Sandybridge build freezing consistently

bassface · 20 Feb 2011 at 10:35

I bought my sandybridge rig just over a month ago and after some teething problems (duff mobo) managed to get it all up and running - but I have a really annoying problem. About once a day - no pattern - the machine will just freeze. No warning and no way to recover expect restarting - the memory timings that the motherboard (asrock xtreme 4) autodetected are not the same as those that the memory is rated for (9-9-9-28), could this be causing my issue? Also randomly my machine did not recognise my SSD yesterday while trying to boot, I went into the bios and it wasnt there and I thought the drive had died. Turned computer off and back on and it worked as per normal! That's only happened once so I'm not too worried about it (don't think it's related to the SB recall as the drive is plugged into a SATA 3 port)

But I'd really like to get to the bottom of the freezing problem. Can anyone suggest some tools I can download and run to test the system integrity - processor, memory etc? If I have a faulty component that is causing this I'd like to get it replaced.

saintdefender · 20 Feb 2011 at 10:37

I had similar problems to this and I had to RMA my mobo as it was faulty, however lets not jump to conclusions here, just letting you know what COULD be the issue.

Have you tried removing the Cmos battery for 2 minutes and sticking it back in? Could just to be your Cmos playing up.

bassface · 20 Feb 2011 at 10:41

I'll give it a shot. If it does turn out to be the mobo then i'm not too worried - the board should be recalled at some point I'd imagine (fingers crossed) so I'll get a replacement then.

What brand was the board you RMA'd - I've already sent an Asus P67 back because of another issue...

saintdefender · 20 Feb 2011 at 10:45

Mine was a Gigabyte X58A-UD7. Again same problems as yours, Hard drives being read and then not being read, random crashes, ram was even being read first at 6GB (the correct amount) then at 4GB then at 6GB then at 2GB and so forth and it would choose as I said what HDD to pick up and which not to.

However I purchased from OCUK and the day after I sent it, they shipped it back to me, so if it is from OCUK, I wouldn't worry about the RMA anyways, you will get it back before you even miss it : )

bassface · 20 Feb 2011 at 10:50

The Asrock board is from a local store (they sell online - big on case mods and begin with a K) because I was too impatient to wait for a new board from here (although OCUK they did handle the RMA pretty well). They even emailed me the day after the SB recall news broke to let me know that my Asrock had an issue and would likely be recalled so I'm not worried about them :-)

Did you run any diagnostic tools (memory checker or similar) before returning your board? Given that this would be the second board I have returned I'm now starting to doubt all the other components. Could the graphics card be the cause (overheating maybe - although the freezes don't just happen when gaming - sometimes when browsing the web or just sitting at idle).

What could I use to test my memory/processor? What do you overclockers used to test stability?