System instability

[samsayit]

I just built a new system (see signature) and the first few days everything was fine, in fact great!. But the other day I found the computer "frozen"/non responding after it had been on it's own for a couple of hours.
Yesterday things got worse: Twice I had sudden reboots without warning, and I also encountered several APPCRASH errors especially when multitasking.

OS is Vista 64. I updated to latest BIOS version, but the problem persists. My memory timings are set as advertised by Crucial which is 3-3-3-12. Before going to bed last night I reset the timings to BIOS default which is 5-5-5-15 but I haven't used the system since, but that is the only thing I can think of could be the cause.
I am _not_ running any overclocking.

Any other ideas?

 

[occdavid]

I would look at memory first too. Have you run memtest yet on all 4 Gigs? How are your temps?


Off topic** I just moved from RSM last December - had to head out to Corona for a much bigger house/yard. I do miss it though. Very nice city and people.

 

[samsayit]

No I haven't run memtest - good idea. Wondering if it will run on 64 bit Windows.
My CPU temp is 50 Celcius which is approx. 122 Fahrenheit.
The mobo temp is around 45C/113F.
These temps I believe shouldnt be too much.



**OT: RSM is nice and quiet yeah, but sometimes it's too quiet ;-)

 

[occdavid]

CPU seems a little warm, but should cause the problem. I forget what mine is at - idle is like 33C and load is like 44-46C.I download'd the memtest86 iso file and created a bootable CD - so it boots right into the test. So it's never sees the OS.

 

[samsayit]

That CPU temp you're mentioning, is that what you see in the BIOS readings? Because that is reading higher than the actual core temp, as I understand it.
When I checked my temp last night it was the 50C I mentioned, read in BIOS, but that was after running rather high load. I will try and idle the bastard when I get from work just to see...
Strange though, I am using the Zalman CNPS9500 LED cooler which should be more than adequate for my CPU (you can pretty much compare the Xeon 3060 directly with the C2D E6600).

 

[occdavid]

My temps would be from bios and I use Abit's uguru to monitor all temps. Plus I think my Antec P180 is great for air flow as my E6600 is on stock cooling. I played with overclocking a bit - got it to 3.2Ghz on stock cooling but backed it down to stock for now as the bios for my MB is still a baby and I need a stable system.
For sure make a memtest boot CD a see what that does and post back.

 

[valis]

No I haven't run memtest - good idea. Wondering if it will run on 64 bit Windows.
My CPU temp is 50 Celcius which is approx. 122 Fahrenheit.
The mobo temp is around 45C/113F.
These temps I believe shouldnt be too much.

memtest doesn't run in windows, you burn a boot cd and boot to that, it runs a version of pc-dos.

are you behind a router or firewall?

Valis

 

[samsayit]

memtest doesn't run in windows, you burn a boot cd and boot to that, it runs a version of pc-dos.

are you behind a router or firewall?

Valis

Thanks for the info.
I'm running a software firewall, that's all. No router. Why, I'm not sure how that should be able to bring it to the knees like that...(?)

 

[valis]

memtest doesn't run in windows, you burn a boot cd and boot to that, it runs a version of pc-dos.

are you behind a router or firewall?

Valis

Thanks for the info.
I'm running a software firewall, that's all. No router. Why, I'm not sure how that should be able to bring it to the knees like that...(?)

it wouldn't necessarily, but if you were without a firewall at all you'd have quickly contracted multiple viruses and trojans if you were on a broadband connection without one. that would definately cause problems.

 

[samsayit]

I just ran memtest86+ with the 3-3-3-12 timings and got two errors in test 4. I do not get the errors with 5-5-5-15. Did not complete the test but just ran it to 10%, but clearly something is wrong.

I checked Crucials website and was surprised to see the voltage listed for these memory modules is 2.2V - my mobo defaults to 1.84V, and frankly I was a little scared to even touch that.
But now I will try and set the voltage to 2.2V and timing 3-3-3-12 and retry the memtest.

 

[occdavid]

I didn't even think to ask what you had your volts at... I had that problem with mine too. My MB at auto set the volts on my Geil's to 1.8 - couldnt even install Vista with out errors. It's happy at 2.1 now.

 

[samsayit]

Haha, I guess sometimes we don't think of the obvious. I have never experienced anything like this, but there has to be a first for everything...

I just ran the memtest with 3-3-3-12/2.2V and it passed without errors.
I guess this was the cause then.

Being paranoia now, is there any other reliable stability tests I can run, like stress testing the system on both cores?

Anyway, THANKS A LOT for your feedback for now!

 

[NamronSllim]

64 bit anything sucks I was on XP 64 and let me tell you it was the worst os nightmares since WinME it would not run stable would not save settings lose drivers to this should tell you something they don't even have flash for 64 bit so surfing the net sucks gaming sucked to. To top it off your running vista 64 they didn't even fix XP 64 yet. I'm sorry for your problems but the problems became so bad I went back to X86. everything is OK. I spent money on that crap and it chaps my butt I can't even run it

 

[kukito]

You might want to install the Intel Thermal Analysis Tool to make sure your CPU temperatures are OK. In BIOS mine run ~ 37-42C with fan control on and my CPU cooler is better at being quiet than efficient. You can use CompuTronix's Core 2 Duo Temperature Guide to make sense of all the different readings.

 

[samsayit]

64 bit anything sucks I was on XP 64 and let me tell you it was the worst os nightmares since WinME it would not run stable would not save settings lose drivers to this should tell you something they don't even have flash for 64 bit so surfing the net sucks gaming sucked to. To top it off your running vista 64 they didn't even fix XP 64 yet. I'm sorry for your problems but the problems became so bad I went back to X86. everything is OK. I spent money on that crap and it chaps my butt I can't even run it

I have been running 64 bit Windows (Server 2003 x64) since they came to this world and I have never had any of the problems you described. Surely, in the beginning some drivers were hard to come by since they weren't developed yet but that's to expect.

Before getting this system, I ran Vista 64 on an AMD64X2 barn for approx. 3-4 months again without the slightest problem!

Face it - 64 bit is here to stay. Maybe it won't break through for another year or two, but eventually it will.
I noticed the beta 3 you can download of Windows Server Longhorn (next server OS from MS), there they call the 64 bit version simply "Windows Server Longhorn" without the insignia x64 or 64 bit - where the 32 bit is called "Windows Server Longhorn 32-bit". In other words, soon it'll be the 32 bit versions that would be distincted for recognition and not the 64 bit, as it is today.

 

[samsayit]

You might want to install the Intel Thermal Analysis Tool to make sure your CPU temperatures are OK. In BIOS mine run ~ 37-42C with fan control on and my CPU cooler is better at being quiet than efficient. You can use CompuTronix's Core 2 Duo Temperature Guide to make sense of all the different readings.

Thanks, I'll give it a try tomorrow. I tried having the system turned on and left it in BIOS (which must be kind of idle mode) and the CPU temp climbed to 41-42C. Not sure where the treshold is, where does it become really critical? (I remember back in the Athlon XP1900+ or so days my CPU temp were in the 60-65C area and still ran fine)...

 

[samsayit]

Just a quick followup. I wasn't able to run that Intel Thermal tool on Vista 64.
Nevertheless, my system appears to be running very stable now, so I believe the problems was in deed caused by the memory voltage alone.

Thanks.