Bucket of Problems with rs482 computer

Ubermouser

New member
Upon every reinstall of windows I've done, I've had a different set of problems. The only differences I made were from reinstalls 1 and 2, where I changed the drivers which were installed and updated the bios. Can anyone help me with any of the problems this computer is having?

Setup:

AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+ (1.35 volts)

OCZ Platinum pc4000 (3-2-3-8, 2.8 volts)

DFI RS482 Infinity (1.2v HT)

ATI x1900xtx GPU (PCIE)

Western Digital Raptor (74gb, sata port 1 - windows)

Western Digital Caviar (320gb, sata port 2 - pagefile)

Install 1: Computer would randomly reboot every ~30 minutes to 8 hours. Completely prime/ memtest / windows diagnostic stable. 1 in 3 times, wouldnt boot up. Windows specified ACPI settings. Later found out I forgot to install chipset drivers.

Install 2(CHANGES: Specified ACPI multiprocessor PC, new bios, all drivers updated) Computer would crash about 30 seconds into windows. The system manager would give errors about ICQ number 0 (the pcie card, assumedly) not responding to calls.

Install 3(CHANGES: Disabled ACPI, installed with standard pc) Computer boots perfectly, except only the first AMD processor is detected. By far the fastest setup. 90+ fps on RTHDRIBL. Horrible slowdowns when installing programs. Required an ATI Sata controller driver, installed via windows update.

Install 4(CHANGES: Allowed Windows to decide BIOS type, ACPI disabled in BIOS. Computer shuts down like an old Windows 95 computer, by saying "it is now safe to turn off thsi computer") Computer takes nearly 120 more seconds to boot. Both AMD processors detected. No USB devices not detected. Otherwise, completely stable. Ran RTHDRIBL all night long, no problems. Speed of some applications a bit slow. Only 65 fps on RTHDRIBL. Hardware Interrupts account for more than 50% of the load on the Install 4 computer.

Install 5(CHANGES: ACPI on, User chooses BIOS Type to ACPI Multiprocessor PC, But all ACPI Options such as suspend modes disabled. CoolnQuiet disabled, but drivers installed. Install on 74gb Raptor, Pagefile on 320gb Caviar. Hopefully the USB devices work this time, and hopefully loading isnt like 3 minutes long. Hopefully its as stable as it was in install 4, but without the slowness.)

Computer boots perfectly, idles well, seems to handle prime95 well.. but suffers from random reboots again. :confused: I really thought I dealt with that problem already..

I suspected it may have been the powersupply as well, but there are some observations that lead me to believe this isnt true: Voltages dont ever dip outside of the 10% zone that Smart Guardian has set, and no errors are ever listed when managing the computer. The computer simply.. restarts. :( randomly. I cant even reproduce the results by prime95'ing.

Thanks for any help you might offer in advance - Anything you offer is greatly appreciated.

EDIT** I installed a Watts up monitor to find whether the problem may be my power splitter. 317 watts drain on all equipment I have - Laptop, computer, crt monitor.. etc
 
Well it seems u have tried many things. Is there any chance for you to try another socket 939 mobo instead of dfi to rule the motherboard out of the problem list.
 
Have you ran MemTest86+ to see if the memory is the problem at all?

What BIOS are you using? Have you flashed to the latest official BIOS?
 
Hmm, I forget whether he told me he flashed the most recent BIOS or not... I'll have to ask him at school today :)

And yes Kemp, I told him to run Memtest and he ran it for an entire school day (like, 7 hours)
 
I have in fact flashed to the most recent bios using a program called WINFLASH, because oddly enough the floppy drive is non-responsive as well (the floppy drive in which Annihilus made is handywork on; strange that the part I asked him to do didnt work :p )

Since I've been seeing strange 'artifacts' on the desktop with the x1900xtx (strange screen flashes when opening and closing catalyst control panel, other strange anomalies when switching video modes), I assume it may be a problem with the graphics card. And for good reason; it was packaged loose in the shipment box with only an antistatic bag protecting it from all that styrofoam :( . The RS-482 has a built in graphics card, and I plan on using that.

I suppose the only things to do if that doesnt check out are to RMA either the powersupply (which I think is fine) or the Motheboard (which I also think is fine). No crashes occur outside of windows. Crashes occur more often when playing Warcraft :mad: .

EDIT** scratch that, I think I'll unplug the nonworking floppy drive and see if that fixes it.
 
Well the thing is if you can get hold of Socket939 motherboard and see if your hardware with a different motherboard is given problems or not. Dont know where you bought your items nor their return policy but if you cant find the faulty hardware and rma working items you might charged depending on the company.
 
name='Tec' said:
Well the thing is if you can get hold of Socket939 motherboard and see if your hardware with a different motherboard is given problems or not. Dont know where you bought your items nor their return policy but if you cant find the faulty hardware and rma working items you might charged depending on the company.

