Blackops FF (cold) boot problems

[aries2580]

I'll be quick.

From a cold boot (power off at wall)

System boots then restarts (as normal)
Then boots and hangs at FF after rebooting after 5 seconds.
Then I get a black screen and FF with fan spinning forever.

I can solve this by clearing the CMOS. Then the board boots fine.

I have my Q6600 clocked to 3.4GHz (425x8) and it passes IBT 20 times at all stress ratings and will restart fine, shutdown and power up fine (as long as the power is on at the wall). So why the weird cold boot behavior?

thanks for any replies

Bios version - p07

[Spork!]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=192575

PSU incopatabillity perhaps? Check the above link.
Sounds weird...

[saaya]

sorry, can you explain this in a propper chronological order?
1. a
2. b
3. c

im a bit confused what happens when you do what

[aries2580]

sorry, can you explain this in a propper chronological order?
1. a
2. b
3. c

im a bit confused what happens when you do what

hehe sorry.
Ok well my above doesn't really apply anymore.
Story time:

I recently found out that I have a Q6600 with a very high VID (1.32) and an odd batch number. Although I was still able to push the little bugger to 3.2GHz (400x8) allowing my to run my RAM at its rated speed (1.42 volts)
So after many hours of IBT and prime testing I came to the conclusion that my system was rock solid and I was ready for anything!!! (calmly ignoring the fact that my CPU core 0 was reaching 80 with IBT - "Sure no program stresses the CPU that much right... right...?)

After playing farcry2 with my sexy GTX285, I was experiencing some stuttering in pala and other locations... I then decided it was time for an upgrade. I wanted a CPU running at 3.8GHz at least AND for it to be cold as ice, as this Q6600 was NOT doing the graphics card I had shelled out so many notes for any justice!

After some talking it over with the guys at another forum I though maybe I would give the Q6600 another try. Grabbed some new MX-2 thermal paste and went to work.
Eventually got the problem I described above (which turned out to be not enough CPU volts)
But finally after 2 days of testing with IBT, prime and 3Dmark I had 430x8 - 3.4GHz and my ram running at 1720MHz 7-6-6-24. (This time the core0 was hitting 85degrees with IBT but again I though to go by prime temps which were in the 60's)

Not bad, not bad I though as I booted into my normal hard drive (I use another for benching and Ocking) fired up farcry 2....
....
....... (drums fingers on table as game loads)
Sweet! I is kewl farcry2 guy 'pew pew'

-Driver crash-
"Its ok... it was nothing"

'Fires up farcry2'
-Driver crash-
This happened about 4 times... So grudgingly I put it back to 3.2GHz. Where I am happy to report I have MUCH lower temps after the application of this new thermal paste.

So sorry to have wasted your time. (looks like a new CPU is in order!)

[aries2580]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=192575

PSU incopatabillity perhaps? Check the above link.
Sounds weird...

I have contacted BFG support about really annoying squealing from the gtx285 and apparently it might be my PSU not providing my card with enough juice.
Although it is a Coolermaster real power pro 850W so it should be ok... Maybe a sign of the psu failing...

On a side note - With the 3.2GHz clock. When I turn on the computer after it has been powered off from the wall for a while.

• The system partially POST's
• Turns off (before the beep)
• Then POST's and boots as normal as if nothing has happened!
  
  Is that normal? Or another sign my PSU is on its way out!?

[Wotcher]

• The system partially POST's
• Turns off (before the beep)
• Then POST's and boots as normal as if nothing has happened!
  
  Is that normal? Or another sign my PSU is on its way out!?

That's normal.

With regard to your other problem, have you tried dropping back the shader etc settings in Farcry?

I had a similar problem with Company of Heroes on my E8600 at 4.25GHz, turned out to be game settings that caused the crash (system has recovered, nvidia driver not responding etc)

The game ran fine at 4.0GHz with highest settings, just went anal when oc'd to 4.25GHz

Also which driver are you running? OS?

[UNIXgod]

sounds like it's going into oc recovery mode. But you shouldn't see it if your OC was successful. curious indeed.

