Problems

cossie1

cossie1

cossie1

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Joined
11 May 2007
Posts
120
Hi guys, not posted on here much lately, as tbh since I bought my current setup it's been 110% bullet proof and stable.

I currently have:

Q6600
Asus P5Q pro
4gb (2x2gb) Corsair Dominator 1066mhz ram
Corsair H50 water cooler
Corsair HX 850w psu
Corsair Obsidian 800D case
ATI Radeon HD5770 GFX card

Think that is about it.

Anyway since I bought the mobo, cpu and ram, it ran at 3.4ghz on air cooling with no problems, shortly after I upgraded to the H50 cooler, and this allowed me to run at 3.6ghz for the last 18+ months all totally stable with nice sensible temps.

However a couple of nights ago, I had a powercut (no big deal had a few over the last 18 months and I use a surge protector).

Since the powercut, my pc is pretty much unstable now, even at the stock 2.4ghz.

It will crash (BSOD) within 24 hours, atleast once, and if I try and run imageburn even on the standard setting it will either fail on the 2nd attempt (giving incorrect answer) or it will crash the system.

So what I am asking is, what part of my system is most likely to have failed ??
 
First place id start is the RAM.

Check its getting the correct volts in the BIOS and test each stick by itself.
 
Power supply seems to be the problem. Does the power supply have a built in surge protector or is it in some kind of extension or socket?

Power surges are very well known for causing power supply failures which would greatly explain the unstability of your system.

Maybe the capacitors have fried or something, or the voltage regulators have became damaged in your PSU.

This could easilly result in your system not getting enough power, and thus only being stable at under 2.4GHz.

The unstability is caused when a significant voltage/current drop occurs in the system causing it to well, essentially miss a clock cycle or two. Happens so fast you physically wouldn't notice it, but your PC can... This is for when there is a lack of power anyways.

Try a different PSU.
Hope that helps, Emphacy.
 
Ok ever since I bought the ram, if I leave it set to AUTO it never runs at 1066mhz.

So at the moment in the bios it is set as it always has been:

Manually set to 1066mhz and the voltage set to 2.10 volts.

I will try pulling 1 stick out, and see if anything changes.
 
Emphacy said:
Power supply seems to be the problem. Does the power supply have a built in surge protector or is it in some kind of extension or socket?

Power surges are very well known for causing power supply failures which would greatly explain the unstability of your system.

Maybe the capacitors have fried or something, or the voltage regulators have became damaged in your PSU.

This could easilly result in your system not getting enough power, and thus only being stable at under 2.4GHz.

The unstability is caused when a significant voltage/current drop occurs in the system causing it to well, essentially miss a clock cycle or two. Happens so fast you physically wouldn't notice it, but your PC can... This is for when there is a lack of power anyways.

Try a different PSU.
Hope that helps, Emphacy.
Click to expand...

I did wonder about the PSU.

The surge protector is in an extension lead (don't know if the HX850 has a built in 1 too).

Checking the voltage in the bios it is displaying the correct voltages (but I guess that doesn't mean too much in itself).

I don't have another psu here, that will work with my case (the 800D is pretty big and wires on the old psu are quiet short and it doesn't have any sata connections on it).
 
cossie1 said:
Checking the voltage in the bios it is displaying the correct voltages (but I guess that doesn't mean too much in itself).
Click to expand...

Voltages report about things you probably do not know even exist. But you did not post those numbers (to three digits). So this answer (and others) can tell you nothing useful.

The BIOS is only a voltage monitor. Designed to detect change. Does not report valid voltages until after you have calibrated it with a 3.5 digit multimeter.

Meanwhile, most important voltages reported by a multimeter (and only when the system is accessing all peripherals simultaneously - multitasking) are from any one purple, red, orange, and yellow wires. Wires from power supply to a motherboard connector. These numbers are critical for information on all components of the power 'system'. Which is more than just a power supply.

BSOD was saying exactly what is wrong. Because you don't know the significance of numbers is often the first indication that those numbers are the most important answer. BSOD has a stop code followed by four often important numbers. Also is a text message that is further significant. Those with better knowledge cannot post when you short your help of the most important facts.
 
cossie1 said:
Ok the last BSOD it gave, it gave a code of:
0x00000050 does that help at all ?
Click to expand...
Yes. But you still shorted your help of useful facts including the four following numbers and the software that failed as a result of a defect.

Code is executed in protected compartments. If that code tries to execute instructions outside of its protected area, then a program crashes. If that code is a critical part of the OS, then a BSOD occurs. You had a BSOD.

So, why did something in the OS try to execute illegal code? Many reasons exist. That OS code put just the right combination of bits in memory to change one memory bit (also called a defective memory). Or a driver accessed hardware that was defective, got confused, and went berserk (a failure traceable to that hardware device and the manufacturer who then wrote defective code for that failure). Or you have malware. Or some other problem cause hardware to operate improperly.

So, step one. That external event that causes numerous and confusing (contradictory) failures is defined by PSU voltages. Get a multimeter to measure those four critical wires when the computer is accessing all peripherals (sound card, CD-rom, USB ports, searching a hard drive, playing complex video graphics) simultaneously. Because you don't know why is also why it is most important. The reasons why will be explained only when you have useful voltage numbers.

Then move on the diagnostics. If your machine is a lesser one, then the manufacturer did not provide comprehensive hardware diagnostics - for free. So, in your case (and because you did not provide the other important numbers), load and execute Memtst86. A memory tester. And after it passes, retest with memory (and the motherboard chip that memory connects to) with a hair dryer in highest heat settings. A perfectly ideal temperature for all semiconductors. And the temperature that actually finds defective memory.

Two first tasks to find the intermittent without wild speculation or shotgunning. Demonstrated is a concept called "Follow the evidence".
 
cossie1 said:
Yeh only updated it last week
Click to expand...
If the new driver causes a crash, then data in the BSOD said so. Is it a good driver or the wrong one? Well, things worked fine until you changed something. Another example of hard facts not provided.

With the next BSOD, read what it says. If the video driver is listed as the cause of stop code 50, then you know who created the failure.

Or you can do those other tasks, if for no other reason, to learn how to find before fixing future failures.
 
westom said:
If the new driver causes a crash, then data in the BSOD said so. Is it a good driver or the wrong one? Well, things worked fine until you changed something. Another example of hard facts not provided.

With the next BSOD, read what it says. If the video driver is listed as the cause of stop code 50, then you know who created the failure.

Or you can do those other tasks, if for no other reason, to learn how to find before fixing future failures.
Click to expand...



In the OP:

a couple of nights ago, I had a powercut (no big deal had a few over the last 18 months and I use a surge protector).

Since the powercut, my pc is pretty much unstable now, even at the stock 2.4ghz.

It's only been unstable since the power cut.

An since I last posted it has BSOD'd again this time the code was 0x00000000
 
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