Troubleshooting a relatively new build

I started putting my first PC together in May, and it's been a lot of fun.

* CPU: Intel Core i7 920
* Motherboard: Asus X58 P6T
* Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper N520
* RAM: OCZ Gold 3 x 2GB 1600MHz (6 GB)
* GPU: BFG NVIDIA GeForce 260 OC Maxcore (Core 216)
* PSU: PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad Red Silencer
* Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
* HDD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 and 500GB WD Caviar
* OS: Windows 7 RTM 64-Bit

Wow, it's fast (not overclocked)!!! I'm not a hard-core gamer, but I had to pick up a couple games to test the muscle in this baby. It plays Crysis, Batman Arkham Asylum, and Resident Evil 5 great.

And I love Windows 7.

It runs great most of the time. But every once in a while, it freezes. No blue screen or anything, but the 21" Samsung LCD immediately displays a "Not Optimum Mode Recommended mode: 1650x1080 60Hz" message.

Initially, this seemed to happen when I left it on overnight, so I thought it was a standby thing. So I turned off all standby modes, but it didn't solve the problem. I also played with S1 versus S3 standby in the BIOS, but it didn't help.

I thought it might be the monitor, so I tried my old Dell FP, and it would also lose signal in the middle of the night.

I googled, and saw someone had a similar issue (which remains unsolved), but he pointed out that it's probably not a monitor issue, as he notices his keyboard caps-lock indicator doesn't light up when he's in this state. That's what I'm seeing to.

And then, occasionally, it would do this same thing WHILE I WAS USING THE COMPUTER. This was annoying, but it was revealing--I was playing a game, and the audio seemed to loop. So it's definitely not just a display issue, or USB issue... it seems to be locked up.

As I first mentioned, this is my first build, so I need your help in troubleshooting. I've tried unplugging everything and checking every cable and plugging it all back in tight. And I'm monitoring my CPU and GPU temps, and they are okay. And my computer is not dusty.

The frequency of these issues is: if I leave it running overnight, it happens about every other night; when I'm actually using my computer, it's probably locked up on me about 5 or 6 times since May.

Oh, and it's not the OS--I've reinstalled Windows 7 several times in moving from RC to RTM.

Can you guys assist me in troubleshooting this issue? Could it be some other kind of overheating that I'm not monitoring? Northbridge or something? Does this sound like a Motherboard issue? I never lose power, so does that eliminate power supply issues?

Also, I had this problem before and after changing CPU coolers, and before and after adding the 1TB HD.

Thank you in advance!

Z

In addition, eliminate heat as a possible cause. Please use CPUID Hardware Monitor (or RealTemp) to monitor temps on your cores, gpu. You can get them here:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/la [...] ols-30530/

We do not use RivaTuner and Everest for monitoring, so it would be helpful if you took the time to DL the requested utilities and check temps.

Here are some test results. I didn't get a chance to run everything--I have a newborn at home, and my time was kinda divided. :-)

First, I ran Prime95 for 15 minutes with the following settings:



And the HWMonitor results were:



Ambient temp in the room was about 22C.

Then I ran a furmark stability test for 10 minutes, but I screwed up the screenshots. The GPU got as hot as 67.

But I wanted the screenshots, so I reran for 15 minutes. This time, it only peaked at 62C:





I then kicked off memtest86+ and went to bed. Woke up this morning and it said the test was complete, no errors, everything passed.

How do my temps look? Any ideas?

Your temps are very solid, fine. So that's not the issue.

You tried two monitors, so losing synch with the monitor's resolution is not the issue.

Corrupt/confused Drivers? Seems not to be, since you say you have re-installed the OS several times and you have had the same issue across the installs.

Personally, I'd run Prime95 for several hours semi-observed and then continuing overnight with "Detect Rounding Errors" checked. Its unlikely to fail, but then again these failures are pretty obscure.

If that fails, I guess I'm liking the mobo for this problem.

