New build is unstable at stock speeds; what's broken?

[JuffoWup]

I just put together a new computer with the following components:

MSI P35 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E7200 - Retail
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
PNY 8800GT 512MB video card

I have everything at stock settings, with the motherboard jumpers set to a 266MHz FSB. At first everything seemed to work fine, I could use the computer for long periods for low CPU applications (internet, e-mail), but after trying to play a game for a few minutes it would lock up. To see whether I had hardware instabilities I ran Prime95 which would invariably fail after less than a minute on both cores. I tried fiddling with some of the BIOS settings like manually setting the RAM voltage to 2.1V; that allowed Prime95 to run for slightly longer but didn't fix the instabilities. The problems got worse; I think my main hard drive was getting corrupted and eventually I couldn't start Firefox or shut down the computer.

What is going on here? Here's what I know isn't it:

It's not the RAM: I tried booting things with one stick, then the other stick, then a different set of RAM altogether; none of that worked.
It's not the BIOS: my mobo shipped with the latest version
It's not temperature issues: CPU temperatures are only around 40°C when lockups occur
It's not software: I reinstalled windows on a formatted drive, same issues using that
It's probably not the power supply: Voltages seemed stable when running Prime95

I'm guessing I have a faulty mobo or CPU; my plan is to RMA the two of those and see if I have any better luck. But I'm worried that something else might be the issue since faulty hardware should in principle be rare; can anyone think of anything else I should try before RMAing? Could there be another reason my setup isn't working?

Thanks a bundle!

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: JuffoWup
I just put together a new computer with the following components:

MSI P35 Neo2-FR LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 Wolfdale 2.53GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E7200 - Retail
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail
OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
PNY 8800GT 512MB video card

I have everything at stock settings, with the motherboard jumpers set to a 266MHz FSB. At first everything seemed to work fine, I could use the computer for long periods for low CPU applications (internet, e-mail), but after trying to play a game for a few minutes it would lock up. To see whether I had hardware instabilities I ran Prime95 which would invariably fail after less than a minute on both cores. I tried fiddling with some of the BIOS settings like manually setting the RAM voltage to 2.1V; that allowed Prime95 to run for slightly longer but didn't fix the instabilities. The problems got worse; I think my main hard drive was getting corrupted and eventually I couldn't start Firefox or shut down the computer.

What is going on here? Here's what I know isn't it:

It's not the RAM: I tried booting things with one stick, then the other stick, then a different set of RAM altogether; none of that worked.
It's not the BIOS: my mobo shipped with the latest version
It's not temperature issues: CPU temperatures are only around 40°C when lockups occur
It's not software: I reinstalled windows on a formatted drive, same issues using that
It's probably not the power supply: Voltages seemed stable when running Prime95

I'm guessing I have a faulty mobo or CPU; my plan is to RMA the two of those and see if I have any better luck. But I'm worried that something else might be the issue since faulty hardware should in principle be rare; can anyone think of anything else I should try before RMAing? Could there be another reason my setup isn't working?

Thanks a bundle!

Run CPU-Z and take a screen shot of each page of the information collected.

 

[JuffoWup]

Hey, great suggestion regarding CPU-Z. It turns out that with the FSB ratio set to "auto" the motherboard was trying to run my RAM at 1:2, or 533MHz. I manually set it to 1:1.5 and things seem to be stable now.

Now my question is: could running my RAM above its rated speed have damaged anything? I'm pretty sure some stuff on my previous hard drive got corrupted, is there any way to find out what's broken there? Thanks again!

 

[robisbell]

or better yet, run PC Wizard and get better info for the CPU, system, Power, etc..
# Supported DRAM Types: DDR2 SDRAM only
# Chipset: Intel P35
# Module Types Supported: Unbuffered only
# Error Detection Support: Non-ECC only
# Graphics Support: Dual PCI Express x16, CrossFire capable
# Max Component Density: 1024
# USB Support: 2.x Compliant
# 240-pin DDR2 DIMM Banking: 4 (2 banks of 2)
# DDR2 SDRAM Frequencies: PC2-5300, PC2-6400 and PC2-8500
# Max Unbuffered DDR2 SDRAM: 8192MB

http://www.crucial.com/store/m...bpoid=FAB32E92A5CA7304
http://www.crucial.com/store/m...bpoid=143FD683A5CA7304
http://www.crucial.com/store/m...bpoid=AB3436BEA5CA7304


Support Dual Channel DDR2 667/800/1066MHz and up (Intel P35 chipset supports up to DDR2-800 officially. For DDR2 800+, manually BIOS adjustment is needed)

<Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR2 voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability.

Example: Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 PC6400 operates at 2.0V, 4-4-4-12.
For more information about specification of high performance memory modules, please check with your Memory Manufactures for more details.

might be using incompatible ram from what I am seeing.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: JuffoWup
Hey, great suggestion regarding CPU-Z. It turns out that with the FSB ratio set to "auto" the motherboard was trying to run my RAM at 1:2, or 533MHz. I manually set it to 1:1.5 and things seem to be stable now.

Now my question is: could running my RAM above its rated speed have damaged anything? I'm pretty sure some stuff on my previous hard drive got corrupted, is there any way to find out what's broken there? Thanks again!

It's possible. Run Memtest86 to find out.

 

[JuffoWup]

If the computer can pass Prime95 without any problems is memory damage still possible? As in will Memtest reveal anything Prime95 wouldn't?

 

[KGB]

Originally posted by: JuffoWup
If the computer can pass Prime95 without any problems is memory damage still possible? As in will Memtest reveal anything Prime95 wouldn't?

Yes, Memtest will discover some things P95 won't.