I am at my wit's end...I am going to smash my machine, I swear!

[Skrips]

A little over a year ago I bought a dream, that dream came in the form of a 680i based board from Abit...The IN9 32x Max to be precise. Fast forward 1 RMA and 9 months later, and I still cannot get the machine to run stable or reliable. Now, what am I to do? I had spent well over $5000 on the hardware, only to end up with shattered hope and a broken wallet.

Then comes along 780i, and once again my dream of a working machine gets rekindled. I jump on the bandwagon, fork out yet another $250 on a brand new 780i, and guess what? I am left with a $250 more expensive pile of junk, compared with the pile of junk I have suffered with and hated and resented for well overa year now.

Whats wrong you ask? Well, the machine was crashing, hardlocking, and generally acting like a piece of trash since I first assembled it. Now, the exact problem is this: The machine runs 3d applications like crap, and by crap, I mean not at all. It will fire up, run windows (though once in a while it will even hardlock in windows), but the 3d apps are a mystery.

Once in a while I will fire one up and play for 9 hours without a problem. Once in a while it refuses to run anything. It hardlocks, the screen goes blank, then it comes back up with distorted and frozen graphics image. ctrl+alt+del doesnt work: the only recourse is a hardboot (something I don't like to do to my machines).

Now, since this is THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENNING ON TWO DIFFERENT BOARDS FROM TWO DIFFERENT COMPANIES, what could it POSSIBLY be? Whats the problem? I have tried EVERYTHING! I have tried every one of the 4 DIMMs of ram I have, I have tried 3 different graphics cards, I have tried running different sets of drivers, I have tried tweaking the fan speeds to max to rule out heat crashes, I have tried running the BIOS settings in everything from all manual settings to full automatic everyhitng, and I still can't get my (now) $5500 box to work.

Can some one, for the love of everything that is holy and decent, HELP ME before I smash the living hell out of the hardware and swear off games and computers for the rest of my life?

[Plaicd]

Tried a differnet psu?
Just took a quick look at customer reviews at newegg for the psu and found this.

Manufacturer Response:We apologize that you are currently experiencing a problem with your 850W PSU. We have found that the 850W PSU has some compatible issues with certain Motherboards. We found the problem that was caused by the min. load limit and voltage regulation, this is not a comprehensive compatible problem with all kinds of system.
This issue has been fixed and improved for the next shipment.
1) We revised the "L6" from 10 turns to 20 turns from the original 850W.

2) How do you know if the version you have is the updated modified version?
Check the box, and if it has the “80PLUS” sticker on it, it means the PSU is the corrected version.

Might not be the cure all for your problems but a flakey psu can cause all sorts of strange issues.

I have never used sli or a nv chipset motherboard so no idea about what is good/bad on those.

The rest of the componets in your sig look solid to me.

[RADCOM]

Power supply? Have you tried any hardware diagnostic programs such as Micro 2000
hehehe we were writing at the same time Plaicd

[Skrips]

Tried a differnet psu?
Just took a quick look at customer reviews at newegg for the psu and found this.

Manufacturer Response:We apologize that you are currently experiencing a problem with your 850W PSU. We have found that the 850W PSU has some compatible issues with certain Motherboards. We found the problem that was caused by the min. load limit and voltage regulation, this is not a comprehensive compatible problem with all kinds of system.
This issue has been fixed and improved for the next shipment.
1) We revised the "L6" from 10 turns to 20 turns from the original 850W.

2) How do you know if the version you have is the updated modified version?
Check the box, and if it has the “80PLUS” sticker on it, it means the PSU is the corrected version.

Might not be the cure all for your problems but a flakry psu can cause all sorts of strange issues.

Good call, but I don't think thats the case. My friend recently purchased a Coolermaster 1000w Real Power Pro for a new box he is putting together. I borrowed that PSU a day or two ago, right before I pulled the trigger on the new 780i, and it didn't help at all.

As for trying it on the new MoBo, based on what I have seen, I don't think that would make a difference at all.

--Skrips

[Skrips]

Power supply? Hava e you tried any hardware diagnostic programs such as Micro 2000
hehehe we were writing at the same time Plaicd

Nope. I am doing everything the old fashioned way so far. On that note, whats Micro 2000?

[Omastar]

Have you run MemTest 86+ or otherwise confirmed your RAM isn't at fault here? Of course, the IN9-32X MAX was a piece of junk from the get-go; its digital PWM was terribly unstable, ran incredibly hot, etc. I think they may have released a second rev IN9 with an updated PWM, but I'm not sure.

As for the 780i, I haven't heard of too many complaints. Assuming you're running the latest BIOS, I'd narrow my testing to the RAM and the PSU.

