Help me troubleshoot instability in my first build

[Guganfan]

Hi, all--

Well, it's my first build, and I'm experiencing random freezes. Here's the specs. I got it all from newegg.com, and have followed their suggestions to fix, but no luck.

Asus P4S800-MX
Pentium 4, 2.4A
Transcend 256 mb x 2 (Tested by Asus with this board)
400 w power supply

Clean install of WIN2k pro on a WD 20g IDE. All Asus drivers, no conflicting devices (SiS chipset). Latest bios flashed (1008). Have experienced freezes: once during intall, and randomly during Windows updates and general use. I have Norton SystemWorks 2004 installed. Have ran a full scan with updated virus definitions. Asus probe tells me CPU temps and MB temps are good -- 39 C to 44 C on the CPU. Put paper washers between screwings mounting the board, in case of short circuits. Returned a stick of Kingston and got the Transcend, since that was tested. Installed drivers in the order recommended by Asus. Furthermore, the Asus website tells me the CPU is supported by this board.

Once after installing Direct X 9 from Windows Update -- the last of all updates in that install -- I rebooted to find Windows install was not detected, and not repairable. Did another install, and all updates were successful. Once up and running, I installed P2P client DC++ (Direct Connect). I've been using that on another machine for years, never had a problem. But now thsi machine woudl freeze within minutes of using DC++. Have since uninstalled DC++, and uninstalled Direct X 9. Now when I boot or reboot after a freeze, the folder C😛rogram Files/Common opens at startup.

About the only thing I haven't tried is clearing CMOS, or a different power supply. Any suggestions? Am considering an install of WINXP, though I don't really want to.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fern]

Looks like a bad install.

Is it a good brand psu?, how are the voltage rails?

Check the vcore and vdimm in Bios or mbm5

EDIT: Oh and Welcome to the Forum 🙂

 

[Guganfan]

Thanks for the welcome and quick post, Fern.

The psu and case came are new and from the best shop in MPLS, General Nanosystems.

I'm afraid your other comments are greek to me! Could you elaborate on the voltage rails, vcore, and vdimm, please? TIA.

Any ideas why the Program Files/Common folder would open at startup? I feel like it's trying to tell me something, but I don't know what.

 

[Fern]

I'm struggling at the moment with a potload of problems in a new build I'm now doing, have narrowed it down to either new psu or a case short. all components are laid out a table o/s the case with a known working spare psu and are working fine after new install.

If the psu came with the case, chances are it aint great. In my situation it led to a bad install of windows.

In the BIOS, you find a section which reports your I2volt, 5v., -I2v., and -5v. rails. What is reported should be within 5 to I0% of spec. Ex. 4.88 is close enough to 5v. to be OK. Even so in my case, the rails reported fine, I assume under load there is too much fluctuation which can lead to cpu instability, thus a bad install. In other words, check to make sure your psu (power supply) is at least looking OK.

The vcore means how much voltage is going to your cpu. The vdimm means how much to your ram/memory. On one of my rigs, the mobo would provide slightly less voltage to my cpu than indicated (even though psu was fine, this is diff issue than poor psu). Ex. I selected "auto" in BIOS, which s/b I.65v., but it was only getting I.63v.. This was just enough to cause instability in my cpu giving me bad chipset/OS installs (it wasn't the best of chips, poor overclocker too). By going in to BIOS and choosing vcore /cpu voltage of I.675 the cpu got I.66v and everything ran sweet. In other words, check to make sure you cpu and ram are getting their specified voltage

These option are found and can be adjusted in your BIOS too. Whats' selected and what's reported may be in different places in your BIOS.

Why program files/common folders opens at startup? Don't know for sure, maybe bad install, maybe was inserted in startup menu somehow. Out of curiosity, I'd run MSCONFIG (hit start, then run, then type in msconfig and select "startup" and see if that is in there. But I'm using a diff OS, I still like/prefer 98se. So don't know in ur case.

