Problem PC

Auraomega

Auraomega

Auraomega

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Leicester
I made a post a few days back on the graphics section relating to an ongoing issue I've been having. They seem to believe it's another component and not the graphics card, so I'm posting here in the hopes someone might be able to impart their wisdom on me ;)

The original thread is here, I'm really frustrated but now that the seed of doubt has been planted I'm thinking it may well be hardware rather than software.

Just to outline the problems; graphics drivers crashing and restarting, applications crashing, PC restarting after screen messes up, hard drive corruption, after a while booting into Windows will give me just a black screen and a cursor, occasionally when powering on the fans spin but nothing else happens, Windows update fails to install certain patches, occasional graphical glitches without a crash. Another issue that is almost certainly unrelated (as it's happened to others as well) but might be worth throwing in, is that occasionally my sound card won't be recognised even by the driver installer (which reports no Xonar installed), as I say I'm not the only person to have suffered from this but might be worth noting.

The most recent issue I've had has been just now, playing Dirt the game kept locking up followed by the Windows pop up about changing to basic theme from Aero, obviously not as major as the other problems that crop up.

Something I read online was that a complete lock-up without a blue screen is indicative of faulty RAM, when my system crashes usually the picture screws up (imagine a smashed LCD with random splodges everywhere, that's what I get) then a hard reset.

Any suggestions let me hear them, I'll keep a list below of all the things I've attempted and the outcomes:

HDD - SMART; passed
Graphics - ATITool + Rthdribl; no artefacts or lockups
CPU - Prime95; stable as far as I can tell
RAM - Prime95 + Memtest; stable as far as I can tell
PSU - DMM; rails are well within tolerance and as far as I can tell don't fluctuate
 
I've used Spinrite before but no issue. Thing is it happens no matter what drive I use in the system (4 in total, 3 new), all 4 come back passing.

The system can work fine for months before crashing as described above at which point the whole thing falls apart, I'm inclined to say because of corruption of Windows files as sometimes using the basic tools (sfc, chkdsk, etc) I can get up and running again. Linux I generally have no problems with however one time attempting to restore my image of Windows my system kept crapping out on me, crashing, not finding the drives, generally not being able to put the image on the drive, etc, this was using Acronis. Again for the record I've reinstalled Win7 with a fresh install rather than the image to make certain nothing went dodgy on that first install.

No graphics inbuilt and I can't really use my other card as it's a baked one, so I'd never be able to tell if that card had just become faulty again or not, not to mention that it could be months until the system crapped out on me again and the 5850 is struggling to keep up with my gaming as it is so a cheap one is out the question.

The only other PCs in the house are all low powered systems so I can't borrow their PSUs, however if the PSU is suspect (OCZ ModXStream 700w, I know, I know) I might be inclined to grab a Corsair PSU from the MM to test with, if I was to do this what power would I need to run an i5 and 5850?

I've reset my overclocks more times than I can remember and my RAM is running at its rated timings or slower.
 
I've just had a worrying thought, my i5 and mobo were some of the first ones. Would I be looking at these kinds of issues with a damaged CPU? I'm aware that I could be sporting a Foxconn socket and if there's any possibility that the CPU is damaged I may well get the CPU out for a looking over.
 
I ran for a good few hours but I guess I've nothing to lose by doing it when I'm at work. First things first though, updated the BIOS so I need to make sure my overclock is stable again, no point in testing the RAM when the CPU is unstable.

The RAM is some G.Skill 2000MHz 9-9-9-27 sticks (forget which ones), I've never run them beyond those.
 
Funny you should say that... I get some minor issues with an amp and the whole house is getting rewired in a few weeks time because the electrics are so old ;)
 
This is the best chance you're going to have to suggest things to me; Windows OS fubar and trying to repair via Windows disk caused a BSoD. System was running P95 all last night until 30 minutes ago without issue, now it won't do a thing without crashing.

Voltages appear normal and my BSoD while trying to repair Windows from the dvd is a stop 24. The system will likely be unstable again unrolled I power down so going to get some tests started.

EDIT:
Don't like the look of memtest, getting fails across the board, it's just a constant flow of red (fails) ranging from between 2316.2mb and ~2800mb. Faulty RAM or faulty mobo? Going to have to try and do some CPU test now via a flash drive (netbook has no optical drive).
 
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All solid caps so I can't see if any have popped, the mobo isn't that old though and the computer isn't used 24/7 so I wouldn't imagine they'd go. As above issues are occuring outside of Windows also, so drivers aren't the issue.

Already reset back to stock and issues still arise so overclocking isn't the issue, besides the CPU is the only component not running at what it's rated to do. I've reseated the CPU in the past too, but it made no difference apparently.

Just about to run a bootable CPU stress test on the system now it's failing constantly. If it comes back passing I'll assume the RAM is at fault, if it fails then would I be safe in assuming that the mobo is actually the faulty component?

EDIT:
CPU tests didn't show anything, running memtest again gave a bunch of fails. Hard powered off the system, tried again and memtest is running perfect again. ARGH
 
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I'm uploading a video I took of the failed memtest and will add when it's completed uploading. In the space of 20 minutes I had over 115000 errors. I'd have expected the sticks to have shown at least a single error after an hour or so were they this faulty.

