Zotac H55 ITX - freezing up

[lmartinefc]

HI

Using a mini ITX H55 made by Zotac

Using 4gb DDR3 Crucial RAM....which came straight from other machine and worked great. Even tested it with memtest

Windows wouldnt install for starters, kept freezing

So had to load BIOS to failsafe defaults. Now updates BIOS and set to optimal

Windows loads ok. But when i try doing something like watching video online, it freezes. Mouse freezes, videp freezes, everything locks up.

Happens alot quicker (less than 30 seconds) when using 4gb RAM. When using 2Gb ram takes a couple of minutes before this happens

Any ideas guys its driving me crazy

Using a brand new Core i3
8800GTS (with correct drivers)
Western Digital SiliconBlue 64gb SSD

Ideas?

 

[needsumhelplol]

What are the temps like?

You could try undervolting the CPU slightly from bios as this board is know to give out a few more .05v's than needed

Please be more specific and tell us;

A.What frequency and timings -or just tell us the model number of- your crucial ram?
B.Which i3?
C.Which version of windows?

 

[lmartinefc]

Using an i3 530. With crucial ddr3 10600 ram cl9. What should ideal settings be? I think it's ram issue

 

[needsumhelplol]

Go set the voltage to 1.6v manually in the bios... if it doesn't boot back down to 1.5v... if 1.5v isn't stable grab memtest86+ ISO and leave it running for at least a couple of hours or 10 passes (whichever is less)

If memtest doesn't show any errors, you should grab realtemp or something similar and see if it's not overheating

Another way to eliminate overheating would be to take the case off, point a big desk fan or similar in there, and run the PC... if it doesn't crash you know it was overheating...

For reference Intel say that CPU is good for up to 1.40V

 

[lmartinefc]

So the max it should be is 1.4....is this the max approved voltage? It's all stock no oc so thought should be ok

I'll set the ram ad well and get back

 

[lmartinefc]

Hmmm...BIOS says current CPU voltage is 1.15 volts. I set it to -0.1 of this amount so it should halt the volts a bit. Any adjustment of the RAM voltage othe than auto causes a non POST....BIOS keeps trying to boot, power off, power on, fail...repeat cycle

Just realised im using a 3 x 2gb kit that was meant for an i7 rig. Im using 4gb of this for my system.

Crucial part number ct3kit25664ba1339

I still think its a RAM issue. Wouldnt install win 7 until i unplugged one of the ram sticks (and the USB hubs). And seems more troublesome with 4gb instead of 2gb.

Hoping I wont have to buy a matched set of ddr3 4gb...when I have perfectly good ddr3 sat here.

On zotac website they only tested samsung and hynix with this board

 

[lmartinefc]

It's still buggered, even with CPU voltage put down

Played COD WoW no issues. Freezed up again when watching video online.

But im using latest Nvidia driver so not a gpu issue

Definately think its the ram still. Maybe because im using 2 sticks from a triple channel kit. Although i tried lowering ram voltage and it wouldnt post.

So im lost. Either GPU or RAM...or something im not aware of???

 

[lmartinefc]

Freezes the same way as when you do an undervolted overclock. Mouse freezes. Screen image looks like a static screen shot. Any sounds playing just judders continuously

BIOS says CPU voltage 1.15, when lowered by -0.1 still works fine, but same issues

RAM?

 

[needsumhelplol]

The memory you're trying to use isn't in the QVL list for that MB? this could be your problem...


''grab memtest86+ ISO and leave it running for at least a couple of hours or 10 passes (whichever is less)''

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

..or get someone else to download and burn the ISO to a disk if you can't do it yourself due to freezes

 

[lmartinefc]

I have left it running for 2 hours. No errors found.

QVL List - Are different brands of RAM really that different?

