12 Hours Stable in Orthos = Random Freezing in Windows? WTF?

[mawsoccer]

I did all my initial testing and benching before installing windows and loading all me stuff on it.

Here were the specs:

System Specs:

Asus P5B-Deluxe
Intel Core Duo e6600 L631A
eVGA 7600GT KO 256MB
2 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-1000
Samsung 18X DVDRW Combo
Thermaltake Armor Balck Tower case w/ 25 cm Fan
OCZ GameXtreme 600W PSU
Tuniq Tower 120

Overclocking Specs:

Speed: 3.2 (400 x 8)
Set Vcore in Bios: 1.3375v
Vcore Readings in Bios: 1.2960v
Vcore at 100% Load: 1.280v
Idle Temps: 36*C
Load Temps: 45*C
Test: Orthos Small FFTs Stable for 12 Hrs



Speed: 3.4 (378 x 9)
Set Vcore in Bios: 1.4250v
Vcore Readings in Bios: 1.3760v
Vcore at 100% Load: 1.360v
Idle Temps: 41*C
Load Temps: 52*C
Test: Orthos Small FFTs Stable for 12 Hrs



The temperatures continue to drop while my AS5 cures as I reseated my Tuniq facing the proper direction just a few days ago

Now, when in windows at OCed settings, I had a few random freezes yesterday. Once while the computer was starting up and loading Spysweeper, and a couple other times at random times.

The only things that have changed since my initial testing is that I have created a partition for OC testing and one for my regular windows stuff, but I dont think that is causing any problems. Also I used Nvidia's Frequency Controls to automatically OC my graphics card. And last but not least, I installed the newest sound drivers (that were posted on the Asus website on Christmas day) because my speakers kept making clicking sounds while playing music.

I cant do much testing in my actual Windows install because of my backround programs like Spy Sweeper, NIS 2007, and Spyware Doctor, but I have run a graphics testing program, "rthdribl", and that seems to cause a freeze sometime within a half an hour. So I set my graphics card back to stock and tested again, and it still froze. The only time it ran for hours without freezing was at stock settings for everything. I tried 3.2 ghz again today and although it hasn't frozen yet while browsing the internet, it did freeze running the "rthdribl" program with the graphics card still at stock.

Now how could my computer pass 12 hours of Orthos at 3.2 ghz and 3.4 ghz and then freeze on simple graphics card testing?

What the hell could be causing the problems?

 

[mawsoccer]

I am running 1:1.

Ram is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820148047

I have it running at 3-3-3-8 at DDR2-800.

It has passed Memtest for an hour. (3 tests)

 

[CCUABIDExORxDIE]

did you test to make sure your ram is 100% stable. that could be the issue. or it could be too weak of a powersupply or something along those lines, although the 600w gameXtreme is a pretty strong PSU.

make sure to do some in windows tests on ram, has it passed super pi 32m? then even better is memtest for windows, even though it has issues testing 2gigs of ram.

 

[mawsoccer]

yup, it got a time of like 16 minutes.

Also, the ram is running at 2.3 v

 

[mawsoccer]

It was suggested to me that my HD might be the problem.

I just got this HD from Newegg a couple days ago.

There are a lot of complaints about these HDs failing shortly after installing them.

I just ran Seatools, and I believe my partitions on my HD failed the file system check?

I don't know for sure because when I tried to run the tests again, it froze.

Would my partitions fail the file system thing because I used Quick Format when installing Windows?

I think I need to RMA my HD.

 

[orion456]

According to MicroSoft, 80% of random freezing in WinXP is caused by faulty drivers. Do you have the latest video, HD, USB etc. drivers?

 

[mawsoccer]

Yes, I just made sure they were all updated.

 

[orion456]

Under: Start, Run, MSconfig

have you turned off all the Startup programs. Most of those you don't really need and sometimes one of them is flakey. Try running for a bit without those programs and see if the same thing happens.

Also under: Start, Run, Command

run CHKDSK /r

it will check your hard drive for errors. You have to reboot for that to work and it takes a while so its best to run over night.

Also under: Start, Run, SFC /scannow

will check that your windows components aren't corrupt. You will need your windows boot disk.

 

[Spoudazo]

I had a Gigabyte 965p mobo and due to the chipset drivers, I always had freezing after exiting games and other tasks. Memtest ran fine for 8+ hours, orthos, etc. were all fine, but several things let me know it was the chipset drivers (not recognizing drives, not recognizing cards in the PCI slots, etc).

 

[marscay]

2.3v is alot for DDR800 speed, are they ventilated at least?

 

[mawsoccer]

At this point, I have tried just about everything to avoid the random restarts.

The only time the system doesnt randomly freeze is when everything is at stock.

This is retarded.

My last hope is to reinstall windows and do a full format.

If that doesnt work I guess I'll just have to start RMAing like crazy because I dont have a frickin clue what the hell the problem is. And of course, half my stuff is probably not going to be returnable or RMAable because its been almost a month since some of it was bought. The processor I ordered from ZZF on Black Friday, and they probably arent going to let me RMA it, so I dont know what the hell I'll do.

