MurderCityDevil
08-09-2008, 01:28 PM
Before I begin, let me say that I don't know what forum to post this in because at this point I honestly don't know what the problem is with. It's gotten to the point that this issue is killing me every time it happens and makes me feel like the thousands of dollars and endless hours i poured into this machine were in vain. Here's my setup -
Asus Maximus Formula (BIOS 2107)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Quad 750
Q6600
4 gigs of pc8500 corsair dominator ddr2 at 1066
9800GX2
X-Fi xtreme gamer
WD Raptor 150
WD caviar 250
Pioneer dvd-rw lightscribe
Here is the basic issue. I will walk you through a typical scenario of how it's been happening to me lately, though the same issue has occurred in different circumstances in the past probably 4-5 months.
Lately, it happens like this. If I'm using Vista and I leave my computer on and idle for any extended period of time (sometimes as little as 2-3 hours), and I come back, I will see that the monitor is off. Turning it on reveals a black screen and a locked up system. (Sometimes this is also related to the nvdlmmkm error that also has been bugging me a lot, but not necessarily. ) Usually my computer is left like this because i'm downloading torrents or something. Anyway, i get the black screen and unresponsive system, so I restart. Upon restart, my Maximus Formula splash screen now has artifacts on it. (for this reason I thought it could be graphics related).
If I'm using XP and leave my computer idle, coming back to it reveals whatever windows I had open or just my desktop, but everything is frozen and the screen also now has teal colored artifacts all over it. After a restart the mobo splash screen also has artifacts. At this point I know the nightmare has begun.
Comp POSTS without issues and when I start to boot into either OS, the loading screen still has artifacts. For XP, interestingly enough, the little progress bar freezes for a second and the artifacts disappear, and then continues moving, as if it fixed itself. However, for both OS's, they will each go through their loading screen and then I will get a black screen and no further booting. The hard drives will seek for a little bit but the comp will never boot. The only way I have really been able to fix this is by clearing cmos and letting my computer sit for multiple hours with the power supply off, sometimes even leaving it overnight. As you can imagine, this is not a very useful solution.
Some background on what I've done - At first I thought it was memory related since the issue started back when i had my old crucial ballistix tracers. I eventually found out one stick was bad and resorted to using 1 gig while I saved up money for new mem. I just recently bought my dominators but clearly the issue is still here. While installing those, I realized that at least 2 of my mobo dimm slots are also bad, or at the very least "weak" and incapable of running at 1066. Right now my 2 2 gig sticks are running in 2 adjacent slots (A1 and A2).
As for the video card, it runs perfectly fine. I can play all games for basically an unlimited amount of time without a single crash or error or anything. Same with the rest of my system. It's completely stable with the exception of this crap. Just now, for instance, I flashed to bios 2107 (didn't fix the issue) and somehow managed to boot into xp (no artifacts or anything) and am running prime95. No errors, no nothing. Everything is fine.
(also, when I do manage to boot successfully and then restart, the artifacts on the mobo splash screen also disappear. This makes me think it could possibly be OS related)
I am completely baffled as to what this is, and frankly hate the thought of having to replace components to get rid of it as I've already spent so much goddamn time on this comp. I just want it to work like its supposed to.
If you guys have any idea what this issue is being caused by, please for the love of god help me out. its driving me crazy. If you need any more information I'll be glad provide it or clarify what i've already said. Thanks guys.
Asus Maximus Formula (BIOS 2107)
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Quad 750
Q6600
4 gigs of pc8500 corsair dominator ddr2 at 1066
9800GX2
X-Fi xtreme gamer
WD Raptor 150
WD caviar 250
Pioneer dvd-rw lightscribe
Here is the basic issue. I will walk you through a typical scenario of how it's been happening to me lately, though the same issue has occurred in different circumstances in the past probably 4-5 months.
Lately, it happens like this. If I'm using Vista and I leave my computer on and idle for any extended period of time (sometimes as little as 2-3 hours), and I come back, I will see that the monitor is off. Turning it on reveals a black screen and a locked up system. (Sometimes this is also related to the nvdlmmkm error that also has been bugging me a lot, but not necessarily. ) Usually my computer is left like this because i'm downloading torrents or something. Anyway, i get the black screen and unresponsive system, so I restart. Upon restart, my Maximus Formula splash screen now has artifacts on it. (for this reason I thought it could be graphics related).
If I'm using XP and leave my computer idle, coming back to it reveals whatever windows I had open or just my desktop, but everything is frozen and the screen also now has teal colored artifacts all over it. After a restart the mobo splash screen also has artifacts. At this point I know the nightmare has begun.
Comp POSTS without issues and when I start to boot into either OS, the loading screen still has artifacts. For XP, interestingly enough, the little progress bar freezes for a second and the artifacts disappear, and then continues moving, as if it fixed itself. However, for both OS's, they will each go through their loading screen and then I will get a black screen and no further booting. The hard drives will seek for a little bit but the comp will never boot. The only way I have really been able to fix this is by clearing cmos and letting my computer sit for multiple hours with the power supply off, sometimes even leaving it overnight. As you can imagine, this is not a very useful solution.
Some background on what I've done - At first I thought it was memory related since the issue started back when i had my old crucial ballistix tracers. I eventually found out one stick was bad and resorted to using 1 gig while I saved up money for new mem. I just recently bought my dominators but clearly the issue is still here. While installing those, I realized that at least 2 of my mobo dimm slots are also bad, or at the very least "weak" and incapable of running at 1066. Right now my 2 2 gig sticks are running in 2 adjacent slots (A1 and A2).
As for the video card, it runs perfectly fine. I can play all games for basically an unlimited amount of time without a single crash or error or anything. Same with the rest of my system. It's completely stable with the exception of this crap. Just now, for instance, I flashed to bios 2107 (didn't fix the issue) and somehow managed to boot into xp (no artifacts or anything) and am running prime95. No errors, no nothing. Everything is fine.
(also, when I do manage to boot successfully and then restart, the artifacts on the mobo splash screen also disappear. This makes me think it could possibly be OS related)
I am completely baffled as to what this is, and frankly hate the thought of having to replace components to get rid of it as I've already spent so much goddamn time on this comp. I just want it to work like its supposed to.
If you guys have any idea what this issue is being caused by, please for the love of god help me out. its driving me crazy. If you need any more information I'll be glad provide it or clarify what i've already said. Thanks guys.