Funny thing, that.. because now it doesnt boot up at all. :cussing:

*edit* and now it does.. :?
 
strip everything out other than:

psu

MoBo

boot drive

cpu

one stick of ram

then see if its stable, if not, get hold of another MoBo to test it with. next thing after that if the ram and psu is ok you can really start to point out whats wrong
 
Stripped the computer of only the essentials; didnt seem to do much.

Easily ran Prime95 for about 18 hours, 2 instances. Interestingly enough, the instance on core 0 was farther along in testing than the instance on core 1.

I also tried running the x3 rolling demo to induce a crash again. Somewhere along the line it crashed. Strangely enough, I cant get the computer to reboot when I'm around, only when I'm a: asleep or b: away. I assume this is better, but it sure isnt nearly stable enough to overclock, hence the anger.

Is there a way to run the computer off of the built-in graphics card of the rs482 while still having the x1900xtx in its socket? Removing the x1900xtx from the SFF case would require atleast 6 hours, and the removal of almost every other part in the case :( .
 
on the prime front, i think that its normal for there to be a different in the cores. on the x1900 front, i think you should be able to disable the MoBo's display adapter in the bios. at what stage in the computers life has this happend? was it a completely random problem? or did it coinside with the addition of a new componant etc
 
name='llwyd' said:
on the prime front, i think that its normal for there to be a different in the cores. on the x1900 front, i think you should be able to disable the MoBo's display adapter in the bios. at what stage in the computers life has this happend? was it a completely random problem? or did it coinside with the addition of a new componant etc

This was a completely new computer, so I don't know whether you call this a random problem or not.
 
name='llwyd' said:
on the prime front, i think that its normal for there to be a different in the cores. on the x1900 front, i think you should be able to disable the MoBo's display adapter in the bios. at what stage in the computers life has this happend? was it a completely random problem? or did it coinside with the addition of a new componant etc

There is a button that allows the PCIE slot to load last, but no setting to turn the pcie slot OFF. Therefore, this Saturday, me and WC Annihilus's incredibly agile small hands :worship: will remove the x1900xtx in favor of onboard, rma the xtx, replace the powersupply with a 430 watt, and find out whether either of those two devices caused crashes.
 
name='WC Annihilus' said:
We are? rofl. Are you speaking of my PSU or some random one?

:p Can I borrow your PSU for a week or two?

Nah, I plan on using the 430 watt that came with the Aspire (qpack case). Since I'll be using the crap onboard GPU, I figure the 70 watt difference will only be monetary. Shouldnt be a problem, I hope.
 
Ridiculous.

For the entire time Annihilus was helping me, the computer didnt crash once, unless it was due to overclocking. No random reboots, that is.

However, not 20 minutes after he leaves and I finally shut off prime95, the computer reboots. OMG! :mad: . So, I set the speeds required in the bios, (max ATM is 245 fsb stable, 1.45 volts), and not 10 minutes after that, the computer reboots randomly AGAIN! :eek: :mad: .

Mind you the computer worked perfectly from the moment Annihilus entered the room from the moment he left, where it promptly decided to BUGGER UP!.



Annihilus convinced me not to take out the x1900xtx or the PSU, since he thought the PSU may just be overheating.
We ran the computer with the PSU outside the case for a small while and found it wouldnt reboot. (idle temp 78f) So, about 3 hours later, we assembled the case again (idle temp 72f). I have never heard the PSU fan at full blast. Either that, or full blast is whisper quiet to it.

We seemed to gain some stability by decreasing the memory voltage to 2.7 volts and increasing the northbridge and the nb -> multiplier bridge voltage to 1.3 and 1.9 respectively, from 1.2 and 1.8. (may be the other way around, sorta tired atm). No reboots untill after he left.

Therefore, I've come to the conclusion that the CPU restarts when it recieves no load, as it didnt crash at all while running prime95. :yumyum: Yeah, suck. Not sure what to RMA anymore.

OH, and the x1900xtx overclocks beautifully. Much better than my old 9800xt.

EDIT****

Prime95'd all night dual instances @ 245fsb 2.7ghz, 1.525 volts. CPU voltage reported as 1.48 under load. Highest load temp was 32C with an ambient of 22c.

EDIT2****

Prime95'd 2 instances for 12 hours, 6 minutes @ 245FSB, 2.7ghz, 1.525 volts.Highest load temp is 33c. I tried playing a video with Audio codec Dolby AC3 and Video codec XviD. Rebooted in under 5 minutes. Set back to 2.2ghz, 1.525 volts, Rebooted in about 6 minutes. Set back to 2.2ghz, 1.375 volts testing now...

EDIT3****

Crashed after 30 minutes. Turning off onboard sound to see if that helps. I'm really running out of suggestions.
 
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