Lanparty UT Ultra-D

[Coolrunnings]

Hey everyone. I'm new to using DFI boards but not to building computers. I've got an issue right now though that has me ready to put a bullet through my computer and buy all new components... First off, here's my system specs:

 

Athlon X2 3800+

DFI LanParty UT Ultra-D with the latest official BIOS

Thermalright XP-90 HS with 92mm Panaflow fan

2gb Corsair XMS (Twinx2048-C2PT)

128mb BFG 6600GT OCX

3x Seagate 7200.10 250gb SATA2 drives

1x Seagate 7200.8 250gb SATA drive

NEC 3540A DVD burner

Samsung 16x DVD ROM

PC Power and Cooling 610watt PSU

Antec P180 case

 

This system has given me a tremendous amount of grief with instability for the last month or so. It started out with an Abit AN8-SLI board that would lock up frequently but not with any degree of consistancy (though it was very common when plugging in USB thumb drives). I tried quite a few things and ended up replacing the motherboard and doing a clean install of XP. Now here's the situation. Totally at random, my computer locks up. The screen freezes, the sound will get stuck in an endless loop, and I'll have to reboot. I tried my ATI x800GTO2 in the machine and with that in there, instead of lockups, I get a Stop 0x0000009C error, which is supposed to be a hardware issue of some sort according to Microsoft's knowledge base. I tried a new power supply (the PC Power and Cooling - previously it was an Enermax 550watt unit). I still get the same problems. I checked CPU temps and they're running in the 40s. I checked GPU temps and they also are within tolerance - around 60 under load, 50 otherwise. I tried relaxing timings on my RAM to 2T instead of 1T. Same problem. I've tried running the RAM at 8,3,3,3 as per SPD settings and had the same problem. I've tried boosting the voltage as high as 2.9v on the RAM but it doesn't help. The CPU for some reason seems to default to 1.3v instead of 1.35 like most 3800's so I tried bumping that voltage up to 1.35 and still get the lockups. The CPU is running at stock by the way. I've tried taking it down to 2 hard drives to no avail. I've tried changing all the drive cabling (SATA and PATA) and still get the lockups. I've removed all USB devices except for my mouse. Still locking up. I've done a clean install of Windows and get the same results. The machine passes 24 rounds of memtest (the one built into the BIOS). I've tried running hours and hours of Prime 95 on each core (6 hours if memory serves me correctly) and it passes. I've tried installs with and without the Nvidia storage drivers and that doesn't make a lick of difference. I'm currently running Seagate's diagnostics on all the hard drives in the system and we'll see what that turns up but does anyone have any suggestions? I'm totally at my wits end here. I'm tempted to put a bullet through this system and buy a new one at this rate but finances do not permit such luxury. Any advice on what might be causing this issue would be greatly appreciated! Sorry for the long first post by the way.

[iiee]

First edit your signature so that the moderator wont fire u.

 

Your RAM in slot 2&4 or 1&3 ?

 

Is all the four power sockets filled in? (well i don think is significant though)

[Coolrunnings]

D'oh... just read the rules and saw that signatures are mandatory. Thanks for the heads up. Memory is in slots 3 and 4 and it's 2 1gb sticks, not 4 512s.

[iiee]

Memory is in slots 3 and 4 and it's 2 1gb sticks, not 4 512s.

 

I see, u are running at Single Channel (64bits) rather than Dual Channel (128bits). Try put the RAM at slot 2&4 (Orange colour).

 

Slot 1&3 seems to be not that stable compared to 2&4.

[21Motorcraft]

Welcome to the street.....

You wanna start with the orange slot closest to the edge of the motherboard....Here's the thread on the initial DFI Build. Use the other orange slot for dual Channel per mentioned above. You can put some volts to those mem sticks . There is a thread on the settings for those modules here..

Hope it helps..

[Coolrunnings]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm sorry but it was a typo, they are in 2 and 4 for dual channel. I'll try moving them to 1 and 3 and see if that makes any difference. I referenced that article when I was setting the timings on the RAM. It shouldn't take more than 2.8 to run these things at stock though should it?

[lowboy]

Be sure and run memtest as others settings may not be good for you may need some more tweaking.

[Coolrunnings]

Yep, as per my post, it has run 24 rounds of memtest and all passed (24 in one night).

[lowboy]

Well it seems the only common componant is the cpu.

[Coolrunnings]

That's what I was thinking. Then I woke up this morning and found that Seagate had failed my primary OS drive with 2 bad sectors. I have had the worst luck ever with hard drives this month - 4 bad ones so far (different computers). I just imaged the drive over to a good one and removed the bad one from the computer. Let's see how that goes for stability. I will post here in a while and let you guys know what I find.

[lowboy]

Good luck!

[Coolrunnings]

Thanks. I'm going to need it!!!