New 3xs System Problems

[Simon.The.Sloth]

Hi Scan,

Hope everyone is having a good Christmas! I received my new 3xs system just in time for Christmas (the 24th) so thanks for that, but unfortunately I have been having issues with the system.

Invoice Number: ********

QC Test Details
3D MARK 2006
SCORE 22770 22709
BURN IN TEST
CPU pass
MEM pass
HARD DISK pass
SOUND pass
VIDEO PLAYBACK pass
MEMTEST 86
NO: OF PASSES 30
TIME TAKEN 20 hours 27 minutes
PERFORMANCE TEST
Score 3257 3266
Prime95 Stress Test
Hours Run 18 hours 45 minutes
System Details
1 3XS P55 OC - Custom Series - N
1 MS OFF 2K7 60D TRIAL BasProSBE
1 AKASA BLACK AK-ICR-07S INT CAR
1 120MM AMBER Case Fan AK183L2B
1 ASUS P7P55D LE - S1156 MOBO
1 TO BUILD - FIT - TEST CHARGE
1 E Carriage
1 **Carriage Offer**
1 CMASTER ELITE 335 CASE
1 4GB 2x2G CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 XMP
1 3XS P55 OC - CUSTOM SERIES
1 Scythe GT-120-1450 1450 RPM
1 T/R Chill Factor 2 - 4g
1 1YR ONSITE TEL 01204 474756
1 Intel Core i7 860 2.80G s1156
1 Prolima Megahalems 1366/1156/7
1 3XS-OVERCLOCKING- Check Build
1 1GB XFX HD5850 BlackEd. 765MHz
1 CAIR 550W PSU CMPSU-550VXUK
1 1TB SAMSUNG HD103SJ SATA F3
1 Optiarc AD-7240S-0B sata X24
1 MS Windows 7 Home Prem Retail
1 Power Dvd 9 H264 2chan OEM
1 I.SEC 2010 1xU 1xY SINGLE OEM
1 **NO EXTNDED WARRANTY OPTION**
1 TWITTER.COM/SCANCOMPUTERS
1 Auto. generated by E Orders

The computer seems to be randomly freezing, restarting and acting strange. It started on the first day I turned it on, I was trying out internet explorer and watching a youtube video when the screen went completely blue with lines going down the screen. I pressed the reset button and when windows restarted, I received this error message:
Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 2057

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 0000000000000000
BCP2: FFFFFA8004C758F8
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\122409-21668-01.dmp
C:\Users\Simon Miller\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-40404-0.sysdata.xml

I have the file C:\Windows\Minidump\122409-21668-01.dmp which I can send if helpfull. The file "WER-40404-0.sysdata.xml" was not there.


Since then the computer has frozen a further 3-4 times while I’ve been using it but there has been no error message when windows has been restarted like the first time.

It has also frozen a number of times when I have not been using it. When coming back to the machine after having left it turned on for a few hours it has, been on but the screen is black and computer unresponsive, so I have had to turn off and restart.

I have also come back to the computer and it has been off (after leaving it on). Pressing a key on the keyboard has made it boot and start back up (strange).

I set the “turn off the display” and “Put the computer to sleep” settings to “never” under “Power Options” in the control panel but both these problems are still happing.
In addition, after one of the times, it froze yesterday and after every time it has since I get this error message:



The only thing I have plugged into a USB slot is the mouse, which I tried unplugging and re-inserting but to no effect and is still fully working. I have also plugged a USB stick into every USB slot and they are all working as normal.

Apart from the random freezing, the computer is great and extremely fast! I hope when the holidays are over we can resolve these problems
Regards

Simon M

[Simon.The.Sloth]

I have also come back to the computer and it has been off (after leaving it on). Pressing a key on the keyboard has made it boot and start back up (strange).

I set the “turn off the display” and “Put the computer to sleep” settings to “never” under “Power Options” in the control panel but both these problems are still happing.

I just realised that although I turned off the sleep settings the computer is still going into hybernate mode after 60minutes, so thats whats causing that problem.



Also I havent had any freezing/BSOD today and the USB error is gone.

Happy Christmas again!

[Howl]

Also had a new system that arrived on the 23rd and had similar problems (Endless crashing and blue screening, system going down within an hour if left alone, etc, etc). I've been away for XMas so only got back to it a few hours ago.

I'm pretty sure the issue is with the ATI drivers. (I have a 5970) Also not massively happy that my system was supposed to be overlocked but was running at stock when it arrived and looked like it was running at stock during the stress tests as well (from the screenshots of the 3DMark06 results).