[Skrips]

Have you run MemTest 86+ or otherwise confirmed your RAM isn't at fault here? Of course, the IN9-32X MAX was a piece of junk from the get-go; its digital PWM was terribly unstable, ran incredibly hot, etc. I think they may have released a second rev IN9 with an updated PWM, but I'm not sure.

As for the 780i, I haven't heard of too many complaints. Assuming you're running the latest BIOS, I'd narrow my testing to the RAM and the PSU.

Well, like I said, my friend's PSU didnt help me at all while running the 680i board a couple days ago, and seeing as I am still experiencing the exact same types of crashing, I am going to guess swapping my friend's PSU back into my box is ALSO not going to help now. As for the ram, I tested all 4 DIMMs several months ago when I really started doing some digging.

All 4 checked out, though keep in mind I did not use any diagnostic software. I just ran one at a time and verified that they worked under real world trial.

Although, mayb a test would be in order....but hey, why should I need to test if I am only running them in pairs anyway? More than 1 of those DIMMs couldnt have failed, could they?

[Lestat]

well i will say your first initial issue was that putrid abit board.
the 680i was not one of abits better devices. not that i ever saw, but i didnt hang around to watch it get fixed or not.


alot of things can make a pc go bad man, even your mouse,, believe it or not, i have seen mice and keybaords do all kinds of wicked wierd stuff.

next is your overclock. stop overclocking and set it all up on defaults.
bench it, cpu, ram everthing make sure its stable if not adjust your voltages but not too much as defualt settings on that stuff should be pretty close to auto.


what i am going to ask for is what are your current bios settings and what is your current overclock.

you can also lookinto a bad power strip or surge suppressor, if your using a battery backup then dont.
a bad battery backup can cause all kinds of crap to.

start out by IN DETAIL listing the bios setings you are using. and i dont mean just overclocking i mean everything.

take the time and take some pictures and upload them to image shack. or host them somewhere.

let us help you if you are going to ask us for help.

[zanzabar]

just get an intel chipset thats the easiest fix, having a broken platform for a MB isnt worth sli

[Lestat]

All 4 checked out, though keep in mind I did not use any diagnostic software. I just ran one at a time and verified that they worked under real world trial.

Although, mayb a test would be in order....but hey, why should I need to test if I am only running them in pairs anyway? More than 1 of those DIMMs couldnt have failed, could they?

ok, your probably going to be mad at me for saying this but that statement right there pretty much proves you really dont have any idea what your doing.

sorry but thats a fact.

run memtest in windows with the free windows gui tool, or via dos off a floppy or via the bootable cd iso. (and DO NOT download memtest 2.00 it is bad and broken. download memtest 1.70 or something)
then in windows, download OCCT, it is very picky and has a tendancy to find errors much quicker and where orthos wont.

i never liked it until recently and now i use it all the time. you are also guarenteed to have 100% cpu usage on a dual or quad core where as orthos wont, you have to run several instances of it.

run prime if you wish to run 2 or 4 instances of it. they all are prime based programs so no one is really better than the other although some have been reported to be buggy.

let it run for atleast an hour. its default is 30min. which is ok for basic initial testing but since yoru system is so erratic then you will want to run it for no less than an hour or two.

and dont be doing anything while the tests are running.

also what kind of garbage sh|t software do you have installed on your system.

if your system was so unstable i can almost bet you that the windows iinstaller would have blue screened on you a time or two.
if not then the system should be fairly stable, although that is not a guarentee. windows can install fine but the hardware can still be borked.

also windows can install fine but in reality its really messed up so that when you go to run windows all kinds of wacko sh|t starts happening and you blame everything but windows.

it could be 1 million things right now, but not running tests on possibly bad hardware is not wise.

how can yo usay it runs fine for real world things when you are here telling us that your pc is totally screwed up ???

also bad IDE cable, bad anything can make a system go wacko...

[Skrips]

ok, your probably going to be mad at me for saying this but that statement right there pretty much proves you really dont have any idea what your doing.

sorry but thats a fact.

run memtest in windows with the free windows gui tool, or via dos off a floppy or via the bootable cd iso. (and DO NOT download memtest 2.00 it is bad and broken. download memtest 1.70 or something)
then in windows, download OCCT, it is very picky and has a tendancy to find errors much quicker and where orthos wont.

i never liked it until recently and now i use it all the time. you are also guarenteed to have 100% cpu usage on a dual or quad core where as orthos wont, you have to run several instances of it.

run prime if you wish to run 2 or 4 instances of it. they all are prime based programs so no one is really better than the other although some have been reported to be buggy.