[saaya]

new cpu... idk man, do you actually get a boost in games from going higher than 3.2g?

[aries2580]

new cpu... idk man, do you actually get a boost in games from going higher than 3.2g?

I'm not sure to be honest Although don't the i7's do very well at 4GHz?
Maybe a Q9XXX at 3.8GHz would be a good investment. More cache, runs cooler and apparently they are a bit easier to clock

[aries2580]

That's normal.

With regard to your other problem, have you tried dropping back the shader etc settings in Farcry?

I had a similar problem with Company of Heroes on my E8600 at 4.25GHz, turned out to be game settings that caused the crash (system has recovered, nvidia driver not responding etc)

The game ran fine at 4.0GHz with highest settings, just went anal when oc'd to 4.25GHz

Also which driver are you running? OS?

That is odd and no I didnt change any of the settings... In fact I got reallllly angry and cleared the overclock from the settings in the bios

Driver - 186.18
OS - Vista Premium x64

I think farcry2 is updated as well. It does that quick update check every time I launch it.

This sucks... Farcry is a really good game, yet it runs worse in places than crysis! I have all the settings at ultra high (and shadows on gamer) and its really great. Yet farcry2 stutters like crazy in places and they were bundling it with lesser cards than the gtx285! It really takes away from the game when you are driving around and then all of a sudden it freaks. Maybe this is all stooopid. Get a new CPU for just one game?!

OH and I tried looking at my FPS in game... It stutters when the frames dip into the 40FPs region... (wtf) It just feels soooo laggggy but its at 40fps?!?!?!?!

[aries2580]

sounds like it's going into oc recovery mode. But you shouldn't see it if your OC was successful. curious indeed.

So today, turned on the computer to come here and post

• Powered on
• Partially POST'ed
• Powered down
• partially POST'ed again...
• Powered down
• Then it POST'ed as normal...??

Is it normal for it to happen twice?

[saaya]

So today, turned on the computer to come here and post

• Powered on
• Partially POST'ed
• Powered down
• partially POST'ed again...
• Powered down
• Then it POST'ed as normal...??

Is it normal for it to happen twice?

nope... sounds like memory to me... that or psu...
or the board is somehow damaged...

and core i7 4ghz chips doing well... yeah, but... to tell you the truth, in gaming it probably makes 0 sense at all to have 4 cores, let alone 8...
im thinking of disabling 3 cores in bios and then running 1 core with ht with 22 multiplier or maybe 2 cores with ht and 21 multi... more than that really is just a waste of power if your gaming and not doing anything multi thread heavy...

thats why the recent infos about 1156 32nm cpus are great... they will be dualcores with ht and will go up to 3.46ghz... i wish intel would have offered similar chips on 1366 when they launched 1366...
that would have made 1366 a whole lot more attractive, but well... thats not what intel wanted anyhow

[aries2580]

nope... sounds like memory to me... that or psu...
or the board is somehow damaged...

and core i7 4ghz chips doing well... yeah, but... to tell you the truth, in gaming it probably makes 0 sense at all to have 4 cores, let alone 8...
im thinking of disabling 3 cores in bios and then running 1 core with ht with 22 multiplier or maybe 2 cores with ht and 21 multi... more than that really is just a waste of power if your gaming and not doing anything multi thread heavy...

thats why the recent infos about 1156 32nm cpus are great... they will be dualcores with ht and will go up to 3.46ghz... i wish intel would have offered similar chips on 1366 when they launched 1366...
that would have made 1366 a whole lot more attractive, but well... thats not what intel wanted anyhow

I do like the way they are dual channel. So I can keep my modules.

But anyway. I don't think its memory to be honest. I will grab memtest and run it for an hour and see what happens.
This PSU I think is the issue. BFG think that its not powering the card properly, and I have weird power on problems... You mentioned that the board might be a fault. How would I go about checking that?
(thanks for everyones help so far)

[saaya]

well the only way to confirm the board is faulty is basically to replace it or make sure all other possible problem candidates have an aliby
its not easy...

