Help with PC crashing all the time

[NinjaDust77]

Hello,

i have just built a new PC here are the hardware specifics:
- Motherboard: Asus p7p55D-E Premium

- CPU: Intel i7 860

- Ram: G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB(2x2G) DDR3 PC12800 GS-F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL

- GPU: Amaze Radeon HD 5770 1GB

- HDD 1 (OS install): 2.5" G.Skill Falcon II 64GB SSD SATA-II

- HDD 2 (storage): Western Digital WD 1TB 3.5" Black 64Mb Cache SATA III

- PSU: Thermaltake Blue gaming 750w

- OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM

Problem: the PC seems very unstable. when booting up it continues to crash right after i login to windows, when i say crash it either freezes then reboots or it will just freeze and i am forced to manually reboot. i originally thought it might have something to do with the AMD ATI driver and the CCC, so i updated them, it was then a little more stable, as in it didnt crash as often, but it still crashes the same as before and also during gameplay, id be lucky to get 10-15mins of gameplay before it crashes on me.

temp solution: what i have had to do is load the PC in "safe mode", disable the ATI driver, load windows, then go back into the display driver settings and re-enable the driver. this is what i have been doing and it seems to work ok, again it hasnt fully resolved my problem, it will still crash not as often and i can browse and play games for longer periods of time, but the issue of crashing still stands.

can anyone help? is it really my display driver causing the pc to crash all the time or not?

 

[sk1939]

It seems to be....it's part of the reason I switched to NVidia is that ATI's display drivers are buggy, and thats not to say NVidias are spotless, but ATI's can get bad, real bad, and I think that is the case here. Try uninstalling the drivers, dowload a fresh copy from ATI's website, and then reinstall the drivers.

 

[NinjaDust77]

Try uninstalling the drivers, dowload a fresh copy from ATI's website, and then reinstall the drivers.

that was the first thing i done, because the drivers that came with the GPU was just plain and utter garbage...

im so tempted in just going out and buying an NVidia card.

 

[NinjaDust77]

does anyone know of a stable driver i can try?

 

[guanyu210379]

This sounds not like a driver problem to me.

"Problem: the PC seems very unstable. when booting up it continues to crash right after i login to windows, when i say crash it either freezes then reboots or it will just freeze and i am forced to manually reboot. i originally thought it might have something to do with the AMD ATI driver and the CCC, so i updated them, it was then a little more stable, as in it didnt crash as often, but it still crashes the same as before and also during gameplay, id be lucky to get 10-15mins of gameplay before it crashes on me.

temp solution: what i have had to do is load the PC in "safe mode", disable the ATI driver, load windows, then go back into the display driver settings and re-enable the driver. this is what i have been doing and it seems to work ok, again it hasnt fully resolved my problem, it will still crash not as often and i can browse and play games for longer periods of time, but the issue of crashing still stands.
"
I have experienced something similar to this. It was a broken/defect GPU.
I know similar problems might have different problem sources, but you can try to put any other GPU to your system.

You can also suspect your RAM for not running correctly

BTW :
I use the latest ATICatalyst 10.4 directly downloaded from ATI's website.

 

[asteldian]

Firstly, ATI in the past were very buggy, most people who moved onto Nvidia still believe this si the case. They are not entirely wrong - I still feel Nvidia drives are more reliable, but by no means perfect. I myself have moved onto ATI due to their GPUs being better value and very good, though I had to overcome my personal hurdle of fear of drivers. Ironically 10.3 drivers did not work for me - they fail to install everytime so i am on 10.2 and will try 10.4.

But as for the OPs problem. I would say this is a RAM issue, I just spent a week overcoming the same problem - random freezes for unknown reasons.

First thig I would do is go into the Bios and check the latency and voltage against what your RAM states is optimum (you can usually find this out on the website description of the RAM or on the sticks themselves). If it is different, correct this and see how the computer runs. My guess is it wont but worth trying.