let it run for atleast an hour. its default is 30min. which is ok for basic initial testing but since yoru system is so erratic then you will want to run it for no less than an hour or two.

and dont be doing anything while the tests are running.

also what kind of garbage sh|t software do you have installed on your system.

if your system was so unstable i can almost bet you that the windows iinstaller would have blue screened on you a time or two.
if not then the system should be fairly stable, although that is not a guarentee. windows can install fine but the hardware can still be borked.

also windows can install fine but in reality its really messed up so that when you go to run windows all kinds of wacko sh|t starts happening and you blame everything but windows.

it could be 1 million things right now, but not running tests on possibly bad hardware is not wise.

how can yo usay it runs fine for real world things when you are here telling us that your pc is totally screwed up ???

also bad IDE cable, bad anything can make a system go wacko...

I agree, with everything here. I have been rather idiotic as to how I have gone about doing this, but there are two things I would like to say about this (thought they are NOT excuses, just points)
1) The parts being as new as they are, I just cant believe they are bad! Not to mention I have NEVER had a part flat our fail on me, and certainly not more than one part at the same time.
2) Yes, I am new to high end hardwar. Really new. I have been building computers since I was really young, but I have never dealt with truely high end parts until now. I am learning as I go, so please cut me a little slack

As for the test, surely I will go and start running them now. I want to solve this problem once and for all, and whatever you guys want me to do, I'll try and hoefully we can figure it out together.

First thing first, while I get ready to run prime, could you let me in on just HOW do I go about using memtest if I dont have a floppy drive installed right now? Also, What is OCCT and where can I download it?

-skrips

[Omastar]

OCCT is a hardware stressing program, akin to Prime95: http://www.majorgeeks.com/OCCT_d5612.html

Download it and run the 30 minute stress test.

[Skrips]

Another question: How the hell do I take pics of my BIOS?

[Plaicd]

Another question: How the hell do I take pics of my BIOS?

A camera.

Btw when was the last time you did a fresh install of the os?

[Skrips]

A camera.

Btw when was the last time you did a fresh install of the os?

Literally I finished installing XP Sp2 early this morning, left the comp on overnight to patch WoW for my "real world testing", then went to sleep. I warpped everything up this afternoon. So, as far as the OS is concerned, its a non-updated vanilla installation of XP with all the latest drivers from all the vendor websites.


PS: I am going to sign off for a little bit to start running those tests. I will be back on as soon as I am done or as soon as things start to really fail on me. wish me luck, and THANKS a bunch for the help! Please keep checking back as I am sure I will be equally helpless as to what to do next.

--skrips

[Lestat]

in terms of SP2 a baseline install will run ok but dont forget the nvidia drivers.
i know you wouldnt forget those because you wouldnt even be posting here if you didnt hve those installed

like i mentioned memtest can be run in windows with the free windows based tool or via dos with a bootable iso that you can download and burn.

google is your friend but here it is for you.

windows based memtest http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html for 2gb of ram you have to run 2 of them at the same time.
click the button to start the test, and read the error, it will tell you that you can only run like 830mb of ram, or something close to that. click ok, then type in the box 830 then start the test.
once that starts in the 2nd window just click run test and it will use all the ram thats left over.
i ran it to try something a bit ago and it was using 1.86gb of ram.!! its not 2gb but it can only use what windows is NOT using.
thats why the dos version is better, it can use all of 2gb with the exception of only a few meg.

downloadable iso to burn to cd and boot to.
just make sure your cdrom is set to boot before the hard drive, which by defualt it is not.
http://www.memtest.org/download/1.70...+-1.70.iso.zip

do not download memtest 2.0 its totally fuxxored and the guy who wrote it needs to remove it before it hurts someones pc.
it will lock up your pc, it will stall for several seconds upon booting the program. it will in general barely run.
1.70, which is the link i gave you, runs like a champ.

[Skrips]

Well, a little update:

I ran OCCT for a total of 30 minutes just to get a test, under the CPU + Ram mixed test. granted, its only a 30 minute run, but still, no crashes. Keep in mind, too, that I am just trying to run the machine at STOCK settings, I haven't overclocked anything.

As for prime, I want to run it, but I thought you neeed to run mutiple instances of it, no? I seem to be having trouble figuring out how to get more than one instance of the program open...

A little help, please? What do I do with Prime95?

[Omastar]

Well, a little update:

I ran OCCT for a total of 30 minutes just to get a test, under the CPU + Ram mixed test. granted, its only a 30 minute run, but still, no crashes. Keep in mind, too, that I am just trying to run the machine at STOCK settings, I haven't overclocked anything.

