Problem with K7N420D (nForce) and hardlocks

[T101]

I have the current setup;

MSI K7N420D (nForce)
Athlon XP 1800+ (not overklocked)
1 Stick of Kingston DDR 256MB ram
MSI GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128 MB
Realtek Ethernetcard (since the internal networkcard on the MB does not work with my HUB).
1 IBM Deskstar 80GB
1 IBM Deskstar 40GB
Asus DVD E612
LiteOn CD-Rw
Codegen 300X (300W PSU, with 165W on 3,3V + 5V)

Windows XP Professional (have done numerous updates from windows update)
Detonator 30.30
MSI Chipset drivers 2.29

The problem is as follows;
When i play games (it has happened during use of Virtual Dub too) i sudden gets a hardlock, the machine freezes or the screen just goes black. It is totally random and can occur at any time. Sometimes the machine works for minutes, other times it works for hours.

I have tried the following solutions and have run of options;

1. Different versions and manufacturers of nForce chipset drivers.
2. Installing win XP without APIC.
3. Borrowed and tried an Enermax 550W PSU.
4. Tried Detonator 29.42, 28.40, 30.82, 30.30.
5. Changed my CPU heatsink which dropped my CPU temp from 50 to 42.
6. Chipset heat - Removed heatsink and checked the thermal conductivity, no problem there, so its not causing it. The chipset is _not_ overheating.
7. Removed AGP card and ran on internal. Nope, neither of the AGP cards (internal or external) caused any problems.
8. Removed all other expansion cards.
9. 3 reinstallations of windows XP, does not seem to be Win XP itself that causes the problem.
10. Flash bios from 2.4 back to 2.3, nope, same.
11. Flash bios from 2.3 to 2.6, same so i flashed back to 2.4.
12. Exchanged powersupply to a brand one (AOpen 300W), no change.
13. Disabled onboard audio and inserted an SB Live. I suspect that the problem is caused by the onboard audio. But as i write this i have yet to test if it runs stable with the SB Live (drivers take _quite_ a while to download with 56K modem).

If somone knows how i could fix this and enjoy the onboard audio that have worked earlier, please help. Im open to suggestions since ive run out of options, i do not know anything more i can test.

 

[mechBgon]

Have you tried different RAM yet? Also, I think a loaded gaming system should have a more-powerful power supply than 165W 3.3V + 5V, but presumably your new AOpen is better in that respect. For a loaded gaming rig, I'd personally be thinking 220W+ on the 3.3 + 5.

Thanks for the methodical post, by the way, it's much easier to understand than "help man I got an nForce and it crashes and I've tried about everything oh and it has a GeForce 4." Good luck finding the culprit!

 

[T101]

As you saw, i have tried a 550W Enermax supply, it did not help. And if that is not enough, i dont know what is

No, i have not tried another type of ram since that is the only thing i can not get my hands on and try. However, the problem are on two machines that has an equal setup. They have both been running fine for about 4 months before this problem started to occur. Would not a memory problem have shown itself much sooner?

However, ive run Memtest86 as well as prime95. Both went through totally ok.

Have been running both machines with another soundcard installed (onboard sound disabled) and they now seem to work fine, which is good to the point that i seem to have located what is causing the trouble. The bad thing is that i did like the onboard sound, both the "sound" of it, and the fact that they use _very_ little CPU resources compared to my SB Live and the other soundcard (C-media, something).

 

[mechBgon]

Is there any chance this is being caused by dips in your utility power? I'm sorry I don't have any other ideas to offer.

 

[T101]

Hmm, i do not think so. Why would it then be stable with a SB Live and not with onboard audio?

Sorry, english is not my native language, utility power, that is what you get out of the wall socket?

 

[mechBgon]

That's what I mean, the power from the wall socket, but if it is only happening with the onboard sound, then I wonder if it could be a problem with the driver software.

Your English is great, what's your native language?