[aries2580]

well the only way to confirm the board is faulty is basically to replace it or make sure all other possible problem candidates have an aliby
its not easy...

Well no worries.

booted from memtest and it has been running for the last hour Pass: 80% and no errors so far. So looking good.

Right, I'm set that the problem is this PSU. (I had weird problems with another build using this PSU and it lead me to suspect it then. Looks like its reared its ugly head again... the only reason I didn't get a new one was due to lack of funds...)

So basically any suggestions for a new PSU? It's gotta be a beefy one.

x48 Blackops
Q6600 - 3.2GHz
4GB Intel Extreme DDR3 (1600MHz)
GTX 258 OC2
2 Hard disks
2 120mm fans
2 180mm fans
1 50mm fan

[Sailindawg]

@Aries

If you are in the US, get, at a minimum a PCP&C Quad Silencer 710. See my sig. I think for that in my case, with the second vid card & water cooling, I'm pushing the limits of the 710. Better yet, get the PCP&C 910 Silencer. Plenty of power, plus very quiet.

Regarding your overclock, why not run the 6600 at 9x400 or 9x4xx to max the clock cycles. Using the 8 multi with the higher fsb is pushing it hard with the 6600. Using the 9 multi will get you higher clocks without pushing the rig real hard. I run 9x417 24/7 and it runs easier than at my max of 8x450. With Intel, it's all about cpu clock cycles. High bandwidth is not all that critical performance wise. High bandwidth makes for a great screen shot/bench, but for 24/7, higher clocks seem to work best.

[saaya]

yeah but check if the higher cpu clocks really make sense, you might be blowing lots of extra power through the chip and heat up your room for no gains
about psu, listen to sailingdog or search this section for what psus people had good results with

[Sailindawg]

Good point Saaya. I'm lucky with my cpu in that i need higher cpu volts for higher fsb with a low multi vs. the high multi with lower fsb. Hopefully the OP can realize the same gain. If not he's got 6600 that just needs volts to really clock.

[aries2580]

@Aries

If you are in the US, get, at a minimum a PCP&C Quad Silencer 710. See my sig. I think for that in my case, with the second vid card & water cooling, I'm pushing the limits of the 710. Better yet, get the PCP&C 910 Silencer. Plenty of power, plus very quiet.

Regarding your overclock, why not run the 6600 at 9x400 or 9x4xx to max the clock cycles. Using the 8 multi with the higher fsb is pushing it hard with the 6600. Using the 9 multi will get you higher clocks without pushing the rig real hard. I run 9x417 24/7 and it runs easier than at my max of 8x450. With Intel, it's all about cpu clock cycles. High bandwidth is not all that critical performance wise. High bandwidth makes for a great screen shot/bench, but for 24/7, higher clocks seem to work best.

I would be running at that clock speed, but this chip demands volts and MOAR volts anything above 3.2GHz
Also thank you for the PSU recommendation Although I don't live in america I should be able to find one on ebay easily

yeah but check if the higher cpu clocks really make sense, you might be blowing lots of extra power through the chip and heat up your room for no gains
about psu, listen to sailingdog or search this section for what psus people had good results with

What would be good about running the chip at 3.6GHz is I will actually be able to use intel speed step! So it will only need the power when needed Will also help the power consumption, because at the minute when I stop folding the computer stays awake, so speedstep could undeclock the cpu since its not needed! Brilliant! (I have had to disable sleep in windows due to problems waking up)

Good point Saaya. I'm lucky with my cpu in that i need higher cpu volts for higher fsb with a low multi vs. the high multi with lower fsb. Hopefully the OP can realize the same gain. If not he's got 6600 that just needs volts to really clock.

I think I got the latter. I can run this chip on outrageous FSB's with next to stock volts, but as soon as I increase the clock speed?
Q6600 - "MOAR VOLTS!!!!"
Me - "okie..."

(again thanks guys for replying, I have read a lot of both your stuff around here [legends you both are] and the 1st thread I post, the greats come to town lol!)