Complete system lock ups

Lord Metritutus · Tue Jul 27, 2010 2:55 pm

I suspect it's the Motherboard, but since I have no way of testing this other than buying a new one so I want to go through every possible alternative.

I have tried RMA'ing the memory twice but replacements have not fixed the issue. The system will run without freezing with one 2GB stick in. With the others in it freezes which suggests that it is unstable with more than one stick of RAM in. Memory tests from both memtest64 and Windows' own built in memory tester have found no issues.

Prime95 ran fine for a very long time indicating no issues with the CPU.

I have had this issue for as long as I can remember but it used to be very infrequent. However it has been getting far worse over time. I do not believe it is software/OS related as I had the issue with Vista before I upgraded to Windows 7, which also suffers from the issue.

I do not know if this is of any use but here are the Event Viewer administrative events just before (from starting up) to just after restarting after it froze:

Code:

Error - 27/07/2010 14:00:28 - The previous system shutdown at 13:58:41 on ‎27/‎07/‎2010 was unexpected.
Critical - 27/07/2010 14:00:05 - The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
Error - 27/07/2010 14:00:34 - Audit events have been dropped by the transport.  0
Error - 27/07/2010 14:00:45 - \??\C:\Windows\SysWow64\Drivers\DgiVecp.sys has been blocked from loading due to incompatibility with this system. Please contact your software vendor for a compatible version of the driver.
Error - 27/07/2010 14:00:45 - The DgiVecp service failed to start due to the following error: 
This driver has been blocked from loading
Warning - 27/07/2010 14:00:57 - The configuration of the AdminConnection\TCP protocol in the SQL instance SQLEXPRESS is not valid.
Error - 27/07/2010 14:00:59 - The SSPORT service failed to start due to the following error: 
The system cannot find the file specified.
Warning - 27/07/2010 14:01:51 - Name resolution for the name dns.msftncsi.com timed out after none of the configured DNS servers responded.

Error - 27/07/2010 14:08:39 - The previous system shutdown at 14:04:28 on ‎27/‎07/‎2010 was unexpected.
Critical - 27/07/2010 14:08:24 - The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

The RAM being used is this:
http://www.corsair.com/_datasheets/twin ... 6400c5.pdf

The motherboard is a PQ5 SE.

The Processor is a Core2Quad Q6600.

The operating system currently is Windows 7 x64 Professional.

Assistance and advice would be much appreciated, as this has been a highly frustrating issue. Because of this though I will NOT tolerate any patronisation, mockery or stupid suggestions.

Skillers · Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:04 pm

As I said yesterday, try slacking off the timings on the RAM.

Si · Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:09 pm

I know this probably isn't helpful to this issue, but it sounds like the error in the log is from you disabling a service that another one depends upon.

Lord Metritutus · Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:22 pm

Skillers wrote:

As I said yesterday, try slacking off the timings on the RAM.

I am hesitant to mess around with the BIOS unless I know absolutely what I am doing. Changing the volate from 1.8 to 1.9 (as you suggested) did absolutely nothing so I set that back. If I do anything else I want to know just what I am changing and what it could do.

Selecting my memory from here shows settings that match those BIOS seems to have set things to.
http://www.corsair.com/configurator/pro ... ?id=701038

Code:

Latency
5-5-5-18

Voltage
1.8v 

Si wrote:

I know this probably isn't helpful to this issue, but it sounds like the error in the log is from you disabling a service that another one depends upon.

WHICH error?

Si · Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:24 pm

Wait a second... never mind misread. But... Why have you installed 32-bit printer drivers? That's what that's telling me. The whole thing. Well apart from the DNS error, thats from some Windows Networking service not running properly.

Skillers · Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:34 pm

Just raise the timings by 1 each or something, see if it helps. It won't cause any harm (tiny performance reduction, but nothing else). No idea why the voltage didn't change, maybe you missed a setting. Or perhaps, as that list says, it's 1.8 standard so should only be raised by .02 or something (the link you gave me yesterday said it should be 1.9V).

Lord Metritutus · Tue Jul 27, 2010 3:38 pm

Si wrote:

Wait a second... never mind misread. But... Why have you installed 32-bit printer drivers? That's what that's telling me. The whole thing. Well apart from the DNS error, thats from some Windows Networking service not running properly.

I followed the setup program that came on the disc that came with the printer. The printer works fine. I am certain this has nothing to do with the freezing issue so it's not really relevant right now but if I fix this freezing problem I'll look in to it.

Skillers wrote:

Just raise the timings by 1 each or something, see if it helps. It won't cause any harm (tiny performance reduction, but nothing else). No idea why the voltage didn't change, maybe you missed a setting. Or perhaps, as that list says, it's 1.8 standard so should only be raised by .02 or something (the link you gave me yesterday said it should be 1.9V).

The link I showed you yesterday was what Corsair had tested the memory at. The link I just put in this thread is what the RAM has been tested at in the type of motherboard I have.

Scottie · Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:21 pm

Ok I'm not sure what's going on here, you're having problems relating to the OS but you've suspected it's a hardware failure?

