- Nov 17, 2010
- 19
- 0
- 18,510
First off, this is my first time posting in this forum, so thank you very much for your time in reading my post, and apologies if I've posted this in the wrong forum area (I'm hoping I haven't).
My computer has been giving me a huge headache, and while I'd like to consider myself pretty techno-savvy, I've hit a brick wall.
I bought an i5 750 processor, along with an Asus Sabretooth 55i motherboard, 8gb of OCZ DDR3 12800, and a Palit GTX 285 2GB Graphics Card. I built the machine myself with a brand new 1000W Power Supply.
After 6 or so months of working flawlessly, my computer began to blue screen and freeze/crash the moment I opened 3d video games. Thinking immediately that it was a graphics card problem, I sent the card in for RMA, but when I got it back, the problem persisted with a brand new card.
I found out that when I removed 2 of the 4 sticks of RAM in the machine, the freezing problem would go away but I would still get a screen blackout and a nvlddmkm error that would kick me out of most games.
I ran a full MEMtest on the memory to make sure I didn't have a failed stick.
I called OCZ, and they had me try different timings with my memory, but no timing setting would make my computer stable. It was then that they recommended I buy RAM with a lower base voltage, because the i5/i7 has a lower operating voltage. So, I dropped money on low voltage RAM that runs at 1.65v instead of 1.85v. The problem persisted (which also eliminated faulty RAM from the mix).
I thought perhaps that I might be having a motherboard problem, so I flashed the BIOS, and the problem persisted. I figured I was going to build another machine for my girlfriend anyway, so I purchased another Sabretooth 55i motherboard and switched it out for the existing motherboard. The problem... PERSISTED.
So, at this point, I've replaced the RAM, the Video Card, and the Motherboard. I've completely wiped the Operating System with a clean format and re-installed. I've tried the earliest and latest version of my video drivers. For those that are still reading (thank you), I'm using Windows 7 64-bit. I even took the heatsink off of my CPU, checked to make sure it was seated properly, and checked all of the pins on my CPU to ensure there were no bent pins or bad contacts.
I've tried all of these things and somehow, still, my games will black out (with 2 sticks installed instead of 4) anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes into trying to play a game. If I try to run games with all 4 sticks of RAM installed (8gb), my games will instantly freeze when I load them.
When my screen blacks out temporarily, I get the system message "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."
If my system freezes, I have to power down and start the computer back up.
Assuming there's nothing wrong with my power supply, I only see two possibilities. Either I have a faulty processor, or my motherboard is somehow incompatible with my memory, even though OCZ is on the vendor list in my motherboard manual and the computer was working fine for 6 months before I had these problems.
Am I missing something? Have I somehow created a problem with the voltage tolerance on my processor? Is there anything I can do to fix this problem short of buying another processor and eating another 300 dollars?
Would changing the voltage on my processor increase or decrease my stability? I haven't tried to overclock, was just running with the base settings.
It runs perfectly when I'm not playing 3d games, but the "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." message has started creeping into simple things like opening a YouTube video.
I feel like I've tried just about everything and I don't know what to do. I feel like my expensive computer is a giant paperweight after all of the money I've sunk into it, and that's a horrible feeling.
Anyone able to offer help or insight on this problem? I'd appreciate it more than you know.
My computer has been giving me a huge headache, and while I'd like to consider myself pretty techno-savvy, I've hit a brick wall.
I bought an i5 750 processor, along with an Asus Sabretooth 55i motherboard, 8gb of OCZ DDR3 12800, and a Palit GTX 285 2GB Graphics Card. I built the machine myself with a brand new 1000W Power Supply.
After 6 or so months of working flawlessly, my computer began to blue screen and freeze/crash the moment I opened 3d video games. Thinking immediately that it was a graphics card problem, I sent the card in for RMA, but when I got it back, the problem persisted with a brand new card.
I found out that when I removed 2 of the 4 sticks of RAM in the machine, the freezing problem would go away but I would still get a screen blackout and a nvlddmkm error that would kick me out of most games.
I ran a full MEMtest on the memory to make sure I didn't have a failed stick.
I called OCZ, and they had me try different timings with my memory, but no timing setting would make my computer stable. It was then that they recommended I buy RAM with a lower base voltage, because the i5/i7 has a lower operating voltage. So, I dropped money on low voltage RAM that runs at 1.65v instead of 1.85v. The problem persisted (which also eliminated faulty RAM from the mix).
I thought perhaps that I might be having a motherboard problem, so I flashed the BIOS, and the problem persisted. I figured I was going to build another machine for my girlfriend anyway, so I purchased another Sabretooth 55i motherboard and switched it out for the existing motherboard. The problem... PERSISTED.
So, at this point, I've replaced the RAM, the Video Card, and the Motherboard. I've completely wiped the Operating System with a clean format and re-installed. I've tried the earliest and latest version of my video drivers. For those that are still reading (thank you), I'm using Windows 7 64-bit. I even took the heatsink off of my CPU, checked to make sure it was seated properly, and checked all of the pins on my CPU to ensure there were no bent pins or bad contacts.
I've tried all of these things and somehow, still, my games will black out (with 2 sticks installed instead of 4) anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes into trying to play a game. If I try to run games with all 4 sticks of RAM installed (8gb), my games will instantly freeze when I load them.
When my screen blacks out temporarily, I get the system message "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."
If my system freezes, I have to power down and start the computer back up.
Assuming there's nothing wrong with my power supply, I only see two possibilities. Either I have a faulty processor, or my motherboard is somehow incompatible with my memory, even though OCZ is on the vendor list in my motherboard manual and the computer was working fine for 6 months before I had these problems.
Am I missing something? Have I somehow created a problem with the voltage tolerance on my processor? Is there anything I can do to fix this problem short of buying another processor and eating another 300 dollars?
Would changing the voltage on my processor increase or decrease my stability? I haven't tried to overclock, was just running with the base settings.
It runs perfectly when I'm not playing 3d games, but the "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." message has started creeping into simple things like opening a YouTube video.
I feel like I've tried just about everything and I don't know what to do. I feel like my expensive computer is a giant paperweight after all of the money I've sunk into it, and that's a horrible feeling.
Anyone able to offer help or insight on this problem? I'd appreciate it more than you know.
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