Computer Woes----BSOD's and more

tweak13

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Sep 11, 2008
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First off hello, this is my first post since joining.

I recently built a new system, my second one overall, my first went flawless.
Asus Maximus II formula MOBO
Crucial Ballistix Tracer pc8500 (1066mhz) 2x1GB
XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition
Intel E8400 Core 2 duo 3.16
Artic Freezer Pro
Tagan ABS 800w Modular PSU
WD 500gb HD

Now beyond having to RMA 2 of the ASUS MOBO's I'm running into more problems. I awake to the sound of my computer shutting down this morning, only to see within a few seconds a BSOD appears. I couldnt even get the PC to restart at the moment. I had to kill the power and wait a few seconds. On reboot the screen was garbled and so I ended up resetting BIOS. At the time I was overclocking to 3.7 which isn't exactly a whole lot from what I read with this processor. I began to run memory checks with windows memory diagnostic and it found a hardware problem so at this point I start popping out memory sticks and putting them into different spots to find the problem, whether it be the MOBO (again) or the memory. 8 tests later it found no problems on any individual sticks on any MOBO slot. So I popped the second one back in and again no problem found 2 runs later. I'm so confused and so frustrated with the constant problems with
this new PC! :pfff:

I forgot to add the computer ran fine for 4-5 days and ran prime95 cpu torture no problem for about 4 hours.
 
Did you have your NB voltage on auto?

Was your memory running at 1:1 to the FSB? (If so it would have been at just over 800Mhz.)

I've not heard much good about the Maximus II. I like ASUS in general, but have been avoiding recommending that model based on what I have heard.
 

tweak13

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NB would have been on auto I don't remember touching that.

Memory Im not sure it may have been set to auto also, how did you figure it would be just over 800mhz?

I'm interested to know what else you've heard about this, since this is board 3 of the same model I'm about done with it.
 
The way to get an E8400 to 3.6 is to bump the FSB to 400.

Since DDR2 is Double Data Rate, it needs at least a x2 multiplier. Therefore, the minimum speed your RAM would be at is 2X whatever you set your FSB at. There is very little advantage to pushing your memory higher than the minimum, so overclockers will generally set RAM speeds to the minimum for stability.

In order to see what your RAM settings should be, download CPU-Z. Fire it up and look at the SPD tab. This is a list of the various settings your RAM would like. It will give you the correct timings and voltage for your RAM at 800Mhz.

Run your CPU at 400x9 (3.6) for a bit, with memory at 800Mhz (400x2). Make sure you use the settings from the SPD tab in CPU-Z. Leave the CPU voltage on auto.

Hopefully, you are overclocking from the BIOS, and not from a Vista utility.
 

tweak13

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I messed up a little, I said its a e8400, its a e8500, but its still a 3.16 chip.

I'll download CPU-z and see how things go.

Are there any programs out there to monitor my vcore voltage? Asus comes with a bunch of stuff but none of it works, I know this because it will say my vcore is like 3.3 and in bios like 1.24.
 

tweak13

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Update ran memtest for a few hours one stick received several hardware errors, Im going to RMA the crucial memory and go to something else.