I want to make sure we can't make it fail consistently after, say, 1 hr 14 min of Prime95. If that were to happen, and it were not heat related, that might tell us something.

That's why the first run semi-observed, for much longer than the 15 minutes you did.

The rest of the run is for . . . having something to do overnight lol. You're right, prolly won't learn anything - but may if it runs long enough to get a "rounding" error.

OK Z.

If it doesn't approach the "fry" zone after 3 hours, if you didn't notice any gradual climb in max temp after an hour or more, overnight is safe.

Be interesting to see it run without "losing the monitor".

Disable EIST and C1 state in bios. The new core i5s/i7s crash when idle... probably an undervolting issue. I'm not sure if its just a Win7 issue, but thats what I run as well. I've reported it to intel.

There's no reference, I could only find a few google hits on similar problems. I discovered the fix myself after a few days of frustrating troubleshooting. Right, no power saving, no turbo mode.

Good point about the freeze (not shutdown) during Prime95.

When you say "put the problem to Asus and Intel", do you mean for me to open tickets with them through their support?

Z

Okay.

So I talked to Intel, and they basically said it doesn't sound like a processor issue. They said the issue would be less sporadic/more constant.

I called Asus, and they said it could very well be a motherboard issue. They have issued an RMA.

Hopefully, this will resolve the problem.

I forget... I won't have to reinstall my software when I replace the motherboard, will I? I'll just have to reauthenticate Windows 7?

Z

Those are two pretty reasonable responses from the Big Guys. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Please let us know.

We'll be here. Hopefully the new mobo will fix it.

Well, damn! It was locked up when I got home last night--didn't have the Samsung "not optimum mode... recommended mode..." error dancing around the screen, but the monitor was black, and the computer was still on. USB keyboard didn't seem to do anything (caps lock indicator wouldn't come on). I rebooted, messed around with the computer for a couple hours, then left it on.

Same thing this morning. *sigh*

Any ideas of how to log this error? Could it be a keyboard issue? I might try switching back to a PS2 keyboard...

Z

Proximon,

If you recall, I've had this issue occur WHILE RUNNING PRIME95 overnight. It doesn't seem like a standby issue, but I could be wrong. I think I mentioned that I thought it might be a sleep/standby issue in the past, so I turned off all sleep options in Windows, and also tried S1 instead of S3 in the BIOS.

Any other ideas, or any way to log exactly what the computer is doing when it freezes up?

Surely this must be fixable, or at least avoidable. I'm using quality components.

Z

I'm talking about this.

After another day and a half of using the computer, it has frozen up two times again, with the "Not Optimum Mode..." message on the Samsung monitor.

Z

Yeah, I'm starting to lean towards the GPU and PSU myself. I've updated the firmware drivers on the GPU, so I don't think it's that. I've even tried rolling back to older versions. No luck.

I just tried switching to PS/2 keyboard and mouse, and that didn't solve the problem.

I'm thinking of trying to RMA the GPU, or at least opening a case with them, telling them I've tried swapping out the motherboard, monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Oh, and I'm also thinking I'm going to keep my original motherboard and send back this refurbished RMA replacement. It didn't solve the problem, and the system temp seems to run a little higher.

Z

P.S. Oh, and I don't think it's the HD. I had this problem with my original 74GB WD Raptor, and have since decomissioned it (using it as an external eSata drive, not currently connected) and replaced it with a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3. I am still using the same 500GB secondary storage HD (WD Caviar).

Yes, afraid so.

It has done so while in use. See post at 09-27-2009 at 06:31:19 PM.

Z

Room is pretty stable, around 22-23C. It's in an open room in my house downstairs.

This PSU (PC Power & Cooling 750W Quad Red Silencer) doesn't seem to share the temperature, as far as I can tell--I don't think there's a fan pin lead to the motherboard, like there was on my previous Enermax 525W. How would I obtain the PSU temp on this Quad Red Silencer?

Z