Hello...and I have problems

[Luc]

Hi all, first time poster long time DFI lanparty owner.

After searching around the internet for help with my problem(s) I came upon this site. Seeing as how most owners of DFI mobos have successful results, I was hoping I could join the masses.

 

I've owned my mobo for about a year now and everything had been great. Until I upgraded. With the coming of college I got a few presents. Particularly a 6800 GT, two sticks of 512 pc3200, and a shiny new AMD 3200+. Then bad things started happening. Ever since I've had this new system, I would get random crashes, like...really random crashes. For instance; after just starting up my computer and trying to access this site. As soon as the banner loads, computer restarts. Viewing an Adobe acrobat file over the internet through internet explorer, boom restart. Other times it happens an hour into gameplay of games such as Neverwinter Nights and Farcry. Halo for some reason never gets past the loading screen...Anyway.

 

After said crashes, windows pops a screen saying "windows recovered from a critical error" I send a report and get one of three solutions.

(I don't know exactly what they said, I can't access that right now)

1. The CPU detected an error and forced shut down to prevent damage.

2. Error caused by a Display Driver (I assumed graphics so I updated graphics driver which started its own set of problems)

3. Error caused by a Device Driver (I did recently install a new soundcard but these errors were here before I installed it.)

 

I did a little tweaking and I found a way to make it stable, thing is I'm taking a performance hit. The computer can't run at 400 fsb, I have it underclocked to 266 atm and albeit nothing noticable is different, games run slower. While the processor is clocked this low, I can do anything with no errors.

 

I am not an avid overclocker, I don't know what I'm doing and I've always been content with the way my games have looked under safe, stock conditions. This case is different though. I paid for some awesome parts and I want to use them to their full stock extent.

 

I know a fairly decent amount of information about computers. The one i'm using was built by me and i've been paid to build for others before. There are many things I've not done to test, simply because at the moment I don't have the means to swap out and test parts. I was wondering if you guys here could give me a hand. Oh, running prime95 with my CPU at 400 fsb causes a crash within minutes.

 

I assume it could be one of a few things. (in order of probability)

1. Bad Power Supply ~ The needed power for these new parts may be more than what my Antec 420W can handle, though I doubt it. But I had the PSU for about 2 years now so I dunno..)

2. Bad Memory ~ Very Rarely I'd get an error instead of a straight restart that says "insert crap and digits here....the memory could not be "read" " I had ran memtest before with no problems for the first hour so I assume thats not the case, but I'm not entirely sure.

3. Bad Processor ~ God I hope not because I need a computer to get work done and the process of sending the processor to AMD for a new one would take time that i can't afford.

4. Bad Video Card ~ I pray...PRAY that this isn't the case, although eVGA has an RMA policy that is still in effect, again, I don't have the time to not have a fully functioning computer.

5. Overheating ~ room temp is around 70 deg F in the room,

Hardware Doc gives me 31 C in the case, 47C CPU idle, and 54C CPU load. (Prime 95 is running) I head the processors can run at speeds of up to around 85C w/o damage but I also heard that the readings for processor temp are off by about 10 degrees C give or take.

 

These are my thoughts and my specs are listed below, I'm sorry to have wrote so much but I wanted to explain as much as I could.

[cssuk]

hello and welcome, personally i would say that the psu has to be suspect as your using the nvidia card which is a bit of a monster psu user, however there have been many folks on that seem to have problems running the 3200 chips, i would tackle this as follows:

take 1 stick of ram out and try again with both sticks one at a time

 

make sure the ram is running at 1:1 and cas 2.5 at most

 

increase the cpu voltage a notch the ram to 2.6 and the nvidia by a notch over standard these boards are known to undervolt slightly

 

check the chipset temps and cpu temps that looks high to me, my cpu is overclocked slightly and it runs at 46 max in summer under load

 

if you installed sp2 again this has been known to cause a lot of problems for folks

 

try a lower spec agp card if you can borrow one

 

a fair bit to go on there but as i said at first i think nvidia rec a min 550w psu and although i have an antec at present and am happy with it again a lot have had issues with them being unstable if you can check the output under load as i do think this is the problem.

 

hope this helps

[Luc]

Ok..

the ram is running 1:1 and cas is 2.5,

swapped the ram with a reluctant roommate and it works fine in his computer.

CPU voltage is 1.65 ram is 2.6 and i didn't change voltage to AGP because I didn't know what is safe. Idle, processor is at 43.5 C.

I'm running Hardware doctor and it is giving me a warning about VBAT being too high. ranges from 3.1 to 3.2, never higher. I'm going to test it real quick, if it last more than 1 second in halo, I'll be convinced.

[cssuk]

one more thing i would also look at the bios version it needs to 6/19 really that seems to be the most stable if your unsure about the version, turn off the full screen logo in bios and look at the bottom left hand corner of your screen at post, press pause if need be the version number will show up there sorry cant help with the nvidia voltage am a die hard ati fan but i would think someone else would know and will answer soon

[Mott13]

What psu do you have?(well I didnt read the whole thread lol420w)check the rails at full load and post back.