 

[T101]

Ok, the utility power is much stable (checked). However ive got confirmation from other users of this (and other) nForce boards that it _is_ a problem with the onboard audio that just makes the machine crash. If it is faulty hardware _or_ bad drivers no one knows, but it does not seem like it is going to get fixed. The only solution seems to be an addon soundcard.

Too bad since the good reviews of the sound was one thing that made me buy this board (hate my SB Live). But then the rest of the features it has have been working flawlessly (only problem beyond this was with the network, which turned out to be related to my archaic HUB and not the nForce itself).

Thanks all for the help you have given. If someone however would stumble over a solution to the problem i would appreciate it much if that person would notify me

 

[T101]

Missed that question, my native language is swedish.

Been running with the SB Live on my machine for a very long time (compared to before) without any crashes. Too bad that the onboard audio "sounds" better and is supposed to be almost as good as the SB Audigy. IMHO the SB Live is a real downgrade of sound hardware, but at least it works.

 

[Valis]

Ledsen grabben, men det är bara att bita i gräset, nForce är ett dåligt chipset, så är det tydligen bara.
Mitt kort strular som bara f*n...


Sorry to rain on your parade...

(Sorry for the foreign language)

 

[T101]

Originally posted by: Valis
Ledsen grabben, men det är bara att bita i gräset, nForce är ett dåligt chipset, så är det tydligen bara.
Mitt kort strular som bara f*n...

Translation: "Sorry kid, it's just to face the music. The nForce is a crappy chipset, thats it. My card is acting up as hell."

Are you to afraid to write that so others could read?

Well, it does not come close the troubles some via chipsets have. My other Via Kt266a machine can't even do heavy load on disc activity without putting a 100% load on the CPU and then not be able to do anything, and Yes, DMA transfers are active.

But it was not to argue what chipset is the best that i posted here. I did this post in order to get in my opinion advice from some of the most hardware-knowledgeble people on the net.

"Sorry to rain on your parade..."

Well, it's mostly my audio it rains on. Without onboard audio and a SB Live it do work. And in Linux onboard audio works, while it dont in Win Xp. I think its more driver related than hardware related.

"(Sorry for the foreign language)

"

 

[maxSe]

Hmm... Let me see if I can help you out at all... I'm not using the K7N420, but I'm running K7N415 (minus the onboard vid) with Gainward GF3 (yes, the red one... ).

My setup isn'e ALL that different from yours except a few things... Here they are:

MSI K7N415Pro
XP1800+ (not oc'd) with ThermalRight SK-6
Gainward GF3 PowerPack 64MB AGP
256MB Crucial DDR 2100 (single stick)
60GB Maxtor 7200RPM HD
32x Lite-On CDRW
12x Toshiba DVD
400W Powerman PSU

Running WinXP with EVERYTHING onboard enabled (I mean.. that's the reason we got this board, right? ). The board is actually flashed with K7N420 bios (I think it's 2.6... not sure), and I haven't had a single problem so far...

It looks like only thing that wasn't tried was the Ram... When I first got this board, I did some research on it and found out people were running into problems while using a single stick of ram... They recommended 2 sticks to be used in slot 1 & 3. However, this mainly dealt with performance issue, and seemed to be resolved with bios 2.4 and later...

I was running 2x256MB of Crucial before, but since then taken out one stick and running only one in slot 1, and haven't had any problems. It's a system I set up at my g/f's place... so.. May you can try the ram in different slots? I'd be interested to know which games you were running when the system locks up. May be I'll try to duplicate the problem (given that I have those games... ).

Also, have you tried installing/benchmarking/testing WITHOUT that NIC? It *could* be causing some conflicts... I assume you've disabled the onboard LAN when you put in the NIC, right?

I think the nForce chipset isn't bad at all. It's quite nice and stable, IMO (contrary to other opinions...). AND I get all these functions onboard, which is great.

You could also try to look here: MSI board user forum.

Hope my gibberish helps you in some way...