random freezing after CPU upgrade?

The One · 5 Apr 2006 at 13:19

Hi all,

I recently replaced my 3.06Ghz Northwood with a 3.2Ghz Prescott and since I have been having random freezes. They usually happen several hours after I boot up the PC and the times they happened when I was at the PC the CPU was nowhere near overheating (51-55C). They haven't happened under load but rather when using Word, not doing anything etc. Both times I have left the PC on overnight I have come back to a non-responsive black screen (usually I move the mouse and it responds).

I have reseated the heatsink using AS 5 etc twice. I do have a lot of stuff plugged into my PC, full specs below:

3.2ghz Prescott
BFG 6800GS
2GB Geil Value Dual Channel Kit
Abit IS7-E2 motherboard
DVD-RW
DVD-Drive
80GB Seagate HDD
500W no-name PSU
External USB HDD
USB Mouse
USB Wireless Connector
USB pendrive plugged in 24/7 (for backup)

I bought the CPU used on a well-known auction site but it comes with a 30 day guarantee. In any case, a couple of times the whole PC didn't freeze but all the usb devices stopped working, which seriously makes me think that the PSU is not good enough...then again, I don't really want to spend £50+ on a new PSU to find out it was the CPU after all.

I am using a monitoring utility which is showing me the 12V output and the line is just below the 12V line. Is there any way to check that it is the PSU rather than the CPU?

Thanks for your help.

The One · 5 Apr 2006 at 23:38

Just did a clean install of XP, within 20 minutes the USB devices stopped working but no freeze so far...

Any other ideas?

*EDIT* Freezing again...*sigh*

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 11:31

Oooh, maybe you guys are right? Because the very reason I bought this CPU is that it doesn't bottleneck my memory. The previous CPU was 3.06/512/533, this one is 3.2/1mb/800.

And no, I didn't flash the BIOS...

The memory is the Geil Value Dual Channel Kit from OCUK - it couldn't run at 200mhz before because of the FSB on the previous CPU...so what do I need to do exactly?

Thanks a lot, I hope you're right!

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 12:46

OK, I just checked - the BIOS is the latest one available. Any other ideas? I also tried running with no optical drives, 1 stick of ram, no non-essential USB devices and still get the same problem, so I'd say it's not the PSU?

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 13:42

OK, the plot thickens...with Hyperthreading DISABLED it freezes after 10 minutes, guaranteed. With it enabled it takes longer, but still happens.

I am thinking it has to be the CPU at this point (tried resetting the CMOS jumper as well).

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 14:01

Memtest was fine
Prime passes all the torture tests until the CPU freezes - nothing in the log
Didn't occur to me to 3Dmark it, but I'll do that now
Never heard of Occt - will give it a shot as well

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 14:39

3DMark05 gave me 4575...the whole of the CPU test the fps never went above like 4 but was mostly on 1-2...does that say anything? Oh and it froze a couple of minutes after the test finished :mad:

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 14:58

I ran occt test and torture for a while...nothing particularly weird there. The CPU temp never goes above 65-67 which is normal for a Prescott. The 12V goes to like 11.92-97 sometimes but generally stays above 12...nothing else of note that I could see.

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 15:21

But that's just the thing, these freezes haven't actually happened so far when the PC has been under load, and when it's not the 12V is at 12.1/12.2.

Also, I tried running with just the essentials but the freezes still happened.

The One · 6 Apr 2006 at 17:58

Oh well, sent it back for a replacement, thanks for the help to those who responded!