dutch_delight

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My apologies if this isnt the right forum.

I finally upgraded to windows7 64bit ultimate with a shiny new vertex3 and I've been having lots of trouble.
I've had issues before with windows xp on this machine but windows 7 is not working at all.

When I bootup cold, windows xp (agilty) usually gives me a random bsod but after a restart it is fine. (sometimes it messes up the registry but usually recovers automatically)
windows 7 (vertex3) hangs on install and when I do get it to boot to desktop, it is only temporary before it hangs completely. Reinstalled several times with every possible configuration but no joy.

I have replaced all components in this machine apart from the CPU and case so before I replace my cpu (and mainboard) Is there anything out there that lets me test my CPU to see if that is the actual problem?
Something like a stress test or something?

Also, this is probably a stupid question but the 12v eatx plug on my mainboard has 2, 4 pin plugs. One of those is covered with a plasic cap. I've got a 4 pin plug inserted into the one without the cap.
I dont need to plug in an 8 pin plug do I? In the manual it refers to 'Attach an 8 pin plug'


Any help much appreciated.

 

chesteracorgi

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If your manual says attach 8 pin plug, you should attach an 8 pin plug, or two four pin plugs if they match the plug ins on the mobo. I am a little surprised that the mobo runs at all.

If you can't boot into a OS how will you run a stress test?

And It would help a lot if you listed each component so that you can get good advice.
 

diellur

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To test your CPU, you can download Prime95 and run it. It'll max out your CPU and should throw up any hours over a decent period (say 24 hours). It may also be your motherboard that's faulty, and my money would be on that...more to go wrong with it. What CPU do you have?

You have 1 4-pin 12v connection for motherboards up to ATX in size. I'm not sure for eATX, they may need more juice, but it sounds like you've connected it correctly. Double-check there's not a single 4-pin 12v connection, though.
 
G

Guest

Guest
It should run fine without 8 pins, and only 4 pins in, and yes you have done it correctly, but plug in 8 when you can (remove plastic cover and insert).

I would say check for firmware updates and be cautious as it may brick. Also go ask on ocz's forums as they may have better information on their own drives.
 

dutch_delight

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I've got plenty of power cables coming direct from the powersupply but not sure they would fit the plug.
I've got some plug-in powercables. that probably would fit Would it be ok to plug in one of those and attach it to the mainboard? (like a video card power cable)

I can still boot into windows XP. But from a cold start, it can do 2 things:
1) Show windows loading screen, screen goes black followed by BSOD
or
2) Load into desktop. give it 2 minutes: BSOD
If I then switch off the pc, and back on, windows xp loads fine and remains stable untill I turn it off and leave it overnight.
Windows 7 just remains unstable with random lockups and BSODs all over the place and most of the time cant even get past windows loading screen.




I thought my list of hardware was visible but here it is:

I7 860 lga1156 2.8ghz
Coolermaster v8 heatsink
Asus p7p55d-e lx mainboard
4x2gb ocz platinum 1333
Asus GTX 580
coolermaster 1000watt power
OCZ Agility (win xp)
OCZ Vertex3 (whatever)
1tb and 500gb Western digitals

(all latest firmwares and drivers)

All of these components have been swapped or replaced at some time. The mainboard has already been replaced (previous (asus p7p55d-le) caused same problems) Tried different memory/video card/power supply/no hard drives
Tried installing windows 7 on one of the WD drives which causes the same problems

 
G

Guest

Guest


No you dont, 8 pin is just for added stabability and power for more power hungry cpus (Check motherboard manuals, they say 4 pins are fine.

Also gpu power connectors will not fit in cpu ones (different connector layout for voltages)

That being said, try underclocking your cpu (limit the multiplier to like 5) and see if it crashes, maybe the cpu is having issues staying stable.

Or if you have one, try a low end gpu instead of the 580, to see if that is giving you problems

Also run ram tests. (xp uses less ram so it might not hit the bad areas until later)
 

dutch_delight

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Yeah, just checked. the power cables wont fit. I'm a fool for even suggesting.
I've got a cable coming from the powersupply that's divided into 2x4pin but the other pin is not the same shape. Is it worth a try to get a converter to turn my 4 pin into 8?

I'll try the underclocking next but I just tried to disable 2 of the cores and the pc shut itself down after showing the windows7 logon animation. Then after restart, the logon animation finished but then my hard disc led stayed solidly lit.

I only upgraded my video card last week. (early christmas present to myself) I used to have an 8800gt which had exactly the same issues.

I've tried with 2x2gb of ram. 1x2gb of ram. 1x2gb of kingston ram. No joy. always the same issue but I'll run some tests overnight. See what that does.




 

dutch_delight

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yes exactly like that. And the other one does fit but the shapes are different.
The mainboard shapes are something like:

top: square, rounded
bottom: rounded, square

but the cable is 4 rounded shapes.



Am I ok to plug this in then?
 
G

Guest

Guest
4 rounded shapes?

Does it fit? If so, then you should be fine as they are meant to only fit where they are meant to/standards.
 

dutch_delight

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The cable in the image is exactly what I've got. The one on the right i have plugged in right now. The one on the left (4 rounded shapes) will fit into the main board but the socket on the mainboard has rounded and square holes.

So it does fit but I am not trusting it enough to turn the system on. I've ordered a converter from 4 to 8 pin so I'll wait for that to arrive first.

I've run some tests with prime95 but there were no errors or anything.


 

dutch_delight

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Well the cable didn't make any difference.
Also tried another power supply with my old video card.
Reduced the multiplier so the processor was running at 2ghz
Still the same problem.

Could the cables /power buttons on the case itself cause any problems? I've got a Coolermaster Haf 932


These are some of the blue screens I'm getting:
21a
145
7f
71

and a load more blue screens with no information:
unknown hard error
session initialization failed
pfn list corrupt

And now recently after I have to do a hard reset, windows does a chckdisk and tells me there were registry errors and they have been recovered.
And today I also had a problem where windows didnt recognize .exe files and I had to do a hard disc image restore.

Any help anyone? I really cant afford to spend any more cash on this thing.