You may need to up all of the volts...

 

Agp volts should be safe up to 1.8

[Poisonsnak]

Do you really have a lanparty A motherboard? Go here:

 

http://www.lanparty.com.tw/lp1/specificati...cations1_us.jsp

 

and compare the specs of the NFII Ultra B (the common motherboard) to the NFII Ultra (the LP-A as it is known, it is fairly rare)

 

An easy way to tell would be if CMOS reloaded is present in your bios.

 

Note that the LP-B will say "revision A" on the board, this does not mean it is an LP-A though!

 

Anyway these two boards take different bioses.

 

Oh also try www.memtest86.com to test your memory. The "swap ram with friend" test is ok but nforce2 motherboards are quite picky about their ram.

[Legacy]

your experiences sound VERY similar to mine.....

 

I too upgraded to the Lpb with an XP3200......

 

When ALL was set to optimised defaults, all HELL would break loose.....

 

completely random BSOD ...... and again various error messages which were VERY confusing, because they were all point towards a driver issue.

 

The highest I could take the system was upto 182mhz @ 1:1

 

As Poison has said, go down the Memtest route.....

 

load optimised defaults, save and exit and go into memtest....

 

I know you said you gave it an hour.........

 

Try you memory, one stick at a time on test 5 for approx 8hrs (over night)....

 

That'll give you a better indication of if your memory has errors...

 

Have a look at my thread........ (I learnt a hell of a lot!! - worth a quick read!! )

 

These Motherborads can be quite fussy when it comes to RAM

 

Hope this helps!!

 

phil

[Luc]

Just checked to double confirm, yes i have a lanparty NFII Ultra A version, I do not have the gigabit lan port or CMOS reloaded like the other and I have two seperate IDE connections for the RAID array, as well as only 1 SATA slot.

 

uninstalled SP2 and same s*** still happens. I can play halo for as long as i want though...as for viewing adobe reader / word dox online...i'm kinda SOL.

 

Earlier today my comp restarted when I had it underclocked to 266 fsb. I was pretty p***ed to say the least.

 

Haven't looked at your thread yet legacy but from what you're telling me it sounds about the same. Windows reports a problem caused by device/display driver. I'll let the memtest run overnight, but if it is the memory I'm going to have to buy a new mobo. If it is the memory type that is the problem then there would be no point in sending it back in for another stick or two of the same stuff. Let's hope that's not the case though. If it is....urgh.....

 

Update~ removed unnecessary swearwords and checked your post Legacy. Sounds very much alike, I'm going to run memtest overnight with both sticks and if errors, over the next two nights one by one. I'm operating in Dual Channel mode at the moment. Wish me luck.

[m0ng0d]

check my post ...

 

You changed a bit more than me, but stability was my prob after swapping PC2700's out for PC3200's.

 

Also some ppl have been having issues with the 3200+ CPU's... I would search these forums on the 3200+

 

I can also remember DFI offering a free repair on the LP-A's... something about having firewire enabled and the issues it caused... best bet would be to contact/PM Angry on the details.

 

BTW... I've never heard of your RAm manufacturer... what chips does it use?

[Luc]

Posting from a friends computer.

 

OK, ran memtest overnight....that is a lot of fails....a whole lot of fails....What information should i need to take note of? Test 5 is where the fails are at btw...if that could mean anything.

 

i'll switch sticks tonight and try,

 

I seriously can't go without a computer, so if an RMA is needed for my mobo and I have to ship mine to get a fixed one then I kinda..can't. Have to go to class soon. Be back later.

 

Thanks everyone.

[Mott13]

Originally posted by Luc

Posting from a friends computer.

 

OK, ran memtest overnight....that is a lot of fails....a whole lot of fails....What information should i need to take note of? Test 5 is where the fails are at btw...if that could mean anything.

 

i'll switch sticks tonight and try,

 

I seriously can't go without a computer, so if an RMA is needed for my mobo and I have to ship mine to get a fixed one then I kinda..can't. Have to go to class soon. Be back later.

 

Thanks everyone.

 

 

If memtest fails in test 5 so much what would make you think

a rma for the mobo is in order???I would think the ram needed the rma not the mobo fault...

[Luc]

no no no, I'm not blaming the motherboard, I know its the ram now. I just thought that if the 1394 port could cause a conflict with the ram that a repair request could fix it. Don't get the wrong impression, I love DFI. Whenever i get the funds to upgrade to amd64 I'm getting a DFI LANParty mobo to accompy it.

 

Now that I know the mobo doesn't like my ram, what can I do now?

 

I'm literally 100 miles from the place of purchase and i'm w/o a car. The only thing I haven't done yet (and I'm going to do sometime tonight when I finish homework) is change to the 6/19 BIOS like everyone suggested. In the event that this does not fix it, can anyone suggest a DFI motherboard that will be a little nicer to my RAM?