CPU or RAM problem?

[naughty_guy]

If I run 3D Mark 2001 and I get random self-rebooting, what problem is it likely? CPU out of spec (not enough voltage) or Ram overheating or Ram out of spec (not enough voltage)??


I doubt that it's the CPU overheating cuz it's like @ 41C.


Thanks for answering my question

[N8]

I'm not positive...but I think most times reboots are due to memory. :)

[KnightElite]

Random reboots are often memory, but it can also be the vidcard. To check for memory errors, go download memtest86 from www.memtest86.com .

[naughty_guy]

hmmm.. interesting.. ppl in overclockersforum saying the problem should be CPU lacking voltage, but here it's memory problem.

Hey guys.. if it's the memory problem, is it the memory lacking voltage or out of spec or too hot??

Thanks

[MrIcee]

Welp...I've never had the rebooting issue in 3DMark..so heres a stab:)

I'd venture to guess either you need more VCore voltage...or your PSU is possibly lacking.

Memory problems fall into a couple of categories....either blatant blue screen errors, or lack of voltage "kick backs" to the desktop when running aggressive timings. Kick backs just bump you out of the benchmark unlike the reboots you are experiencing.

Give it a little more core voltage if possible and see if it helps.
Poor voltage regulation on the mainboard itself will also cause reboots.:)

Randi:D

[chainbolt]

Maybe you should run a memory test from a floppy? It tells you whether your RAM is producing faults at a certain frequency. At least then you now what you can exclude as source of your problem.

[naughty_guy]

I can do 1.95V max on my Vcore, i guess i'll try that. By the way, it there any problem using the 133:100:33 FSB:RAM:PCI ratio?? Any problem with underclocking the RAM??

[antipop]

There is an option in win2k that once you have an error it reboots the system maybe there is the same thing in xp?

[naughty_guy]

hmm... i'm not sure about that.. anyone have an idea?

[KnightElite]

Originally posted by antipop
There is an option in win2k that once you have an error it reboots the system maybe there is the same thing in xp?

Yeah, there is. I forgot about that. Right click on my computer, go to properties, go to the advanced tab, then go to startup & recovery settings, then uncheck the box that says "automatically restart." Hopefully, you will no longer reboot and you will now get BSODs :toast:.

[antipop]

At least the bsod might give you an idication on what is happening

[naughty_guy]

ok, i've unchecked that box.

What's bsod ???

[naughty_guy]

I've unchecked that box and right now, instead of self-rebooting, i get this blue screen thing. It says begining somethign about memory....

It's scary.. help

[Tweaked!]

bsod - blue screen of death;)

[Erik21d]

BSOD = Blue Screen of Death

Try giving you mem more voltage or relaxing the timings...

[Tweaked!]

Is that a single 512 mb stick of ram, or two 256?

[naughty_guy]

thanks for the help. there isn't an option for me to give more voltage to my Ram, only VIO settings. And 3.6 as you can see in my sig is the highest... the timing is already the most relaxing.

lol, i'm using 2*128 and 1 256 RAM.


HelP? comments? suggestions plese??

[Tweaked!]

Try swapping out all your ram. Xp pro needs 256mb to load, so try restarting with just the one 256mb stick and see if anything changes for you. If not, swap it around w/ the other two 128mb sticks.

[N8]

Originally posted by Tweaked!
Xp pro needs 256mb to load, so try restarting with just the one 256mb stick and see if anything changes for you.

Windows XP Pro loads & runs fine on both 64MB & 128MB of system memory. Tested & proven by yours truely. Its very much a dog on 64MB, but it certainly does run :D

Edit: MS's thoughts on it:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/sysreqs.asp

[Tweaked!]

Huh, that's odd, I figured it was like 2k pro. W2k pro won't run on anything less than 256. Well, in that case, try all your ram chips seperately.

[N8]

I ran Windows 2000 Professional w/ SP2 & encountered no problems w/ that very 128MB DDR DIMM that I sent you, Tweaked!. I'm not sure why you're having problems w/ under 256MB...its slower, of course, but it worked just fine for me.

Edit: Just found the requirements page @ MS for 2k. It seems as tho they recommend 256MB for Win2k, but say that 128MB is supported...whereas for XP they said 128MB recommended, 46MB supported. Suprises me that 2k specifies more memory :)

Either way, I've tested both XP w/ 64MB & 128MB, & 2k w/ 128MB and all those configs worked fine :)

Edit2: I lied, I was looking at advanced server. It looks like 64MB of memory is supported in Win2k Pro as well:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional/evaluation/sysreqs/

[JestersTear1]

The last time I had random reboots when running 3DMark, I fixed it by upping the I/O voltage. I had overclocked my board and card and it just needed a bit more juice to remain stable.

After that it worked like a dream!

[KnightElite]

Originally posted by naughty_guy
thanks for the help. there isn't an option for me to give more voltage to my Ram, only VIO settings. And 3.6 as you can see in my sig is the highest... the timing is already the most relaxing.

lol, i'm using 2*128 and 1 256 RAM.


HelP? comments? suggestions plese??

Yeah, do what N8 & Tweaked! suggest and try each stick of RAM seperately. What is the exact message that you get at the top of the blue screen? The one I used to get quite commonly, which was IRQL_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL or something like that. I resolved that issue by grounding the heatsink (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2813), which got me an extra 30MHz stable.

[naughty_guy]

why do i have to switch the rams around? to see which rams is creating the probleM??

by the way, i don't understand what's grounding the heatsink....

[KnightElite]

Yes, try each stick of RAM seperately, and if the problem goes away, then you've figured out which one is crapping out. Grouding the heatsink just involves somehow electrically grounding it, like attaching a wire from your heatsink to your case. It may or may not work for you, but it worked for me.