The next thing to do is keep at recommended settings but remove one of the RAM sticks and use the computer with just 1 2gb stick. If this runs fine (or doesn't) then do the sme with the other stick. Hopefully one of the sticks allows your computer to be stable and the other freezes you or even fails to boot the machine (as was my case). Then you know which stick is faulty and can RMA it. If both cause stability issues there is a chance that both need to be RMA, but the problem is if both are faulty you cannot be sure it is RAM and not some other issue.

The other option is to go to the Bios and slow the RAM down. I found with my RAM, at 1600mhz the computer was unstable (due to the faulty stick I had which alone would not boot the machine at all) bu when I slowed it down to 1066mhz, the computer was stable, the lesser strain on the RAM stick allowed it to run without issue.

If this works then I would say it is an issue with the RAM but you can run Memtest86 or memtest86+ to be sure

 

[guanyu210379]

Guys...let stop the buggy ATI driver part...
Just ignore any further comment on that!
The crash doesn't caused by any driver bug! That's it!!

 

[antisyzygy]

Exactly. To say that someone switched to Nvidia because they couldn't get ATI drivers to work right is ridiculous. You just simply don't know what your doing apparently. If it was a widespread problem, the sites that test this stuff (Tom's hardware, Anandtech, Overclockers, etc) would have driver problems too, but they don't.

Let's concentrate on the real problem.

Could be a faulty gpu I have never even heard of that brand (Amaze?) but I doubt that would cause reboots, freezes and crashes.

This problem sounds to me like an overheating problem, either cpu or gpu. Are you overclocking? Have you confirmed both the cpu fan and the gpu fan are spinning?

What are you cpu temps under full load (prime95)? What are you gpu temps while your gaming?

Could also be a failing power supply.

What driver version are you using and what OS?

Have you tested your memory with memtest86?

You can also use the windows 7 memory test for a more qualitative test. I had similar crash problems and found out it was because I had defective ram.

 

[NinjaDust77]

thanks for all the input guys... i will try and do all those things tonite.

i am able to confirm that all my fans work fine, CPU and GPU fans are running corrently. my temps are
GPU - idle: 35-36 deg cel approx(i dont know under load, havent really had a chance to put it under load yet)
CPU - idle: 35-36 deg cel approx
- load: 55-60 deg cel approx


also i have tried to overclock the CPU from 2.8 to 3.66... the oc works fine and PC is good as long as im using the standard windows display drivers.

i dont know if this will help but i DONT normally get the BSOD, the PC just reboots a few mins after logging into windows, by the time i get my browser loaded and start surfing the net the PC will crash and reboot. the only time i do get a BSOD is when i play with (ie overclock) the RAM settings in the BIOS, if i leave the RAM settings alone there is no BSOD.

i'll get more info when i get home tonite
thanks again for the input guys...

 

[guanyu210379]

Have you locked or manually adjust the PCIe bus frequency on BIOS?

Note : Don't forget to lock the frequency of the PCIe bus to default frequency or set the frequency manually to the default speed if you OC the wholw system.

 

[NinjaDust77]

its ok guys... i think i may have found the problem...

 

[NinjaDust77]

no it wasnt overheating...
i decided to take it apart and do everything again and one by one reinstall all the components... looks like one of my RAM sticks was faulty, took it to the store yesterday and they confirmed its stuffed, so im getting a new set of G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB(2x2G) DDR3.

is it normal for them to take 2weeks for replacement?...
by the way im in Sydney Australia....

 

[guanyu210379]

Hmmm...2 weeks is the standard time if you claim it directly to the factory/company..
not if you claim the warranty to the store...
If it takes 2 weeks than it is most likely that the store doesn't give you any extra service by giving you the replacement right away while the store claim the company for themself.
Bad store!
If my friends buy new built my rigs, I replace that right away by buying a new one and claim the broken parts to the company. My friends get the replacement right away, and still no loss for me as store. I use the new RAM replacement from the company to build the next rig...so it goes over and over..

 

[NinjaDust77]

ok... got the new ram and all is good... the pc is now working how it should.

also got myself a CPU cooler - Noctua NH-U9B...