Help !! XP Freezes and occ BSOD

PapaLaz.uk

PapaLaz.uk

PapaLaz.uk

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Joined
10 Sep 2005
Posts
68
Hi all,

Have started getting a few problems lately.. At first I got a couple of odd BSODs - different msgs and seemed to be driver related. Also had a couple of times when Windows just froze (inc mouse) - only cure was reboot.

I did a complete reinstall, with all latest BIOS, drivers, etc, and minimal software. Generally now everything runs fine, but occasionally the thing still freezes again. This afternoon it had been priming both cores for 8 hrs. I decided to stop both apps, browsed a few website, then as soon as I opened outlook the thing froze again.

Kit is:
Asus A8N-SLi
X2 4800+ @ stock w/scythe ninja
2GB GSkill ZX @ stock
X1900XT-X
...that's the important kit anyway.

Ok, checked all my BIOS options and couldn't see anything wrong. No overclocking at all, all temps run excellent, no probs with PSU. The system can run for days and days, then suddenly freeze. Or I can boot it up, play games for a couple of hours, go back to desktop and it might freeze after browsing a few sites.

Prime can run for ages on both cores, so no obvious probs there.
Sooo, memory then, I thought. Just ran memtest through 3 passes, no probs.
Gfx are fine, good temps (have a VF900 on there) and again no oc'ing.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Has me pretty stumped now. I've reseated everything 2 or 3 times, but might try that again. Has 2 optical drives on (DVDR Lightscribes) and 2xSamsung 250gb sata2's, never had any probs around those tho. PSU is a Hiper 525W and seems fine - has been running stable for a while, this only started happening the last 2 or 3 weeks.

Cheers
 
Thanks gents..

Yeah, mobo was my next thought.
These aren't BSODs any more (although I had one not too long after the reinstall), the system just locks up, no mouse movement, nothing.

They happen pretty rarely tho. After I posted last night I was gaming for a few hours, then dialled into work for a bit. Also this morning everything will be fine. CPU temps - idle@30/31 load@40/45... MB - idle@30/31 load@32/34... GFX - idle@43/44 load@55/56 - obviously no probs there. CPU is very stable, and I've run it 24/7 with a lot more kit in before.

Nice suggestion about the Event viewer logs, but alas I already tried that. Last messages went standard services starting/stopping, then I see the messages kicking in from the reset.

Mobo had been very stable - used it with a 3000venice as a linux box before i upgraded, and was running 24/7 then, but lots of upgrades done since so it could be.

Just bought a load of kit off a friend, incl an A8N-SLi Deluxe, so might try that when it arrives. Could just buy a new board tho, maybe one of the Xfire board - any recommendations ??

Thanks again for all your help... more suggestions welcome, but I'll keep you updated.
 
Yeah, think I might hold on and try this other mobo.

Not too bothered about o'clocking, but wouldn't mind the potential to run crossfire in the future. Am I right in think thos 580 boards can run crossfire without a master card ?? Was thinking about changing the mobo anyway, in which case I'd prob look at the Asus one (i forget the model atm).

Defo not up for the DFI one at that price :)

Only thing in my BIOS that I'm not convinced by is the settings for RAM. It's setup manual using 2-3-2-5 timings, and on 1t, but the other settings mean nowt to me. Might post em up here in a bit to see if anyone spots a problem with them.

Thanks again ppl for the advice !!
 
SeanyK: No IRQ conflicts that I can see - got them managed by the OS in the BIOS, and everything looks good
(Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>View>Resources by type>IRQ :) ) Nice idea tho, not something I'd checked.

ErNciLator: You mean the BSOD msgs ?? Well not getting them anymore, just freezing completely with no msg.

Booted up PC when I got home, and no probs so far. Like I say tho, I could game for hours, drop back to a desktop, browse a few sites, and the thing will freeze. Very frustrating and an absolute pig to fault-find, especially being so intermittent.
 
Interesting, but my gut reaction would be no, it doesn't.

I remember trying C-A-D and Alt-Tabbing, and nothing happens. The Numlock light works tho - prob not an issue, but I remember on sub-pentium machines, when the machine would freeze it would lock the numlock key too.
 
Thanks - just checked out your thread.

Well I thought at one stage it was USB related, as it happened once when I had a Bluetooth stick plugged in (worked fine with BT, froze later on, wouldn't boot back into xp til i removed the BT stick), and once when I plugged in a USB2 HDD (again, let me work with all the files, then froze 10 mins later).

Currently have 2 x Samsung Spinny 250's on SATA2, not a raid setup, one boot, one data.

Similar to what's in your thread, I kind of think it may be BIOS related. It was first happening when on 1011, and flashed to 1014 the other day, but made sure I kept all my settings.

Would be good if someone could look at my memory settings:
K, first few should be good
tcl 2, tras 5T, trcd 3T, trp 2T
These I'm unsure about:
Row Cycle Time (Trc) 11T
Row Refresh Cycle Time (Trfc) 14T
Read To Write Time (Trwt) 4T
Write Recovery Time (Twr) 3T
- with 2GB GSkill ZX @ stock. Anything wrong there ???

Hasn't frozen on me so far tonight, interestingly I dropped th HTT to 4x after yesterday's freeze - don't know if it should make a difference tho.

Thanks again everyone for your input :)
 
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