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Cause of crashes and restarts

SarcasticGuy1
Grafter
Posts: 70
Registered: ‎27-11-2009

Cause of crashes and restarts

Hi all,
I wonder if anyone might be able to help me with a PC problem I've got.
Recently the PSU in one of my PCs decided to stop working. I didn't bother replacing it as I was plannign to get a new PC anyway, plus I have another PC that is technically better spec'd.
I'm now using this other PC but it seems to randomly crash (and needs to be manually reset) and sometimes just restarts.
I'm not quite sure what's causing it. Sometimes it happens while in a game, sometimes just sitting there at the desktop, sometimes while watching a video and on a couple of occasions just after booting into Windows.
I've had the PC for a while but previously I hadn't used it for as long as I am now. So I'm not sure if it's a recent problem or if it's always been there I've just never seen it before.
The only things I've changed with it since I've started using it more are:

  • Installed Games and a few Applications.

  • Updated drivers.

  • Installed WinXP SP3 (because Dragon Age needed it)

  • Installed the optional fan onto the Northbridge heatsink.


I've also swapped out the graphics card, but that was to see if the problem was the graphics card.
I've run a few memory tests on the 4GB of Corsair memory and it's come up fine.
The system is basically:

  • XClio GreatPower 750W PSU

  • Intel Core2Duo E6850 CPU + Stock cooler

  • EVGA 122-CK-NF68 nForce 680i Motherboard

  • 4GB Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 Memory

  • XFX 320MB GeForce 8800GTS

  • 2 x Optical Drives

  • 2 x HDD

  • 1 x FDD


I'd almost be tempted to say it was overheating, except that the temperatures don't look to be that hot in Nvidia's System Monitor. I guess it could be the PSU overheating but I don't see why it would.
I did enable Intel Speed-Step to try to keep things cooler and quieter, but I can't remember if this was before or after the problem started. I've now got the problem that even if I disable it in the motherboard BIOS Nvidia nTune (or whatever it's now called) seems to want to keep it on and I can't find a way to stop it.
I'm not sure if this is a hardware fault or a software fault. Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
3 REPLIES 3
SteveA
Pro
Posts: 1,847
Thanks: 106
Fixes: 3
Registered: ‎17-06-2007

Re: Cause of crashes and restarts

Locking up and rebooting like that either sounds like a memory or CPU issue.
I've run memory checks for hours and they've come back fine but swapping memory has fixed the problem.
Remove the memory and other cards, clean all the dust and fluff off the board and out of the fans and heatsinks and then reseat all the cards and memory.
hadden
Grafter
Posts: 486
Thanks: 2
Registered: ‎27-07-2007

Re: Cause of crashes and restarts

To isolate between hardware and software causes, you could try booting from a CD and then waiting?
SarcasticGuy1
Grafter
Posts: 70
Registered: ‎27-11-2009

Re: Cause of crashes and restarts

Well, I've tried switching the memory for some other memory, but it's pretty much the same stuff.
I did look on the EVGA website and it seems my motherboard doesn't specifically says it's compatible with the CPU or Memory I'm using. That probably doesn't bode well, but at the same time I guess they might not have updated the CPU list and maybe they didn't get chance to test every type of memory.
As you can see here http://www.evga.com/support/motherboard/ the memory it mentions is "TWIN2X2048-6400" not the "CM2X2048-6400" that I'm using, but is it that different as to cause problems?
And my CPU the E6850 isn't mentioned either, is it specifically not supported? They have the E8X00 CPUs listed and the QX6850, so maybe the E6850 actually isn't supported.
Maybe I should e-mail EVGA...