[MonkeyTroy]

This problem has been reaking havok on my for 4 days now. So any help is much appreciated.

Here is my system:

Asus K8V-X
AMD Athelon 64 3400+
Kingston Hyper-x PC3200 2x256 1x512 cas2 unbuffered.
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Enlight en-8361934 360w ps

My temp on my CPU stays stable at 53c/128f and mb temp is 37c/98f,
and I am on a UPS that works and have been for a while

This setup has been running for 8 or 9 months with no problems at all. The other day I got hit with a nasty virus and my computer started locking up within a few minutes of powering up. I cleaned the virus, but lost some system files. The way I keep my files setup its not a big deal for me to reload windows, so I decided just to start out fresh.

I reinstalled windows on my main drive and while I was at it I updated my mb bios. Well it has been acting flakey ever since.

After a few minutes of running the copmuter acts funny and then freezes or reboots. By funny I mean the mouse moves but stops being interactive with the desktop and causes wierd video glitches in the corner of the screen. This odd behaviour also happens.. IN THE BIOS SETUP! If I leave the bios setup running for a while the bios title bar which normally scrolls thu shades of blue starts streaming a variety of colors. Then the characters all of the bios start coming in wierd and then we get our freeze or reboot.

Ok.. here is what I have done/tried and what I suspect.

I dont have an alternate video card to test with, but I will try and get my hands on one tomorrow sometime to see if that has any effect.

I have a 400w ps from another computer that I know works, and I tried with that ps and got the same exact results.

I opened the case to try the PS, but before that I had not moved the case or anything, so I doubt a short or bad ground is the problem.

I have tried removing portions of my RAM and running it with one 512 chip or the 2 256 but neither has an effect. I also booted to dos and ran mt160.exe memory test thru several cycles with no errors.

Now I know that when I originally setup the system I had used some manually entered memory timing settings, but I cant find my notes on the install and the memory settings page on the BIOS is a bit cryptic. I suspect that this is the problem, but I have tried some settings and have not gotten the system stable. I am not sure what they are suppose to be, but I thought that the memory test passing kinda indicates that the memory is ok.

So first of all does anyone know what the settings on the k8v-x mb for memory should be? In other words what do the timings given for ram map to in the bios setup? The timings on the spec sheet for my ram is 2-2-2-5 and 3-2-6-1 (I had a setting that worked for 8 months or so!) but the settings in my bios are called TRC, TRFC, TRCD, TWR, TRWT, TRAS and TRP?? I have no idea what these are or if they changed with my newer BIOS version.

I am quite irritated and stumped. Never been this stuck before. Anyone have any ideas?

I can post my BIOS color freakout or windows vid/lockup image if it will help.

Thanks in advance for any feedback you all can provide.

 

[twajetmech]

Hello, and welcome to the forum, The timings for your memory should be 2-3-2-6 or 2-3-2-8....with the 3 being the ras to cas, you should also have a ddr ref voltage of 2.65-2.75 volts Unles your memory is the old BH-5 winbond chips in which case yes 2-2-2-5 or 2-2-2-6, but you may need 2.75+ volts for that to be stable. If you still find that things are unstable try timings of 3-4-4-8 and see if that helps. I would also have to say that niether your current 360W or 400W psu's are probably giving you the power you need for a setup such as yours I would normally reccomend a psu of 480W or better from PC power & Cooling, Enermax, Fortron, Sparkle, or Antec, believe me it is by mo means overkill, its a matter of providing adequate power during startup and under load that is clean and without fluctuation

 

[MonkeyTroy]

memory and power.

Hey thanks for the reply.

I will definetly address the power supply, but I would like to get straight the memory timings as well. The problem with the setting is not so much that I am not sure what timing to use (I recall trying a variety of timings based on forum postings when I set the system up originally) but I have no idea where those values should be entered in my BIOS.

My bios for the k8v-x has a bunch of settings like TRC, TRFC, TRCD, TWR, TRWT, TRAS and TRP. Thats 7 values and only 4 are ever listed in the memory timings I see floating around. I just looked up those values and found this:

CL (CAS Latency)
TRC (Row Cycle Time)
TRFC (???)
TRCD (RAS - to - CAS delay)
TWR (???)
TWRT (???)
TRAS (RAS active time)
TRP (RAS Precharge Time)
DDR Clock Delay

RAM timings are defined as (CL, TRCD, TRP, TRAS)
​

So I should have CL = 2, TRCD = 3, TRP = 2 and TRAS = 6 or 8? Sound right?

I have my ddr voltage set to 2.6 right now, I can up it to 2.75 and try that and since I am not sure about being winbond chips I can try 2, 2, 2, 5 or 6 after I get the other part straight.

Why though would my system repeatedly pass the memory tests yet fail within windows? How much value then are the memory tests?

Or do you think that is MORE of an indicator that I might be looking at a low-power issue? And why the hell would it run for 8 months on that ps with no problems and now not run for 5 minutes?? haha.. what a pain in the asphalt.

 

[MonkeyTroy]

Friggin idiot.

Oh man.. I'm such an idiot. I can't belive I didnt check this.

The fan on my 9800 was gummed up and frozen. The GPU was overheating. Thats why it sometimes ran for a while and then froze when I tried to launch a game or do anything more than sit in windows.

The only reason I discounted the gp before was that the only heat problems I have had in that regard ended in the immediate complete failure and meltdown of the graphics card. I hope this one isnt ruined.

Thanks for the suggestions twajetmech and I will look into a more suitable power supply. Any model suggestions?

 

[twajetmech]

Glad your problem is solved :grin: As for a psu reccomendation....the best would be a PC power & Cooling 510, but it is expensive....a Fortron 550W, Antec True 480 or 550 or Similar Enermax unit, all around 100 dollars or so with the PC P&C at $219

 

[MonkeyTroy]

thanks

Yea.. 100$ sounds good to me. Thanks again.