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...and the system came crashing down

M

Matt2

Diamond Member
My rig in sig, perfectly stable, ran Prime95 for 24 hours, never saw an artifact or abnormal behavior.

All the sudden I get a BSOD in WinXP saying:

"Hardware Malfunction.

Contact hardware vendor."

That's all it says.

I rebooted and the damn thing hangs when trying to load WinXP. So I kicked it back to BIOS defaul settings and it still hangs.

I formatted the drive, ran WinXP setup, right in the middle of installation it gave me the same error message as above!!!

So... Which piece of hardware needs to be RMA'd???

I'm thinkin it's the processor, but I dont know what could ahve caused it to die so quickly with no warning. 40*c idle, 46*c full load. 1.75v.



 
When you say default settings, does that mean not overclocked ? And if so, did you do the format and install at stock speed ?
 
Yes, I mean stock settings for everything, I cleared the CMOS jumper and changed the FSB from 100mhz to 133mhz.

I did all of this before formatting and trying to reinstall.
 
I thought about the POwersupply myself, since it's a generic 350w PS.

BUT!

IT worked perfectly fine about 5 hours ago. Plus I barely have anything connected to the PS, one optical drive and one HD.
 
The only thing you can really do, is find another comparable WORKING AMD system, and one at a time, swap a part out of yours into the other one, and see which part makes the working one stop running. Other than that I am fresh out of ideas.
 
That could be a prblem, since I dont know ANYONE who has an AMD computer around where I live who will let me just start gutting there computer. I live in a snobby area where everything is $3000 machines from Dell and Gateway cause people are too rich and stupid to do it themselves.

Also, I just inspected the actual processor and there is no physical damage that I can see. No burn marks, no stress fractures.

What makes a computer not work all of the sudden?
 
Originally posted by: Matt2
Yes, I mean stock settings for everything, I cleared the CMOS jumper and changed the FSB from 100mhz to 133mhz.

I did all of this before formatting and trying to reinstall.
Click to expand...

Well...my gut feeling says this particular processor died from overclocking.

I could be wrong, though.
 
Do you have any PCI cards installed? Take everything out except video card and try reinstalling. Do you have another video card that you could try? Doesn't really sound like the processor since it probably wouldn't even get to the BIOS if that's what it was......

[EDIT] Did it give you the error message during hardware detection of the install?
 
PLease help!

If nothing else, I gotta narrow it down to the defective part so I can RMA.

I'm gonna try the RAM theory in a minute.
 
Originally posted by: Cat
The system, is down. The cheat, is...
Click to expand...

...grounded. We put in this light switch so you could turn the lights ON, and OFF...not so you could throw a light switch rave man...

Oh yeah, the puter...I'm with the take everythign out party...leave in the mobo, processor, memory and vid card and see if that works...try replacing mem, vid card one at a time if that didn't work, otherwise add components until the error comes up...then you at least know what's gone bad.

good luck!
moogs
 
Originally posted by: Scitex
Do you have any PCI cards installed? Take everything out except video card and try reinstalling. Do you have another video card that you could try? Doesn't really sound like the processor since it probably wouldn't even get to the BIOS if that's what it was......

[EDIT] Did it give you the error message during hardware detection of the install?
Click to expand...

I ahve no PCI devices attached. if this RAM thing doesnt pan out, the video card was the next to come under scrutiny.

I really really, dont think its the processor. There was no heat issue. It wasnt too terribly overvolted. And to top it off, it was completely 100% no doubt in my mind stable at the settig I had it on. For it to all of the sudden start becoming unstable seems highly unlikely to me. Do u guys feel the same?

What about the mobo? Northbridge overheating, even though system temp was a measly 35*C???
 
ok, I ahve a baseball game to go to, so I wont be back for like 4 hours, but keep the ideas coming. This needs to be resolved tonight!

Thanks for the help so far.
 
i doute it is the video becasue you can see BIOS and DOS, but im not saying its not, its just unlikely. I would try the sound card before the video.
 
ok, we lost so now I am pissed and we are gonna solve this!

At what point does the video card overclock itself?

I had the core set really high @ 372 from 277 default, so if ATI cards oc themselves while windows is booting, that could be the prob???
 
Ok... you reset stuff to default in the BIOS. Now go into the BIOS again and set the RAM to run synchronously with the CPU's FSB, instead of Auto (which would put it waaaaaaaay out of sync, a 266/400 mismatch). Set timings to 2.5-3-3-8 @ 2.77 volts and see what happens. Also, if you've got two modules, try one at a time.

And regardless, I vote for changing to a quality power supply of some kind, maybe Antec TruePower330 or Enermax 365-series, or a Sparkle Power 350W, Enlight 360W... but generic, ewwww! 😛
 
Ok, what the F**K!!!!!!!!!!!

I was ran Prime95 on the exact system in sig overclocked at stated settings. At about tets 20 Prime95 reported fatal errors and quit.

So I was like, ok my system is a piece of crap now, I know that.

I stuck a stick of DDR333 in there just for shits and giggles, and low and behold, the system is all of the sudden stable in Prime95. It made it all the way to test 1000 and thats where I stopped it.

So my RAM is at fault right?

Check this out. Stuck my Geil DDR400 back in there, ran Prime95 and WTF!!!!!! it's stable now! it's at test 500 and going strong!

Any thoughts?
 
Sounds like your RAM might be the culprit. I wonder though if your PS is not able to deliver enough power when under heavy load. What is the Amperage rating on the 5.5 volt leg of the PS?
 
Originally posted by: JonnyDuke
Sounds like your RAM might be the culprit. I wonder though if your PS is not able to deliver enough power when under heavy load. What is the Amperage rating on the 5.5 volt leg of the PS?
Click to expand...

That doesnt explain why it worked with the PC2700 RAM in there and why my PC3200 RAM runs stable all of the sudden.

I am wondering... maybe the RAM got partially unseated?
 
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