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Constant BSOD and restarts

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - Constant BSOD and restarts

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Hello!

I purchased and put together a computer about two weeks ago.. Ever since putting all the pieces together instead of satisfaction I have been receiving headaches.

My computer specs are as follows:

Gigabye EP45-UD3P
Intel E8400
Sapphire ATi HD 4850 X2
2x2gb DDR2 Corsair Dominator 1033mhz ram
Corsair TX750W

The first day I put together my PC, I had yet to buy a HD. Anxious as I was, I used an old HD from my previous computer. This caused many BSOD's and wouldn't let me do anything. Thinking it was the HD, I tried reinstalling Windows on it from an older PC and it in fact was not the HD. Thinking it was the ram I performed metest86+ on both ram sticks individually in DOS and they both passed.

I decided to RMA the motherboard, but on the day I was going to wrap it up and ship it -- Magically everything booted and it let me install windows instead of bsoding like normal. I was swept with joy, but still decided to RMA to NewEgg to rule out the motherboard.

When the new motherboard came, it worked flawlessly.. For about a week. I came home from school (After leaving the PC on for about 6~ hours) and came upon a blue screen. I restarted the computer thinking it was just one of the common XP BSODS but than it showed up again.

On every boot it would go to the Blue screen.. So I looked around my desk and inserted the Windows XP disk and began a format. Upon the completion of the initial Windows setup install, it blue screened once it got out of DOS mode.

I had googled the BSOD and have not come up with a solution yet. It was the DPC STOP BSOD.

The thing is, the computer worked for a WEEK with no problems. I was playing Team Fortress 2, CS:Source, and even Crysis with no problems. It just seems to have just stopped working all the sudden.

I have ran CPU burn in tests and that doesn't seem to be the issue. I ran a diagnostic on the HD and it passed the test. I even ran a memtest again and still no errors have been reported.

When I boot and reinstall Windows in the DOS mode it is perfect. But on the restart after, when it goes to the Windows XP loading bar screen it will freeze up and restart OR load into the next screen and than immediately restart. I have tried running fail-safe options, even tweaking the settings.

I have even RMA'ed the Power Supply to make sure it wasn't the power and to my dismay, it wasn't.

I am now RMAing the VGA in case that is the issue because it does run VERY hot to the touch, but from reviews that is normal for that card. Regardless, I am going to RMA since I am almost at the end of the 30 day period.

The BSOD's I have received are DPC Routine STOP and the BAD_POOL_CALLER.

Can someone please help me in regards to this. I am almost at the edge of sanity over this!! :fou:

Message edited by marlinff on 09-03-2009 at 07:03:49 PM

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You need to calm down and quit sending in perfectly fine hardware for RMA. Anyone can replace hardware until they accidentally solve their problem.

What exact Corsair Dominator RAM kit do you have? Did you manually set the RAM speed/timings/voltage to the recommended specs in the BIOS? Memtest86+ is good for finding faulty RAM, but not so great at detecting incorrect RAM settings. I've seen RAM with the voltage set too low pass Memtest86+ but BSOD in normal usage.

Reply to shortstuff_mt

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145214

I ran it at manual settings at 5-5-5-15.

I have already changed the voltage to 2.1v as required by the memory sticks.

Reply to marlinff

Okay, first, check if your motherboard supports this RAM. If it is in the support list, update your motherboard's BIOS. It may be an incompatibility issue. To be honest, I'd suggest that you get a DDR2-800 with 4-4-4-12 timings instead. It's just a suggestion, you can choose to ignore but I find most motherboards (Gigabyte's especially) like DDR2-800 with tighter timings over higher clock speed.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to alikum

alikum wrote :

I checked Corsairs site, and have seen other systems run this ram flawlessly.

=\

Reply to marlinff

I honestly can't figure out whether you really have a clean OS install and the correct video drivers. I can read your text one way and say "Yes", then another way and say "No". And to me this "feels" like a software problem.

So let me just ask this way: During your last go-round, did you install XP from an XP disk (not a recovery disk)? After doing that, where did your video drivers come from? Were they a "fresh" downloaded copy?

You have installed 2 psu's and 2 mobos, ie, 99.9% they have been eliminated as problems. You are RMAing your vid card as well.

That leaves (software), memory, and assembly. Is your heat sink properly installed? Is your graphics card powered correctly (6-pin, 8-pin)?

Reply to Twoboxer

It was a clean Windows XP install, and I installed the latest drivers off of the Sapphire website.

It was installed from a Windows XP disk.

I already ruled out the vid card as I put a PCI card and it still crashed.

I have purchased G.Skill ram to replace mine, so I am waiting on that.

Reply to marlinff

First of all update the bios. (also download the latest drivers for your Motherboard chipsets, Graphics card, sound card)

The most effective way to find the fault, is by taking the board out from the case and testing it out side it. Try installing the other components one at the time until you find out which is the conflicting one. Try using another PCI Express slot for Graphics card.

Reply to ibnsina

It is on the latest bios (Which might possibly be the problem, as I updated the bios AFTER my initial Windows install until this happened),

The thing is, how can drivers be the effect of this if Windows is not even fully INSTALLED yet. It only gets as far as copying the setup files to my harddrive, and than when it is about to start the installation it will bsod.

Reply to marlinff

Reset the bios setting to default and save it.

Try using another PCI Express slot for Graphics card. . (It could be faulty memory on the GPU).

Try installing 1 Memory at a time, see if still crashes.

However i repeat, the most effective way to find the fault, is by taking the board out from the case and testing it out side it. Try installing the components one at the time until you find out which is the conflicting one.

Reply to ibnsina

Shouldn't be the GPU as a PCI card also gives the same results.

I have tested one memory at a time, and it still happens (And they pass memtest) I am still replacing these ram sticks though.

Reply to marlinff

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Constant BSOD and restarts

Forum Homebuilt Systems : General Homebuilt - Constant BSOD and restarts