CHill123

Okay, here's my problem. I recently did some upgrades to my 3-yr-old Sony VGC-RB43 computer. I replaced the stock PSU with an Antec Earthwatts 650w PSU (22A,22A,25A on 12v I believe), I added two more 512MB RAM modules (PNY PC3200 DDR 400/333/266 mhz) to bring it up to a total of 2GB, and I added a PNY GeForce 7900 GS graphics card (PCI-e). Now, my computer will randomly freeze up completely, usually without even giving me a blue screen with the error message. I did get a BSoD one time since this has been going on, but my roomate has since thrown away the paper that I had it written down on. Its kinda strange the way it doesnt put up a BSoD or anything, it just freezes up completely. Usually there is some weird artifacting that happens on the screen, most commonly a horizontal bar that sometimes moves a little, but other than that the screen just completely locks up. I also lose power to any USB peripherals. I'm thinking that I may have a bad RAM chip or something, although it seems more like a power issue. The GPU I believe only needs 20A dedicated to it, and everything else is stock (plus the two RAM chips I added) which means a P4 HT processor.

Anyone got any ideas on how I can fix this?

dai

sounds more like a heat problem
check the gpu with this
http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1077/mirrors.php

CHill123

GPU-Z reports my GPU temp at ~58-59 C and my fan speed at a steady 19%. Good? Bad?

dai

good not high enough to llock up
see if there is anything listed in the event viewer at the time of the lockup

CHill123

Sorry for the newb question, but I cant find the event viewer anywhere. Where do I go for it?

dai

control panel/admin tools/event viewer

dai

what cpu is in it
what does the bios list your tempretures and voltages as

CHill123

Pentium 4 630 (Codename Prescott, Socket 775 LGA)
Core voltage is 1.224 V

CPU-Z processor info:

Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores 1 (max 1)
Number of threads 2 (max 2)
Name Intel Pentium 4 630
Codename Prescott
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Package Socket 775 LGA (platform ID = 4h)
CPUID F.4.3
Extended CPUID F.4
Core Stepping N0
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 3000.0 MHz (15.0 x 200.0 MHz)
Rated Bus speed 800.0 MHz
Stock frequency 3000 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, EM64T
L1 Data cache 16 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
Trace cache 12 Kuops, 8-way set associative
L2 cache 2048 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
FID range 14.0x - 15.0x
VID range 1.116 V - 1.292 V
Features XD

Chipset
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel i915P/i915G rev. B1
Southbridge Intel 82801FB (ICH6) rev. 03
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Channels Dual
Memory Frequency 200.0 MHz (1:1)
CAS# 3.0
RAS# to CAS# 3
RAS# Precharge 3
Cycle Time (tRAS) 8

DIMM #1

General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) Infineon (C100000000000000)
Size 512 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3200 (200 MHz)
Part number 64D64320HU5C
Serial number 0108CB10
Manufacturing date Week 35/Year 05

Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
Nominal Voltage 2.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 133 166 200
CAS# 2.0 2.5 3.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 2 3 3
RAS# Precharge 2 3 3
TRAS 6 7 8


DIMM #2

General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) PNY Electronics (7FBA000000000000)
Size 512 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3200 (200 MHz)
Part number
Manufacturing date Week 08/Year 02

Attributes
Number of banks 1
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
Nominal Voltage 2.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 133 166 200
CAS# 2.0 2.5 3.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 2 3 3
RAS# Precharge 2 3 3
TRAS 6 7 8


DIMM #3

General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) Infineon (C100000000000000)
Size 512 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3200 (200 MHz)
Part number 64D64320HU5C
Serial number 0108CB17
Manufacturing date Week 35/Year 05

Attributes
Number of banks 2
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
Nominal Voltage 2.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 133 166 200
CAS# 2.0 2.5 3.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 2 3 3
RAS# Precharge 2 3 3
TRAS 6 7 8


