Constant crashing, very very flaky

[Horrgakx]

Hi - I posted last week about my PC crashing and there was a reply but I can't for the life of me find ANY trace of it. Are threads deleted at all? It certainly wasn't complete.
The motherboard is an ASUS IX48-GT3 socket 775. The processor is a QuadCore Duo. Graphics is ATI 5870.

Anyway, I get a solid freeze. When I reset the PC it won't go to the BIOS POST. I usually have to reset to defaults using the button on the motherboard but even that works 1 time out of about 3.

I tested the battery on the motherboard (a CR-2032) and it was flat so I replaced it. This has made no difference whatsoever.
I have 4x memory modules (all 2Gb) and I've tested all 4 individually and the PC will work happily until it just simply freezes. I don't get a BSOD, just a solid freeze.

I've removed all the PCI boards so all I have now is a bare system. And it's still doing it.

What about the PSU? It's a Corsair 650W about 3-4 years old. But I have no way of testing it other than buying a new PSU.

Any advice and suggestions will be welcome.

Thanks

 

[almartin]

Take your power supply to a computer repair shop and have it tested. It sounds like it is going bad. If you had a AC/DC meter you could test each lead yourself. The voltage should be marked on the side of the PSU.

 

[Horrgakx]

It might be worth noting that I've looked at the voltages within the BIOS information Screen (called uGuru) and they seem normal. Would that suffice?

 

[fullofzen]

I doubt that your PSU is causing you trouble. Corsair has an excellent reputation for quality PSUs -- among the best, really. 3-4 years is still within the warranty, I believe -- and no company is going to build PSUs that will fail before the end of the warranty period.

A PSU can fail, but I would recommend that you evaluate the rest of the parts first -- firstly, the memory:

Try the following course of action:

1) Download and burn a memtest86 boot cd
2) Run 5 passes of memtest86 on each stick individually, then run 5 passes on all of them together

If you find that one of your memory sticks is bad, that should do it.

It is totally possible that there is something wrong with your Windows configuration. You may wish to consider a clean Windows reinstall.

One more thing, you note above that you have a "Asus IX48-GT3" board. Do you mean Abit?

 

[Horrgakx]

> 1) Download and burn a memtest86 boot cd

I'll try that, thanks.

> It is totally possible that there is something wrong with your Windows configuration.
> You may wish to consider a clean Windows reinstall.

I don't see how that would stop it booting as far as the BIOS screen though.

> One more thing, you note above that you have a "Asus IX48-GT3" board. Do you mean Abit?

Yeh, sorry!

 

[Horrgakx]

Help with the Memtest86 if possible please - the instructions say extract and burn the ISO to an image which I've done - but the contents once written to the CD are far from bootable. The contents are;
Boot.cat
Boot.txt
ISOLINUX.BIN
ISOLINUX.CFG
MEMTEST.
MEMTEST.P
MEMTEST8.PDF
SRC_V40.TGZ
SRC_V40.ZIP

Obviously not a boot disk.

 

[fullofzen]

Help with the Memtest86 if possible please - the instructions say extract and burn the ISO to an image which I've done - but the contents once written to the CD are far from bootable. The contents are;
Boot.cat
Boot.txt
ISOLINUX.BIN
ISOLINUX.CFG
MEMTEST.
MEMTEST.P
MEMTEST8.PDF
SRC_V40.TGZ
SRC_V40.ZIP

Obviously not a boot disk.

Let me ask you what may sound like a stupid question: Have you tried booting from it?

The ISO from Memtest86 is bootable; I have never looked into the file structure, but I usually just download the iso, burn it, and reboot and I'm good to go.

 

[Horrgakx]

Yeh, it just goes straight to HD (and I do have the SATA CD-drive as the first boot device).

 

[fullofzen]

Can you pop me a link to the iso you downloaded?

This (http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-4.0.iso.zip) should be what you burn.