[naughty_guy]

what will that do by electrically grounding it? What are the benefits?

[antipop]

About that grounding the heatsink thing, does anyone has tried on a wc setup? I don't think it necessary to ground it because of the water and the heatercore

[KnightElite]

It has in fact been tried on a water cooling setup. STEvil gained about 50Mhz with one CPU he tried.

[ryanpgroovy]

I have had random reboots in 3dmark from many things ,
post your setup for a little more assistance , the error could be indicative of many of things

[naughty_guy]

what do you mean?

[naughty_guy]

When I try to Overclock over 150FSB, with the 133:100:33 ratio. I get a blue screen error. In the very top it says : DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. What does that mean, what should i do? What's my problem? At the bottom of the page it says: "Beginning Dump of Physical Memory. Physical memory dump complete." I don't know if that has anything to do w/ my problem.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[Galifrey]

IME thats normally cpu...

[naughty_guy]

IME?? what's that? It's a CPU problem?? how come, my temps are so low...

[N8]

IME = in my experience.

[Marci]

Temps have nothin to do with it... if the chip isn't capable of running at the speed you tell it to, no amount of cooling or voltage will sort it out... some chips just won't go any faster than a certain point. I had an XP2000 which ran at 1.9Ghz at 36 degrees under Load... at 1.8v... no matter what I did to it it wouldn't run at 2Ghz... give it 2.2v to CPU, chuck a load of ice in my res... nothing...

"Beginning Dump of Physical Memory. Physical memory dump complete." I don't know if that has anything to do w/ my problem.


XP / NT Based Operating Systems always do a memory or Kernel dump whenever it BlueScreens unless you tell it not to. This creates a file of the contents of the memory so it can be examined by an engineer or similar to try and find the problem...

[Colin]

Just wondering, what size/brand of PSU are you using naughty_guy?

I had similar problems with my P4 when I was using a crappy Enermax 550W PSU, after I changed it to an Antec TruePower 470W my spondtanious reboots went away. Not just that, I could also overclock my FSB about 2 MHz higher!

Don't just judge a PSU by it's wattage, brand and quality has a lot to do with how good a PSU is.

[Galifrey]

Originally posted by naughty_guy
IME?? what's that? It's a CPU problem?? how come, my temps are so low...

Sorry I'll try not to use complicated IRC jargon... ;)

You could try more volts, but I used to get that with my xp2100, it just wouldnt go any faster for me no matter what volts I gave it...

on the other hand, it could just be that your voltage was on the limit (lower limit) and load caused it to drop below the threshold of stability...

BTW (by the way) My experience is far more limited than some of these guyz on here, so do wait for their opinions as well...

[Galifrey]

Hey I use an Enermax 550 watt, tiz fine :p cept a slightly lower 5v line than some... :rolleyes:

[Marci]

Enermax 431w here... no probs... all voltage rails well above normal... by at least 0.2v... even at full load on graphics...

[naughty_guy]

My max CPU voltage can go up to 1.95V, but that didn't solve the problem. I'm using a MaxPower PSU--320W total and 380W Max. To my knowledge, it's a good quality and branded PSU in HOng Kong. There had been good reviews for it, that's why i bought it.

sounds like my chip is just purely a bad overclocker. I have a slightly low 5V line. I got 4.919V and a 12.16V line for 12V. So the warning I got "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL." is just telling me that my CPU is dropping out? Everyone here thinks that way? CPU ? chipset?

Your comments are greatly appreciated

[Colin]

Originally posted by Galifrey
Hey I use an Enermax 550 watt, tiz fine :p cept a slightly lower 5v line than some... :rolleyes: From my limited experince with them, I find they're not that great... Better then generic PSU's by far, but no where close to Antec or Sparkle PSU's... I'd love a PC Power & Cooling, but they're a tad difficult to find here. :(

But hey dude if yours works fine, that's great! :)

[naughty_guy]

what about me? you guys forgot about me?

[Marci]

From the jist of the thread, you're looking at CPU. It is a pIII... which aren't the best chips for overclocking, and without major cooling do not like High FSBs...

[KnightElite]

I'll have to agree that it's the CPU. I had exactly the same problem.... more cooling & voltage seems to have solved the issue.

[rude_boi]

Off topic I know but......

Enermax 650 and 550 watters here, no probs.

They are one of the better PSU makers IMHO.


-rb

[naughty_guy]

So the error "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" is referring to the CPU? It is a CPU problem? But voltage isn't a problem for me and it is running pretty cool. 32 idel and 44 full load....

Ppl in overclockers forum says it's probably my chipset or MB reaching the limit.

All comments are greatly appreciated.

[KnightElite]

Originally posted by naughty_guy
So the error "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" is referring to the CPU? It is a CPU problem? But voltage isn't a problem for me and it is running pretty cool. 32 idel and 44 full load....

Ppl in overclockers forum says it's probably my chipset or MB reaching the limit.

All comments are greatly appreciated.

I had thought it was my chipset as well, but as I say, the error disapeared when I slapped a TEC on the chip.

[naughty_guy]

Is TEC a heatsink or some sort? You put it on the Northbridge? So it's the temp prob?

[MyEpoxDied]

No, look at this: http://www.tellurex.com/resource/txfaq.htm

[KnightElite]

Originally posted by naughty_guy
Is TEC a heatsink or some sort? You put it on the Northbridge? So it's the temp prob?

Sorry, I was a little bit unclear. I put a thermo-electric cooler on the CPU. The problem disapeared at that point.

[naughty_guy]

ooh ic, i get it now... But i don't think it's my CPU running too hot... WHat's the problem.