01.dmp 02/05/2014 22:55:06 0x00000124 00000000`00000000 ffffe000`43874028 00000000`fa000000 00000000`00400405 hal.dll hal.dll+37203 x64 ntoskrnl.exe+153fa0 C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\050214-19125-01.dmp 8 15 9600 278,904 02/05/2014 22:56:34


If I look back, there was also one on 29/04 which has this information:
042914-16531-01.dmp 29/04/2014 12:05:43 0xa0000001 00000000`00000005 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 atikmdag.sys atikmdag.sys+277ce x64 ntoskrnl.exe+153fa0 C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\042914-16531-01.dmp 8 15 9600 279,016 29/04/2014 12:06:48

And one on 27/04 with:
042714-13890-01.dmp 27/04/2014 14:13:10 0x00000139 00000000`00000003 ffffd000`23e066c0 ffffd000`23e06618 00000000`00000000 ntoskrnl.exe ntoskrnl.exe+153fa0 x64 ntoskrnl.exe+153fa0 C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\042714-13890-01.dmp 8 15 9600 279,016 27/04/2014 14:14:08

But i'm not really sure what to do with this.

I notice one is ati which I assume is graphics card drivers, I had updated them previous to this happening so I have the latest. The other two I think are windows files, which makes me wonder if it's a hardware problem rather than something wrong with drivers.. and if it is, I'm not sure what (this is what lead me to testing using memtest).
 
Ah, thanks for this.

So I ran a memtest through 2 passes which took a while (24gb memory) and no problems were reported.

I'll now run chkdsk and uninstall/install the drivers. Do I need to go through any strange ati driver removal process or is just uninstalling from add remove programs good enough? I ask because I'm sure in the past I remember the removal of graphics card drivers being a pain.

Thanks,
Steve
 
wazza300 said:
124 error is not enough memory controller voltage,or dram vtt I think it is on asus x58

your issue is 24gb of ram,with that much you'd need a fair bit of vtt voltage

idk how much is being used atm? but anything from 1.3v to 1.4v might be needed
Click to expand...

Thanks Wazza.

I just got home, so i'm going to go through these steps one by one.

The memory I have is two lots of this:
http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/vengeance-12gb-triple-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz12gx3m3a1600c9

My settings from CPU-Z are:
cpuz.PNG


Hopefully they are correct (clocks all look correct to me), I am not sure about DRAM Frequency. I will go into the bios to check the voltages.

So, in this order I will:

1- Run chkdsk
2- Reinstall drivers (I'll follow an online guide about making sure to totally remove everything).
3- Check the voltages and respond back here.
 
The difficulty is in consistently reproducing the problem (so this may take a while to know for sure).

Wazza, yes it's a gigabyte board. I'm not happy with the board for a number of reasons, next time I'll look to a different brand.

So I went looking for "easytune" and found an app center program. This is currently updating a few drivers (mainly network, USB and sound). I thought I had the latest but it would seem not. I will use it then to download easytune so I can have a look at those settings.

I have ran chkdsk and it took a while, so I left it and came back. When I came back my PC had started back up again and I can't seem to see any results, so I assume that was ok. I've uninstalled all graphics card drivers and used driver sweep to make sure, then reinstalled the latest.

I'll get this easy tune thing set up and will post some images from it. I'm kind of attacking this thinking perhaps it doesn't matter what is the source of the problem, if I fix everything which could be wrong I will fix the problem along the way.

So i'll check the voltages, then I guess i've done everything I can and it's time to play some games and see if it crashes again.
 
I totally blame gigabyte for all these problems (and lack of ethernet network drivers for linux, and sound crackling etc etc).

So whilst the gigabyte app center was updating drivers, I got this:
bsod.jpg



From Bsod viewer:

050214-19125-01.dmp 02/05/2014 22:55:06 0x00000124 00000000`00000000 ffffe000`43874028 00000000`fa000000 00000000`00400405 hal.dll hal.dll+37203 x64 ntoskrnl.exe+153fa0 C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\050214-19125-01.dmp 8 15 9600 278,904 02/05/2014 22:56:34
 
Here are my current settings - please could you suggest what to change? I really appreciate your help.

bios1.jpg

bios2.jpg


I assume QPI/VTT is the one which wants to go up, but i'm not sure by how much.
Thanks,
 
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Thanks Wazza, I'll have a go. It might be tomorrow that I can get back to you though, I have a really early start. I really appreciate your help and i'll make sure to post back. Thank you again for all the help!
 
Hi Wazza,

Thanks - I've updated those settings and I can still boot fine. No problems yet (it's only been a few minutes).

Is there any particular stress test which you would recommend for testing those settings, or shall I just leave it for a while and see if I run in to any problems?

Thanks,
 
Thank you again - just a quick update. Since I changed the settings as suggested, I haven't had any BSODs. It's only been a day (I usually get one a day, so it's promising), but so far so good.

Thanks again!
 
:(. So it was all working nicely for a while, but now my screen turns black fairly often during gaming. So I took out 2 of the graphics cards (leaving in just one).

I then decided to do a clean install of Windows, since I wanted to rule out any software problems (and at this point i'm not a bit frustrated because it seemed fixed).. After re-installing windows, it happened again (twice).

So.. all three graphics cards and the power supply are new ish. I'm wondering what I can do from here to find out what the faulty part is.

A couple of times (before I re-installed Windows), the CCC kept popping up saying the graphics card driver crashed. That made me think it was probably the graphics card, but since I'm using just 1 of them now, that significantly reduces the chance of it.

I think I will swap the card over to another, and if it happens again then I can totally rule out the graphics card (although, not necessarily the motherboard slot).

I guess if it continues to happen after that, as I have checked the memory using memtest, I would assume it is the PSU or motherboard. Is there anything else I should be trying?
 
Happens to always be when i'm playing a game though. This time it was PKR. I've swapped the cards over so I am now using another, if it happens again then I think it's because something else is at fault - it seems unlikely that 2 of the 3 cards could be faulty. Now when trying to re-open PKR it says the file store is corrupt...Perhaps that could be just because PKR wasn't shut down properly.
 
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Starting to think I might just buy these, and if it still fails, then I would assume it's the PSU:

Intel Core i5-4690 3.50GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail
Asus Maximus VII Ranger Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard

To be honest, this current G1 sniper (rev 1.0) is annoying to say the least and I'm sure that processors have come on a fair bit since I bought my i7 920. (2.6ghz).
 
After swapping the graphics card out for one of the others, I played for about 5 minutes and the same happened again. So I'm fairly sure it's not the graphics card(s)
 
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