I just completed a new build:
Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1
CPU: Intel C2D E6700
Memory: CORSAIR Dominator 2x1GB DDR2 1142 (PC2 9136)
Video: BIOSTAR V7602GS21 GeForce 7600GS
Initally, I installed Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, and it seemed stable until I tried to play RCT3. The game would run fine for about 10 or 15 minutes, and then crash. Sometimes only the game would crash, and other times the computer would just spontaneously restart. I thought it might be an issue with the video drivers for 64-bit Vista, so I decided to wipe the Vista install and installed Windows XP (32-bit).
After ensuring that all drivers were up to date in XP, I installed RCT3 and got the same behavior--the machine rebooted after playing for about 10 minutes. I tried another game (this one had run fine in Vista), and it crashed after I had played for about 10 minutes. At this point, there had also been a couple of times that the computer spontaneously restarted when I wasn't running any games or apps.
After a couple of these restarts, I would receive the message the Windows had recovered from a serious error immediately after restarting Windows, and finally, I received a Windows error indicating a potential hardware failure (or something to that effect), which recommended running Windows Memory Diagnostics.
I ran WMD, which reported no errors under the standard test suite. I then ran the extended test suite, and ERAND logged 37 errors during the first pass (all 37 errors were isolated to one memory module).
I reseated both modules and ran WMD again. This time, I left the tests running unattended, and when I returned, WMD had stopped due to a Trap 00000006 exception. I have since tried a couple of times, just to see if the errors are occurring on the same module, but each time I return to the unattended test, it has stopped with the same exception.
My gameplan right now is this: I intend to run WMD once more, when I have time to monitor it, so that I can stop the tests after any errors are logged but before it throws an exception, to determine whether the same module is causing the errors. If so, I will swap the modules in their sockets (I don't have any other compatible memory to test on this board), and run the test one more time to see if the same module causes errors in a different socket.
I'm not sure whether this is necessary, or if I already have enough evidence to indicate that one of the modules is defective. Or perhaps there is something else I can try to positively identify the problem, and any suggestions advice are welcome.
Some other thoughts: Some of the early symptoms still make me suspicious of the video card and/or video drivers, or even sound like they may be related to overheating. Although I won't rule overheating out, it seems unlikely. I've got plenty of fans, good circulation, and even have the dominator fans installed on the DIMMs, as well as the optional NVidia chipset fan, and all temperatures reported in BIOS are pretty decent. (Every component is running at stock speeds/voltages--no OC'ing.)
Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1
CPU: Intel C2D E6700
Memory: CORSAIR Dominator 2x1GB DDR2 1142 (PC2 9136)
Video: BIOSTAR V7602GS21 GeForce 7600GS
Initally, I installed Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, and it seemed stable until I tried to play RCT3. The game would run fine for about 10 or 15 minutes, and then crash. Sometimes only the game would crash, and other times the computer would just spontaneously restart. I thought it might be an issue with the video drivers for 64-bit Vista, so I decided to wipe the Vista install and installed Windows XP (32-bit).
After ensuring that all drivers were up to date in XP, I installed RCT3 and got the same behavior--the machine rebooted after playing for about 10 minutes. I tried another game (this one had run fine in Vista), and it crashed after I had played for about 10 minutes. At this point, there had also been a couple of times that the computer spontaneously restarted when I wasn't running any games or apps.
After a couple of these restarts, I would receive the message the Windows had recovered from a serious error immediately after restarting Windows, and finally, I received a Windows error indicating a potential hardware failure (or something to that effect), which recommended running Windows Memory Diagnostics.
I ran WMD, which reported no errors under the standard test suite. I then ran the extended test suite, and ERAND logged 37 errors during the first pass (all 37 errors were isolated to one memory module).
I reseated both modules and ran WMD again. This time, I left the tests running unattended, and when I returned, WMD had stopped due to a Trap 00000006 exception. I have since tried a couple of times, just to see if the errors are occurring on the same module, but each time I return to the unattended test, it has stopped with the same exception.
My gameplan right now is this: I intend to run WMD once more, when I have time to monitor it, so that I can stop the tests after any errors are logged but before it throws an exception, to determine whether the same module is causing the errors. If so, I will swap the modules in their sockets (I don't have any other compatible memory to test on this board), and run the test one more time to see if the same module causes errors in a different socket.
I'm not sure whether this is necessary, or if I already have enough evidence to indicate that one of the modules is defective. Or perhaps there is something else I can try to positively identify the problem, and any suggestions advice are welcome.
Some other thoughts: Some of the early symptoms still make me suspicious of the video card and/or video drivers, or even sound like they may be related to overheating. Although I won't rule overheating out, it seems unlikely. I've got plenty of fans, good circulation, and even have the dominator fans installed on the DIMMs, as well as the optional NVidia chipset fan, and all temperatures reported in BIOS are pretty decent. (Every component is running at stock speeds/voltages--no OC'ing.)
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