3XS Cyclone RAM Fault

[Nzastudios]

Glad you guys sorted What was the resolution?

Thanks for the feedback which is always appreciated and I'm just glad we got you a resolve in the end. I'll make sure to pass on your thanks to everyone involved along the way too

( now get back to your raid )

[PeteG@Scan]

We changed the board to a Gigabyte and the psu was swapped too, althrough the psu annoyingly developed a coil whine problem, so we exchanged it again which is the final solution.

[Winterlove]

Hmm. I had the motherboard replacement, but not the PSU replacement. I still get occasional startup problems - typical situations:

- the BIOS fails to setup the overclock, falls back to extremely conservative settings (going into the BIOS config and doing a save and exit gets the overclock settings back);
- the BIOS gets to booting the OS and "Starting Windows" appears, but the swirly colours coalescing into the Windows Logo never appears;
- a hang during the "Starting Acronis Backup Manager" just before going to normal Windows startup (happened once);
- Disk read error during the "Start Acronis Backup Manager" (happened just once, this morning).

I've noticed that problems are far more likely in a cooler room, and that if the machine is restarted then a bootup proceeds normally. Also, all memory is detected and it seems very stable once booted. I've not complained too much about all this because the problems are comparatively rare (due to keeping the room warmer) and also wanting to gather plenty of data.

[B.E.A.N]

update

installed the 0506 bios just before xmas but was still getting the odd one or two blimps with the Ram so I went back to the original bios and started playing with the new settings and low and behold found with the new settings Pete had sent me ( which I think were based on 1600 ram and not my 2000 ) I have not had one problem in the last two months.
To be quite honest I have not been able to notice any slowdown with my games since I dropped the DRAM frequency so until AUAS comes up with a proper fix I am happy to keep these settings, although it has taken the fun out of guessing which amount of Ram it shows on bootup bit creepy as my wife was always guessing correctly ( must be a girl thing! )

[PeteG@Scan]

Good to hear

You could try upping the memory multiplier a notch or two to get your 2000Mhz, but remember to check your Dram voltage first to ensure the currect amount is being put through. 2000Mhz settings are pretty damn fussy when it comes to memory and it might not play with the overclock all that well but you could try 1866 first and you may get a small gain.

[B.E.A.N]

Now i know why people say never tempt fate!
This morning it's only showing 4GB so I'll start fiddling with the settings again and try the 1866 and see if that works.

[Thorbog]

Now i know why people say never tempt fate!
This morning it's only showing 4GB so I'll start fiddling with the settings again and try the 1866 and see if that works.

Yes.........I knew it was a big mistake making my post about how happy it was!

My PC is now a useless pile of nuts and bolts. It was great for a month but now I am getting blue screens on booting up that even the hot/cold booting won't fix. Doesn't matter if it is overclocked or stock or if I change voltages. I can't stop it. I even get blue screens after booting up now which I never saw before.

Also lots of graphics problems with the graphics garbled at times when I reach the windows log in screen and it appears to be the graphics card causing frequent crashes when I am gaming or even just typing here - this is my second attempt at writing a post because it crashed.

I get graphics driver error messages but it isn't software related or in anyway related to any changes I have made. It says the graphics driver had a problem and has recovered or similar words.

I haven't changed anything, I have tried rolling back to my system image but the problems still persist. So it isn't because I have installed new graphics drivers or anything and it happens whether I have the card overclocked or stock. I even have a second hard drive with just a clean plain Windows 7 install on that I can plug into the top bay but that doesn't solve it either! Definitely seems to be two problems - the age old motherboard issue but now a graphics issue as well.

I am honestly tempted to just trash the whole thing and get a new system!

Oh on a bright note I do at least have the full memory detected and showing 100% of the time! Pity everything else is buggered!

[PeteG@Scan]

Thorbog - I agree with you, it sounds like the graphics card is the problem as you've tried a second windows install with it and replicated the problem. We can bring it back and swap the card over for you to resolve it and look at anything else that needs doing. I don't think an onsite would be pratical this time with a gfx water loop in the setup through I'm afraid.

[Thorbog]

It is weird because once it starts blue screening I cannot get it to boot regardless of whether I use my main HDD or if I plug in the second HDD.

The way to stop it blue screening (this is weird) is to go into safemode on either HDD. Then shut down and it boots fine.

But as I say this issue is independent of the HDD. So for example if it blue screens on my main HDD it will just keep doing it every time I shut down or restart.

If I then plug the clean install HDD into the top and boot from that it will also blue screen which rules out software! Yet if I go into safe mode then shut down and restart on either HDD it works!

So I can be in a situation where it will BSOD on both HDD's but I only need to go into Safemode on one of the HDD's to fix the BSOD on both! That says hardware to me but I have never seen a situation where booting with no drivers fixes a hardware issue.

With regards to the graphics issue (assuming it is seperate to the BSOD - and it may not be) I simply have to wait for it to fail and cause a complete crash. I then shut down and turn it on and it seems to be ok for the rest of the evening.

If I tell it to shut down after one of the messages about the driver failures (from which windows recovers) and restart I will keep getting those driver failures. However once if finally crashes with a catastrophic failure I can restart everything and then play away for hours with no issues.

I agree though there isn't going to be anything I or the on-site lads can sort out so if you can arrange a pick up that would be cool. If you can give me a couple of days notice though that will be helpful in letting me get time off work.

[PeteG@Scan]

If it makes it easier for you, and your in a situation that permits it, we can always ask the engineer to collect from your workplace?

[Thorbog]

If it makes it easier for you, and your in a situation that permits it, we can always ask the engineer to collect from your workplace?

Thanks for the offer but due to the nature of my workplace the public can't get close so I'd have to physically drive the machine offsite which would cause problems in itself.

I have plenty of holiday leave I need to use up anyway and my boss is ok with me giving a days notice so if you can give me 24h warning that's enough.

Today I booted up from cold into safe mode. Then had a shower. Came back and rebooted into windows normal and it hasn't crashed or had any graphics errors yet. First time in two weeks I've had no crashes! There is another weird fix all these people with problems can try!

Edit: No don't waste your time trying that one! Rebooted a few times in safe mode today and it didn't prevent the problems. Still had errors followed by a complete failure - then safe mode did fix it after the full event had occurred!

[PeteG@Scan]

Ok, I've asked Ben to submit a collection request to the onsite guys today, so one them will contact you in due course and we'll try and get it collected later this week. I'll have him add notes to give you at least 24hours notice if not longer where we can.

I'm off the tail end of this week, but back in next week so hopefully it'll land on my desk upon my return to have a look at.

[Thorbog]

Excellent.

I have also purchased an additional machine to use whilst my Scan unit is away. This means that unlike last time you are not under the time pressure to get it back to me in time for expansion launches etc!

So you can repeatedly test cold booting etc which should give you more chance of finding the fault. I have had the odd day where I turned it on and it ran ok all evening only to have the machine virtually unusuable the next day etc.

[PeteG@Scan]

Yeah, I'm back in today and it's down the side of my desk awaiting me. I'll fire it up shortly and give it a look over as you've instructed and let you know.

[Vedeneyev]

I appreciate the thread has drifted a bit, but back to the original RAM problems, I'd just like to report that on 0506 since swapping out the sticks for the same model (but different revision number) of Corsair RAM I haven't experienced any memory dropping or blue screen issues at all for over a month now despite some hefty usage. Not tempting fate but my PC now rocks, as it should. Thanks SCAN & Asus!

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Thorbog

I have swapped the card out and the system is on tests in windows, the temperatures are looking good and we will let you know how it goes in next few days

Regards

Ben