Charos

Hey,

I'm having a problem with my new computer. I purchased the components from Newegg, and at first it seemed to run just great. However, from time to time it freezes up - goes completely nonresponsive, the display completely stops, keyboard and mouse don't do anything at all (cursor won't move), and if there was audio playing at the time of the freeze, it repeats itself on a fast loop so it sounds like really loud static. There is no Blue Screen, no displayed error, the entire thing just locks up and I have to do a hard reboot. This happens more often when I'm gaming, and sometimes as often as four to five times per hour.

Here are my system components:
XFX Motherboard
Intel Q9550 2.83 ghz quad-core processor
8 gigs (4x 2gig sticks) of PNY DDR3 1333 RAM
Corsair 750W PSU
EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 260 Graphics Card
2x 1TB Seagate Barracuda SATA drives
LG DVD/RW drive

Here's what I've tried:

• Virus Scans
• Adware Scans (Ad-Aware)
• Reinstalling Windows with a complete reformat
• Running a system file check through elevated CMD
• System Restore
• CHKDSK, came back clean
• Memtest, got an error one time but other tests came back clean. Couldn't reproduce bad test, and the test sometimes freezes midway through (hangs up with no progress for 24 hours, so it's not just being slow)

Any ideas? Could this be a bad motherboard, CPU, or RAM? It seems to me like if it were an overheating problem, the computer would just shut off, not lock up. I've also heard it may be a power issue - the power system in my building is a little shaky, and I have the computer plugged in through a surge protector but not an Uninterruptible Power Supply/Battery Backup. Could fluctuations in the current (missed cycles, etc) have this sort of effect?

kevmacca

have you tried removing a couple of sticks of ram then rebooting?

Charos

Yeah, I tried that today. Still happened. I'm thinking it's probably a motherboard issue.. if it were a bad processor, it probably wouldn't boot up at all. Right?

DT Roberts

Have you even tried a new installation? I wouldn't jump to conclusions about hardware before making sure that all of the software is where it should be. What's better (well worse for me, better for you), is that I had the exact same problem with my system when I first got all of the parts together online.

I do believe that your system voltages are too low. When they are too low ("underclocked"), the voltage dips from time to time. When this dip occurs, the system goes and stays unresponsive.

I've solved my own problem by setting my voltages to the maximum that was considered safe and not overclocked. It runs perfectly now; haven't frozen in months.

Try raising your system's voltages for RAM, CPU and FSB. Let us know how it goes. Good luck.

skeil909

What BIOS version on the XFX MB?

What is your memory voltage and timings set at? Looks like most people are running 1.5v and 9-9-9-24 timings with this ram.

Are you running nForce 15.35 drivers or stock Windows?

Charos

Yeah, one of the first things I did was reinstall Windows to see if it was a glitched installation, and I didn't see an improvement. I'm not at home right now, but I'll try upping my voltages and see if that helps. How high is considered safe? I saw something in another post about 1.5 volts being the norm, so should I up it to 2.0v or 2.5? I consider myself quite computer literate, but I don't have much experience at all with tweaking things in the BIOS or overclocking.

In response to the question about drivers, I installed the mobo driver disk that came with my motherboard, but haven't looked for an updated version of the BIOS - that's still stock. I'm using the stock Windows video drivers as well, because I'm running Win7 64-bit and the EVGA driver CD wouldn't let me install the drivers on a non-XP or Vista OS.

DT Roberts

It all depends on your hardware, how much voltage would be considered safe. There may be different colors when you try to change the voltages; for example, the voltages considered "safe" are green. I have mine set as close to red as possible, but still green. It runs perfectly.

I don't know enough about system voltages to advise you any more than that. I will see if I can get someone more knowledgeable on the topic.

skeil909

I looked up your memory yesterday. If your memory is running at anything less than 1.5v then you should manually set it to 1.5v in the BIOS.

Next, check your BIOS version and upgrade to the latest version on the XFX website. After upgrading check your memory voltage and adjust again if necessary.

Test out your system again and let us know if anything changed.

Charos

Hey guys, I made the voltage changes and haven't seen any freezes in the last 24 hours or so - and that includes a lot of steady use and about 3 hours of intense use (Crysis on max settings). I think it's good now... I hope. It's running hot, idling at ~50C for processor and GPU both, and loaded getting up to 60-70C, but I think that's partially due to the CPU having the stock fan... which is terrible and I'm buying a new one soonish. Thanks for the help! I'll hit you guys up if it happens again.

For the record, it had been set to 1.5V and I nudged it up to 1.6, and tweaked the CPU voltage up a little, too.

Edward_

Hi guys, I am not sure if I need to create a new topic but,

I have "exactly" a similar issue to the one above

I have been going thru the topic.. Unfortunately, I have no background about hardware in general so i am not really sure about what i am doing..

I am thinking of doing the voltage changes but i am not sure if it is a safe thing to start with.. Can you please help me out

some info about my system:
Motherboard: EVGA NF680i
CPU: DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66
2GB DDR2 RAM
EVGA nVidia GeForce 8800 GTS Graphics Card
current voltages set to:
Memory voltage: 1.85v
CPU core voltage: 1.31v

DT Roberts

Start your own topic to get the attention that you deserve.

Edward_

noted

i will do that..thx