I thought 1333Mhz unbuffered non-ecc would 1.5v would be the same, didnt think brand would matter

Please explain how this could cause so many issues? From the behaviour I think it is RAM. Wouldnt even boot into windows sometimes when i had the 4gb installed. Alot more stable with only 2gb

Looks like ill be selling the triple channel kit and buying some QVL DDR3....which is a shame as this leaves me with samsund RAM

 

[lmartinefc]

Teseted Memory
Model marker size DDR type Part number
A-DATA 1GB DDR3-1066 AD31066001GMU
Aeneon 2GB DDR3-1333 AXH860UD20-13G
Aeneon 2GB DDR3-1600 AXH860UD20-16G**
Apacer 2GB DDR3-1066 AM5D5808DE
Kingston 2GB DDR3-1333 KVR1333D3N9
SAMSUNG 2GB DDR3-1066 M378B5673DZ1-CF8
SAMSUNG 2GB DDR3-1333 K4B1G08460
SAMSUNG 2GB DDR3-1333 M378B5673FH0-CH9
SAMSUNG 4GB DDR3-1333 M378B5273BH1-CH9
Hynix 4GB DDR3-1333 HMT351U6AFR8C-H9

 

[lmartinefc]

And I find this this ridiculous considering the board can take up to 8gb RAM.

With such a fussy mobo / BIOS what do they expect you to do. Shell out on 8gb RAM only to find the system isn't stable

 

[lmartinefc]

I'm going to take a punt and get a 2gb stick of the Kingston RAM.

Very annoyed...I would rather be putting this money towards some nice OCX Reaper gaming ram or some Mushkin.

Guessing none of this high end stuff would work on this board?

 

[lmartinefc]

Hmmm.....new thing to test. These guys reviewed my board and apparently there is a bug with the H55 Zotac BIOS (would have helped if I knew this).

They are using some nice gaming RAM, obviously not QVL....but had to manually set CAS latency to 10 to fix the bug

"Unfortunately, due to a bug in the H55-ITX BIOS we had to run the CAS latency at 10. Memory frequency on these boards was set at 1333MHz due to fact that the i3 530 does not natively support 1600MHz RAM. Interestingly, the BIOS on the H55-ITX has an option for 1600MHz but choosing it prevents the system from POSTing. However, when the i3 530 was overclocked the memory frequency was bumped up to 1500MHz while using the same timings."

Here is the link. Ill see how this gets on, maybe my pockets wont be emptied just yet

Weird it plays games ok but streaming video crashes. More RAM intensive?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2950/5

 

[needsumhelplol]

Weird it plays games ok but streaming video crashes. More RAM intensive?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2950/5

I would definitely consider doing a clean install of firefox or whichever browser you use.. and definitely also uninstall/reinstall the plugins you use to stram videos... (DiVx/flash etc.)

Does it crash when you are doing anything besides video streaming...?

You might get a better idea of what the problem is by seeing if the system is stable under prime95 load..

 

[lmartinefc]

Yes used to crash when trying to install windows. Or when trying to boot windows. Resolved by reducing ram but still unstable. I've changed latency for this known bug, see how it goes

 

[lmartinefc]

It's stable under occt, which is quicker diagnostic than prime95

 

[lmartinefc]

Hmmmm......ran alot better after changing the timing to 10-10-10-24

But froze out again...playing COD for a few levels then same freeze as before.

Normally got this type of freeze out when trying to OC my Q6600 and not giving it enough volts

What else can I do?

 

[lmartinefc]

New G Skill RAM installed. Everything set to auto. Mobo likes the good stuff, all runs great now. Sold the crucial on good old gumtree.

 

[mihmih]

New G Skill RAM installed. Everything set to auto. Mobo likes the good stuff, all runs great now. Sold the crucial on good old gumtree.

I have the same problem with brand new H55 HD motherboard. Any game cause freeze after a while (10-20 minutes) - the screen looks like a screenshot, mouse does not move, ctrl-alt-del does not work. Running win7 64 bit. The same with winXP. Could you explain how did you solve the problem?