Need advise on trouble shooting a problem

[bernouli]

I pieced together a machine in early March with components listed below. The machine was intended for gaming, internet browsing, email, pictures, etc. Everything ran fine for approximately 1 ½ months. Then I started experiencing lockups, BSOD, and reboots during gaming (COD4 & Crysis). It will run 24/7 when internet browsing, email, etc. I use EVGA Precision to ramp the GPU fan speed up to 100% prior to gaming and monitor temperatures during the games. I have not seen the temperature exceed 50C.

Anyway during one of the lockups the BIOS on the motherboard was corrupted. The motherboard was RMAed. Gigabyte reported that they flashed the BIOS and sent it back. (Before anyone hammers me I did learn to use the express recovery to make a backup this time). I re-installed the board and the machine was up and running again. However, I still experienced the same lockups and BSOD. I RMAed the video card. Did not get any report back if the video card was good or bad EVGA. I installed the new video card. Now I am still experiencing the same issues.

I am looking for advice on how to find the problem.

I forgot to mention that no overclocking has been performed. Everything is and has been as stock speeds.

Thanks

Q6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Corsair 620HX
EVGA 8800GTS 512
Western Digital 500GB
Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB 1066
Lite-On DVD Burner
Zerotherm Nirvana CPU Cooler
Antec 900 case
Samsung 226BW
Windows XP Pro

 

[jitpublisher]

It would seem to me that there is still a problem with the motherboard.
A board that corrupts it's own BIOS (you weren't trying to upgrade it were you?) has a problem somewhere.
Is your memory running at the correct voltage?

 

[jsc]

Everything ran fine for approximately 1 ½ months. Then I started experiencing lockups, BSOD, and reboots during gaming (COD4 & Crysis). It will run 24/7 when internet browsing, email, etc. I use EVGA Precision to ramp the GPU fan speed up to 100% prior to gaming and monitor temperatures during the games. I have not seen the temperature exceed 50C.

I realize that, from your system specs, that you have a better than average PSU. Symptoms look like the PSU is shutting down under heavy load. That or video driver problems.

 

[rozar]

I think the first step would be to rule out the power supply. Do you have another one that you could use to test?

 

[knotknut]

Your problem sounds exactly like what others get when using 1066 memory in the GA-P35-DS3L

Give Memtest a good 5-6 hour run on your machine.
http://www.memtest.org/

 

[Onus]

knotknut nailed it.

I had this same issue. Get DDR2-800 and your problems should resolve.

 

[bernouli]

I ordered Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory as per the motherboard compatibility chart. Hopefully this will resolve the problem.

A previous responder mentioned voltage to the ram. Should the voltage be increased through the BIOS to 2.2 volts as per Crucial specifications, or left in the auto mode?

 

[sciggy]

Always set ram to stock settings. Both timings and voltages they are rated at.

 

[knotknut]

Your motherboard has a memory voltage default of 1.8v.

Yes, you need to raise the voltage to spec. (+.4v if your mem is 2.2v)

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/245679-29-guide-overclocking-ds3l-updated-2008

 

[bernouli]

I wanted to provide an update in case anyone was interested.

Knotknut diagnosed the problem perfectly. Once the RAM was replaced I have not had any problems.

I RMAed the RAM back to Crucial who is replacing with a slower speed set that supposedly is not experiencing problems with the Gigabyte motherboard. I guess you win some and lose some.