So.
For the past month or so my computer would lock up while playing 3D games. About 1 minute into the game, I would loose the mouse and KB and few seconds later the speakers would screech. Then the computer would Blue Screen and reboot.
The Blue Screen error message said something about a device driver being corrupted.
Simple enough I figured. Just uninstall the old nvidia drivers, and install the new.
I downloaded the latest revision, and removed the installed version. I installed the new and rebooted.
Everything should be ok now. Load up Day of Defeat, and WHAM, BSOD. crap.
Well, if it's not the drivers, maybe it's the hardware?
1.Nvidia recommends at least a 480watt power supply. I was running a Antec TRUE430, so already I'm underpowered. However, I'm also running two optical drives, two 7200rpm hard drives, two 10,000rpm Raptors, and Audigy an audigy2 ZS with a front panel, not to mentiion the five case fans.
So the system is definately underpowered.
2.Also, my memory had some issues on Prime95. Nothing serious, especially with relaxed timings. But maybe the RAM is the culprit.
3.Furthermore, my CPU was idling at 48C and was about 60C under load. That is very hot, so maybe the issue is improper heat dissipation.
My solution was to upgrade ALL of the suspect conditions.
--------------------
This is how resolved each of these issues.
1. First, I addressed the power concerns.
a. I removed the two 7200rpm drives (Maxtor 8MB x 250GB) and put them into external enclosures.
Since these (Thermaltake A2173) use their own power, that should reduce the overall power drain. This move also allows me to put two bays of empty space between the hot Raptors which should help to keep them cooler.
b. In addition to reducing the overall power drain by removing the storage drives, I increased the available power by installing a Antec TRUE550 (from a TRUE430), which brings the system inline with the nvidia specs, and covers the exceptional demands of my peripherals.
2. To address the heat problem, my solution was, again, twofold.
a. First, I increased the airflow.
To do this, I installed two new intake fans to replace the stock fans.
-These are Thermaltake Smart LED Case Fans. They have three install options: Full on all the time, a temperature probe control, or a potentiometer for manual control of the fan speed. I opted for the manual control because these things are LOUD on full. They move a lot of air (>=35cfm) on full, but they are loud enough to hear clearly three rooms away. So having a manual control for that is a good thing.
-I also reversed the fan on the top of my case. It was sucking air into the case. It now blows air out. I also removed the built in air filter on that fan to increase airflow.
-I also added a special fan to cool the graphic card. This is the model: Exhaust Blower It's just a cheap, flat, centrifugal fan that fits above a PCI slot. I put it right next to the AGP slot and it takes the air from the 6800's exhaust and blows it right out the back. Works like a charm.
b. The second aspect of reducing the overall case temperature is to reduce the CPU's operating temperature.
I'm not willing to deal with water cooling or vapor chill just yet, so a normal air cooled heatsink is what I was looking for.
I went with the ThermalRight XP-90 complemented with a Panaflo fan and Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste.
The manufacturers website says the XP-90 fits on the K8N Neo Platinum. Indeed it does, but they don't tell that you have to install it backwards because it would severely block the AGP card otherwise. However, in this configuration, it now covers the first two memory slots. So, if you want to move the RAM in those slots, you have to first remove the heatsink and deal with all the cleaning and reapplying of thermal paste which that entails. What a Pain.
3. The only difficult part of upgrading RAM is coping with the cost. You get what you pay for, but buying decent memory in a suitable capacity can be costly. I opted for this model:
Corsair XMS. There were two quasi-problems with the RAM upgrade.
a. When you press a normal DIMM into a slot, the plastic key snaps forward and holds the DIMM in place. On this module, the heat spreader overlaps the locking slot preventing it from snapping into place. Despite this, the connection seems secure, so I went with it. However, I might take it out anyway, because
b. I noticed the memory was running a bit slower than i expected, so I read my motherboard manual a little closer. It seems that three DIMMs of DDR400 will only operate at DDR300 speeds. To get the higher speeds, I can only use TWO DIMMS at once. When you use three DDR400 DIMMs on the K8N, they will only operate on DDR300 speeds.
So, either go with 1.5GB of memory at DDR300 or 1.0GB of memory at DDR400. I'm still deciding.
Luckily, I put the funky module in the 3rd slot, so I won't have to remove the heatsink to pull it out.
That was it for the upgrades.
-----------------
Once the upgrades were implemented, it was time to test it out, and make sure the lockup problem has been eradicated.