 

[Spoudazo]

At this point, I have tried just about everything to avoid the random restarts.

The only time the system doesnt randomly freeze is when everything is at stock.

This is retarded.

My last hope is to reinstall windows and do a full format.

If that doesnt work I guess I'll just have to start RMAing like crazy because I dont have a frickin clue what the hell the problem is. And of course, half my stuff is probably not going to be returnable or RMAable because its been almost a month since some of it was bought. The processor I ordered from ZZF on Black Friday, and they probably arent going to let me RMA it, so I dont know what the hell I'll do.

This is what I'd do,

(1) run memtest

(2) reinstall Windows

if problem still persists,

(3) try Vista or another OS, so you can use different drivers for your hardware

if problem still persists with new OS, cry a little bit and take some Tylenol due to the pursuing headaches.

Also, try switching out your RAM DIMMs, trying one at a time, or other RAM, etc.

 

[mawsoccer]

Well, I have changed three things and so far the test that would always get my computer to freeze when OCed hasnt froze. I am testing at 3.2 ghz right now.

1. I unplugged the IDE DVD Drive.(IDE Cable and Power Cable) I have no clue why this would be a problem. All I can think of is that I havent changed the jumper back to master on it yet. (I used to have an IDE HD that was the master.) I suppose I should change that but I'll deal with it after I isolate the problem if I can.

2. I changed the bios Ram to it rated voltage and speed. I also am giving my CPU way more juice than it needs to run 3.2. I am giving it 1.4 vcore just to make sure that isnt the problem.

3. Whatever settings are supposed to be locked at 100 and 33.33 I changed back to auto.

I will have an update tomorrow, but I gotta be getting some sleep now.

Thanks for all your help, I hope you all can return to help me tomorrow if I need further assistance.

 

[mawsoccer]

I chkdsk /r and it ran with no errors, at least it didnt tell me about any problems.

For the ram, I have been running it at stock 5-5-5-15 lately , so I doubt thats got anything to do with the problem now.

Update*

Last night everything looked good for a little while, but then the program had an error. I restarted the computer to re run the program, but then it failed within minutes.

This morning I plugged in my IDE DVD drive again, and everything else was still plugged in from last night after the first test, but it froze on the black screen loading windows and it froze another time loading spy sweeper.

Right now I am running it at 3.2 ghz at 1.4 vcore (up from 1.35) and I have the DVD Drive plugged in and everything else plugged in, but I rolled back the drivers for my Nvidia card. In a little while we'll see if that made any difference.

Update*

I ran it for about 1 hour and 15 minutes w/o freezing with the above setup, could the new Nvidia dirvers be the cause of all these random restarts and freezings?

Then I tried to run at 3.5 with my normal OC settings and it froze again.

I reinstalled the newest drivers and I'm running a Super PI 32m to check my ram for stability at 3-3-3-8 at 2.3 volts.

The above setting froze after 8 minutes.

Now I am trying to run it at 4-4-4-12 at 2.3 volts and 3.4 ghz at 1.4250 for my proc.

I'll post the results in about 15 mins.

 

[LordFrank]

Hey bud, I had this issuse over the weekend playing with my new system.

What is was for me was certian OC'd FSB speeds HATED stock RAM speeds. I had to play with the MHz of the ram going up by "1" increment everytime.

My issue was at 1550 FSB at 10x (3875MHz), the RAM speed that finally stabled it out, was 930MHz. I had to go up by one each time.

Also, 930MHz is at 2.2 volts.

 

[Spoudazo]

Got my new mobo installed, seems to have fixed the problems I was facing. Just for reference.

 

[mawsoccer]

You never mentioned a problem with yours before.

I think my problem was caused by the ram at 3-3-3-8.

Right now I am running at 3.4 ghz with my ram at 4-4-4-12 2.2v

 

[mawsoccer]

Well, I thought it was the ram timings.

I dont know any more, my comp has frozen 5-5-5-15 at DDR-800 at 2.2 volts.

Whats the deal here? Could overclocking my graphics card using the automatic Nvidia coolbits settings be causing the restarts?

 

[ghosty1234]

please test one thing:

Do 367 * 9 = 3.300 Mhz @1,350 Vcore (1:1)
Ram: 4,4,4,12 @2,20 Vcore
Also FSB/MCH Voltage @1,60 Vcore

please try it.

I also had some Crucial Ballistix for testing. They were not stable over 380 FSB @1:1.

AND please use the "native" multiplier!!! (this could be the problem too, only on the 6800XE, this changing of the multiplier worked correct...what i saw.)

 

[exactopposite]

run memtest as someone above mentioned.

also in orthos run the blend test as it also stresses the ram. i recently had a bad stick of ram when i had it in orthos would pass the small fft test, but not the blend becasue the blend was also testing the ram.