Random Resetting?

[SoDaR2005]

Hi,

Ever since i upgraded to an Athlon64 i have noting but problems, and i upgraded in mid October 2004. I have tried every Socket 939 nForce Motherboard available and none seemed to work until i got the Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939. Most of the problems i had on the other motherboards, like the MSI for example, were gone and i was actually able to play on games and do normal tasks again. However, i still got some minor problems here and there which essentially needed ironing out by doing some trial and error. I was on some Generic/Major Brand memory before and i decided to get some Corsair TwinX but it did'nt sort some of the problems out.

So now, after three re-installations and complete formats of my drives i still get one error - the computer randomly resets. The reset can happen at anytime and you could be doing anything it's just a matter of waiting. For example, today i have had FOUR random resets and 2/4 of them have displayed a "Windows has recovered from a serious error" report. When i went to my "Event Viewer" under System i got this error coding:

**Error code 0000007f, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000. (EVENT ID: 1003).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.**

AND

**Error code 1000008e, parameter1 c0000005, parameter2 bf80737e, parameter3 b2afa314, parameter4 00000000. (EVENT ID: 1003).

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.**

Now i thought it was my memory again but according to both Prime95 and Memtest i got no errors whatsoever and they were both run for over 1hr each. I completely stumped on why it does this, sometimes i get an Error Message (like above) and sometimes i get nothing even in the Event Viewer. About 20min ago i turned off "Automatically Restart" in the Startup and Recovery so i will most likely get a BSOD next time.

Now onto the things that my system is not doing:

1). I am NOT overclocked, NOTHING is tweaked in my system;
2). CPU is NOT overheating i get 35c IDLE and 53c Load;
3). Memory is at DEFAULT settings 2.5-4-4-8(-11-16);
4). My BIOS is the latest revision - F8;
5). All my Drivers are UP TO DATE, i have checked this time and again.

Not onto my System Specifications:

AMD Athlon64 3500+ Winchester Core Socket 939;
Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939 Motherboard;
256MB Galaxy nVidia GeForce 6800GT;
1.0GB Corsair DDR550 CMX512-4400C25 Memory;
80GB Maxtor Hard Disc Drive (7200/8MB);
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2;
Tagan 420WATT Power Supply Unit;
Windows XP Professional WITH Service Pack 2.

I hope someone can help!

 

[mechBgon]

What voltage are you giving the RAM?

 

[SoDaR2005]

It's at default ... it should not need extra voltage unless i am overclocking really, besides i have tried it numerous amount of times. For example:

T2 Timing Enabled - +0.1v DDR Voltage - CAS 3.0 = Still randomly resets.
T2 Timing Enabled - +0.2v DDR Voltage - CAS 3.0 = Still randomly resets.
T1 Timing Enabled - +0.1v DDR Voltage - CAS 3.0 = Still randomly resets.
T1 Timing Enabled - +0.2v DDR Voltage - CAS 3.0 = Still randomly resets.

T2 Timing Enabled - +0.1v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.5 = Still randomly resets.
T2 Timing Enabled - +0.2v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.5 = Still randomly resets.
T1 Timing Enabled - +0.1v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.5 = Still randomly resets.
T1 Timing Enabled - +0.2v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.5 = Still randomly resets.

T2 Timing Enabled - +0.1v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.0 = Still randomly resets.
T2 Timing Enabled - +0.2v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.0 = Still randomly resets.
T1 Timing Enabled - +0.1v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.0 = Still randomly resets.
T1 Timing Enabled - +0.2v DDR Voltage - CAS 2.0 = Still randomly resets.

By doing these tests it PROBABLY is not my ram, plus it was new on December 29th 2004 when i bought it from the computer store. Like i said though, i have done a lot of Trial and Error and i still can't find out the cause of the problem.

 

[mechBgon]

Corsair says they test that module at 2.75 volts. I'd stick with 2.8, which would be +0.3V if your board can go that high. Actually if you ask over in Motherboards, I think you'll find Gigabyte in particular is borderline-notorious for memory problems these days, too

Also, I looked up the specs on the Tagan 420W PSU. It has 22 amps on the 12-volt rail, and I wonder if you might need a bit more with your 6800GT.

