unstable, advise please

[BobingAbout]

today i receaved my RAM, and my new PC is complete, however, the computer randomly and fairly often resets for no aparant reason. I'm running windows XP Pro SP2. sometimes it just freezes, requiring you to reset it, but it resets a lot more often. it has reset 3 times while i was typing this.

 

i did a RAM test, and that was stable for over half an hour, but then when i rebooted and entered windows, it reset alsmot stright away.

 

Assume the BIOS is factory defaults, i had a quick flick through it, but never changed much(time and date and stuff like that).

 

I've attached my current signature rig, because signature never stay the same forever .

 

i'd prefer not to have to change or replace hardware unless there is no other choice.

 

it has reset 3 times while i was typing this.

DFI LanpartyUT nF590SLI-M2R/G AM2

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ AM2

2x Corsair XMS2 6400 (800MHz) RAM

XFX GeForce 7950GX2 SLI 1GB PCI-E x16

400Gb Maxtor SATA2 DiamondMax 11 Hard Drive

LG 16x DVD-ROM Drive

LG 16x DVD-RAM +/-RW DL Drive

Enermax Liberty 620W Modular PSU

Aspire X-Plorer Black Neon Midi Tower case

[ikjadoon]

Hm...It is better to run MemTest overnight..Your PSU seems fine, but what are your voltages? The BIOS preferably, a volt-meter would be best.

 

Do this: Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Advanced, Settings (under Startup and Recovery), uncheck Automatically Restart (under System Failure). Then when it resets, you should get a blue screen. What is the file, near the bottom?

 

Update your GPU drivers and sound card drivers.

 

The GX2 is natively supported by the nF590SLI, right? Have you updated your BIOS?

 

What timings has it set the DDR2-800 to? What are the stock timings?

 

Because of these restarts at minimal CPU usage, I'm pointing towards software.

 

~Ibrahim~

 

P.S. Know exactly what you are going through.

[BobingAbout]

Hm...It is better to run MemTest overnight..Your PSU seems fine' date=' but what are your voltages? The BIOS preferably, a volt-meter would be best.[/quote']my voltmeter sux,

Health Status

NBCore 1.21V

ATX+5v 5.13V

ATX+12V 11.96V

+5vDual 5.13V

Battery 3.12V

 

Genie BIOS setting

CPU Core 1.39V/1.40V

HT Link 1.31V

SB Core 1.50V

DRAM 1.87V

 

Do this: Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Advanced, Settings (under Startup and Recovery), uncheck Automatically Restart (under System Failure). Then when it resets, you should get a blue screen. What is the file, near the bottom?

NTFS.SYS

Update your GPU drivers and sound card drivers.

ok, but where do i get the sound card drivers from? chipset drivers too right?

The GX2 is natively supported by the nF590SLI, right? Have you updated your BIOS?

no, but here is something to note, when in the bios, in standard CMOS features, when you move to the primary slave, which is my DVD-RAM+/-RW drive, the bios freezes.

so you recomend i update it?

What timings has it set the DDR2-800 to? What are the stock timings?[/quite]i don't even know how to get to the settings. i think they are suposed to be 5-5-5-10, or something like that...

 

Because of these restarts at minimal CPU usage, I'm pointing towards software.

i kinda guessed since it only does it in windows. it never crashed in memtest, nor in partition magic 8 boot disk

 

~Ibrahim~

 

P.S. Know exactly what you are going through.

seems to always happen to me

[ikjadoon]

OK, those voltages seem good to me.

 

Hmm...Try upping your memory voltage to 1.9-2.0V. That 1.8V stock rating seems too low for any DDR2-800, IMO.

 

NTFS, weird. That is the file system. But do up that DDR2 voltage. Oh, I just saw you aren't using a sound card, just the on-board, which is perfectly fine. They, the sound card drivers,should be included with the chipset drivers which are found here:

 

Version 9.35

 

Yeah, that bug with moving through the devices was fixed in a BIOS update, which can be found here:

 

BIOS

 

Yeah, go ahead and update it. I'm not sure where the DDR2 memory settings would be. Try looking through the Genie BIOS for things like tCL - tRCD - tRP - tRAS...

 

5-5-5-10

 

tCL = 5

tRCD = 5

tRP = 5

tRAS = 10 (Try 12 or 15...May work better)

 

The DDR2 Voltage settings should be in here, too...Don't mean to be rude, but doesn't it list these things in the manual? Maybe not..

 

Here, download SuperPi, here:

 

Super Pi

 

Run some tests, they shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Any problems/resets?

 

Good luck!

 

~Ibrahim~

 

P.S. General tips on that BSOD:

 

0x00000024: NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

(Click to consult the online Win XP Resource Kit article, or see Windows 2000 Professional Resource Kit, p. 1543.)

A problem occurred within NTFS.SYS, the driver file that allows the system to read and write to NTFS file system drives. There may be a physical problem with the disk, or an Interrupt Request Packet (IRP) may be corrupted. Other common causes include heavy hard drive fragmentation, heavy file I/O, problems with some types of drive-mirroring software, or some antivirus software. I suggest running ChkDsk or ScanDisk as a first step; then disable all file system filters such as virus scanners, firewall software, or backup utilities. Check the file properties of NTFS.SYS to ensure it matches the current OS or SP version. Update all disk, tape backup, CD-ROM, or removable device drivers to the most current versions.

[BobingAbout]

its early in the morning, i don't have time to do it now, but i just checked my RAM supplier, and it should be 5-5-5-15, not 5-5-5-10.

as for BIOS, i read through section 2 (motherboard layout and hardware, i connected things as i was doing it), and barely skimmed BIOS(because at the time i couldn't turn the PC on, because i never had any RAM).

[BobingAbout]

i updated the BIOS

i changed the RAM settings

i updated the chipset and graphics drivers

and then BSOD NTFS.SYS error....

 

you think it could be a problem with my hard drive?

 

edit: it just crashed with win32k.sys

[shawnintennesse]

NTFS.SYS

 

I just had a MAxtor 250GB go like that.

 

Not positive thats the problem.

But i would go to there site and get the software to check it out.

 

Let us know if it fails or passe's..

 

Shawn

[BobingAbout]

update.

talking to a friend, he advised me to remove 1 stick of my RAM, and try, then try the other, then try both

results is, any stick in any slot works fine, but both sticks don't.

interesting results show that stick 1 has timing of 105ns, but stick 2 has 75ns.

manually setting both to 105ns results in stability.

hopefully this is now sorted.

 

I'll let you know if the situation changes.

EDIT: it apears to be stable when i have the RAM in slots 2 and 3, but unstable when they are in 1 and 3. could it be a problem with slot1? (which is strange, because it only doesn't like slot1 when there is also something in slot3, i havn't tried slot4 yet)

[ikjadoon]

Weird. So switching the slots did help? What configurations worked? Do this, put a sticker on each stick labeling them 1 and 2. Try messing with them and try to pinpoint which stick is bad. Maybe neither is bad and the slot location is the error. Sadly, I think the only way to find out is just trial and error.

 

I've heard that Corsair doesn't have the best compatibility with DFI, but it should be fine.

 

~Ibrahim~

[BobingAbout]

either stick in slot 1 when the other is in slot 3. slots 2 and 3 work fine. i havn't tried slot 4 yet, nor 2 sticks in the same bank.

[shawnintennesse]

Memory problems will defiantley do that too.

[ikjadoon]

Interesting. I'm sorry if you've already said so, but is there any positioning of the slots in which you can use both sticks without restarts?

 

~Ibrahim~