Plz Plz Plz Help B4 I Beat my PC

Randy P · Jun 21, 2008, 07:11 AM

Ok here's the specs:

Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe MOBO - Rev BIOS 1903
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5200+
OCZ 700W GameXstream PSU and Thermaltake Express 250W for Vid Card
2 Gigs of OCZ Gold
EVGA 8800GTX Video
SB X-FI Sound

Here's the problem: Ever since I got this rig I have been having stability issues while gaming. Games will randomly freeze (and by randomly I mean I could go a week without any failure or it could be ten minutes) and Ill have to hard reset the machine; I cant even get back to the desktop. So far 3 gigs of individual ram sticks have failed and had to be returned. Current Ram has not failed in a few months so far.

Also, apart from the freezing up in game, such as Age of Conan and Guild Wars, when I start or restart the computer there is sometimes a missing gig of ram. It'll only register 1g instead of 2g. Sometimes Ill have to restart the computer repeatedly to get that second gig of ram to register. The most Ive had to this is 9 times in a row just the other day.

The dealer has been saying it's heat, faulty ram, bla bla bla, but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out there's something more going on. Since the heat diagnosis I have added extra case fans and the dealer has said the machine is running cool now even under full load...so heat is not the culprit.

I have windows updated, the amd processor patched as recommended, have latest vid drivers, and sound drivers, flashed the bios to a more recent version just last night; still crashes...I am at a loss. I'm no expert, but it seems my mobo is just wanky!

What do you guys think? Im at my wits end with this rig and with the dealer who seems to just nelect the possibilty of a hardare problem. Need your help guys. Thx in advance!

OldBuzzard · Jun 21, 2008, 07:20 AM

It appears that you've emiminated just about everything but the MB or PSU.

A flakey PSU can cause all sorts of things. Do you have another that you can try in your system?

Not "seeing" the RAM could be a bad MB, but it could also be because the PSU isn't supplying the proper voltage, or enough of the proper voltage.

I'd look at the PSU first, since it would be easier than changing out the MB.

EDIT:

One thing that puzzles me. Why, with a PSU that, according to jonnyGURU, could probably handle QUAD SLI, are you using a seperate PSU for your Vid Card?

Something that lot of folks don't know, is that UNDER LOADING a PSU can cause a lot of problems. Have you tried unplugging the 250W, and using the OCZ to run the Vid card as well as the rest of the system?

Randy P · Jun 21, 2008, 07:24 AM

My PSU is an OCZ 700W GameXStream and I have a 250W Thermaltake Express for my 8800gtx. The guys at the place I bought it said they checked the psu the first time I brought it back...which is 5 times now...and they said the rails were fine. Think it's the mobo?

Edit: No I havent even heard of the possibility of underloading a psu. Ill mention that to the dealer.

Syndicate2083 · Jun 21, 2008, 10:25 PM

Id love to actually see some voltage readings with that PSU.

Second, even with a PSU that is ok, if you have some poor wiring (just a consideration, not a knock here) in the house that say, has poor grounding, it can create conditions where your digital equipment cannot get a proper signal and act very strangely.

Basically digital equipment uses the ground as a sort of base line, this determines how they change state, if the ground is bad, or a loop is present the computer can do all sorts of crazy things.

Beyond that, if there is allot of EMI or anything in the area, or say an apartment building with overloaded circuits, that can definitely affect your setup also.

I really would question using the secondary PSU for your VC like OldBuzzard mentioned above, that really is completely uneeded here, best to benchmark using one PSU and get a monitor to watch your voltages over a day or two. (comp voltages)

Second, yes it very well could be a bad mobo. However, that could have been caused by a PSU/Power problem in the first palce. If you look at your power setup (if your not using a good quality UPS system or something) and everything appears ok, your grounds are good, your neutrals arent overloaded (greater than 5v present on neutral is considered overloaded), etc. It would appear to be the mobo causing problems from what you have described.

Im not knocking the guys who checked your system, but due to the intermittent problem your PSU rails could be ok at some times, and then dip or exceed and blow your ram, damage the mobo etc. So its still something you want to keep in mind, and perhaps monitor yourself over time.

-Syn

*Edit, i know i know, just with the way that your describing problems and the line of work I am in, I really really would think this is some type of power issue, not necesarrily from inside your box, but power none the less. If it is from the building, or your PSU or caused the mobo to become damaged, you may want to swap out (if possible) other lesser equipment, like a lower end VC and non essential HDDs and monitor your system, you can go to something like home depot and get a voltage monitor for your home and take a look at what it sees, could be transient problems (summer time is the worst)

Randy P · Jun 22, 2008, 11:01 AM

Well I can eliminate the power surge in my home idea right away. When I first got this rig I was on vacation in my home town. It took about 3 weeks for the first chip of ram to go bye bye. I immediately carted my pc back to the shop and they said bad ram. Then when my vacation ended I took the rig to my current home and bingo bango same thing happens: ram getting broken somehow, game freeze; same beat my head off the wall symptoms. So I think it is pretty safe to say that the electricity in my house is not the culprit. Also, I have another destop hooked up in the same room and that has been running a-ok for the last 3 years; without so much as a burp. Also, if it makes a difference, I have my rigs hooked into their own power bars with surge protection and what not.

As for eveything else you said, I have to be honest I'm simply not up to that level of tinkering. I think this is where the dealer has to step in. Afterall its suppose to still have a year and a half on the warranty. I think Im just going to aske them to put a new, and different mobo in. Based on my own research the m2n32-sli deluxe is riddled with stability issues.

Any advice on a good stable, no fuss mobo, for gaming (doesnt have to be top of the line) would be welcomed as well - something tried and true so to speak. Also, any more ideas on my current situation are more than welcomed.

EDIT -- Also, still thinking about your electricity idea. If there was something wanky going on wouldn't I see other irregularites in other electro devices? Tvs, ps3, my other computer, lights fizzling? I mean if there was an oddity in my houses wiring it would show up in other things as well right? I really don't think it's my houses wiring, but im a bit of a worry wart and im just trying to justify my own rationale.