Custom PC constantly crashes in several ways, exact cause unknown, ple

[RobJordanIsCool]

Title: Custom PC constantly crashes in several ways, exact cause unknown, please assist.

Hello guys long time reader, first time poster here on the forums. I cannot figure out the cause of my computers crashes/reboots/halts. It happens so often and so much I am at my wits end. I’ll try to provide as much info as I can but I am unsure of the cause of the problems other than *I believe* it may be to do with the settings in my BIOS.

About 2 years ago I decided to build a new gaming pc with the help of my brother and I planed to overclock it for better performance. I am a very experienced computer user and this was the not the first computer I had put together or upgraded and considering the help I had I am almost positive the problem is not with the construction. It was my first time using the BIOS much and I think I bought a rather complicated motherboard with a vast amount of BIOS options and if I am honest I was in way over my head for a first time overclocker. My fault.

For a while after building it my computer worked almost perfectly. I believe one day about 6 months later I went to play Bioshock for the first time ever and my computer started consistently blue screening or freezing with beeping sound blaring from the speakers while they were switched on. I reinstalled windows vista x64 bit, my OS of choice at the time but the crashing eventually crept back and after probably a year later of:

*Trying to fix the issue with the help of my brother
*Changing almost every setting in my BIOS to get the computer stable.
*Disabling all overclock settings.
*Changing operating systems from (vista x64) to (vista x32) to (windows 7 x64) and making several clean reinstalls of each.
*Upgrading all my drivers for all hardware several times as new ones became available
*Upgrading, patching or swapping out all essential or problematic programs and dropping all unnecessary programs completely.
*I also upgraded my graphics card from a GeForce 8800GT to an ATI Radeon 57_ _

6 months ago my brother installed windows 7 x64 bit on a separate drive and experimented with every combination of settings possible on my BIOS. With a barebones windows install he tested the settings and managed to get my computer stable. After that I saved those settings to a Profile in the bios and clean installed Windows 7 x64 bit on my normal harddrive and used those BIOS settings.

My system remained stable and did not crash once until about 2 months ago when it failed to boot after turning the system on one night. It then rebooted but informed me the BIOS would reset to default settings. When I entered the BIOS to restore the previous working settings they made been altered and according to my brother what nothing like the ones he had saved to the profile. Soon after my PC started constantly crashing again.

It crashes trying to boot up most games. It crashes when watching videos, when browsing the internet, when booting. It crashes on average 20 plus times per day and it has crashed twice writing this post. I have nobody to help me test or fix the BIOS this time and having tried many different setting combinations I am unable to stabilise my computer. It’s like I am in a never ending computer hell and its driving me insane that I cannot fix it.

When the computer crashes its usually does one of the following:

*Fades to black and reboots
*Graphics flicker and freezes. Forced to reboot
*Computer totally locks up. Screen and sound stay normal and I am forced to reset
*Computer totally locks up. Screen stays normal. Loud “beeping” noise blares from the speakers unless I turn them off. Forced to reboot.
*BSOD is present. Wide variety of errors including “Paged fault in non paged area” or something as well as Stop errors with numerical codes which are nearly always completely different giving me no solid leads to track down.
*Windows has also failed to boot now likely because of huge numbers of crashes. Attempts to fix and system restore each time. Restores to only a few minutes before crash. Reboots. No permanent effect as crashes continue.

*After crashes when rebooting, usually presents windows recovery menu and I start windows normally. I don't know if thats relevant.

List of components in PC:

CPU: Intel Core Duo 2 E8400 (LGA775 “Wolfdale” @3.00GHZ stock FSB 1333)

Motherboard: Asus P5E3 Deluxe - manufacturers link - http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=FcwW0RXruL9KFv3Z

RAM: OCZ Platinum XTC DDR3 1600mhz 2GB KIT, w-two XTC Platinum 1GB CL7-7-7-20

CPU cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 CPU cooler

VGA: Previously, Asus GeForce EN8800GT 512mb
Currently, ATI Radeon 5780 (1024mb, core clock 850mhz, memory clock 1200mhz)

