New Build = Crashtastic

Pigeon_Killer · 7 Oct 2007 at 00:27

My new computer keeps crashing

I've got a Q6600, Gigabyte P35 DS3P, OCZ 4GB PC6400, Tuniq Tower, OCUK 8800 GTX, 520W Corsair PSU and a Samsung 500GB hard drive. I'm using Vista 64 and everything is running at stock.

I was playing Colin McRae Dirt yesterday and the computer reset itself. I put that down to Dirt being a pile of pants but today Bioshock reset the computer.

I've run 3D Mark 06 a few times and saw no problem. My graphics card idles at 66C and gets to around 82C fully loaded.

I've run Memtest for 3 hours and get no errors.

My Q6600 cores idle around 30C to 35C and get to around 50C fully loaded.

I've run Prime95 a few times and the second option in Toture Test, that tests for maximum heat and power consumption, resets the computer within a few seconds of starting.

My system temp is reported as 49C with the side of the case off which doesn't seem right so perhaps the computer is automatically resetting itself because the sensor is ****** or something?

Add these crashes to the fact that I was sold a second hand Tuniq = one unhappy Pigeon_Killer

HELP!

Diggsy · 7 Oct 2007 at 00:35

Could your Northbridge be overheating? Can you slap a fan on it and see if it helps?

What are your voltages set at? Does the CPU droop much at load?

I am getting some system resets too, not sure what's causing mine, although in my case I suspect the PSU might just be asking me to replace it

Pigeon_Killer · 7 Oct 2007 at 00:40

Diggsy said:
Could your Northbridge be overheating? Can you slap a fan on it and see if it helps?

No idea. It's got some stupid tin foil thing glued to the top of it.

Diggsy said:
What are your voltages set at? Does the CPU droop much at load?

All volts are stock. Having said that, CPU-Z says my memory is running at 1.8v even though it's meant to run at 1.9v to 2.1v. I've got no idea how to change it.

yantorsen · 7 Oct 2007 at 01:00

Pigeon_Killer said:
No idea. It's got some stupid tin foil thing glued to the top of it.

All volts are stock. Having said that, CPU-Z says my memory is running at 1.8v even though it's meant to run at 1.9v to 2.1v. I've got no idea how to change it.

go into the bios, and change it from auto to manual, then go to memory overvoltage, and add 0.1 volts.

Pigeon_Killer · 7 Oct 2007 at 01:16

Thanks for your help. I've set it to +0.10 so it should now be at 1.9v. CPU-Z still reports it at 1.8V but Speedfan shows it as 1.9v (if that's what vcore2 represents?).

Prime95 has been running for 4 minutes and it usually crashed within 20 seconds so it's an improvment. Will leave it running for a bit longer.

If it was lack of volts I don't understand how it caused my computer to crash and surely memtest would've picked up any errors?

Edit: Lack of volts does indeed seem to be the problem, At 1.9v Prime95 ran for 10 minutes until I stopped it. I put the volts back to 1.8v and I got a bluescreen the first time I tried to get in to Windows and on the second attempt the computer crashed after running Prime95 for 8 seconds.

ByteJuggler · 7 Oct 2007 at 01:45

Those DIMM's probably want 2.1V (see here) (which is the JDEC standard for DDR2.) Just give them that and they'll be happy.

Pigeon_Killer · 7 Oct 2007 at 01:48

They seem to be ok at 1.9v although they feel a bit hotter to touch. Wouldn't 2.1v make them hotter still and is there any point upping the volts if they're happy at 1.9v? I'll obviously need to up them when I start overclocking. Just want everything stable before I do so.

Edit: Thanks for your help people

Aod · 7 Oct 2007 at 04:42

if it continues crashing (it probably will) its because you're using 4x 1GB DIMMs try upping the voltage on the northbridge by .1v. worked for me (same ram, GFX card, CPU and mobo as you)

i'm running the ram at 2.1v but they're cooled by a fan.

ByteJuggler · 8 Oct 2007 at 16:26

Pigeon_Killer said:
They seem to be ok at 1.9v although they feel a bit hotter to touch. Wouldn't 2.1v make them hotter still and is there any point upping the volts if they're happy at 1.9v? I'll obviously need to up them when I start overclocking. Just want everything stable before I do so.

If they are truly stable (e.g. passes overnight MemTest86+ and all the other stress tests you can throw at the RAM e.g. Prime Blended etc.) then yes, keep them at 1.9V. It's just that a lot of people have been having stability problems and a lot of it has apparently been due to undervolting RAM. Some RAM sticks cope better with undervolting than others.