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Bent CPU pin causing random reboots?

ForgetCassettes

ForgetCassettes

Golden Member
I recently bought a new P4 2.8C processor and when installing it, I noticed one pin was slightly bent. I pushed it a bit and installed the cpu. Everything is fine except the computer seems to be randomly rebooting. It's not a frequent thing (3 times in a week). My question is, would a bent pin cause this or is my power supply a likely culprit. It's a generic type power supply that came with my case so I wouldn't be surprised.

 
A bent pin shouldn't cause problems(I suppose it is possible, but not very probable), I've bent some cpu pins before and never had problems, anyway. It could be a power supply issue, posting your voltages would help determine that. There could also be a Driver or BIOS issue in play, Update them if you haven't.
 
I dont think a bent pin will do anything, ive pent old pentium CPU's terribly and then rebent em back out and used em. It sounds most likely like a PSU issue, also check your ram timings, run lower timings and see if it still does it, I had an issue with this earlier.
 
Youve got a weak PSU or your memory timings are too tight. Overlclocking?

Edit: i see you have geil memory, set it to the slowest timings possible that should clear it up, geil is hit and miss, some will only run on horrible timings.
 
Motherboard Monitor results...

Core 0 = 1.55V
Core 1 = 2.64V
+3.3 = 3.33V
+5.00 = 4.08V
+12.00 = 11.73V
-12.00 = -1.91V
-5.00 = 0.00V

Let me know how that looks. Thanks for all your help.
 
It would also be helpful if you post the High's/Lows and averages from mbm. If your VCore is flucuating wildly out of safe ranges it might be cause for concern.(It usually fluctuates somewhat anyway, but it would be nice to see how low it gets.)
 
Originally posted by: ForgetCassettes
Motherboard Monitor results...

Core 0 = 1.55V
Core 1 = 2.64V
+3.3 = 3.33V
+5.00 = 4.08V
+12.00 = 11.73V
-12.00 = -1.91V
-5.00 = 0.00V

Let me know how that looks. Thanks for all your help.
Click to expand...

Your +5 is on the low side, and as for your -12 & -5 😕
 
Yeah I didn't think the numbers looked right. Anyone ever used an Allied PSU? My local Micro Center has a 400 Watt for $49.99. I could pick one up today. They also sell Antec and Zalman to name a few. Any suggestions?
 
You can't go wrong with an Antec and if you are willing to spend around the $50 range, then there's no reason to get a questionable brand when you can get a 350 watt Antec that you know will work.
 
Are you using XP? If so, disable the option for it to reboot on errors, then see what messages you get (if any).

And no, a bent CPU wouldn't do that.
 
Yeah I'm using XP Pro. I disabled the reboot on errors but I think a new power supply is in order anyway. I read a few articles this morning on how important a strong psu is and I think I could use a new one regardless. Thanks for your help.
 
I got a deal on an open-box antec 350W psu for $36 but it didn't seem to solve the problem. Here are the readings I currently have...

Core 0 = 1.55V
Core 1 = 2.64V
+3.3 = 3.30V
+5.00 = 4.08V
+12.00 = 11.49V
-12.00 = fluctuating between 0.31 to -9.39
-5.00 = 0.00

Do you think it could be the board?
 
Sounds like a defective board that is reporting incorrect voltages. First try to reflash your bios with the newest version available. If that doesnt work, you might want to look into rma'ing the board. Also, make sure to check your other hardware monitoring settings. The temperature monitor might also be off and this would cause a motherboard feature to kick in and reboot your computer. Try running the system with this feature disabled (not recommended but its a method of isolating the problem). In either case, if the motherboard is giving incorrect readings for hardware monitoring you should definitely have it replaced.

Good luck with fixing the problem..
 
Something I failed to metion. I just recently bought the audigy 2 sound card and It's giving me some pops and clicks when playing mp3s and wavs. I don't know if that is related to my other problem or not. I tried relaxing my memory timings and such but nothing changed.
 
Do you have the tower on a UPS? Could be the voltage regulators on the board. Try seeing if they get obviously hot while in operation. Maybe a little directed airflow from a properly positioned case fan could remedy the problem if this is the case.
 
Originally posted by: ForgetCassettes
Something I failed to metion. I just recently bought the audigy 2 sound card and It's giving me some pops and clicks when playing mp3s and wavs. I don't know if that is related to my other problem or not. I tried relaxing my memory timings and such but nothing changed.
Click to expand...

Hmm, what PCI slot did you put the Audigy in? Try slot 3 or 2, you may be having an IRQ conflict.
 
Originally posted by: ForgetCassettes
I recently bought a new P4 2.8C processor and when installing it, I noticed one pin was slightly bent. I pushed it a bit and installed the cpu. Everything is fine except the computer seems to be randomly rebooting. It's not a frequent thing (3 times in a week). My question is, would a bent pin cause this or is my power supply a likely culprit. It's a generic type power supply that came with my case so I wouldn't be surprised.
Click to expand...

Could be that crappy geil memory ure using..
 
Yeah the memory... I am going to get some Corsair as soon as I catch up on the bills I neglected in December. An Odd thing I noticed is that the popping and clicking from the sound always starts after I start Motherboard Monitor. What's up with that?
 
Well, I picked up 1GB of Corsair TwinX XMS3202v1.2 and after installation, my problem with Windows shutting down increased tenfold. I had three shutdowns in just a few minutes and once windows locked before completing the boot. I shut down and ran memtest for about 10 minutes and got like 777 errors. Would great memory like this bring out the worst in a bad motherboard or did I just get some bad memory? I have a hard time believing it's the memory.
 
Originally posted by: ForgetCassettes
Well, I picked up 1GB of Corsair TwinX XMS3202v1.2 and after installation, my problem with Windows shutting down increased tenfold. I had three shutdowns in just a few minutes and once windows locked before completing the boot. I shut down and ran memtest for about 10 minutes and got like 777 errors. Would great memory like this bring out the worst in a bad motherboard or did I just get some bad memory? I have a hard time believing it's the memory.
Click to expand...

I would replace the mobo honestly. With the troubleshooting steps youve gone through id honestly diagnose it as a mobo-related issue.
 
First off, I wanna thank everyone who have helped me with the problems I've been having. My Gigabyte motherboard finally kicked the bucket yesterday confirming some of your suspicions about the board. I had already ordered an Asus P4P800 and I picked it up yesterday afternoon. Installed it and all of the voltages looked great. Problem was, I still had some pops and clicks from sound and sometimes It would crash when sounds played. Updated drivers didn't help so I removed the audigy2 card and went back to my old Hercules Fortissimo2 (not a bad card anyway). I decided to return the Corsair memory because my Geil seemed to be working just fine with this board. This morning I woke and decided to try some overclocking. I got my P4 2.8C running at 3366 Mhz. I was very impressed. The memory is only running at 384 Mhz but it is running at aggressive timings and my bandwidth is just over 5000 Mb/s according to SiSoft.
As far as CPU temp, I am getting a 37C right now while writing this and after running the burn-in wizard on SiSoft 10 times, the cpu reached 49C. In a few weeks, I plan on trying to get some better Corsair memory but for now, I can't complain about these results, especially after all the trouble I went through recently. Once again, thanks everyone.
 
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