Beyond that, if you look at the logical block diagram on page 11 of your mobo's manual, you can see that Gigabyte has jammed the PCI bus with a heck of a lot of stuff. I suggest going into your BIOS and disabling every onboard controller that you don't use, particularly the board's Firewire since your sound card duplicates that. Also disable onboard MIDI, Gameport and audio, of course. Heck, do a trial with your Audigy removed, or in different slots, they can sometimes be finicky in my experience.

Good luck Hope the shotgun approach turns something up for you.

 

[SoDaR2005]

Hmm, thats very strange my motherboard can only do a +0.2v increment, maximum, on the DDR Voltage Control Option. I knew PSU would come into it again, well i was wondering if you can do a little check for me as im not really that great with all this AMP and RAIL business. The only place i can exchange my PSU for a newer one would be here http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Products...33&FilterCategories=125&Thumbnails=yes . Out of those PSU's which would you highly recommend for the A64 setup i have. I will definately give it a go, i have the reciept and box for it and they are only 20min away from me.

Onto the Onboard stuff. Well the majority of it is DISABLED like my AC97 Audio Codec, Raid (Phy) and RAID. Also, i have moved my Audigy 2 in all slots before, i had a bit of trouble my first install getting it to register but it seemed to sort itself out after another reinstall and moved the card.

What i was going to try, with new memory and POSSIBLY PSU, was to change and try the MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum, my friend just got one and he has no problems whatsoever and he uses a crappy Q-Tec 650w Gold Plated PSU with regular TwinX DDR400 memory. I hope you can help on the PSU side of things with that link!

 

[mechBgon]

Or what about this idea: as a test, throw in a low-end nVidia card such as a GeForce4MX, so your GPU's power consumption goes way down? No good for gaming, but if the system stops crashing during routine desktop use, that may support the power-supply theory.

I could be off-target on the power supply idea, of course

 

[SoDaR2005]

As a matter of fact i think i DO have an old GeForce 1 (yes ONE) 32MB DDR Graphics Card lying around somewhere. I will give that a try, although it will have to be a full day's test the damn thing is completely random and it may not even happen in a day. Like now, the last reset was about 2hrs ago and it's still not reset yet ... which is a good thing mind you.

I will give that a go when i can find the damn card, i have found an old 8MB PCI GFX Card though i have no idea what make it is but that will not work hehe! Also i thought the 12v Rails went off your CPU? So for example, if you have a 380watt PSU with, lets say, 18a on the 12v Rail ... well apparently thats not enough for your A64. I really don't know.

 

[SoDaR2005]

UPDATE!!

I got my first BSOD with the "Automatically reboot" unchecked in the Startup and Recovery options, i was wondering if someone could help out and potentially identify what caused the error. Here is the BSOD, i took a photograph of it ... please mind the quality i did not use Flash as the screen would reflect it:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v356/SoDaR2004/BSOD.jpg

Any help/comments on this please? Thank you!

 

[Uncle Bob]

stop 0xC2 is generally a problem caused by software drivers. Unfortunately, the BSOD doesn't indentify the module that caused the fault in this case.

I wouldn't have thought that the video or audigy drivers were likely to cause a problem so if you don't have any hardware that's not on the list you gave earlier it's possibly down to one of your applications.

Do you have Norton installed - perhaps an older version? Any other candidates that you can think of?

Have you run spyware/malware scans? Any suspicious processes running in Task Manager?

One comment about heat - I use a Tagan PSU as well (the 480) which I bought (from scan!) as I wanted a quiet PSU. Well, it is because only one out of the two fan runs, at least on mine, which evidently is a design feature. However, the PSU does get very warm and, on my system, ended up acting as a heat source giving me random reboots and BSOD even though my CPU/System temps were within specs. I ended up installing a couple of extra fans and my problems vanished! Just food for thought..........