Bootup, check CPU temp in BIOS. 38C. Good. Much better, but that's from a cold boot. So we boot to Windows and everything looks good. Fool around for a while making sure everything looks the way it should. Reboot after an hour and check temp in BIOS, 39C. Awesome. Looks like we've got that temperature problem licked.
So, no it's time for the Big Test. Load up Day of Defeat. Not even a minute into the game, it locks up...............WTF!!!!!
I'm seriously pissed now, but I stay calm. Let's look at the logfiles.
C:\WINDOWS\LogFiles\Watchdog\xxx.wdl
It's still pointing to a device driver conflict?!
So, I get to thinking it MUST be a driver issue. I decide to go all out and get every scrap of old driver I can find, and install on top of that.
This was my method:
1.Download latest drivers from Manufacturers website (not nvidia's website).
2.Download "Driver Cleaner Pro" from http://www.drivercleaner.net/
3.unplug network cable so windows won't try to autoupdate drivers before I install my drivers.
4.reboot into safe mode
5.uninstall the nvida drivers
6.reboot into safe mode again
7.run driver cleaner
8.install new drivers, closely following the installation guide on manufacturers site.
They have a specifc method for proper driver installation which goes a little something like this:
Run the .exe which will upack the drivers to a folder, but cancel the installer and manually direct windows to find the drivers you just unpacked
Specifically, this is:
My Computer>Properties>Hardware>Device Manager>Display Adapter>Update Driver...>Install from a list or specific location>Don't Search. I will Choose>Have Disk --- navigate to your driver, click finish reboot, and that's it.
ok. So let's test it. I did test it, and I haven't had a single Blue Screen to date. ta da.
So, my first idea was correct, but my implementation was lousy. I ended up spending hundreds of dollars on new components that are nice to have, but that I didn't NEED. At least I avoided a fresh install. I think formatting a hard drive to resolve an issue is a cop-out, and I'm glad I didn' t resort to that.
But I did back up all my data to DVD just in case. Do you know how long it takes to burn 100GB to DVD. I'll tell you. About Fifteen Hours.
The moral of the story is, if you upgrade your drivers, make sure you completely uninstall the old drivers first.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day.
For the past month or so my computer would lock up while playing 3D games. About 1 minute into the game, I would loose the mouse and KB and few seconds later the speakers would screech. Then the computer would Blue Screen and reboot.
The Blue Screen error message said something about a device driver being corrupted.
Simple enough I figured. Just uninstall the old nvidia drivers, and install the new.
I downloaded the latest revision, and removed the installed version. I installed the new and rebooted.
Everything should be ok now. Load up Day of Defeat, and WHAM, BSOD. crap.
Well, if it's not the drivers, maybe it's the hardware?
1.Nvidia recommends at least a 480watt power supply. I was running a Antec TRUE430, so already I'm underpowered. However, I'm also running two optical drives, two 7200rpm hard drives, two 10,000rpm Raptors, and Audigy an audigy2 ZS with a front panel, not to mentiion the five case fans.
So the system is definately underpowered.
2.Also, my memory had some issues on Prime95. Nothing serious, especially with relaxed timings. But maybe the RAM is the culprit.
3.Furthermore, my CPU was idling at 48C and was about 60C under load. That is very hot, so maybe the issue is improper heat dissipation.
My solution was to upgrade ALL of the suspect conditions.
--------------------
This is how resolved each of these issues.
1. First, I addressed the power concerns.
a. I removed the two 7200rpm drives (Maxtor 8MB x 250GB) and put them into external enclosures.
Since these (Thermaltake A2173) use their own power, that should reduce the overall power drain. This move also allows me to put two bays of empty space between the hot Raptors which should help to keep them cooler.
b. In addition to reducing the overall power drain by removing the storage drives, I increased the available power by installing a Antec TRUE550 (from a TRUE430), which brings the system inline with the nvidia specs, and covers the exceptional demands of my peripherals.
2. To address the heat problem, my solution was, again, twofold.
a. First, I increased the airflow.
To do this, I installed two new intake fans to replace the stock fans.
-These are Thermaltake Smart LED Case Fans. They have three install options: Full on all the time, a temperature probe control, or a potentiometer for manual control of the fan speed. I opted for the manual control because these things are LOUD on full. They move a lot of air (>=35cfm) on full, but they are loud enough to hear clearly three rooms away. So having a manual control for that is a good thing.