 

[Horrgakx]

Of course
http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-4.0.iso.zip

Here's the contents

 

[fullofzen]

Of course
http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-4.0.iso.zip

Here's the contents
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v647/horrgakx/temp/bootcd.jpg

How exactly are you burning this CD? What process/software are you using to burn the ISO to the disc?

 

[Horrgakx]

Ok, I'm "not allowed to edit my message" ... I thought I'd downloaded the Linux version (as Linux is prominently displayed above) but I went back and carefully downloaded again the correct file but it's the same thing.

 

[Horrgakx]

I'm;
- Inserting a blank CD.
- Launching Nero Burning ROM
- Going to Menu item; Recorder > Burn Image
- Select the ISO, Open
- Click Burn.

Then the CD is burned, the PC booted, and it goes back into Win7 from my HD and not the CD which is the primary boot device.

 

[fullofzen]

I'm;
- Inserting a blank CD.
- Launching Nero Burning ROM
- Going to Menu item; Recorder > Burn Image
- Select the ISO, Open
- Click Burn.

Then the CD is burned, the PC booted, and it goes back into Win7 from my HD and not the CD which is the primary boot device.

Hmm. I really have no idea what could be going on there. The process that you're following is pretty reasonable. I don't think you're missing a step -- I'm not sure why it won't boot from the CD...

 

[Horrgakx]

Are the files I listed correct?

 

[Horrgakx]

Just to update - I managed to sort the boot issue and I have tested all 4x DIMMs. One of them, a Corsair DIMM, was at fault. Most of the time the machine wouldn't POST with the module installed and when it did the memory test software went crazy with text appearing all over the screen.

Thanks all for your help, I'm trying to progress this with Scan.

PS - is memory normally warrantied for 12m or would it be longer/lifetime?

 

[soundguruman]

Hi - I posted last week about my PC crashing and there was a reply but I can't for the life of me find ANY trace of it. Are threads deleted at all? It certainly wasn't complete.
The motherboard is an ASUS IX48-GT3 socket 775. The processor is a QuadCore Duo. Graphics is ATI 5870.

Anyway, I get a solid freeze. When I reset the PC it won't go to the BIOS POST. I usually have to reset to defaults using the button on the motherboard but even that works 1 time out of about 3.

I tested the battery on the motherboard (a CR-2032) and it was flat so I replaced it. This has made no difference whatsoever.
I have 4x memory modules (all 2Gb) and I've tested all 4 individually and the PC will work happily until it just simply freezes. I don't get a BSOD, just a solid freeze.

I've removed all the PCI boards so all I have now is a bare system. And it's still doing it.

What about the PSU? It's a Corsair 650W about 3-4 years old. But I have no way of testing it other than buying a new PSU.

Any advice and suggestions will be welcome.

Thanks

All you have to do is replace the board with some other brand of motherboard, then the problems will be over.

 

[Horrgakx]

Problem is solved (post immediately before your reply).

 

[fullofzen]

Just to update - I managed to sort the boot issue and I have tested all 4x DIMMs. One of them, a Corsair DIMM, was at fault. Most of the time the machine wouldn't POST with the module installed and when it did the memory test software went crazy with text appearing all over the screen.

Thanks all for your help, I'm trying to progress this with Scan.

PS - is memory normally warrantied for 12m or would it be longer/lifetime?

memory test software

Out of curiosity, what memory test software did you use? Did you get memtest86 working alright?

Corsair memory warranty policy

From Corsair's warranty page:

All DRAM memory modules have a lifetime warranty

 

[Horrgakx]

Thanks Follofzen for your reply.

Yes I got the MemTest86 software working, there was a quirk in the BIOS where my SATA CD drive wasn't listed as a boot device such. When I listed it correctly it booted fine.

Thanks for the info on the warranty. I am trying to find my invoice from Scan which they require in order to offer support.

 

[fullofzen]

So glad I was able to help you diagnose this. A lot of folks in your position would have given up and RMA'd the motherboard, which I consider to be a huge waste of time, postage, and a perfectly good board.

Awesome that you stuck with it; best of luck with the Corsair RMA -- hopefully that take good care of you.