DIMM #4

General
Memory type DDR
Manufacturer (ID) PNY Electronics (7FBA000000000000)
Size 512 MBytes
Max bandwidth PC3200 (200 MHz)
Part number
Manufacturing date Week 08/Year 07

Attributes
Number of banks 1
Data width 64 bits
Correction None
Registered no
Buffered no
Nominal Voltage 2.50 Volts
EPP no
XMP no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz) 133 166 200
CAS# 2.0 2.5 3.0
RAS# to CAS# delay 2 3 3
RAS# Precharge 2 3 3
TRAS 6 7 8

Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

SMSC EMC6D10X hardware monitor

Voltage sensor 0 1.50 Volts [0x73] (+1.5V)
Voltage sensor 1 1.22 Volts [0x68] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage sensor 2 3.30 Volts [0xC0] (ATX +3.3V)
Voltage sensor 3 5.05 Volts [0xC2] (ATX +5V)
Voltage sensor 4 11.98 Volts [0xBF] (ATX +12V)
Temperature sensor 0 63°C (145°F) [0x3F] (Diode 1)
Temperature sensor 1 50°C (121°F) [0x32] (Internal)
Temperature sensor 2 50°C (121°F) [0x32] (Diode 2)
Fan sensor 0 2835 RPM [0x771] (FANIN0)
Fan sensor 3 2194 RPM [0x99D] (FANIN3)


Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 7900 GS hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 59°C (138°F) [0x3B] (GPU Core)



If you need any other information let me know.

dai

redo the paste on the cpu with some arctic silver
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

CHill123

Okay, I'll try that when I get home. I'm going to use Dynex brand silver-based thermal compound because the only places I'll be able to get arctic silver around here will be closed when I get off work and I get a big discount on the Dynex crap anyway. =] I'm using the thermal grease, not the adhesive, correct?

dai

yes thermal grease

CHill123

Okay well I did that, and it seemed to be working well... then after about two hours of messing around all of a sudden the screen flashed black for a second, then the computer rebooted itself to a black screen saying something about a bad checksum value. It said press F2 to enter setup, so I did and it took me into the BIOS. I took a look and everything seemed okay, so I exited and rebooted. Now it boots up, gives me the GFX card info screen, the post screen, and then a message saying NTLDR not found. Then it just doesnt do anything, so I shut it off. Please tell me my CPU/MoBo isnt fried... I just want my poor computer to work again =\

dai

check the cable to the hard drive has not come loose at the drive or the m/board
try a new cable
check what the bios lists your voltages as and post them
download and run the hard drive makers diognostic utilty on the hard drive
i don't think it is your m/b or cpu
suspect are the hard drive and power supply,you may have got a faulty one

CHill123

Okay, I fixed the NTLDR problem, somehow the boot priorities got changed in the BIOS so it was trying to boot from the slave HDD. But, I guess that means I'm still having the original problem. Any more ideas?

dai

can you borrow another psu to try in it

CHill123

I cant borrow one, but if you think that's the problem I can always return the one I have now when I go back to work. I'd like to make absolutely sure that's the problem before I go through all the hassle though. Is there anything else I can try to eliminate any other possibilities?

dai

check your voltage readings in the bios and post them

CHill123

the left side of the screen was a bit cut off, but here's what I believe it was:
+1.5Vin: 1.493V
(?)Vccp: 1.223V
+3.3Vin: 3.310V-3.327V
+5Vin: 5.105V-5.131V
+12Vin: 11.943V-12.000V

I also got the temperatures:
Processor Zone: 60 C
Zone 1: 47 C
Zone 2: 46 C

dai

check the voltage range of the ram on the manufacturers site for the min and max voltage

CHill123

Can't find the voltage info for the RAM, PNY sucks and wont list it and doesnt like to answer their phones, and Infineon doesnt even say they make RAM anymore. Any other ways I can check? I tried google but no luck.