Hard freezes after 30-40 minutes of any type of use.

[ktownhero]

Oh crap, I just realized something. I had tested my full 16GB (4x4) set of RAM together in Memtest86, but Memtest86 is only 32 bit... So I'm not out of the water on my RAM yet. I'm going to have to test individual sticks tonight and see if they pass. I'm actually hoping it's just RAM -- man, that would make this so easy. The symptoms I'm getting (looped audio, scrambled picture, random freezing) sound RAM-related.

I don't know if I was right about this. There is not any clear documentation on Memtest86+ around. Does anybody know if it can test my full 16gb? It seemed to see all of it, but I don't know if it tested it. Any reason that maybe 16gb might pass even if an individual stick is bad? I'm ultimately trying to determine if it is worth testing individual sticks if all 4 passed together.

 

[EarthDog]

Vtt is a voltage and is free to add. Since you have more sticks of memory, this puts more stress on the IMC of the CPU sometimes requiring more volts to be stable.

 

[ktownhero]

Vtt is a voltage and is free to add. Since you have more sticks of memory, this puts more stress on the IMC of the CPU sometimes requiring more volts to be stable.

I appreciate this, but I'm not looking to make changes to get this to work. Something is broken, and I want to find it and replace it. I don't care to keep any components that aren't capable of functioning at stock specifications. The real question would be is if a VTT bump fixes this, then is that a sign of a faulty Motherboard or faulty RAM?

Something is clearly failing in my system, I just need help figuring out what that is so I can replace it.

 

[EarthDog]

I dont know whats wrong, if something even IS wrong. It is quite common to have to add Vtt voltage as you increase the amount of sticks...especially in older platforms. If Vtt fixes it, nothing is wrong. If Vcore fixes it, perhaps the board's power delivery that is lacking (not failing). The board you selected is arguably one of the best bang for the dollar boards.

I would determine with software your idle voltage, and your load voltage. Go back in to the bios and set that same voltage manually (no offset), get in to windows again and see where the voltage is on idle and load. If the load voltage sags too much, enable LLC. If you experience idle drops, add vcore. If thats broken to you, then by all means grab another board.

 

[RollingThunder]

I appreciate this, but I'm not looking to make changes to get this to work. Something is broken, and I want to find it and replace it. I don't care to keep any components that aren't capable of functioning at stock specifications. The real question would be is if a VTT bump fixes this, then is that a sign of a faulty Motherboard or faulty RAM?

Something is clearly failing in my system, I just need help figuring out what that is so I can replace it.

There are minimum and maximum factory stock voltages for almost all components on your board. Adding voltage to raise the default does not mean it's broken. For instance, my RAMs state 2.0 - 2.1 volts. If I raise it to 2.1 volts to make them stable, they are not broken.,

 

[ktownhero]

Oh wow, check this out... Apparently Crucial M4 drives have a bug where after 5,184 hours of total powered on time, they start bugging out. There is a new firmware update that fixes it. I just checked with another tech friend and he said he's fixed two computers with the same exact issues I'm having by updating the M4 firmware. God, I hope this is it...

Correct a condition where an incorrect response to a SMART counter will cause the m4 drive to become unresponsive after 5184 hours of Power-on time. The drive will recover after a power cycle, however, this failure will repeat once per hour after reaching this point. The condition will allow the end user to successfully update firmware, and poses no risk to user or system data stored on the drive.

http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/Firmware-Update-Notifications/td-p/57854

It's an older update, and I thought I had updated the firmware back when I got this drive (Feb. this year). I'll check when I get home.

 

[EarthDog]

Looks like you have a lot of things to try... Try ONE thing at a time though so you know what the culprit is... and report back with the resolution. Good luck!

 

[ktownhero]

Will do, thanks for the suggestions

 

[PolePosition]

Any recommendations?

I'm not sure where you're located but Radio Shack has them. This is one I see online http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4214667
but the one I got there is a pocket sized one and I paid around $10 for it.

 

[Metlcub]

i've had some issues as well, and I was able to fix the random lock up. I changed my mem volt from 1.5 to 1.55 and that seemed to fix it. and no more issues.

 

[ktownhero]

Thanks to everybody for your help and hearing me out, but it turns out this whole issue was caused by faulty firmware that the Crucial M4s shipped with last year. A simple firmware flash fixed everything.

It's both frustrating and relieving that it was something so simple. Boy did somebody over at Crucial screw up with that bug!