Crashed? Overloaded? Unstable? WTF?

[Fourstyle]

Computer Specs:

Power Supply:Corsair TX750W - 750W Power Supply

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4
AM2+, 790X, HT 5200, 4x DDR2-1066, 2x PCI-Ex16 v2.0, 4x SATA-II, RAID, GigLAN, 8Chl, Firewire, ATX

CPU: Phenom 9850 Quad Core (2.5GHz) - AM2+, 4x1MB L2 Cache, 65nm, 125W Black Edition

Memory - RAM: (2 x 2048MB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 RAM (Dual Channel)

Hard Drives - Internal: 500GB 7200rpm Serial ATA-II-300 HDD

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 4870 - 512MB DDR5
256-bit, 2x DVI, HDTV, HDMI, HDCP - PCI-Ex16 v2.0 (Latest Driver + Catalyst)

OS: XP Professional Version 2002 SP 2

With these specification, my computer suddenly restart itself (I assume because of overload?)

With no programs running (just ATI catalyst) i tried:
1. Run Furmark 1.4 => 1440 x 900, MSAA 4x, 2 minutes running time, Stability test, RESULT OK, did not crashed. (Graphic card is OK?)
2. Run HeavyLoad 2.4 (http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml)
This tool will make my CPU load goes to 80% - 100% until the program is stopped. i run it for 10 minutes, did not crash.
running OK
3. Run HeavyLoad + Copying a big folder = Computer Restarted.
The CPU load was 100%.
4. Copying 3 (big) files at once + 7zip extracting 2 archives = Computer Restarted.

i'm not sure why this is happening (Overload huh?), someone has an idea what is the problem? How to troubleshoot this?

 

[BartSimpson]

You really have bad luck with computers, dont you?

In my opinion, there are two possible reasons

1) CPU overheating; download either "Coretemp" or "Everest" and check the temperatures (but the CPU should only throttle in that case and not cause the system to restart)

2) broken RAM(more likely); get a RAM stress-test (Everest has one build in, but there are others too); if that's the case, remove one bar and check again to see which one is broken.

btw. did you set up the right RAM voltages in your bios? Some RAM runs with higher voltages (my Corsair RAM runs with 2.1 Volts for example)

 

[kumoji]

A. Try turn off auto restart when XP encounter a critical problem to see if it will give us an error message or not

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/russel_02may13.mspx

1. Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings to open the Startup and Recovery dialog box.
4. Clear the Automatically restart check box, and click OK the necessary number of times.
5. Restart your computer for the settings to take effect.


B: check the event log to see if we have any warning event id (check system and application event log)

 

[sora3]

Okay. Running those two programs for only 10 minutes is not enough for stability testing. For complete stability, you'll need to run those programs for at least 3-4 hours, maybe an entire day to be certain.

From what I can see, there's a lot of things that can cause a crash so follow these instructions:

1) Get memtest86 from either a Linux Distro or Ultimate Boot CD. Ubuntu has it here: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Ultimate Boot CD here: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

memtest86 if you can't burn: http://www.memtest86.com/

While you're at it, get Orthos Prime or OCCT. Both are much better in stressing CPUs and motherboards. Both you can get here: Orthos or OCCT

2) Open up the computer and remove ONE stick of RAM.

3) Boot up and set the CD to boot up first in the BIOS. Restart and pop the CD you hopefully gotten above.

4) Run memtest86 and leave for at least 4 hours. Repeat on the other stick of RAM. If both are good, then move onto the next step. If either one shows any errors, then leave that stick aside.

5) If the above passes without fail, then bung both RAM in and get into Windows. Do what kumoji suggested. Open up Orthos or OCCT (not both as having both on will cause some weirdness). Run them and leave overnight. If no crashing, then it'll be either your CPU is getting too hot or something else is causing the instability.

BTW, I have the exact same motherboard and I can tell you that the motherboard hates dual channel so that could be a tip...

 

[Fourstyle]

i ran OCCT:

with both RAM, it cant survive for (less than) 1 minute test. Last CPU temp was 55.
with the first single RAM, it lasts for 1 minute test. CPU temp was 57.
with the second single RAM, it lasts for 1 minute test. CPU temp was 60.

and this post is just made after i did these test.

what is this? Faulty Hardware? Or the Windows? :coldsweat:

 

[techie]

crash on hdd but not memory...
can you check your hdd for faults?
btw... is your xp installation brand new/clean?
I get that same thing a dsktop with external hdd when it cant read fast enough over usb. Once internal it works fine.

 

[Fourstyle]

my HDD is internal... SATA II
my XP is fresh..

i used the driver from AMD for my processor... still the same

 

[guy]

Phenom 9850 is quite power-hungry; go into BIOS and make sure your vCore is set high enough within the 9850's spec. Also, double check you have a BIOS version that supports the 9850 (search Gigabyte forums for troubleshooting and update if necessary).

Same goes for mem voltage, as mentioned above, especially because you're using 2GB modules. Also, if your mem timings are configured by SPD, try setting them manually; newer modules include multiple SPD profiles and mobos sometimes select the wrong one.

+1 for Orthos: run it ~1hr for a quick test, ~5hr+ for a more accurate stability test
+1 for memtest86+: be sure to test it with only one mem DIMM installed at a time, and if you see any reported errors, swap a single DIMM among your mobo's 4 sockets to debug if it's a corrupt module or socket.

 

[guy]

Haven't check out the forum, but i found this:

http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Motherboard/BIOS_Model.aspx?ProductID=2695

Anyone knows which bios do i need?

Looking at the CPU Compatability list (right hand column), you need BIOS version "F4" date 2008/03/04, available here.

Of course, check your BIOS version on boot. If you already have version F4 or F5C, you obviously do not have to flash it. You should not flash BIOS unnecessarily unless you know specifically that it will fix your problem.

 

[sora3]

@ guy, I have the same motherboard and it worked with the 9850 straight off the bat without having to update.

@Fourstyle, I would actually run that test for much longer as 1 minute is BARELY enough to thoroughly test the RAM. Running to more than an hour would be much better. Hell,playing Half Life 2 for nearly an hour would be better than your 1 minute so-called test. Believe me, 1 minute would only yield the start up of the RAM but for complete testing, you need to run something that will stress the allocation and de-allocation of RAM. So please just run that test for longer.

About CPU temps, that seems rather reasonable assuming you are using the stock cooler. If need to be, replace that stock cooler with an aftermarket cooler such as the Thermalright Ultimate 120 Extreme with a good fan or even an Arctic Cooler Freezer 64 Pro if you're on a small budget.

 

[BartSimpson]

@Fourstyle, I would actually run that test for much longer as 1 minute is BARELY enough to thoroughly test the RAM.

I understood it that way, that he cant run it longer than 1 minute because his system is restarting after that time.

CPU temps are OK, but I dont think that both RAM modules are broken (that would really be bad luck). Did you check the RAM voltages?

 

[sora3]

If that's the case, then that narrows the culprits down to both sticks of RAM being faulty. He did say that everything is at stock which means voltage should be at the optimal for running according to manufacturer specs.