random lockups

[ls120]

I'm not sure how well received this post will be, seeing how it's my first post, but I'll fire it off anyway.

I've just built a new system, with the following hardware spec's (no p4 flames please )

p4 d830
Zalman CNPS 9500
Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI [with DPS installed]
1gb Corsair TwinX ddr2 5400
Samsung Spinpoint P series 80gb HDD SATA 2
Gigabyte GeFprce 7800 GTX [GA-NX78X256V]
Samsung WriteMaster [TSST] TS-H552U DVDRW
HP Lightscribe 640 DVDRW (I'm a slave to niftyness)
AeroCool 550w Turbine Power PSU
all wrapped up nicely in a Gigabyte 3d Aurora case.

I've put it all together, double checked everything, and fired it up, however it randomly locks up. i can't seem to find any common thread or pattern to the lockup, it's not time related, and it's not, as far as i can tell application related. I've gone through the standard checks that i can from each individual device up to processor and ram, as i don't have any other DDR2 system to check the ram with, or an alternate socket motherboard.

the chip temperature seems fine at 47c, the ram access lights respond as i would expect, and in general everything seems solid. I've yet to be able to run long enough to install windows XP (Pro or 64), leading me to believe it's a processor or hdd problem, but I'm still unsure.

I'm pretty cashed out as far as ideas on whats wrong.
currently, I'm afraid it's related to the NCQ / Nforce chipset conflict I've been reading about, but I'm not running a maxtor hdd.

any ideas, or checks I've blatantly missed?

 

[pat]

might be videocard related or RAM. I don't know a lot about Intel So I dont know which connector are needed for the board or the RAM voltage of DDR2. But I would double check all connections and maybe increase RAM voltage by one step in BIOS, if possible.

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(")<b><font color=red>ώ</font color=red></b>(") This is my bunny.. got mumps from Ned!!!

 

[Crashman]

Lockups without blue screen? That's odd...

Anyway, your RAM probably isn't rated for stock voltage, have you increased RAM voltage?

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[ls120]

no, i didnt think to check the ram voltage. i'll change that when i get home.

as far as the lack of blue screening... i've yet to get through a complete windows install, thus no OS to blue screen.

 

[gomerpile]

You connect the power for the videocard. Should resumble something like a drive plug.

when the team loses blame it on the noob's I was shot for a plane now my goal it to hunt them down

 

[ls120]

yeah, i connected the video power. i'm not using SLI yet so the secondary PCI power plug near the 8x(the pci socket that looks like an AMR socket)plug is empty. (2nd "plug in" socket to the right of the blue PCI slot as seen in this image - <A HREF="http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200504/ga8nsliroyal_full.jpg" target="_new">http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200504/ga8nsliroyal_full.jpg</A>)


i'm honestly about ready to drop kick this thing off the rooftop.

just for the hell of it, what system "should" i have built with a $2000 budget. not that it matters now.

 

[gomerpile]

In your bios do you have a setting called hault or shut down on errors. This feature should be shut off. Somewhere this setting is also in xp I will try to find where it is located, as to what system to get I would say Msi or Asus I only had problems with the asus not being able to use SBA and MSI I have no problems at all. I will hear it now but hell with it I trust Asus. I have been using These two brans since I can remember. MSI have been making boards for a while now. My old 8088 system is a msi and that is back in 1984 over 20 years they have been in the business. It sounds like your problem can be solved. Myself I always go MSI or Asus. I wont change for the life of me every system I've owned has been MSI or Asus currently MY main board is an MSI and Vcard Asus My last 3 motherboards were Asus and all graphic's were nvidia made by asus execpt I bought a fx5700 made buy MSI I have never had a problem with any of them.

when the team loses blame it on the noob's I was shot for a plane now my goal it to hunt them down

 

[gomerpile]

Do you have the 4 pin power pluged in this if for additional power for the cpu. It is the white molex plug on the motherboard.

when the team loses blame it on the noob's I was shot for a plane now my goal it to hunt them down

 

[ls120]

i hate to sound like a jackass, but you're kidding, right?

 

[wileycoyote]

Have you tried running memtest86+ on the memory? Have you checked the voltage rails of the power supply in the bios? Im not familiar with the gigabyte bios but most bios's have a section for viewing the voltage rails.

The first thing I always do after putting together the hardware for a new system is to do a quick check on the voltage rails in the bios, manually set the memory timings and voltage (to the memory manufacturer recommended settings), and then test the memory with memtest86+. This is before an OS install. Do this with just one stick at a time and run the test for several hours. If you start seeing errors pop up, first try a small bump to the memory voltage. If you still see error's, then you most likely have a bad stick and need to rma it.

good luck!

 

[ls120]

mystery (sort of) solved. it is indeed a bad motherboard. i got rather irritated and took the system to a local shop to borrow some shop time. each individual component tested perfect on a reference system. the ram (which is a WAY better performer than i ever thought it would be) does need a bump up in voltage, however that wasn't the issue this time.

this is the first gigabyte board that's ever failed me, so i suppose i was overdue. on the upside, gigabyte was swift with an RMA number, so aside from the lengthy troubleshooting, the whole ordeal wasn't that bad.

i wish i knew what specifically was wrong with the board though.

 

[dantom]

If you're running Norton antivirus, it has been known to cause random lockups with XP(not sure about other OS). there is a patch to download, but didn't work for my situation.
perhaps, if you have an extra HDD around, you could try a separate install with just the OS. if it still locks up, it's a hardware problem. If it doesn't lock up with the different hdd, then the problem is software related.

If you purchased a new P4 chip, and it is bad, Intel is very cooperative in replacing it for you.

Try this first. remove all hardware possible, ie: sound card, modem, DVD drive, to get the system down to bare minimum of parts. just down to ram, video, and floppy if possible. even try swapping video cards and ram if you have any substitutes laying around. if it doesn't lock up, one of the removed items is the culprit. replace them one at a time to find the bad part.
If it locks up as a bare-bone system, it could be the mobo or the cpu. a bad cpu can cause random lockups. if your warranties are still good, you're in good shape financially.
Just a few ideas anyway.