built a pc with vista 64bit and it freezes a lot!

gunthergreatnis

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Jun 19, 2008
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hey guys,

ive built 10 or so pc's in the past for my friends and myself but i had been out of the loop for a while and recently built a pc with windows vista 64 bit as my OS.
the problem im having is that i will be on my computer playing a game and 20 minutes in the screen freezes along with the mouse cursor (at some points it will just freeze when im browsing). i have never had this problem with any other pc. i have tried swapping parts (ram, video cards) and still no go ...is there anything i can do to solve this without bringing it to a repair guy? my video cards are a very normal temperature at the time of freeze along with the processor and mobo.

specs

intel quadcore 2.66ghz with 12mb cache
8gb ddr2 800 memory 2gb sticks x4
dual xfx nvidia geforce 8800gt's SLI'd
dual 80gb hardrives raid 0'd
asus p5n72-t mobo with nvidia 780i chipset
1000w zalman truewatt psu
antec 900 series gaming case

hopefully someone can help because im just about to give up =/

thanks!
 
Freezes temporarily or do you need to restart the PC?

Does it happen in safe mode? If not then it could be software related. Drivers, bkg utilities etc.

We see a lot of problems with RAM specs lately. And sometimes chipset too. The following ideas have been coming up a lot lately.

1. Be sure the voltage is set to mfg. spec. If your RAM wants 2.2v and the mobo is only giving it 1.8, for example, then you need to set it manually in BIOS setup.

2. You have all four RAM slots filled. Sometimes RAM speed, as in bus speed, needs to be taken down a notch when you fill all four slots on the MOBO. If you have it running at 800 then maybe try it at 667.

3. Take the timings back a notch. If the RAM is rated to run at 4,4,4,12 then try it at 5,5,5,15 etc,

4. Sometimes the Northbridge voltage needs to go up a notch, or so some people have said.

Also try running the PC with only 4 gig ram and see if you still have issue. If so then try the ram ideas above for sure.
 

gunthergreatnis

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thanks, i have a lot to work with so far...just got off the phone with a tech friend as well, he said that vista works pretty terribly with SLI and that directx 10 is pretty buggy as well...
 

TwiZtiD_3

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check the asus forums for your particular motherboard. There have been a lot of problems with the 780i chipsets. from the sound of what you are saying, it is VERY similar to my problem on the Pk5n-t motherboard.

everything ran ok or "seemed" ok... but games would either jsut EXIT after about 5 min, or would FREEZE. After checking the asus boards many times, and through MANY MANY different bios setting changes (or trials and errors). it was fixed. (in my case by MANUALLY setting the RAM TIMINGS, Upping the RAM voltage, and the NB voltage.)

but with all the 780i problems on the ASUS boards, many reported the same issues were being had by those on the EVGA boards also.

There was here in the last week a new set of NFORCE drivers issued too, which helped a "couple" of people with their issues.
 

gunthergreatnis

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i just set my RAM voltage and my NB voltage to what was recommended settings and now my computer freezes at the BIOS and i cant access it to change it back =/
 

tkuhl87

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reset the CMOS so you can access it. In case you don't know how to do that....

the round battery on your mobo has a jumper next to it. There are 3 pins, it is on pins 1 and 2, move it to pins 2 and 3 and then move it back to reset it.

Hope that helped.

Not sure why it's freezing up though, you check the Microsoft support forums?

Only thing I can think of is overheating since it kickes in fairly soon after you run an intensive program. Check your system idol temps in your bios and post them here to see if they're normal. (I personally don't know normal temps for your configuration)

 

gunthergreatnis

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ya i actually just did that now it says i have no OS ...this is turning into a nightmare lol..my temps are all normal before it freezes 28c cpu 32c mobo cards are running cool
 

knotknut

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Turn off and unplug your PC.

Open case.

Ground one forearm to the case and remove the Round 3v battery. Wait several minutes. Reinstall battery. Jumping the CLR_CMOS pins does the same thing.

Take out 2 sticks of RAM. Disable one Video Card. Restart PC.

Howzit now?

 

gunthergreatnis

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like i said, ive been restarting, my hard drives arent RAIDed anymore and i cant get to a raid option i get past post and it says "missing operating system"
thats where im at heh
 

gunthergreatnis

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i got back on, had to reconfigure my RAID settings but im back on the desktop, now running 1 card and 2 sticks of 2gb ram, manually set the ram to 1.84v and set the northbridge to 1.55v thats when the mobo wouldnt boot to bios...everythings new
 

gunthergreatnis

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i hear SLI is pretty awful with vista and since directx10 is the only reason i put vista on this machine and its not even that great apparently, i might just switch to XP 64bit
 

knotknut

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Run your PC, Game or what ever you usually do when it has been freezing.
If everything OK add the other 2 sticks of Ram and increase Mem voltage to 2.0v.
Run like ^.
 
169.21 for video.(just a test)

When you install the platform drivers, do not install the IDE/SATA drivers or Nvidia firewall. They have had reported problems with them.

You can also try without aero maybe its that too.

I have not had that doing nothing, but i have had several games just die. Right now i am running my old X1900XT and its all gone(but i need more testing). I heard somewhere that Nvidia's drivers do not work well with lots of ram. so i may try with less ram(i have 8 right now, may try with 4).
 
G

Guest

Guest
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19112

those are the latest drivers you can get, follow directions for replacing .inf file (super easy just run nvidia installer and it will extract files and then error, drop the new .inf file from that site into the folder it extracted to and run again) im running vista64 and sli with those drivers is amazing.

also, if you dont want to update, try turning off sli and running the game again. =D

also also, when ur computer bluescreens whats the error you get? i had a lot of bluescreens until i turned off aero but that was only when playing games, it wouldnt bluescreen with aero just browsing websites.