Random Errors

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My computer has been throwing somewhat random errors in the last few months. When running prime95 one of the threads usually gets an error right away and ends or I get a blue screen. Firefox and Team Fortress 2 occasionally crash and Mass Effect (which I just installed) crashes fairly quickly. Natural Selection (an old Half-Life mod) seems to run fine.

I have a Q6600 that I overclocked to 3.4 ghz using a moderate voltage increase (I think 0.150 volts above default). It has a Scythe 1100p heatsink on it with 3 120mm fans right next to it but it still runs around 47 degrees idle and maybe 70 degrees on a full load (although it has always been around that high and the fact that prime95 throws errors almost instantly and firefox crashes makes me think it isn't a heat issue).

One of the things I can think of is that my PSU might be failing on me. It has had a hard time booting up after being shut down for maybe the last 6 or 7 months (although it can restart fine). I always have to turn it off and press the power button for a while before turning it back on and then it will start, turn off, and then start again and work fine. Otherwise the only difference since when it worked is that it's summer right now so maybe it is a heat issue.

I've tried turning it down to 3.0 ghz and lowering the voltage increase a couple of notches but that did almost nothing other than a ~2-3 degree temperature drop. Does anybody have any idea why I would get these errors or what I could try doing to fix them? Thanks in advance.
 
how's your memory?

i see you said you have it overclocked, i don't know how recently you did the overclocking, but if you left your memory on a setting to synch with the cpu or something, that could be causing issues overclocking the memory by far too much.

if you know it isn't that and its been solid for awhile prior to now, then its likely as you suspected, some component dying out on you. i think you already know what you have to do, though no one really likes doing it. switch out parts till you find the culprit. an almost sure way to troubleshoot.
 
Also, switch out the GPU, that may help as well... seems you keep crashing during 3D gaming. Switch out, and see what happens.

-Haz
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']how's your memory?

i see you said you have it overclocked, i don't know how recently you did the overclocking, but if you left your memory on a setting to synch with the cpu or something, that could be causing issues overclocking the memory by far too much.

if you know it isn't that and its been solid for awhile prior to now, then its likely as you suspected, some component dying out on you. i think you already know what you have to do, though no one really likes doing it. switch out parts till you find the culprit. an almost sure way to troubleshoot.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I've had it at these settings since I bought the computer (which was about 1.5 years ago). The memory is running faster but I have the timings raised up (it's running at something like 890 mhz 5-5-5-13 instead of the default 800 mhz 4-4-4-12). Anyways thanks for confirming what I suspected. Guess I'll be buying a new PSU and maybe some memory soon.

[quote name='Hazarath']Also, switch out the GPU, that may help as well... seems you keep crashing during 3D gaming. Switch out, and see what happens.

-Haz
[/QUOTE]
I doubt it's the video card since prime95 (which I'm pretty sure puts roughly no load on the video card) causes my computer to crash right away, but thanks for the input. I'll probably be getting a new video card in half a year anyways so I'll find out then.


EDIT:
Another quick question for you guys. My motherboard says it supports up to DDR2-800/PC-6400 memory or up to 1066 mhz overclocked. Would DDR2-1066 work just as well at those speeds and just be more stable? This is my motherboard and this was the ram I was thinking of.

EDIT 2:
Alright I've decided the PSU is going to be the first thing to go since it has been acting kind of weird for quite a while anyways. I'm looking for a reputable brand, 500+ watts, with ~30+ amps on the 12 volt rails and a quiet fan. It would also have to work in my Antec P180 case (which has the PSU mounted at the bottom). I could buy this OCZ 500 watt PSU but it costs just a little more than I'd like and people claim it has short cables. Does anybody know of any deals going on right now? I don't want to have to wait :whistle2:(

EDIT 3:
Just found this PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017
Modular, 86% efficiency, 600 watts with 2 25 amp +12 volt rails and slightly cheaper than the one above. I'm probably going to go with this one. I'll report back once it's installed.
 
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Alright installed the new PSU and all it really did was speed up some of the fans and fix the starting up issue. Not really sure what to do with the old one that still mostly works. I'd feel bad just letting it rot.

Otherwise I've found two problems. First of all using Vista to check the memory throws errors immediately and prime95 throws errors much more quickly if I use the blend mode (which tests the most ram). I'm done buying Crucial ram. It breaks like nothing else. Out of the first four sticks I bought at least two ended up failing and now at least one of the replacement sticks has broken. Going to stick to OCZ and Corsair from now on.

The other problem is that my CPU fan is running at very low speeds (~500-600 rpm). When I try to spin it without power it barley moves at all (there is a lot of resistance that prevents it from spinning freely like most of my fans). I still don't think this is a heat issue but I might as well replace a bad fan while I'm at this.

Going to buy some DDR 1066 memory and a new cpu fan. If this doesn't fix my problems I don't know what will.
 
