So Very Unstable – Any help!

[zenfold]

My build is:
AMD (Venice) Athlon 64 3800+
DFI NF4 INFINITY SLI SKT939
Sansun True 450W 20/24pin ATX PSU
Westen Digital Caviar Se16 300Mb/s 320gb Sata
Asus Nvidia 7600GT 256MB DDR3
2 x 512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM (DDR333) running dual channel
old soundblaster snd card.

I’ve built all my home PCs before, the build of this went fine.
Installing windows (real copy not 64) went with out a hitch. Windows booted, I needed to install the drivers for the grfx card and the mother board but other than that the PC had no complaints. Went to windows update and started the download of all patches. Got to IE7 and my first crash occurred. The system locked. No mouse movement no keyboard response. Had to hit the reset button. The rest of the patching went fine. Next I installed a game. The installation was quick and easy but when running when I try and progress further than the menu screen the PC locks again. Next I try installing Nero 7, several random crashes during installation. So I download all the newest drivers for my hardware. Still no joy, I try running a torrent program it sits all day long happy with out a crash, the second I try and do anything the system locks again. So I download a movie trailer, first time PC locks when I start playing it. Second boot it plays, I try and skip to the middle and then back to the start, it locks, next I let it play….it locks after a couple of mins. I put it down to a bad install, formatted the drive and reinstalled windows, this time I didn’t update or register. Installed some bits and bobs and I’m still receiving the same random crashes!

There has been 2 types of crashes, the locking and the pc falling over giving me a black screen and going straight back to the POST.

Do you guys have any idea what could be the problem?
Do you think a flash of the Bios would help at all?
Could it be a power pack issue? Am I under powering my PC?
Should I try my drive on 150Mb/s instead of 300Mb/s?
Move the ram from dual channel to single?

Thanks for reading.
Any help would be most appreciated!

[AnotherMuggle]

ok...first thing! Right button on My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced. Under "Startup & Recovery " untick the box that says "Automatically Restart". This will cause the system to blue screen rather than restarting when it crashes. Take a note of exactly what the screen is saying.

It could well be a power issue, although I would expect the machine to power down each time rather than freezing from time to time. Your PSU should be providing plenty of power!

Did you buy a matching pair of RAM modules? If not then it might be worth running in single channel to see if it runs any better. Run Memtest86+ to see if you have a faulty module. Link:www.memtest.org

[zenfold]

Originally Posted by tomkear2006 ok...first thing! Right button on My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced. Under "Startup & Recovery " untick the box that says "Automatically Restart". This will cause the system to blue screen rather than restarting when it crashes. Take a note of exactly what the screen is saying. It could well be a power issue, although I would expect the machine to power down each time rather than freezing from time to time. Your PSU should be providing plenty of power! Did you buy a matching pair of RAM modules? If not then it might be worth running in single channel to see if it runs any better. Run Memtest86+ to see if you have a faulty module. Link:www.memtest.org

Thank you very much for your quick responce.

The Ram is from the machine that i had before. (motherboard death) they are both the same spec but they are made by different companys.

I will test the ram and stop the auto reboot when i get home from work.

Thanks for the tips.

[AnotherMuggle]

Originally Posted by zenfold The Ram is from the machine that i had before. (motherboard death) they are both the same spec but they are made by different companys.

Were you running the RAM in Dual Channel in the old motherboard? Even if the RAM is the same speed then it may still have problems running in Dual Channel. The two DIMMS need to be exactly the same timings otherwise they will cause problems. This is why you can buy RAM in "matched pairs", which are modules that the manufacturer guarantees are identical to one another.

[zenfold]

Originally Posted by tomkear2006 Were you running the RAM in Dual Channel in the old motherboard? Even if the RAM is the same speed then it may still have problems running in Dual Channel. The two DIMMS need to be exactly the same timings otherwise they will cause problems. This is why you can buy RAM in "matched pairs", which are modules that the manufacturer guarantees are identical to one another.

No dual channel was not an option with my old MB.
well this may well be my problem then, i understood they both needed to be the same but not exact! its old ram anyway, i may just have to upgrade that too.
first thing i will try then is putting both the chips in single channel.
then if that doesnt help i'll check the ram. and turn off the auto reboot.

Thanks alot.

[zenfold]

Thank you very much Tomkear2006. That has sorted my problem
i didnt need to test the RAM, when i moved into single channel the computer wouldnt even boot! I removed one of the Dimms and the PC has been running without a hitch.

So by the look of it i had some faulty or non compatible memory!

Now i need to order some more, does any one have a suggestion on some mid ranged RAM? and a good vendor?
My MB can only take a max of PC3200, i was thinking about a matched pair of 2x 1GB corsair Value or Crucial 2GB kit CL=3 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC DDR400 2.6V 128Meg x 64.

Thanks again.

[AnotherMuggle]

I have been using 2x 1GB sticks or Crucial PC3200 without any problems and I know Corsair is a very reputable brand also.