Random BSOD

[Noxvayl]

Recently I have been getting these random BSOD's. Each one comes up with a different message. My PC automatically reboots so not enough time to write down the codes and names given. Most of the time its in reference to memory with the one being services(which was weird).

Since most the messages referred to memory I though why not take out memory to test. I took out my 2gb set of corsair memory and the 2bg crucial left behind worked fine alone and completed 120% memtest easily while I was rumaging on the net as usual. Then I did the same for the corsair and the same result. Both sets alone worked fine, note that I used slots 1 and 3 for the crucial and 2 and 4 for the corsiar to check whether maybe the motherboard slots were causing the problem. So I figured both the memory modules alone are fine so I put them back in together to run memtest overnight and the PC BSOD over night.

Today as I've been trying to get this message done the PC has BSOD'd 4 times with each being a different message and at different time frames. Some have been right as windows start and others are minutes after windows has been running.

I thought maybe my overclock was a bit high so I turned the overclock completely off and the BSOD still occured... I changed all voltages and timings to normal and left the memory below rated speeds and the BSOD still occured

I took a wild guess at maybe a virus but none of my scans found anything and they have the latest updates.

I'm left thinking either the motherboard is not liking 4 memory modules in at the same time or maybe it could be a hard drive issue as the messages only referred to memory so it could very well be storage and not RAM. Although its still odd how they stopped when only 2 sticks of memory were in...

Any thoughts on what the problem could be would be greatly appreciated

[s_kinton]

You've done a fair bit of work there already! Sounds like our board has taken a disliking to 2 sticks of RAM, its does happen sometimes when using all 4 slots.

Have you tried increasing the NB votlage a little? That might stabilise them.

[mycarsavw]

Recently I have been getting these random BSOD's. Each one comes up with a different message. My PC automatically reboots so not enough time to write down the codes and names given. Most of the time its in reference to memory with the one being services(which was weird).

If you're using XP

Right-click My Computer > Properties > Advanced > under Startup and Recovery click Settings

Take the tick out of Automatically Restart.

The issue is similar to one a mate of mine had.

He obtained a BIOS update and everything has worked well since then. What mobo are you using? Does it support 4Gb?

[Noxvayl]

You've done a fair bit of work there already! Sounds like our board has taken a disliking to 2 sticks of RAM, its does happen sometimes when using all 4 slots.

Have you tried increasing the NB votlage a little? That might stabilise them.

Yeah I had to do that to get my overclock to work... it didn't have any effect this time though. I am currently only using 2Gb of memory so I don't keep crashing.

The last message I received I managed to write down: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Microsft says its to do with requesting an incorrect value and that the most common cause is a driver issue. Problem is I haven't made any driver updates recently and without changing software but removing 2 sticks of memory has resolved the issue.

Its beginning to look like I may end up with only 2gb of RAM... honestly its not all that bad but I like being able to ALT+TAB out of games without the PC throwing a fit because there isn't enough RAM. On the bright side I'd have spare memory should something go wrong in the future plus the Crucial set of memory is able to overclock further so I could possibly fiddle with that.

My on board sound card recently lost a channel so I have ordered a refurbished X-Fi to replace it(not willing to go weeks without my PC in order to get a new motherboard). Maybe the sound card is causing issues... I guess I'll see next week when I get the new sound card.

If you're using XP

Right-click My Computer > Properties > Advanced > under Startup and Recovery click Settings

Take the tick out of Automatically Restart.

The issue is similar to one a mate of mine had.

He obtained a BIOS update and everything has worked well since then. What mobo are you using? Does it support 4Gb?

Its all in my system notes below my name

Using Vista 64bit Home Premium and have the Gigabyte GA-X38-DS5.

[kalniel]

You may need to quite significantly loosen timings and speed with 4 banks of RAM. I don't know if DDR2 still has cmd rate, but that needs to be 2T for 4 banks almost certainly.