-I also reversed the fan on the top of my case. It was sucking air into the case. It now blows air out. I also removed the built in air filter on that fan to increase airflow.
-I also added a special fan to cool the graphic card. This is the model: Exhaust Blower It's just a cheap, flat, centrifugal fan that fits above a PCI slot. I put it right next to the AGP slot and it takes the air from the 6800's exhaust and blows it right out the back. Works like a charm.
b. The second aspect of reducing the overall case temperature is to reduce the CPU's operating temperature.
I'm not willing to deal with water cooling or vapor chill just yet, so a normal air cooled heatsink is what I was looking for.
I went with the ThermalRight XP-90 complemented with a Panaflo fan and Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste.
The manufacturers website says the XP-90 fits on the K8N Neo Platinum. Indeed it does, but they don't tell that you have to install it backwards because it would severely block the AGP card otherwise. However, in this configuration, it now covers the first two memory slots. So, if you want to move the RAM in those slots, you have to first remove the heatsink and deal with all the cleaning and reapplying of thermal paste which that entails. What a Pain.
3. The only difficult part of upgrading RAM is coping with the cost. You get what you pay for, but buying decent memory in a suitable capacity can be costly. I opted for this model:
Corsair XMS. There were two quasi-problems with the RAM upgrade.
a. When you press a normal DIMM into a slot, the plastic key snaps forward and holds the DIMM in place. On this module, the heat spreader overlaps the locking slot preventing it from snapping into place. Despite this, the connection seems secure, so I went with it. However, I might take it out anyway, because
b. I noticed the memory was running a bit slower than i expected, so I read my motherboard manual a little closer. It seems that three DIMMs of DDR400 will only operate at DDR300 speeds. To get the higher speeds, I can only use TWO DIMMS at once. When you use three DDR400 DIMMs on the K8N, they will only operate on DDR300 speeds.
So, either go with 1.5GB of memory at DDR300 or 1.0GB of memory at DDR400. I'm still deciding.
Luckily, I put the funky module in the 3rd slot, so I won't have to remove the heatsink to pull it out.
That was it for the upgrades.
-----------------
Once the upgrades were implemented, it was time to test it out, and make sure the lockup problem has been eradicated.
Bootup, check CPU temp in BIOS. 38C. Good. Much better, but that's from a cold boot. So we boot to Windows and everything looks good. Fool around for a while making sure everything looks the way it should. Reboot after an hour and check temp in BIOS, 39C. Awesome. Looks like we've got that temperature problem licked.
So, no it's time for the Big Test. Load up Day of Defeat. Not even a minute into the game, it locks up...............WTF!!!!!
I'm seriously pissed now, but I stay calm. Let's look at the logfiles.
C:\WINDOWS\LogFiles\Watchdog\xxx.wdl
It's still pointing to a device driver conflict?!
So, I get to thinking it MUST be a driver issue. I decide to go all out and get every scrap of old driver I can find, and install on top of that.
This was my method:
1.Download latest drivers from Manufacturers website (not nvidia's website).
2.Download "Driver Cleaner Pro" from http://www.drivercleaner.net/
3.unplug network cable so windows won't try to autoupdate drivers before I install my drivers.
4.reboot into safe mode
5.uninstall the nvida drivers
6.reboot into safe mode again
7.run driver cleaner
8.install new drivers, closely following the installation guide on manufacturers site.
They have a specifc method for proper driver installation which goes a little something like this:
Run the .exe which will upack the drivers to a folder, but cancel the installer and manually direct windows to find the drivers you just unpacked
Specifically, this is:
My Computer>Properties>Hardware>Device Manager>Display Adapter>Update Driver...>Install from a list or specific location>Don't Search. I will Choose>Have Disk --- navigate to your driver, click finish reboot, and that's it.
ok. So let's test it. I did test it, and I haven't had a single Blue Screen to date. ta da.
So, my first idea was correct, but my implementation was lousy. I ended up spending hundreds of dollars on new components that are nice to have, but that I didn't NEED. At least I avoided a fresh install. I think formatting a hard drive to resolve an issue is a cop-out, and I'm glad I didn' t resort to that.
But I did back up all my data to DVD just in case. Do you know how long it takes to burn 100GB to DVD. I'll tell you. About Fifteen Hours.
The moral of the story is, if you upgrade your drivers, make sure you completely uninstall the old drivers first.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day.
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