New PC Problem

[djtech2k]

I just built a new system for my general use that I do program and game on as well. The problem I have is that whenevr I play Battlefield 2, the system either crashes to desktop, reboots, blue-screens, or locks up constantly. The only info I have from the crashes is the blue-screen errors that have been pointing towards driver problems. I have gotten stuff like page_fault_in_nonpaged_area, BAD_POOL_CALLER, and another complaining about an nvidia driver. I have uininstalled/reinstalled the game and drivers 100 times with no real constant success. I have been battling with my sound card because apparently the game had issues with it, but am not sure if that is resolved. I was wondering if there is a way to thoroughly test my device drivers to see if any of them are causing a problem. This disturbs me because my system does not play the game I play the most without crashing and all this is happening BEFORE I overclock anything. I built this syetm to OC a bit and I am afraid to make it worse. Anyway, here is my system:

Windows XP Pro 32bit
AMD Athlon XP x2 4400+
Thermalright xp-90 cooler
2GB OcZ Dual channel EL VX Ram DDR-500
DFI nforce4 SLI-DR board
2- Hitachi 160GB SATAII drives in RAID0
Asus Nvidia 7800GTX video
Creative Audigy2 ZS Gamer Audio
Sony CDRW
Plextor DL DVD+-RW
Antec P180 case
Sony HS94P 19" Flat Panel
OcZ 520wATT PSU


Any ideas?

 

[mechBgon]

dclive is a good guy to help analyze crash dumps, drop him a PM but let me also ask a couple hardware-oriented questions too...

1) are all four of the DFI's power cables connected? Floppy-style, CD-ROM style, 24-pin main and 4-pin ATX12V, all four are important on that board.

2) hopefully you are giving your RAM a nice judicious dose of voltage, 2.8V is what I'd start with.

 

[djtech2k]

The thing is that I only have problems when playing BF2. Otherwise, my system occasionally does not startup correctly (hangs before windows logo), but thats it. It never crashes otherwise.

I am pretty sure that I have all power connectors connected. I know I have the 24pin, small adapter (kinda square). I dont think I saw any other emptyplugs. On my psu, there is a voltage adjust ment on the back with a light above each. I have them adjusted so the lights are green, which I think is good. This makes the knobs about half-way turned.

The RAM is also weird to me. I have only set the frequency to 200, so it will recognize it as DDr400. If I do not, the bios picks it up as DDr333. I had the timings set to factory recommended for 2.6v, but changed back to default when I started having problems. Now timings are auto. I did check voltage at one point because the ocz site has 2 recommended timinsg, one with 2.6v and the other with 3.3v. For some reason, my board only allows me to go to 3.1v, so I have always stayed at 2.6v. I know there is a jumper on the board to allow overvolting, but I changed it to allow it while I was building. I noticed the 3.1 limit, so I moved it back to default, rebooted, and moved it back up to allow more. Still no dice. My board still only shows me up to 3.1v.

Any suggestions with that info? Or do you still suggest moving to 2.8v?

 

[mechBgon]

I am pretty sure that I have all power connectors connected. I know I have the 24pin, small adapter (kinda square). I dont think I saw any other emptyplugs.

Then it sounds like you have two of your four power cables connected. The four power connectors are pointed out in this picture. Hook them all up.

Or do you still suggest moving to 2.8v?

Yeah, try 2.8V-2.9V for a while and see if that makes it happier. 2.6V is for vanilla PC3200 like my plain ol' Crucial vanilla stuff.

 

[djtech2k]

ok. I found that indeed I did not have the second 2 power connectors connected. I have never had a board with connections like that before. Do you have any idea why I can only see 3.1v? I havent check again, but I suspect it is that way. I will try some adjustments to the RAM voltage soon. I have now connected the second set of connectors.

I will try changing my voltages to 2.8v to start. Don't I have to adjust the timings to match? I know how to do it, but do not know the values. Is it necessary to change them?

 

[mechBgon]

I think the timings will manage ok on AUTO for now, see how it goes The play's the thing...

 

[djtech2k]

Roger that. I did also notice that the max voltage in my bios is now 3.2v. I know it is supposed to go to 3.4v, but atleast its better. I am at 2.8v now.