Sorry if I am getting this mixed up.

Why not try ubuntu, re-installing your primary OS or installing another os, simply to test that it is not the problem.

DHR-107 · Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:47 pm

He had the problem on both Vista and 7

The same problem... I don't have any idea, but it must be something with the Mobo now considering he's tried all the Ram combos

Scottie · Wed Jul 28, 2010 11:34 pm

Power supply, hard drive, cpu fan, graphics could all cause it and many more.

I recommend you literally take it out of the case (motherboard this is) put it on a good surface back of a original box ect. And only connect the power supply, main hard drive, graphics card, processor, 1 stick of ram that you've tested. And eliminate problems one at a time, if possible ask to borrow some parts from anyone you know and swap them all in apart from the one piece of hardware you want to test. Once you've set it up do what ever causes the problem and / or stress each component one at a time using all the various programs you can. After that having tested everything including the motherboard you should have found your problem part.

azcn2503 · Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:46 am

When we are at LAN, we could experiment with swapping out some components. Who's up for it? It would really help him out.

Lord Metritutus · Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:43 am

The system doesn't seem to lock up with only this one stick of memory in. I have stress tested it using Prime95, games, etc.

This means that I have either been sent two more faulty sticks from Corsair, or that the Motherboard is unstable with more than one stick in. I will try the other two sticks individually and stress test them to isolate the issue, however to me it's looking like it's a Motherboard issue. I would therefore like recommendations.

It must be compatable with the hardware listed in the first post, a HD4850 512mb graphics card, a PCI-E soundcard and a PCI wireless card. I would preferably like it to have a built in ethernet port for LAN purposes.

Skillers · Thu Jul 29, 2010 11:52 am

Any LGA775 motherboard will fill all those criteria. Look at the ones that are available and read reviews. I still suggest you slacken the timings though, it helps increase stability in a lot of cases.

Scottie · Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:29 pm

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=price ... =50&page=1

Could still very much be the power supply to be honest.

Skillers · Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:35 pm

I'd still say fiddle with the timings. Makes sense with the only one stick working, getting multiple sticks to work together can require underclocking, and doing the timings is the best way to do that.

Lord Metritutus · Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:35 pm

Scottie wrote:

Could still very much be the power supply to be honest.

It's not. The power supply should deliver more than enough wattage for the components I have. And if the power supply was faulty, I would have expected the fault to occur when I added things like my soundcard which has a connector to the PSU. In addition, when the problem occurs the computer locks up at random times, regardless of what it is doing. If it was a PSU issue, I would expect the PC to lock up whenever it came under heavy load as components would be drawing more power, however this doesn't happen.

Skillers wrote:

I'd still say fiddle with the timings. Makes sense with the only one stick working, getting multiple sticks to work together can require underclocking, and doing the timings is the best way to do that.

I'd rather not do this without complete certainty in what I am doing. In addition my brother's PC is stable and his uses the same motherboard and the same memory with no underclocking required.

Si · Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:47 pm

Right, the timings is a ratio of cpu cycles to ram cycles. increasing it gives more time for the ram to do its job at the cost of a bit of performance. There, now go try it

Hawke · Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:02 pm

I'll bring a wrench to the LAN and "fix" it for you.

In all seriousness though, try what Skillers suggested. If that doesn't work, it's not the RAM. You've already stress-tested the CPU so it's not that. You tested the Hard Drive, it's not that. The last things it could be are your motherboard and PSU.

Lord Metritutus · Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:34 pm

Si wrote:

Right, the timings is a ratio of cpu cycles to ram cycles. increasing it gives more time for the ram to do its job at the cost of a bit of performance. There, now go try it

I'll put the other two sticks back in my PC, load up BIOS and try to look for what you've suggested. I may try this later today.

Skillers · Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:42 pm

The PSU could be providing off or unstable voltages. The most likely thing if it was a PSU error is that it is spiking/dipping randomly, giving the crash.

Your point about your brothers PC is moot, I've already explained that not all hardware is the same. Two seeds from the same tree won't grow the same, YMMV etc.

And timings are really low risk things to edit. The worst that could happen is you would need to find the CMOS reset switch on your mobo to get it to boot. the only truly dangerous settings in the BIOS are the voltage settings.

Though Hawke is wrong, doing that wouldn't rule out the RAM.

Lord Metritutus · Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:29 am

Increasing the timings did not fix the issue.

azcn2503 · Mon Aug 02, 2010 9:38 am

It would really help if you could swap out RAM with someone else. If it fails with their RAM then it's highly unlikely to be your RAM at fault. Probably the Mobo.

Si · Mon Aug 02, 2010 12:06 pm

azcn2503 wrote:

It would really help if you could swap out ~~RAM~~ each major component with someone else. If it fails with their ~~RAM~~ components then ~~it's highly unlikely to be your RAM at fault. Probably the Mobo~~ we know whats at fault..

Fixed to be more useful, i.e. what we already suggested.

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Complete system lock ups

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