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i don't really see a point in getting the slightly faster memory. to get those speeds you have to make sacrifices in the timing department which, depending on your mobo and cpu, can mean its just as fast.

that corsair ram has a few things about it that would make me pick a different brand. first off, the timings are rated at 5-6-6-18. thats not bad by any means, but most competing brands offer 5-5-5-18, its odd that the corsair does not. also, the voltage requirement is 2.1v. again, not a big deal, but when looking for ram i try to find the tightest timings at the lowest voltage for the lowest price. if memory can reach faster timings at a lower voltage, it usually means if you up the juice a little, you can make it even faster.

now, that corsair you picked is going to take 85$ out of your wallet (and put 15$ back in eventually) for slower timings than most and has an average standard voltage.

everyone has brands that they like to go to for different parts, and you've said that you like OCZ and Corsair, which is fine. I personally have had great luck from g.skill (sticks running faster than advertised with no voltage increase) and mushkin has been solid for awhile. So, lets take a look at some other options in the 1066 rated area if you're really set on that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231270
At first glance, the reviews for this may be off-putting, but upon reading them fully, you see that in most cases its people just not knowing some things about their computer. Its rated for 5-5-5-15 at 1.8v which is very low. 70$. Perhaps you think to yourself, well maybe some of those reviews have some truth in them, I don't want to risk getting a bad set. Fine too, but be aware that all memory suffers a small risk of being defective no matter the brand.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166
The standard memory. another g.skill set 5-5-5-15 at 2.0-2.1 voltage the timings are not only faster, but the voltage may be able to be set lower. to top it all off the price comes in at 70$ shipped without having to wait for a rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146785
A set from mushkin with a rebate that makes it ever so slightly cheaper while still getting the mushkin brand name (which may or may not mean something to you). 5-5-5-15 @ 2.0-2.1 76$ (66$ ar)


there are many more options too, but as you can see, when you can get so many other sets of memory that is cheaper, faster, and uses less voltage, it is strange to pick the corsair set you have your eyes on.
 
I actually looked around for a little while the day I wrote my last post and purchased this ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227298
It does have 5-5-5-18 timings but it also is supposed to use 2.2 volts. It's only $52 AR.

You are probably right about looking at voltage. I've always ignored it when it comes to ram. I'll have to pay more attention to that from now on.

Also I've never tried g.skill or mushkin. I'll probably see what the deals are looking like when I need memory next and choose based off of that. What I really meant by "Going to stick with OCZ and Corsair from now on" is "Crucial is ass".

And thanks for all the advice.
 
Alright well I went through and checked my ram and took the bad stick out which seems to have fixed my problem. Also my CPU fan has suddenly increased back to its normal speed for no apparent reason. I'm thinking about RMAing my last order from newegg but I might still want that 4 gb of ram.

Does anybody know what difference 4gb of ram will make vs 3gb? I don't multitask that often but I do like to run games (Crysis, Team Fortress 2, Mass Effect etc) at 1920x1200 (well, except Crysis which my video card can't handle quite that high) with all settings turned up high. Also I'm running 64 bit Vista.
 
Depends on how the 3GB is configured. From glancing at your thread, I'm guessing its 3x1GB DDR2? If you have an odd number of RAMs, then your motherboard will not run the RAMs in dual channel mode. Single channel will be slightly slower in benchmark results, but in real world usage, you're likely not going to notice any difference from dual channel.
 
[quote name='SOSTrooper']Depends on how the 3GB is configured. From glancing at your thread, I'm guessing its 3x1GB DDR2? If you have an odd number of RAMs, then your motherboard will not run the RAMs in dual channel mode. Single channel will be slightly slower in benchmark results, but in real world usage, you're likely not going to notice any difference from dual channel.[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the quick response, and yes you are correct that I'm running 3x1GB DDR2. I've been looking for benchmarks online (for 3 vs 4gb) but there doesn't really seem to be any. All I get is people talking about having 4gb of ram with a 32 bit OS. I'm leaning towards RMAing anyways since I kind of spent a lot on the now pointless fan ($20) and I can probably live with 3 gb for at least half a year while ram prices fall.

Alright I really need to sleep now. I was planning on going to bed an hour ago. Trying to fix computers is too damn addicting.
 
Alright I put in the new PSU and took out the back stick of ram but now there is a new problem. When ever I try to boot up my computer it will freeze at random points before Windows boots (usually at the Foxconn start up screen or after a bunch of text that appears quickly before it gives me my boot up options). I have to keep resetting it until it works (usually ~5 tries). Each time it usually gets further. Like the first time it will just have the Foxconn splash screen without the keyboard/mouse lights on, second time the lights will turn on, third time it will reach the end of the text (the last line of which is something like "Loading partition xxxxx"), and the fourth time Windows will start fine.

I have Ready Driver Plus installed but since it doesn't usually get to it I doubt it's the problem. I also haven't really changed anything on my computer since well before this started other than the new PSU/removing the stick of ram. Anybody have any ideas?

At least I can play my games fine now.
 
Out of the last 5 or so successful boot ups the CMOS reset itself (saying the CPU was out or range once and that it was corrupt or something the other time) so I just the CMOS settings at default yesterday and now this morning when I tried to turn it on it turned off once and then turned back on and now the motherboard just beeps continuously (indicating a memory problem according to this) and it won't boot up. This has happened before but I just fixed it before by taking the memory out and putting it back in. So far this time I've tried only using 1 of my 3 sticks of ram in all 4 different slots and unplugging the main motherboard power connector for a second but none of that has fixed it.

I'm about to go try resetting the CMOS, reseating the video card, and then leaving the motherboard and cpu power cables unplugged with the ram out and power turned off for a while.Anybody have any other ideas? I'm about ready to give up and just buy a new motherboard. Damn it I'm a lazy cheap college student why can't it just work?



Quick update:
I've tried all the different combinations of two different sets of ram and power supplies and I've found changing the power supply has no effect but changing the ram got it to the motherboards splash screen with no beeping (although the lights on my keyboard/mouse don't light up and it won't post). All 3 of my sticks of ram do not work in it anymore for some reason. Does this give any of you guys an idea?
 
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