As for prime, I want to run it, but I thought you neeed to run mutiple instances of it, no? I seem to be having trouble figuring out how to get more than one instance of the program open...

A little help, please? What do I do with Prime95?

When you run Prime95, enter "2" in the "Number of torture test threads to run" under Options > Torture Test. Make sure either "Blend" or "Small FFTs - maximum FPU stress, data fits in L2 cache, RAM not tested much" is selected in this window, as well.

Basically, "maximum FPU stress" means the program stresses the floating point performance of the CPU, where a crash or Prime95 giving you a "thread halted" message would signal an unstable overclock or, very rarely, a bad CPU. "Blend" tests everything, as well as a good deal of RAM.

In a non-stability test sense, Prime95 tests integers in the 2^p-1 form to find new Mersenne prime numbers, if I'm not mistaken. Obviously, these complex calculations require stability.

[Skrips]

When you run Prime95, enter "2" in the "Number of torture test threads to run" under Options > Torture Test. Make sure either "Blend" or "Small FFTs - maximum FPU stress, data fits in L2 cache, RAM not tested much" is selected in this window, as well.

Basically, "maximum FPU stress" means the program stresses the floating point performance of the CPU, where a crash or Prime95 giving you a "thread halted" message would signal an unstable overclock or, very rarely, a bad CPU. "Blend" tests everything, as well as a good deal of RAM.

In a non-stability test sense, Prime95 tests integers in the 2^p-1 form to find new Mersenne prime numbers, if I'm not mistaken. Obviously, these complex calculations require stability.

OK, maybe im stupid....but under Options > Stress Test there is no option for "Number of torture test threads to run"....maybe I have a different version?

I went here to get the latest version available. Is there another prime95 I don't know about?

--skrips

[Omastar]

Nah, that's not the most recent version. I think I have a modified version--just got it off someone here at XS. Either way, if you don't have that option, just run two instances of the program simultaneously, using the same settings for each instance. I'll see if I can attach my version as a zip file for you.

My version is 25.4, BTW.

Better yet, here's the most recent version for you: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Prime95_d4363.html

Google is your friend.

[Skrips]

Nah, that's not the most recent version. I think I have a modified version--just got it off someone here at XS. Either way, if you don't have that option, just run two instances of the program simultaneously, using the same settings for each instance. I'll see if I can attach my version as a zip file for you.

I thought the same thing, but it won't let me open two instances at once for some reason. Everytime I try, it just brings me back to the instance that is already open.

--skrips

[Omastar]

I thought the same thing, but it won't let me open two instances at once for some reason. Everytime I try, it just brings me back to the instance that is already open.

--skrips

See my edits from my last post. There's a link there for you.

[Skrips]

See my edits from my last post. There's a link there for you.

Thanks, but I am going to try something first. I figured out how to get two instances of Prime to run at the same time, and I am going to test it that way first with each windows set to a different core.

Then we will try the other tester.

--skrips

[Skrips]

*****Update*****

I have completed the following tests:

- Prime95 for 1.5 hours (two instances running, one for each core)
- 30 min quick test in OCCT
- 30 minutes of Memtest


No issues or errors reported from any of those programs, which is almost not good. I am inclined to think maybe its one of my video cards experiencing an intermittent issue? I just cont think of anything else it could be. But at least I am getting an idea of what its NOT:

- CPU
- RAM
- MoBo

Now, are there any stress tester for video that would be good for this sort of thing? I just have this itchy suspicion that its one of my GTX cards...Also, I will snag a camera tomorrow and report on all of my BIOS settings, and maybe we can try and figure out if anything is wrong in that department as well.

Also, I need a good monitoring program for voltages, fan speeds, temps, etc...any suggestions?

Thanks all for the help, I will report back tomorrow!

--Skrips

[Omastar]

Now, are there any stress tester for video that would be good for this sort of thing? I just have this itchy suspicion that its one of my GTX cards...Also, I will snag a camera tomorrow and report on all of my BIOS settings, and maybe we can try and figure out if anything is wrong in that department as well.

Also, I need a good monitoring program for voltages, fan speeds, temps, etc...any suggestions?

Thanks all for the help, I will report back tomorrow!

--Skrips

Give ATI Tool v 0.26 a try. It runs an OpenGL (I think) graphics benchmark continually, and if you notice any graphical abnormalities while it's running (yellow or white spots, other discolorations/anomalies) with your cards at stock, you likely have a dying card. You could also give Rthdribl a try, I suppose. Dunno if that's really suited for stability testing.

Why not just pull one card and test each one separately by playing a game or three? It's also possible you have a bad SLI bridge, I guess.