Anyway, I stripped out all trace of ATI, in safe mode and have installed the 9.12+hotfix drivers that came out last week, as well as underclocking the system. No crashes yet in Windows over the last 3-4 hours so at least that's a start.

I'm having a blast though, I love troubleshooting. I would have been disappointed had the system arrived and worked out of the box!

[Simon.The.Sloth]

I would be alot more confident troubleshooting my problems if this wasn't my first bout with Windows 7, coming from Windows XP

Strange your system isn't overclocked as mine is running at 3.68 GHz.

My crashes dont seem to be very constant, although it has happened again today, when I came back to it after stuffing my face with turkey curry it was still on but the screen was black and it was unresponsive. It seems to be happening about twice a day so far.

I think i'll wait till I hear from scan before trying to update any drivers (I've got the 5850), but I admire your confidence Howl

[Howl]

Well it's been running perfectly now for about 10+ hours without a single lockup or shutdown, in L4D2, Dirt 2, TF2 and WoW at 5760x1080 so it was either a fresh driver cleanout or underclocking the system Ram that fixed my problems. I'll try putting the system ram back to 1600 tomorrow and see if it's still stable and then try overclocking the CPU after that.

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Simon

I have just been discussing with you on the phone that the Power Saving Advanced Options in Windows 7 may need to be disabled on the system, just a recap for you and for anyone else that wants to turn these off to increase Overclock stability...

The Easiest way I have found is to do the following

Right Click desktop & Select - Personalise
Select - Screensaver
Set Screensaver to - Never
Click - change Power settings
Click - Create a High Performance Power Plan (Call it Overclock)
Click - Next
Set - Turn off display Never
Click - Create
Make Sure Overclock Plan is Highlighted and Click - Change Plan Settings
Then click - Change Advanced Power Settings

This is where all the hidden options are that need to be disabled...
Click + Next to Hard Disk and Set Turn off to Never
Click + Next to Desktop Background Settings and Set to Disabled
Click + Next to Sleep & Set Hybrid Sleep Option to Off
Set Hibernate to Never
Set Allow Wake Timers to Disabled
Click + Next to USB Settings & USB Selective Suspend set to Disabled
At the Bottom of the List Click the + Next to Multimedia SettingsClick the + Next to When Sharing Media & Select Prevent Idling to sleep
Apply the options and your done

There you go you should have an Insomniac 3XS system after applying these settings

Regards

Ben

[Simon.The.Sloth]

Hi ben

Thanks for the recap, very helpful! I've used all these settings appart from letting the display turn off when not being used.

All going well so far.

[Dave_07]

I'm having a blast though, I love troubleshooting. I would have been disappointed had the system arrived and worked out of the box!

^^ Really ? - Have to say that im probably complete opposite, really hope there are no such probs with my 3xs when it arrives. Actually kinda nervous now

[Simon.The.Sloth]

Just a quick update on how my 3xs system is behaving.

Im still having random crashes, although the problems with it freezing while hybernating / idle are now not a problem.

Its very strange as yesturday and the day before (monday and sunday) I was playing Crysis(max settings) pretty much constantly and it didnt crash once, but today it froze while I tried to log into windows, then a few hours later it crashed / blue screened while I wasnt even using it and it was just left signed in to windows.

I have also updated the graphics card drivers to try and solve the problem.

I did send you guys an email a week ago about these problems asking what I can do to try and troubleshoot whats causing this, I understand you lot are busy and I am a patiant person. Thats why I'm posting on here so that If any of you (or the hexus community) have a quick suggestion / input you can do a quick reply.

Thankfully, if it does crash it only happens once or maybe twice that day so its not a massive problem. Just anoying.

[pokerisfun]

Simon,

I had similar issues to you on receiving my system. First of all the hibernate issues crashed the system and caused it to reboot on the normal non overclocked profile. No probs, I turned off the idle features in windows and loaded the scan preset overclocked profile. This caused the system to work and not hiberate but I was still subjected to multiple crashes per day on the windows desktop. On further looking about I discovered Windows was now reporting an incorrect amount of ram and an even faster overclock than it came out of the box with. I emailed scan back and very quickly received a reply giving me the overclock settings that should be loaded in the bios. Unfortunately the overclock profile the scan engineer had saved on my bios was vastly different to what scans customer support said my system should be overclocked with. I changed the settings myself to what scan emailed me and saved a new profile and bang a 100% stable system running like a dream, with correct memory readings in windows and the same overclock speed as it was when I first turned it on. You might want to check yours out.

