First, the problem:
My computer seems to run well and stably most of the time. However when I put it into standby, especially when I have a lot open such as my browser with 10 tabs or a game, my computer will enter standby apparently normally but when I resume from standby it sometimes blue-screens with that Windows 8 frown face blue-screen and then it dumps and restarts. I have also left my computer idle, returned hours later to see that it has rebooted itself (presumably blue-screened?)
In addition, it has occasionally blue screened while in use, such as during a game, but I suspect it is related to the same cause.
In search of the culprit I downloaded some diagnostic software, everything comes back normal. Except Prime95. When running Prime95 I select the first option (small FFTs) and it crashes in less than a second. It doesn't even blue-screen, it immediately blacks out and reboots. When running the second option (large FFTs) it runs about 5 minutes and I stop the test and move on. When running the third option (blended) it lasts about a minute and black-screen reboots. I have no idea what an FFT is so I have no idea what component or configuration might be causing the problem.
I booted from the USB flash drive version of MemTest86 tried to configure it for the most thorough test and ran it. It found zero errors until "Test 10" and it found 13. I thought "Aha! I just have to identify the problem stick and problem solved before the Newegg return policy expires!"
So I took all 4 sticks, and tested them with MemTest86 one at a time to find the problem stick. But BIOS warned me that my RAM had changed and demanded that I enter BIOS or restore BIOS defaults. I had trouble initially even booting past BIOS until I disabled certain memory features in BIOS. Then, while running with just 1 stick and doing MemTest86, each stick passed with no errors. Huh!? what about those 13? So I put all 4 sticks back in, tested again, this time no errors. It makes me think it was just a BIOS setting, so I leave all memory enhancements disabled (even the ones that are Enabled by default), and run Prime95 again. It still black-screens and reboots.
So I go into BIOS again, and disable everything from my CPU "K OC" to Turbo, and Hyper Threading. (I wasn't manually overclocking, just the defaults) Now, I run Prime95 and this time it runs indefinitely, no black-screens. Success? It seems strange that I have to sacrifice such major features to get a stable system... so I decided to put it through a different kind of stress test. I open my browser with 20 tabs, I open a game and benchmarking software and monitoring software and EVGA software, my memory only hits 20% which I thought was strange (I guess 16GB of RAM is really very unnecessary). I put it into standby. woke it back up. Success. Beginning to think this was really stable now, I go through my browser tabs and make sure each one fully loaded and then Blue Screen hits me.
I am at a loss and don't think I can continue on my own, especially because I am running out of time to return any problem components to Newegg. Must identify it quickly.
So here is my build:
I have only built 4 systems in the last 10 years, so I just have a bit of experience but not enough it seems. This is a new system with 100% new components mostly from Newegg over the holiday sales.
Intel Core i7 4790K Haswell
CoolerMaster Nepton 140XL CPU cooler
(my temp never goes over 66C under stress test, still seems a tiny bit high)
G.Skill Sniper DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 1.5V
4 sticks of 4GB (F3-12800CL9D-GBSR)
Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H Mobo
using integrated mobo Audio
EVGA Geforce GTX 970 FTW
Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB SSD (OS on this one)
WD Black 1TB HDD (Games, media on this one)
ASUS ODD DVD multi
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Avast Anti-virus
I would list my BIOS settings, but I've tried so many different configurations I haven't really settled on one, but I would love to get some suggestions if anyone is familiar with these Gigabyte BIOS options.
If anyone wants to suggest a good, effective, safe OC configuration with this system that would also solve my stability issues, I would happy accept as well. I have never done any OCing (that's the reason I went with the DDR3 1600, but if my memory is bad, I might replace it with 2400 or something if that would balance out my system).
I apologize if I was not as concise as I could have been. I just don't want to leave out any details that might be useful. I have until January 31 to return these items to Newegg if I can identify any faulty components. Though it's become evident that I may not know what I'm doing.... It all seems perfect, until it crashes.
I am not sure if this is relevant because I could not reproduce any errors upon further testing with MemTest86, but here were the initially reported errors:
Error Confidence Value 236
Lowest Error Address 0013c53df7c - 5061.2 MB
Highest Error Address 0014e53dffc - 5349.2 MB
Bits in Error Mask 00000008
BIts in Error - Total: min: 1 max: 1 avg: 1
Max contiguous errors: 1
Tests 0 through 9 = 0 errors
Test 10 = 13 errors
My computer seems to run well and stably most of the time. However when I put it into standby, especially when I have a lot open such as my browser with 10 tabs or a game, my computer will enter standby apparently normally but when I resume from standby it sometimes blue-screens with that Windows 8 frown face blue-screen and then it dumps and restarts. I have also left my computer idle, returned hours later to see that it has rebooted itself (presumably blue-screened?)