[Noxvayl]

You may need to quite significantly loosen timings and speed with 4 banks of RAM. I don't know if DDR2 still has cmd rate, but that needs to be 2T for 4 banks almost certainly.

cmd rate is set at 2T

I'll try loosening the other timings but 5-5-5-15 has worked for so long it seems odd to all of a sudden begin to fail because of them. If it does end up being timings I'll just stay with 2Gb of memory, bad timings are not worth the small convenience of 4gb of memory.

[kalniel]

If it does end up being timings I'll just stay with 2Gb of memory, bad timings are not worth the small convenience of 4gb of memory.

How come?

[Noxvayl]

How come?

Because bad timings brings down performance, and going higher than 5-5-5-15 without an increase in frequency will slow things down.

I can actually tighten my timings having only 2Gb of memory as well as get some extra performance out of my overclock so its a bit of a balance and my favour swings to the lower timings high clock

[kalniel]

Because bad timings brings down performance, and going higher than 5-5-5-15 without an increase in frequency will slow things down.

Does it actually though, or is that just something you can only ever see on sythentic benchmarks?

[Noxvayl]

Does it actually though, or is that just something you can only ever see on sythentic benchmarks?

It does actually make a difference although you'd find most people wouldn't notice it tbh.

I can't remember all the in depth reasoning behind it. Read a few reviews making note of memory timings and they actually found that a 800Mhz set of memory performed better with 4-4-4-12 timings than an overclocked set that was running at 1000Mhz with 5-5-5-15 timings, was in real world tests like music conversion and file transfers. The results were posted with the CPU frequency at the same speed so with overclocking your entire system you have other variables that go into the final performance which is why you won't always notice a difference.

In my setup I have tested with tighter timings and found a noticeable difference in performance in desktop performance and music conversion which I do pretty often. So for me it makes a difference. Everyone is different so others might not notice a difference with the way there computer is set up.

[Noxvayl]

So much for my thought of it possibly being the memory... Computer just crashed with only 2 sticks in

On the bright side I think I may have the answer though;
I recently moved my room around and as it stands I'm not in a favourable position to make the best use of the airflow through my room where as before the move I was possibly in the best position. Then because of a recent infestation of wasps right next to my one window I have had it shut for 2 days further hampering my computers cooling abilities. This I believe has contributed to higher motherboard temps which in turn has caused my crashes.

I noticed this when the crashes became more frequent after a gaming session which would be when the PC is the hottest and after a cool down period the crashes suddenly stopped. It explains why turning my overclock off didn't work because the chipset didn't have enough time to cool down so it made no difference and also explained why they became less frequent without the extra memory.

Seems I have some more tweaking to do to get this right... perhaps its time to get watercooling, shouldn't be affected by airflow as much.

[kalniel]

Seems I have some more tweaking to do to get this right... perhaps its time to get watercooling, shouldn't be affected by airflow as much.

Be careful though - watercooling makes the remaining airflow much worse - so while the components you're directly cooling with water are less affected, the rest of the motherboard (voltage regulation etc.) can get less cooling.

[Noxvayl]

Be careful though - watercooling makes the remaining airflow much worse - so while the components you're directly cooling with water are less affected, the rest of the motherboard (voltage regulation etc.) can get less cooling.

The water cooling I'd like to do would cool everything including regulators so if I did get some water cooling I'd be sure to cover everything

My idea would be 2 radiators, 1 double and a single. I have enough space to fit them at the top and back of my case with fans and they wouldn't obstruct airflow too much. I'd put the pump+ reservoir in my empty 5'25 drive bays and then have the northbridge, cpu and other bits connected with pipes.

I'm hoping that the double radiator can cool my CPU+motherboard easily and then the single radiator could cool my GFX.

All I need now is to find the components to set it up... to get a good price I'll have a look for second hand stuff on ebay. Hopefully get a few things cheap Then I'll get the blocks, pipes and coolant new.