New(egg) computer woes...

B

BurninSnipa

Veteran XX
So I have recently purchased some new components to upgrade my system.

I picked up a Gigabyte GA45T-UD3P motherboard with a E8400 Wolfdale chip (3.0GHz w/ 6MB L2 cache). I got two sticks of 2GB Crucial Ballistix PC10600 DDR3 ram to round out the deal.

So after cleaning out my case and setting up all this shiny new equipment... Windows Installer proceeds to BSOD before I even get to the EULA section.

First step, reseat everything. Doesn't help.

So I go and get out my trusty Memtest86 boot disc and pop it in. Running both DIMMs in the A0A2 slots, Memtest crashes ~10% into second test.

So now I'm figuring it's either a memory or motherboard fault, and proceed to test each DIMM module individually in each of the slots. Both sticks come up clean through all 8 tests in all four slots. Slightly bewildered, I run the tests again with the RAM running dual channel in A0A2 and then in A1A3. Both attempts fail.

Now I'm thinking it has to be the motherboard, having some sort of issue with running Dual Channel. Frustrated, I take a break and come back later... reseat everything once more. This time, I get through Memtest running Dual Channel in A0A2. Interesting.

I proceed to install Windows, which actually gets through the entire process. After getting everything up and running, things seem golden... until I realize that XP 32-bit has a 3GB physical memory limitation... guess I should've done a bit more research before I dumped all this cash into these parts.

Fortunately, I realized the Wolfdale chips are all 64-bit, so I procured a copy of XP Pro x64 and reformatted again. An hour or so later and I'm back up and running in 64-bit with all of my glorious RAM.

Anyway, here is where the problems begin again. I start loading up apps and put a few games on. I fire up some CS just to see how smooth things run... not the best benchmark game for a new system (considering my old parts were cutting edge with HL2 was released) but its about all I have. Running CS for about 5 minutes, and the computer hard resets. No BSOD, no BIOS warnings, nothing.

I checked all the voltages and temps, everything is operating within normal range (CPU was peaking at 54 C at 100% load in both cores with stock cooling). I fire up the computer again and start playing some videos, 720p & 1080p rips trying to push the computer into malfunctioning again. Nothing happens. I install and fire up World of Warcraft, which proceeds to run for about 20 minutes before the computer shuts off again. Once again, all the temps and shit seemed fine.

So once again, I reseat everything. I start up the computer again and install Everest, Sandra & BurnInTest. I run a series of benchmarks with Everest and Sandra, including all of the RAM and CPU tests. Nothing happens. I run BurnInTest with stock settings for CPU/GPU/RAM. Nothing happens. I run BurnInTest with the "torture" settings. Nothing happens.

At this point, the computer turns off randomly, usually when in games but not always. It turned of this morning when I got up... it had been playing music all night long, but as soon as I moved the mouse to bring the screens back to life it just restarted.

So, I'm RMA'ing everything back to Newegg in the hopes that it was a hardware fault and I can get reliable replacement parts. All of my other components work fine and have been for years. I just packed everything up and put my old mobo back in.

Anyway, I'd just like some input for my own piece of mind:

Did I do everything I could to test for problems? I've been dealing with computers for a decade and I'm currently preparing for the A+ certification, but I don't really have any equipment or tools to diagnose much further into the problem. One of my techie friends who works at a computer repair shop was at a loss when I told him everything I'd gone through, he said there wasn't much more he would do.

Is there anything I can do to make sure this doesn't happen again, if it were somehow my fault? I'm completely paranoid when it comes to computer hardware. I take the utmost care handling parts and make sure that I'm always grounded. I don't drop or mishandle anything.

Has anyone else experienced these symptoms? I know I have in the past, in that case it was bad DIMM slots, so I'm predisposed to blame the motherboard (or maybe the memory, who knows).

CliffNotes said:
1. New CPU, Motherboard & RAM
2. Fresh install of windows, BSOD during install, run Memtest a bunch.
3. Problem miraculously disappears, install Windows, random restarts.
4. RMA to Newegg & bitch about it on TW
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What is your PSU and Vid Card??
Know your frustration and you are PO'd, but if you could just list all your specs without your emotions, it does make it easier for us to get a picture...
 
Oh yeah, I'm using an Antec 500W PSU and an ATi X800XT PCI-e 256MB card. Both are in good condition and are working fine.
 
I'd suggest updating your BIOS and doing a complete reinstall of your video card drivers.

I suppose u don't have any other video card to test on the system?

It sounds more like a motherboard problem to me than anything else if the bios/driver updates don't fix your problems. I would RMA the motherboard only and see how it goes.
 
Random restarts are typically heat or power related. Your powersupply may have either not been powerful enough to support your PC, or may have been faulty. If your PSU was not powerful enough, the memory sticks may have not been able to draw enough voltage (and the Crucial Ballistix are even more sensitive to this as they require more voltage), and these voltage irregularities cause memory errors that often seem very random.

What the PC reports as voltage readings in the BIOS or through a tool may be one thing, but newer hardware uses extra power under load- and a game stresses all of the components at the same time, whereas many benchmarks only test one item at a time.

Since you've RMA'd everything there's not much to do from here, but I would be wary of powersupply issues.

Edit: Also, you tested just about everything possible for someone in need of free tools to do so would use.
 
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OtakuMark said:
Random restarts are typically heat or power related. Your powersupply may have either not been powerful enough to support your PC, or may have been faulty. If your PSU was not powerful enough, the memory sticks may have not been able to draw enough voltage (and the Crucial Ballistix are even more sensitive to this as they require more voltage), and these voltage irregularities cause memory errors that often seem very random.
Click to expand...
Voltage != watts my man. Memory sticks do not use a lot of power. And memory is pretty idiot-proof nowadays with every BIOS autodetecting everything. It wasn't always that way.

It wasn't video drivers as the XP installation is VGA and doesn't require drivers, so that couldn't have caused the BSOD.

Updating the BIOS would be a horrible idea because if it decides to randomly restart during a flash, you have a toasted motherboard unless it has a backup BIOS.

Odds are it was just a flaky motherboard and probably would have settled down, especially if you had run the burn in test for a few days. That used to be a standard procedure when breaking in new hardware as well. :p:

And don't bother wasting $100 on A+ certification. It's a joke and everybody knows that. It's not going to land you a job or impress anyone.
 
Ixiterra said:
Voltage != watts my man. Memory sticks do not use a lot of power. And memory is pretty idiot-proof nowadays with every BIOS autodetecting everything. It wasn't always that way.
Click to expand...


I never said he should look for more wattage, his PSU may not have been powerful enough to support his PC, or it may have been faulty. Both cause voltage irregularities.
 
I'd say the power supply was garbage.

If you're putting together a new build, get a new quality supply with it. Bite the bullet and get a PC Power & Cooling supply. It will last you through a couple builds at least.
 
Ditto on bad PSU. If the mem works sometiems but not others, either the motherboard capacitors are not working (well), and/or the PSU is putting out crappy, choppy power.
 
Random restarts after testing the obvious things are always power related. If not PSU maybe dirty power (pick up UPS unit)

NEVER skimp on power. Recently i've been biting the bullet and buying PC power and cooling PSUs. I cant tell you the last time i had a random restart when i didn't know the cause or have a damn good idea what caused it.
 
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