Troubles with an Intel Viper Gamma system

[Will Thompson]

As a christmas present I received an Intel Viper Gamma system which had some changes made from the default - specifically a larger HDD, Q6600 processor and an 8800GTX. It's using Vista Home Premium.

It's had problems since day one and I've finally decided to contact you as it seems to be more than simple software incompatibility.
As a basic list, the problems are:

• Frequent bluescreens, with various error messages
• Random crashes
• Driver errors
• Will often not turn on (freezes at Vista loading bar and takes 5-6 hard resets to actually turn on)
• 'Windows Host Service has stopped working' messages
• Strange noises coming from the case (only happened twice)

More specifically, the most common bluescreen errors are IQRL_DRIVER_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and MEMORY_MANAGEMENT errors, although I have also had errors relating to various .sys files and writing to a read only sector. They will happen at any time, most commonly while running games but sometimes I'm doing nothing at all. The random crashes are even stranger - if I go away and come back, it will have crashed and I'm facing a 'Windows has crashed and been restarted' message.

The driver errors are probably the fault of Windows Vista, specifically the 'NVLDDMKM display driver has crashed and has been recovered' error which has apparently haunted nvidia users since the Vista launch.

The fact that it will not turn on is the most irritating. Randomly (but often) the loading bar on the Vista startup screen will freeze and I will be forced to press the hard reset button. Sometimes it freezes five or six times in a row, each time needing a hard reset.

The 'Windows Host Service has stopped working' message is not as common as the other errors and does not seem to cause any problems at all. However, it seems to be the symptom of a more serious problem, so it's probably best to mention it.

As you can see, there's quite a lot going wrong with it. I'm hardly an expert, but I think it may be something to do with faulty RAM, as a lot of the problems are related to memory. I ran the windows memtest once and it came up with nothing, but I haven't tried the (apparently more reliable) memtest86 test yet.

I hope one of the experts here can diagnose what's wrong. Apart from the problems it's been an excellent computer.

[YOYOtech - Mark]

hi there, we are sorry to here about the problems you are having with the system you got from us.....
could you please provide me with some more details - so i can look into this for you....

if you could email me at - orders@yoyotech.co.uk

with your name, order number / transaction number and we can then look into the problems for you....

thank you
mark
YOYOtech

[ChrisHall]

Hi
I have also been experiancing very similar problems with my Intel Viper Gamma system as described here. After running a vista hardware check, it said I had faulty hardware, however the test then freezes and so does not tell me anymore information. After doing some research i have discovered that it is most likely faulty RAM, as the orginal poster said.
Will it break my warranty on the system if I was to open the case to try reseating/removing RAM sticks to try and find the culpret? And if a problem is discovered will I be able to return the faulty hardware alone rather than the whole system? I would like to try and avoid sending the whole system as it is obviously very large and would be difficult to organize a drop off at your building.

Thanks for any help.

[Will Thompson]

I sent an email a few minutes ago. Hopefully you should have received it ok.

[YOYOtech - Mark]

hi there, just sent you a email in reagrds to the problems you are having

thanks
mark

[Will Thompson]

Just to keep the curious updated, I've run the tests that Mark suggested and found that the RAM is the problem.

I sent an email to Yoyotech a couple of days ago with the exact details, did you guys get it?

[Llansam]

I've been having pretty similar problems. See my post "BSOD "IRQL not less than or equal" on my new yoyotech PC" made a few days ago. Would appreciate some advice from yoyotech.

Cheers,

Sam

[Will Thompson]

I've been having pretty similar problems. See my post "BSOD "IRQL not less than or equal" on my new yoyotech PC" made a few days ago. Would appreciate some advice from yoyotech.

Cheers,

Sam

Try running memtest86, maybe you have the same problem I have. You'll have to leave it on overnight, though - it took eight hours before it found an error in mine.

[Llansam]

Cheers Will, I'll try that.

[Llansam]

Update:

I ran Memtest86 overnight and memory checked out OK. Turned on computer this morning, browsing the internet for a minute and bang! BSOD. Exactly the same message. Argh, this is really frustrating!

What next? Should I update the BIOS?

Would appreciate a response from Yoyotech.

Cheers,

Sam

[Will Thompson]

I'm actually still waiting for a reply from the email I sent them. It did have a bunch of photos of the memtest86 screen attached, so maybe it didn't send correctly.

[Llansam]

Since I've downloaded SP1 for Vista the problems seem to have stopped. Fingers crossed!