D975XBX2 - Another Problem

[cichlid102]

Hey guys!

Before I start, I wanted to say what a great site this is and thanks to all the wonderful people for taking the time to help out!

About a month ago, I was watching a movie on my computer and the screen went black. I tried restarting many times and all it would do was eventually go black. I did notice a red light on the motherboard that came on. If I remember correctly, it was something with the CPU temp.

I haven't messed with it since then, more out of frustration than anything. I'm taking a peek at it now so I can figure out what's going on. FarCry 2 is coming out soon! Here's what I know so far...

If I sit in the bios screen, I don't have any problems. Processor thermal margin: 25c, internal temp: 41c, remote temp: 38c. Once I leave and try to boot windows (normally or with cd), the screen will go black pretty quick (within a few min) and the red light comes on the motherboard. The power button or reset buttons will not work. I have to physically unplug the back of the machine to turn it off.

Anyone have any ideas on what the problem could be? Let me know if you need more information or if you have something for me to try.

Note: I did want to add that the machine has been running fine for 6+ months and I haven't done any hardware upgrades since.
Cheers!

Mike

[DMB2000uk]

What's the temperature like in your pc room?

Are the fans all working properly? Is the CPU heatsink free from dust?

Dan

[cichlid102]

My computer is in the basement so it's pretty cool down there. All of the fans are working fine, I have three in my case. The fan on the cpu is running. I'm not sure about the dust though, what should I do with this?

Thanks!

[DMB2000uk]

For the dust to be creating the problem it must be on the CPU heatsink pretty thickly, so just pop the case door and have a look at it.

If it does seem to have a lot of dust on it, then you can try cleaning/blowing it off.

Is the CPU heatsink attached properly?

Dan

[cichlid102]

The last time I had the case off there wasn't much dust anywhere that I noticed. Also, the CPU heatsink looked fine, it was secured. When I get home later, I'll make sure there isn't a dust problem. Also, do you think I should just pop the heatsink off and reattach it?

Is it pretty normal to be able to be in the bios and not have the problem but as soon as it trys to load windows it pukes? Also, how do my temp look that I noted.

Thanks for the help!

[DMB2000uk]

The temps don't look anything bad in the BIOS, but you never know how it will react during load.

I wouldn't recommend removing and re-attaching the CPU heatsink without reapplying some new thermal paste.

Is the red LED next to the molex connector around the CPU socket area?
(as there is another one above the memory that means the VR's are overheating and not the CPU)

Dan

[Darkstar]

What Motherboard is it? how old? The temps you posted (from Bios) dont look like they would be causing the problem. Have you run diagnostics? checked the HD and Memory? while you are in the bios you might want to check the voltages too.



looks like you got me by a few seconds there Dan.....

[cichlid102]

The motherboard is Intel D975XBX2 and I got in Jan 08. The red light is right next to the 'molex connector around the CPU socket area'. I'm not sure how to run any diagnostics.

Thanks

[Darkstar]

I'm not familiar with the board, thats pretty recent so i guess it is under warranty if there is a problem with the sensor which (as you stated) is the cpu temp one. You could download UBCD to run motherboard and memory diagnostics. Maybe someone on the list has experience with the board, i seem to remember it being mentioned quite a bit. Just on chance though did you check the bios for the shutdown temps, etc?

[cichlid102]

I check the shutdown temps when I get home, didn't see that option last night but it was late so I could have missed it

Yeah, it's probably the motherboard and nothing I do will make any difference. It's just like back in Jan when I put this machine together, had all sorts of problems installing vista on my hard-drive. Come to find out, it was bad. Replacing the mobo is a bit more of hassle and I'll have to rma it back to intel since my 30 days is up at newegg Just in case I need to send it back to intel, what's the process in doing this? Do I need to call them or can you e-mail them the info?

Thanks again!

[cichlid102]

I didn't see any options in the bios for shutdown temps. There really isn't any dust on the heatsink. I also turned up my fans to high. I get the same results. When I tried to boot to safemode or command prompt, the computer goes off at the same point everytime - on the crcdisk.sys file - that's when the red light on the mobo comes on.

I also tried disabling different things in the bios but I get the same results. Any other ideas on something to try before contacting intel?

Thanks!

[martini161]

grab the ultimate boot cd from here and burn it to a cd. see what happens when you try to boot from that

[cichlid102]

I'll try that boot disk thingy tomorrow. Thanks!

[cichlid102]

I just got the ubcd downloaded and put on a cd. I'll have to wait until later this evening before I can try it. I do have one question. What option(s) should I run first?

Thanks!

[DMB2000uk]

Provided that it will boot, it would probably be best to try and stress your CPU to see if it will shut off.

There are a couple of CPU testers but i think they will only be single threaded and only stress one core on your CPU. You can try them anyway (note, they will run indefinately, so if nothing has happened after 10mins, then just quit out of the test. Also note that there is a screen saving feature, so if the screen goes blank hit a key to bring it back on).

If that works, try memtest86+ on there as well.

Dan

[cichlid102]

I ran one of the cpu tester programs for about 10 min. Did about 400,000 interations with no problems. I'm running the memtest86+. Man this thing takes forever to run, it's at Pass 17% WallTime 1:32:11. Doesn't look like any problems so far. I don't know if it will finish before I go to bed, don't really want to leave it on with the problems i've been having. So far, haven't had any problems while running the program. Any new thoughts?

Thanks!

[cichlid102]

Ahh, just found some info on the memtest86+ thingy...

"To conclude, one successful pass of memtest will give you a pretty good idea that your memory is ok, only in rare cases will there be errors showing after the first pass. To be sure though simply have the test run overnight or even for a couple of days depending on the level of importance of the system."

NOTE: Processor Thermal margin: 26 c, internal temp 38c, remote temp 35c - all this after those above tests. I did stop the memtest86+ test.

[cichlid102]

I just booted windows in safemode. My mouse wasn't working (batteries low) so I went to get them and by the time I came back, the red light on the mobo was on and the monitor was black

Any ideas?

[DMB2000uk]

Sorry, I forgot to say that memtest would run indefinitely too

This is really random.

The only other thing I can think of is to try getting a Linux LiveCD and run the Linux OS from the CD. That should rule out that windows is the problem and that there is definitely a hardware error.
You can get one from here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Dan

[DaddyRabbit]

IMHO, I'm thinking HDD Or PSU.

BIOS and MEMTEST as well as any of the PE or Live boot environments are primarily CD based, it seems like the aforementioned devices might be the issue.

The PSU might be tripping the overtemp LED as well. (e.g. when the HDD starts really working the PSU sags badly and spurious voltages confuse the mobo)