Hello everyone!
Here's my story.
I recently (3 weeks ago) built a web and file server for the office with the following specs (as of now):
- PSU Thermaltake TR2-RX 750W
- Motherboard ASUS M5A99X-EVO
- CPU AMD FX-8120 8-code
- Vengeance Kit 4x4 (CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9)
- Video Radeon HD-4350
- 4 hard drives (S0-S3) / 2 RAID-1 (two drives each)
- Windows 7 64-bit
- 1 PCI Network Card (Realtek 8139)
- 2 PCI-e Network Cards (TP-Link)
Being the noob I am, first thing I did was enable the TPU/EPU switches on the MB and set it to the highest settings (in "EZ-Mode" in the absolutely gorgeous UEFI-BIOS)
Then I configured the 4 hard drives as a single RAID-10 and installed all my software. I started having BSOD every couple of days or so, very random actually!
The BSOD codes were 0x0000003B (graphics card or memory) and 0x00000024 (usually filesystem) so I got a new graphics card (ASUS EAH-5450) but I still got the BSOD from time to time (which is a deal braker on a server!), so I thought it could be the RAID so I deleted the RAID-10 and created two RAID-1 instead (one for system and one for backups).
Had another BSOD (0x0000003B).
Then I tested the RAM using memtest86 for 12 hours and found no errors.
So I couldn't afford any more service interruptions and did the following:
- Flashed the latest bios using the EZ-Flash thingie
- Removed the new graphics card and put the old one (the one currently on it)
- Removed two of the memory modules, left 2 modules on the black slots (1 & 3)
- Disabled TPU / EPU switches on the MB
- Went into the BIOS, switch to Manual mode and set anything I could find that was CPU or Memory related to AUTO.
And it has been working fine ever since for 5 days, non-stop, my theory is that the TPU/EPU switches are not as stable as they are supposed to be (at least with my config).
Now the weird part.
I set a Scheduled task to turn off the computer at 1AM ("shutdown /s /t 0") and set the BIOS to wake the computer up by alarm at 6AM, which has worked before, and today when I came at 7 it was off.
I pushed the power button, and the fans started turning but quite slowly, 5 seconds later it turned itself off again, did that a few times, then I just unplugged the AC cord from the PSU, plugged it back in and now it started fine BUT it showed a warning in the bios "Overclocking failed, press F1 to setup", which I did, but bios settings were pretty much how I left them, so I didn't make ANY changes to the setup and I quit the BIOS (which also restarts the computer) and it worked all OK again.
A friend told me I should set the RAM timing manually but I'm not sure about that, I would guess that motherboard is smarter than me (if I set it to AUTO).
WTH just happened? Any theories?
Here's my story.
I recently (3 weeks ago) built a web and file server for the office with the following specs (as of now):
- PSU Thermaltake TR2-RX 750W
- Motherboard ASUS M5A99X-EVO
- CPU AMD FX-8120 8-code
- Vengeance Kit 4x4 (CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9)
- Video Radeon HD-4350
- 4 hard drives (S0-S3) / 2 RAID-1 (two drives each)
- Windows 7 64-bit
- 1 PCI Network Card (Realtek 8139)
- 2 PCI-e Network Cards (TP-Link)
Being the noob I am, first thing I did was enable the TPU/EPU switches on the MB and set it to the highest settings (in "EZ-Mode" in the absolutely gorgeous UEFI-BIOS)
Then I configured the 4 hard drives as a single RAID-10 and installed all my software. I started having BSOD every couple of days or so, very random actually!
The BSOD codes were 0x0000003B (graphics card or memory) and 0x00000024 (usually filesystem) so I got a new graphics card (ASUS EAH-5450) but I still got the BSOD from time to time (which is a deal braker on a server!), so I thought it could be the RAID so I deleted the RAID-10 and created two RAID-1 instead (one for system and one for backups).
Had another BSOD (0x0000003B).
Then I tested the RAM using memtest86 for 12 hours and found no errors.
So I couldn't afford any more service interruptions and did the following:
- Flashed the latest bios using the EZ-Flash thingie
- Removed the new graphics card and put the old one (the one currently on it)
- Removed two of the memory modules, left 2 modules on the black slots (1 & 3)
- Disabled TPU / EPU switches on the MB
- Went into the BIOS, switch to Manual mode and set anything I could find that was CPU or Memory related to AUTO.
And it has been working fine ever since for 5 days, non-stop, my theory is that the TPU/EPU switches are not as stable as they are supposed to be (at least with my config).
Now the weird part.
I set a Scheduled task to turn off the computer at 1AM ("shutdown /s /t 0") and set the BIOS to wake the computer up by alarm at 6AM, which has worked before, and today when I came at 7 it was off.
I pushed the power button, and the fans started turning but quite slowly, 5 seconds later it turned itself off again, did that a few times, then I just unplugged the AC cord from the PSU, plugged it back in and now it started fine BUT it showed a warning in the bios "Overclocking failed, press F1 to setup", which I did, but bios settings were pretty much how I left them, so I didn't make ANY changes to the setup and I quit the BIOS (which also restarts the computer) and it worked all OK again.
A friend told me I should set the RAM timing manually but I'm not sure about that, I would guess that motherboard is smarter than me (if I set it to AUTO).
WTH just happened? Any theories?