In addition, it has occasionally blue screened while in use, such as during a game, but I suspect it is related to the same cause.
In search of the culprit I downloaded some diagnostic software, everything comes back normal. Except Prime95. When running Prime95 I select the first option (small FFTs) and it crashes in less than a second. It doesn't even blue-screen, it immediately blacks out and reboots. When running the second option (large FFTs) it runs about 5 minutes and I stop the test and move on. When running the third option (blended) it lasts about a minute and black-screen reboots. I have no idea what an FFT is so I have no idea what component or configuration might be causing the problem.
I booted from the USB flash drive version of MemTest86 tried to configure it for the most thorough test and ran it. It found zero errors until "Test 10" and it found 13. I thought "Aha! I just have to identify the problem stick and problem solved before the Newegg return policy expires!"
So I took all 4 sticks, and tested them with MemTest86 one at a time to find the problem stick. But BIOS warned me that my RAM had changed and demanded that I enter BIOS or restore BIOS defaults. I had trouble initially even booting past BIOS until I disabled certain memory features in BIOS. Then, while running with just 1 stick and doing MemTest86, each stick passed with no errors. Huh!? what about those 13? So I put all 4 sticks back in, tested again, this time no errors. It makes me think it was just a BIOS setting, so I leave all memory enhancements disabled (even the ones that are Enabled by default), and run Prime95 again. It still black-screens and reboots.
So I go into BIOS again, and disable everything from my CPU "K OC" to Turbo, and Hyper Threading. (I wasn't manually overclocking, just the defaults) Now, I run Prime95 and this time it runs indefinitely, no black-screens. Success? It seems strange that I have to sacrifice such major features to get a stable system... so I decided to put it through a different kind of stress test. I open my browser with 20 tabs, I open a game and benchmarking software and monitoring software and EVGA software, my memory only hits 20% which I thought was strange (I guess 16GB of RAM is really very unnecessary). I put it into standby. woke it back up. Success. Beginning to think this was really stable now, I go through my browser tabs and make sure each one fully loaded and then Blue Screen hits me.
I am at a loss and don't think I can continue on my own, especially because I am running out of time to return any problem components to Newegg. Must identify it quickly.
So here is my build:
I have only built 4 systems in the last 10 years, so I just have a bit of experience but not enough it seems. This is a new system with 100% new components mostly from Newegg over the holiday sales.
Intel Core i7 4790K Haswell
CoolerMaster Nepton 140XL CPU cooler
(my temp never goes over 66C under stress test, still seems a tiny bit high)
G.Skill Sniper DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 1.5V
4 sticks of 4GB (F3-12800CL9D-GBSR)
Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H Mobo
using integrated mobo Audio
EVGA Geforce GTX 970 FTW
Sandisk Extreme Pro 480GB SSD (OS on this one)
WD Black 1TB HDD (Games, media on this one)
ASUS ODD DVD multi
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Avast Anti-virus
I would list my BIOS settings, but I've tried so many different configurations I haven't really settled on one, but I would love to get some suggestions if anyone is familiar with these Gigabyte BIOS options.
If anyone wants to suggest a good, effective, safe OC configuration with this system that would also solve my stability issues, I would happy accept as well. I have never done any OCing (that's the reason I went with the DDR3 1600, but if my memory is bad, I might replace it with 2400 or something if that would balance out my system).
I apologize if I was not as concise as I could have been. I just don't want to leave out any details that might be useful. I have until January 31 to return these items to Newegg if I can identify any faulty components. Though it's become evident that I may not know what I'm doing.... It all seems perfect, until it crashes.
I am not sure if this is relevant because I could not reproduce any errors upon further testing with MemTest86, but here were the initially reported errors:
Error Confidence Value 236
Lowest Error Address 0013c53df7c - 5061.2 MB
Highest Error Address 0014e53dffc - 5349.2 MB
Bits in Error Mask 00000008
BIts in Error - Total: min: 1 max: 1 avg: 1
Max contiguous errors: 1
Tests 0 through 9 = 0 errors
Test 10 = 13 errors
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