EDIT: Your probs also remind me of ram prob. I know it's supposed to be tested. You could run Memtest86, free ram checking proggie to be sure get free d/l of memtest86 here

 

[Guganfan]

"By going in to BIOS and choosing vcore /cpu voltage of I.675 the cpu got I.66v and everything ran sweet."

Right, I have been hesitant to tinker with these settings for fear of frying something. Would 1.675 be a recommended setting to try for this P4 2.4A? Or are different values appropriate for different boards?

 

[mechBgon]

I'm going to reinforce the suggestion of buying a high-quality power supply. Cheap ones increase your likelihood of problems, and you have the power-hungry Prescott version of the Pentium4.

Also, you haven't mentioned what exact speed of memory you bought, but for this CPU you'd want at least DDR333. I also suggest boosting the memory voltage to 2.7 volts if you have that option in your BIOS (not sure).

 

[Fern]

Yeah, different cpu's use different voltage amounts. First off, what does BIOS report? There's prolly something like "PC Health" or "CPU/Dram Voltage" in BIOS which report these numbers. Check ur mobo manual if need be. Could prolly google your cpu to find spec voltage too. I mostly play with amd these days, and my Intel chips are not same as urs, so don't know what it's voltage s/b.

Most boards will auto detect the correct setting, it's just in my case the board supplied I.63v even though the auto feature correctly selected I.65v. My board was an abit nf7-s, they all undervolt the cpu, and my cpu didn't like it.

Run memtest86 for a couple hrs, I'm curious, freezing on install doesn't give me warm and fuzzies.
Memtest86 runs at the DOS level from a bootable floppy, so any OS probs are irrelevent/won't affect it.

Since ur HD is 20gigs I assume it's known to be good/working (haven't seen one of those for sale in a while). Otherwise you could run a diag proggie on it.

To rule out any shorts, could take components o/s case and test like me. I always test mobo, cpu (with HS+F), ram, and vid card o/s case these days anyway. Too many faulty parts received new. I just wanna see it post b4 it goes in case. It's a pain to put in, take out, put in, take out etc.

Trying another psu w/b nice too

I'm off to lunch, will check back L8.

 

[Guganfan]

Thanks for the comments, folks.

"Also, you haven't mentioned what exact speed of memory you bought, but for this CPU you'd want at least DDR333."

It's DDR400. Initially I had 512 mb of Kingston, DDR400. Then on Asus' advice, I installed the Transcend 2 X 256 DDR400, on their approved vendor's list. Freezing symptoms have been the same with both.

"I also suggest boosting the memory voltage to 2.7 volts if you have that option in your BIOS (not sure). " I do have that option in the BIOS, and I'll give it a try.


"First off, what does BIOS report?" I'll check that tonight. I've only used auto detect power settings so far.

"Run memtest86 for a couple hrs," Yep, I have that on disk, so I'll run that tonight too.

"I'm curious, freezing on install doesn't give me warm and fuzzies" Nor I!

As for the HD, it's 2 years old, and was running fine on a previous board. I have ran Windows error checking and Norton's diagnostics on both partitions. No errors reported. The partition that the OS is on now was formatted on this board, per Asus' trouble-shooting recommendations.

Again, Asus also recommended booting with the board out of the case, on a static bag or phone book. Perhaps I'll try that too.

I'm going camping Sat morning for a week, so won't have the chance for more extended testing other than tonight. But wanted to have the machine stable for the wife while I'm gone, If possible. Thanks for the input. Will post findings of mem test, etc.

 

[Fern]

Well, good luck, hope you can nail it down tonight.

as for me, I've found that one cluster of the 5v. connectors from my new psu are bad. any HD attached to them is causing an error. Either drive can't be seen or pc hangs at boot on HD detection. Luckily, doesn't seem to have caused any damage.

Enjoy ur camping trip.

 

[BadThad]

Good advice so far. Easy things to do:

1) Replace the HDD IDE cable. I've seen these go bad out of nowhere many times, they're cheap.
2) Run the WDC FULL diag on that drive, including a surface scan.
3) I'm with Mech, crappy power supplies cause this more often than anything.