Poker Is Fun

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Simon

Sorry not to get back to you we are exceptionally busy as you can imagine

Can you resend the email to bens@scan.co.uk and CC it to systemsupport@scan.co.uk


Regards

Ben

[Simon.The.Sloth]

Simon,

I had similar issues to you on receiving my system. First of all the hibernate issues crashed the system and caused it to reboot on the normal non overclocked profile. No probs, I turned off the idle features in windows and loaded the scan preset overclocked profile. This caused the system to work and not hiberate but I was still subjected to multiple crashes per day on the windows desktop. On further looking about I discovered Windows was now reporting an incorrect amount of ram and an even faster overclock than it came out of the box with. I emailed scan back and very quickly received a reply giving me the overclock settings that should be loaded in the bios. Unfortunately the overclock profile the scan engineer had saved on my bios was vastly different to what scans customer support said my system should be overclocked with. I changed the settings myself to what scan emailed me and saved a new profile and bang a 100% stable system running like a dream, with correct memory readings in windows and the same overclock speed as it was when I first turned it on. You might want to check yours out.

Poker Is Fun

Hi Poke,

Thanks for the info. I have checked to make sure that the preset over clocked profile is still on, and as far as I can tell (by looking at the System settings in the control panel), the processor is still running over clocked with the correct amount of ram.

Hi Simon

Sorry not to get back to you we are exceptionally busy as you can imagine

Can you resend the email to bens@scan.co.uk and CC it to systemsupport@scan.co.uk


Regards

Ben

Ben,
I re-sent the email to your address, with the CC copy sent to system support. One thing I forgot to mention in the email is that Windows Explorer is also crashing and restarting occasionally, not sure if this is related or just a typical windows 7 problem.

Thanks

SimonM

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Simon

Can you try the system with the Non - Overclock profile loaded as it may be an overclocking issue

To do this follow the steps on the thread below

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-3xs-sys...7-systems.html

If the system is 100% stable after a few days of running at stock speeds we will investigate and tweak the overclock in order to obtain better stability

*I have emailed the correct 3XS Overclock Settings to customer

Regards

Ben

[Simon.The.Sloth]

Update,

Started using the non-overclocked profile this morning and so far no problems, im going to leave it on all weekend and see what happens.

Just an observation I've made, the fans seem to be running at full speed constantly, as opposed to running at low levels and speeding up when needed (which it was doing using the overclocked profile). This seems odd to me as I would have thought if it's like this on the non-overclocked profile, should it have been like this with the overclocked one?

Anyway, so far so good.

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi

If you enable Qfan in the bios this will speed up and slow down the fans as required

Regards

Ben

[Simon.The.Sloth]

Hi Ben,

Good news, I've been running the non-overclocked profile for the last three days and the computer has been 100% stable.

So, I will now use the overclock settings you have emailed me and see how it goes.

 
Manual OC
CPU Ratio 		= 19
Intel Speedstep 	= Disabled
Xtreme Phase		= Enabled
Bclk			= 193
PCI-E			= 100
DRAM Frequency 	= 1544Mhz
Dram Timing		= 9-9-9-24

CPU Differential Amplitude = 800mV
CPU Voltage		 = Offset
Offset Voltage 		= Auto
IMC Voltage		 = Auto
Dram Voltage		 = 1.65v
CPU Pll			 = Auto
PCH Voltage		 = Auto
LoadLine Calibration	 = Auto
Spread Spectrum	 = Auto

CPU Features
C1E Support			 Disabled
Intel C-State			Disabled
C1E Support			Disabled
Overspeed Protection 		Enabled
Execute Bit Support		 Enabled
Set Limit CPUID MaxVal to 3  	 Disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech		Disabled
CPU TM Function		Disabled

The changes I will be making to the current OC profile are:

DRAM Voltage = Auto to 1.65v
Loadline Calibration = Auto to Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum = Disabled to Atuo
PCIE Spread Spectrum = Disabled to Auto


Also, would you recommend keeping Qfan enabled for the OC profile?

Update:

I have ran into a problem, I tried to change the DRAM Voltage to 1.65v, but when I key in the value and press enter it is automatically changes it to 1.70v which I know is over the amount the chipset can handle. I seem to be only able to set it in steps of 0.10?

I disregarded the settings and am now using the non-overclocked profile again.