- Oct 25, 2012
- 8
- 0
- 10,510
Hello,
I recently put together a new computer and have been running in to some crazy issues. First off, here is all the relevant information:
- ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Intel Z68 ( was an open box item on newegg but not a refurb...though these issues have made me suspicious)
- Core i5 3570k at stock speeds
- Radeon 6870 (a little over a year old)
- Rosewill 600w psu (about 2 years old)
- 8gb Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB DDR3 @1600 (checked the timings and voltage)
- 500 gb WD Caviar black, SATA 3
So here is the problem: I put the computer together with no problems at all and everything in the BIOS looked right. I had to change the speed of the ram to 1600 due to a mis-detection, but that was the only setting I changed. Under these conditions, the computer worked fantastically for about a week, and games worked just as well. Then one night, I came up to my computer to see a BSOD saying "hardware malfunction" with no codes or mention of specifics. I thought it might be a one off situation, restarted, and things seemed to be fine again. After about an hour of use and just browsing the web, it happened again. Moreover, I was having all sorts of weird video issues in which the screen would be filled with vertical bars of varying sizes and colors making it very difficult to see what was going on. This happened in games as well as out of games and it was really random when it would happen (sometimes I could go hours with no sign of issues and sometimes minutes).
I began to check my temps in the BIOS as well as temps on my video card and everything else. Everything was normal (mid 40s...using a nice zalman cooler). So I thought maybe there was an issue with the ram and set the speed back to the default of what the BIOS detected. Problem persisted. At this point, I decided to download memtest as well as furmark to make sure that there wasn't an issue with the ram or with the video card overheating. Both passed with flying colors and the system was stable the entire time (about 2 hours with furmark).
Here is a list of other things I have tried since then:
-Switched out the ram completely with my wife's working ram (from her computer she uses every day)
- Re-seating my video card, changing pci express slots, keeping the fan at higher speeds all of the time, and messed with refresh rate.
- Blowing dust out of the video card and power supply (very little as I do blow through every 3 months or so)
- Removed the video card completely and used the on-board video.
- Changed my cable to my monitor
- Uninstalled and re-installed the latest drivers from ATI
- Tinkered around with settings in the BIOS: everything from voltage changes, overclocking changes, power consumption changes, and flashing it to the latest version. Everything has gone back to default since then, other than the flashing.
The only thing I have not been able to test is my power supply and a different motherboard. However, this current set up has less of a power draw than my old machine and that machine was stable up to the last minute of me using it and switching over the video card and psu. Obviously that doesn't necessarily matter but I did want to mention that tidbit. The blue screens have been a bit less frequent lately (usually once per 48 hours or so) but the video issues have been somewhat consistent. Sometimes when I'm browsing the web or just idleing, I will have small black line on the right side of my monitor show up... kind of has a constant slight movement to it.
So yeah, I know that is kind of a lengthy post but I know you guys prefer specifics. Any help you guys can provide would be appreciated.
I recently put together a new computer and have been running in to some crazy issues. First off, here is all the relevant information:
- ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Intel Z68 ( was an open box item on newegg but not a refurb...though these issues have made me suspicious)
- Core i5 3570k at stock speeds
- Radeon 6870 (a little over a year old)
- Rosewill 600w psu (about 2 years old)
- 8gb Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB DDR3 @1600 (checked the timings and voltage)
- 500 gb WD Caviar black, SATA 3
So here is the problem: I put the computer together with no problems at all and everything in the BIOS looked right. I had to change the speed of the ram to 1600 due to a mis-detection, but that was the only setting I changed. Under these conditions, the computer worked fantastically for about a week, and games worked just as well. Then one night, I came up to my computer to see a BSOD saying "hardware malfunction" with no codes or mention of specifics. I thought it might be a one off situation, restarted, and things seemed to be fine again. After about an hour of use and just browsing the web, it happened again. Moreover, I was having all sorts of weird video issues in which the screen would be filled with vertical bars of varying sizes and colors making it very difficult to see what was going on. This happened in games as well as out of games and it was really random when it would happen (sometimes I could go hours with no sign of issues and sometimes minutes).
I began to check my temps in the BIOS as well as temps on my video card and everything else. Everything was normal (mid 40s...using a nice zalman cooler). So I thought maybe there was an issue with the ram and set the speed back to the default of what the BIOS detected. Problem persisted. At this point, I decided to download memtest as well as furmark to make sure that there wasn't an issue with the ram or with the video card overheating. Both passed with flying colors and the system was stable the entire time (about 2 hours with furmark).
Here is a list of other things I have tried since then:
-Switched out the ram completely with my wife's working ram (from her computer she uses every day)
- Re-seating my video card, changing pci express slots, keeping the fan at higher speeds all of the time, and messed with refresh rate.
- Blowing dust out of the video card and power supply (very little as I do blow through every 3 months or so)
- Removed the video card completely and used the on-board video.
- Changed my cable to my monitor
- Uninstalled and re-installed the latest drivers from ATI
- Tinkered around with settings in the BIOS: everything from voltage changes, overclocking changes, power consumption changes, and flashing it to the latest version. Everything has gone back to default since then, other than the flashing.
The only thing I have not been able to test is my power supply and a different motherboard. However, this current set up has less of a power draw than my old machine and that machine was stable up to the last minute of me using it and switching over the video card and psu. Obviously that doesn't necessarily matter but I did want to mention that tidbit. The blue screens have been a bit less frequent lately (usually once per 48 hours or so) but the video issues have been somewhat consistent. Sometimes when I'm browsing the web or just idleing, I will have small black line on the right side of my monitor show up... kind of has a constant slight movement to it.
So yeah, I know that is kind of a lengthy post but I know you guys prefer specifics. Any help you guys can provide would be appreciated.
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