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Need help troubleshooting system instability

MDE

MDE

Lifer
My system has been crashing semi-randomly (during games mostly) for a while (getting worse with time), but recently it's gotten so bad I can't even boot into Windows or even complete a Windows installation. I replaced the motherboard a couple months back thinking that was the issue, but the symptoms have continued. The BIOS is the latest version, nothing is overclocked (for now at least), RAM is Mushkin XP4400 running at SPD settings, cooling is adequate all around, thermal paste has been reapplied and dust blown out. I downloaded the Ultimate Boot CD to run Memtest, which came back with no errors after 20 minutes, but the Mersenne Prime Test errors immediately, while the other CPU tests will run without any issues that I see. The most likely culprit in my eyes is the CPU, but I'm wondering if anyone else has an idea.

System specs in sig
 
Dude, you gotta run Memtest for longer than 20 minutes. Run it for at least 8 hours while you're asleep or at work.
 
Originally posted by: JohnAn2112
Dude, you gotta run Memtest for longer than 20 minutes. Run it for at least 8 hours while you're asleep or at work.
Click to expand...

Yes, he needs to run memtest longer than 20 minutes.

Usually when I feel like my system needs some spankin', I first headed for memtest 86 + for at least 12 hours, then prime 95 for 12 hours, super pi 32 M.

But I do wonder...what is your PSU ?
 
PSU is an Antec TruePower 2.0 430W (both 12V rails are 17A, which should be plenty). I'm going to try a different PSU (TruePower 380S) and motherboard to try to rule out the CPU, otherwise that's the only thing I haven't been able to rule out.

EDIT: Ran Memtest for 9.5 hours with no errors.
 
Passing Memtest and failing Prime suggests that the RAM could still be faulty. Do you have any sticks of RAM that are known to be Prime stable? If not, can you up the voltage and/or loosen the timings on your current RAM?

In my experience, Prime's blend test is very good at picking out RAM issues.

Edit: Have you tried running with just one stick at a time? Switching RAM slots?
 
I've switched the RAM to slots 3 and 4 and the hard drive isn't the culprit, this is booting off of a CD and has been happening with two different hard drives.
 
A friend of mine with a small PC business in Florida wrote me this today. I thought it might apply.

"Speaking of building stuff . . . I ran into something really weird the other day, and it is worth mentioning if only because it could save someone else about two extra hours of diagnostics. I was upgrading a system to a newer MSI 64bit motherboard with a 3000+ processor and 2 512MB sticks of Crucial memory. It would stop part of the way through the POST . . . and sometimes actually boot Windows, but reboot part way through the process.

"When all else fails, read the directions . What I finally found is that if you use more than one stick of double-sided PC3200 memory, you need to back it off to PC2700 (drop 200 bus back to 166). Of course, I had to take one of the sticks out, because it wouldn't let me into the BIOS at all with both installed, but once that was accomplished, things worked just great. <mumblemumblemumble> "
 
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