Unfortunately I don't have any spare sticks, it is however one of the few components I'm willing to buy more of (Photoshop + Lightroom takes up a hefty chunk). If I can find a fault with the RAM installed and no error after swapping out then I will RMA these sticks.

Right now I'm running Windows Memory Diagnostic with the extra tests, the system is crawling on the cache disabled tests, not sure if this is normal or not?

Would testing RAM individually indicate an error that would be missed during normal testing considering it's 2x2gb sticks and I believe memtest is 32bit some of the memory would remain untested. The failed range was in the 2gb range, does this help pinpoint which module is faulty?

One final thing to mention which has started again; my keyboard (Razor Lycosa) keeps cycling through it's LED settings on it's own, on, WASD and off. There doesn't appear to be any interference from other cables as I've removed them from the vicinity of the other cables. Might not even be related but I figured worth mentioning.

My short time as a technician I found RAM to be one of the easier components to test, but we did have stacks of the stuff so it was easy to grab another stick and prove one way or the other.

EDIT:
Link for video.
 
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No, what I mean is even though both modules are in in their paired sockets they're running in single rather than dual channel like they should be. Is this any indication as to ram or mobo, or am I clutching at straws again?
 
Yeah I figured out after I posted it :rolleyes:

I'll take one stick out and run memtest overnight while I'm at work, and do the same tomorrow night and see if either throw up an error.

EDIT:
Windows Update seems to be updating manifest files which I need because I've access to some of the tools I previously didn't have. In System Properties I see this:

Installed memory (RAM): 4.00GB (2.00GB usable)
 
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So for the past 3 nights I've decided to run memtest while at work. Thursday night I ran one stick and after a shift and sleep had no errors. Ran the second stick in a different socket and after the shift and sleep I had 3 errors. Decided to run the stick which gave no errors in the socket which did give errors during my shift, just got back 18 hours later and no errors so I think it's safe to say the RAM is at fault and not the mobo, so thanks to everyone who has given me help and advice. I will tomorrow test the module which gave errors in another socket to make certain.

Now my question is where do I go from here? The RAM is by G.Skill and has a lifetime warranty; I got the RAM just over 18 months ago so would I have to go direct to G.Skill or can I go through OcUK?
 
Well I've been trying to prove it's the RAM or the mobo.

All tests on at least 16 hours while I've been at work.

Stick 1, slot 1: failed
Stick 2, slot 1: pass
Stick 1, slot 2: no POST
Stick 1, slot 3: pass
Stick 2, slot 2: no POST
Stick 2, slot 3: pass

So, that would imply that slot 2 is faulty right? However if I use slot 1 and 3 for dual channel the RAM is only single channel, Windows recognises 4gb but only uses 2. If I use slot 1 and 2 I get single channel as expected, however I get access to all 4gb of RAM and it posts fine.

Slightly confused now. I can't use slot 4 due to my CPU cooler, but is there any other tests I can do?
 
Going to drag this one back!

PC crashed again (took its sweet time in doing so), ran Memtest and the results aren't pleasing...

Stick 1 failed in slot B1
Stick 1 passed in slot A1
Stick 2 failed in slot B1
Stick 2 passed in slot A1

I'm going to say that the mobo is at fault here and not the RAM. Being an Asus board bought from here, coupled with it being about 18 months old, what should I do in terms of getting a replacement/refund/repair? The issue is as mentioned hard to replicate and I have the feeling any tests will just say the board is fine and another component is at fault.
 
B2/B3?

If I'm going to buy new RAM it'd have to at least match this spec so I can run them at optimal speed, which isn't cheap. I ran my PC for a few weeks with just 1 stick in slot A1 and had absolutely no issues during that time, too.
 
It's a 1156 board, like I said about 18 months old ;)

The RAM is in the RAM compatibility list to run at full speed with the correct timings.
 
No worries. I checked the RAM compatibility when I first started experiencing problems as well as lowering to 1333, but it didn't appear to make much difference (still had some crashing but by this point Windows was pretty corrupt so I couldn't determine which was at fault).
 
Reading through the thread right now. I've not had that thought before, the memory controller that is, I have however had many a worry that my mobo was of the Foxconn type and thus never pushed my CPU too far, it might be more prudent to physically check the CPU for damage.

A thought I have had is if there is no obvious signs on either CPU/mobo, if I can find a constant way to make the system fail I can then buy a replacement mobo to test with, if the PC fails it's the CPU, if not then it's my current mobo, either way I can then DSR the new mobo, as much as I hate doing this it does seem to only real option left to me. A long shot but any suggestions on how to make my system constantly crash that I may not have thought of?

EDIT:
Interesting, searching for my model board (P5P77D-LE) and faulty RAM slots picks up quite a few results, more than I'd like to be seeing in all honesty. This was an interesting read, I'll be checking my pins over in the next couple of days when I get the chance as I've always thought my CPU temps were higher than other peoples using the same coolers and a higher voltage.

EDIT 2:
I've contacted Asus about an RMA as the evidence points mostly towards that being the offending component, lets see what happens now!

EDIT 3:
Well Windows is reporting 4gb but only 2gb available again, fitting again with the faulty motherboard pins. Tomorrow when there is more light I'll remove the CPU and inspect it and the mobo pins.
 
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