Legit Reviews

So here is the deal I am trying to build a MAME machine. I have the following parts:

Intel Pentium4 HT 3.06G / 1M / 533 / 775 (P4-519J)
ECS P965T-A (V1.0) LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
Thermaltake TR2 W0070RUC 430W ATX Power Supply 115/ 230 V
G.SKILL 1gb 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
40GB Segate SATA Hard Drive 3.5" 7200 RPM
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC 256MB video card.
win XP pro sp2(i have not connected to internet yet so no updates)
all the current drivers have been installed.

The problem is i am getting random freeze ups of the entire system - mouse, keyboard the monitor still displays its just froze.

It has occured after a few minutes of turning on up to an hour or so of being on. Its happened while shutting down -in the actual log off screeen, while playin games, just sitting idle on the desk top, running prime 95(both upon start up and after about 45 minutes of stress testing) - while installing programs..

I originally thought it was the mother board. so I replaced that. the one I have listed is the second one. I have tried replacing the RAM with another stick of the same type that is good from my PC
i've run prime 95 - i see the CPU is at 100% load and temps are under 50c so i dont think its overheating

could a power supply cause something like this?

I am at a loss for what the problem could be.. Unless the RAM just isnt working with the motherboard since i am swaping out with the same kind. I dont have another type to test.

I am a noob when it come to volt and settings(timings) for RAM i was going to mess around with that in the bios - but i dont wantt to make things worse. could the processor being 533 FSB and the RAM 800 be causing the problem? the motherboard supports the 800mhz so i am not sure.

A power supply can very well cause the problem you are experiencing. There is no problem with the FSB and the RAM settings as long as you are using default settings for the motherboard.

You didn't mention the power supply rating. If it is undersized for your setup, or just dropping voltages due to old age or defect, this can also cause your problem.

If your really a n00b, then be very careful while playing with the BIOS. Running the CPU vcore too low can also cause the same problems. The same goes for the RAM voltage.

My guess is that you may have RAM that requires a slightly higher voltage than that motherboard supplies at default. Most motherboards assume a RAM voltage of 1.8v. Much of the higher spec RAM actually needs around 2.0 Volts or more. I do believe you can safely run the G.Skill RAM up to 2.2 volts safely, but you don't really want to run too high a voltage to gain the stability you are seeking. Personally I would check the G.Skill site for the voltage spec for that RAM, and set it accordingly as a baseline. Alternatively I would suggest you up the RAM voltage to 2.0 volts and see if it stabilizes your system. Perhaps 2.1v max.

here are the specs for the ram and the PS.
Tech Spec
Capacity 2GB (2 x 1GB)
Speed DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Cas Latency 5
Timing 5-5-5-15
Voltage 1.8V - 2.0V
Buffered/Registered Unbuffered
Heat Spreader Yes

Type ATX
Maximum Power 430W
Fans 2
PFC No
Main Connector 20+4Pin
+12V Rails Single
PCI-E Connectors 1 x 6Pin
NVIDIA SLI Support No
Modular Cabling Support No
Hold-up Time 16ms min.
Efficiency > = 65%
Over Voltage Protection +5V trip point < +7.0V, +3.3V trip point < +4.5V, +12V trip point < +15.6V
Input Voltage 115/ 230 V
Input Frequency Range 47 - 63 Hz
Input Current 9A @ 115V, 5A @ 230V
Output +3.3V@20A, +5V@30A, +12V@18A, [email protected], [email protected], +5VSB@2A


I'll have every thing set as default at the moment i think is 1.8v.. i'll try to increase the volts to 2.0 and see how that works.

with this being such a stripped down system i didnt really think power would be an issue.

have you run a Hard Drive check?

i did run a HD scan and every thing checked out ok.

I do have another SATA drive. maybe i'll give that a try - if the volts on the RAM doesnt help.

i tried to up the volts to 2.0v RAM no luck.. it seems to run best the firts time i start it up after its been off for awhile. then the freez ups become more often after the restarts.