PSU: OCZ GameXstream 700W SLI ready ATX2

HDD: Samsung spinpoint F1 750GB

OS: Windows 7 x64 bit (previously W7 x32, Vista x64, Vista x32)

Case: Antec 900 gaming case (unbelievably well cooled)

Soundcard: Creative X-fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1

Saitek eclipse 2 illuminated usb keyboard
Logitech MX revolution mouse
LG 22” monitor by DVI
Logitech speakers
LG DVD Burner
LG DVD Drive


If I am missing any information that could help you to help me then please tell me. I am very sorry for the long post but it has gotten to be a very complicated problem. Also sorry if this post isn’t to forum guidelines or in the right place as I am new here but tried to follow the rules posting this. I really am horribly screwed here guys and it would be really nice if someone could help me, especially someone with an experience with this motherboard. Thanks for your time

 

[dokk2]

Quick stab here, I would say that your problem may be either a faulty or corrupted bios ????,, Oh BTW that "page fault" thingy,, that is a ram error, get a hold of memtest to confirm, just a personal view here , but next time get a gigabyte mobo, I am on my first one after using mostly Asus since way back when, and am planning my next gigabyte mobo,remember with computer repair always go sloooow...

 

[dokk2]

One more thing ,,, quit fooling around with your bios,, unless it is beeping at you like a five alarm fire it is alright and functioning just fine, thank you,, you are confusing ?? the hell out of the mobo's logic chips, ie ,constantly changing their state...Good Luck tho...

 

[RobJordanIsCool]

thanks yeah I definitely made a mistake with my motherboard. Its not that I dont understand them but there too many complicated extra features that I dont need and I have a feeling its one of them cause the problem. When I did the clean stable install on the seperate harddrive I ran memtest a number of times and it passed successfully every time but I am trying to get my hands on a second set of memory to put into the system and test

 

[suteck]

What bios are you running? Have you or can you do a bios update? I believe the new bios or 1502. They have had many updates so you're probably not the only one to have issues. Go HERE and put in the relevant information to get them. And THIS LINK might help you to actually do it.

 

[Twoboxer]

Your situation calls for a complete return to basics. Please do the following without skipping any steps:

- Clear CMOS**
- Immediately enter BIOS and load/save defaults. Make NO other changes.
- Boot into Windows and stress test with Prime95 (one hour) and then Furmark. Use CPUID's Hardware Monitor to watch temps. Do not let core temps exceed 75C for too long. Do not let gpu temps exceed 95C for too long.

If you pass these tests, your build is stable. If the problem persists, a software issue is more likely.

If heat becomes a problem during the stress tests, correct and re-run.

If Prime95 crashes, you likely have a memory settings/hardware issue, or a psu issue.

If P95 crashes, enter BIOS and manually set memory timings to match your memory's spec, then rerun the stress tests. If it still crashes, try one click more memory voltage and/or relax settings to lower speed or 8-8-8-24.

Let us know what happens please.

** Clear CMOS: Pull plug from wall, remove motherboard battery, press case power switch a few tiomes to drain capacitors, wait 5 minutes, replace battery, plug into wall.

Download utilities using links here:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/gigabyte/30530-latest-overclocking-programs-system-info-benchmarking-stability-tools.html

 

[RobJordanIsCool]

@suteck: I have had a bios update in the past when I bought the board but there appears to be a few new version out. I didnt want to push my luck cause I know there can be really bad problems if updating the bios doesnt go to plan but at this point ill try anything.

@Twoboxer: Thanks for the advice I think I am going to dedicate my day to doing that tomorrow. Appreciate it Ill post back as soon as I can with results

 

[Twoboxer]

Leave BIOS update for later, unless you read that it fixes a problem you experience.

 

[RetiredChief]

On Bios, Download CPUID CPU-Z, look at mainboard, should Identify MB plus rev. Many times the revision History does NOT always identify all fixes (Don't like to advertize all there errors).

Twoboxer gave a good method, Only add that while monitoring temps also note Voltages and the change when going from Idle to Max load (ie running Prime95 or furmark). 4.75 min for +5 and 11.4 (Myself 11.6) min for Plus 12.