What is the problem?

[CharlesMcKinney]

Alright so my rig is in the sig, for the most part. A few weeks ago I decided to reformat my computer to try and fix some restarting issues (system would restart and error would state that a device driver caused the problem). While I was reformatting, I decided to do 2 things:

1. I took out my video card, took off my NV5 and cleaned and re-applied AS5 to the core and mem chips (this is not the first time I have done this).

2. I decided to install windows on a 160GB Hitachi SATA Deskstar drive I had, and remove the 2 WD IDE 80GB that were in there previously.


Now, upon install, I noticed that the graphics card was artifacting, then eventually locking up. I re-applied AS5 again, and re-installed, but the same thing happened, so I decided I may have fried my card, tried a friend's card and it appeared I did fry the card. I bought a evga 6600GT from newegg, installed it without a hitch, and have installed all other drivers for my devices.

Problem is, my computer is still having the restarting issues, restarting at random times (mostly when I'm gaming). Also, on this install programs such as Ventrilo, iTunes, Firefox, World of Warcraft, mplayer, etc. have decided to randomly freeze up, and Windows will not function properly until a hard boot. also accessing the hard drive sometimes seems to lag terribly, and when gaming the game will freeze for like 3-5 seconds randomly, then return to working as normal.

I have run memtest on the RAM, and determined that's not the problem. I am currently running the PC with the side off and a fan blowing over the Vid card, to ensure overheating isn't the issue (evga decided to turn off temp. monitor in the bios for god knows what reason), I've run checkdisk, and no problems were found.

I'm about to re-install one of the 80GB IDE drives I have and put windows on that to see if the hard drive is the problem (or at least part of it). However, any input or suggestions would be appreciated tremendously!

Also, if you need more information, just ask and I'll reply as soon as I can.

Please help me solve this frustrating problem!!!

 

[montag451]

Try a different psu, then post back.

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

Well I tried with a new PSU, and it reboot in the middle of a gaming session...any other takers or suggestions?

 

[kindest]

does it crash running prime95 / super pi?

 

[R3Dl2ULZ]

i had a very similar problem with my 6600GTs in SLI. what driver version do you have for your 6600? i found once i got 81.XX or something my software problems were gone. i also had an overheating NorthBridge but thats fixed now i have water cooling and a better thermal paste (dont trust the thermal paste stuff on ASUS northbridges).

Gary

 

[Fern]

Well, my first reaction was check the PSU. Since you have ruled this out I'd start trying different gfx drivers, for the card and chipset.

Now, if this problem is also experienced outside of gaming you may need to run memtest longer. I've experienced errors in the 24th hrs. Recently, my father was having these problems and claimed memtest indicated the ram was fine. However, he wasn't running for a long enough time. His problem cleared up when I gave him new ram.

Fern

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

I'm currently running 81.95 drivers, just the latest ones I pulled from nvidia's website. I will try running memtest for 24hours and see how that goes. If anyone has suggestions on something else to try it's greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone for your input!

 

[montag451]

Are there some earlier drivers to hand?

Maybe now is the time to experiment with some of the older drivers (within the last 6 months or so)

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: CharlesMcKinney
If anyone has suggestions on something else to try it's greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone for your input!

Try with only one stick of ram, and relax its timings as well.

Fern

 

[fsardis]

if you get an report upon restart saying that windows recovered from serious error then you have a driver problem. if nothing happens then you are stalling. you need more watts from your psu.

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

I haven't gotten a "Windows recovered from a serious error" report when the system restarts since the new install. So this means that 2 different PSU's, one rated at 500W with 34A on the 12V rail and another Antec True550 with 36A on the 12V rail are not delivering enough power?

 

[montag451]

Hi,
Have you tried with earlier NV graphics drivers?
Some ppl have been getting 'issues' with certain versions, maybe, with a bit of luck, you could go back to one that suits you.
You may have to do google on this to find a consensus on the most stable ones.