I'm not 100% educated on the specifics of how power supplies work, but I've been reading up on them recently. An important part of what makes a power supply reliable is often overlooked; the number and quality of their 12V rails. You'll notice that higher quality, more expensive power supplies often have 2-4 12V rails. As far as I know, the benefit to having more than one rail is the load distribution over more than one rail, reducing stress and wear on them. You'll notice in the picture I've attached how the four 12V rails are segregated and what components they provide power to.

Perhaps your CPU's single 12V rail is giving out and providing insufficient power to your system.

thats what i am starting to think. I just ordered that PS you have a picture of this morning off of newegg. for $54 its a good price, and i am sure I will need a PS anyway someday.

well the PSU wasnt the problem either..lol - - if anyone else has any possible cause I am all ears.. but i will continue to throw money at the problem till every thing has been replaced!!

I can't remember what all you have tried. Have you tried running Knoppix or something like that for a while?

I think I suggested doing a complete disk wipe (not through windows setup). The reason I suggest that was because I had built a rig for my sister, and it was kind of flaky. She was in Miami and I couldn't really troubleshoot from here. She sent the rig back to me a while back and I cleaned it up a bit and gave to my parents so that mom could have her own. They were experiencing random halts and such. So I used the boot and nuke on it and reinstalled. It has been running flawlessly for a month or so now.

Also, what happened with the spare SATA drive?

Sounds like you've replaced everything except GPU and CPU. Do you have a different GPU to try?

I would try putting both you CPU and your GPU to work, meaning a full burn test. To test the cpu, I would run prime95 for a few hours, and if there are no errors, or warnings, then the cpu checks out. If the cpu seems fine, then I would just make sure that the video card is the culprit. If you do not already have one, buy a copy of Crysis, and fire it up on your machine, and ramp up the visual settings, and play the game for an hour or so. If the video card seems fine, then do not know what to do. I will let you know if I think of anything.

Good luck,
tekgek

Sporg wrote: Also, what happened with the spare SATA drive?

I forgot i had that. and was going to try the fresh install.. thanks for reminding me.

tekgek wrote:I would try putting both you CPU and your GPU to work, meaning a full burn test. To test the cpu, I would run prime95 for a few hours, and if there are no errors, or warnings, then the cpu checks out.

yeah i have rum prime95. u let it sit and sometimes it makes it thru a few tests than freezes. unfortunatly the screen doesnt show any error messages. the GPU was taken out of a working system(and is almost brand new) so i dont think that is the problem. I guess just to be safe i could swap it into my computer and see if it works.

I picked up another stick of RAM - different brand. all the sticks i have are the same so i wasnt able to test that. maybe the ESC motherboards just dont like the g.skill RAM.

the new ram gets here tonight i hope that works.

I was just thinking.. if it was the CPU wouldnt prime95 cause it to lock up as soon as it started? its running 100% at times for up to 45min-1hr before it freezes.

RAM didnt help.. So i am going to have to say its the CPU.. I tried install XP on a differnt hard drive and it froze before the install was complete...

smack323 wrote:RAM didnt help.. So i am going to have to say its the CPU.. I tried install XP on a differnt hard drive and it froze before the install was complete...

hmmm, the only time i've had problems installing XP was when it was on a PIII 600MHz computer with a total of 96MB of RAM(i know it shouldnt have XP, but after a couple tries it worked)

does your comp have any temp sensors? temps will DEFINATELY cause hardlocks, you may have a poorly seated HSF on your CPU

i did try to run some software to get heat reading to see if that was the problem. i dont think it is very accurate but i figured if it was to the point of overheating it should at least be close enough to show me there is a problem. every time it froze the temps were under 50C in this program. if anyone know of a good free program to measure temps let me know.

speedfan, everest, and if it's core 2 then coretemp or realtemp.

Dan

I think speedfan is the name of the one I am using.

Just my .02 cents but my experience with both Seagate and Maxtor drives has been they will test fine and still be dying. If you have another HD, plug it in and see what happens.

Good Luck,
Jack