AMD Phenom II X4 955 system build locks up or re-boots

[jkim]

Okay, still running into a problem with my system that locks up, freezes, or re-boots.

These are my components:
Cosmos 1000 full-tower case
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE cpu
Gigabyte MA785GMT-UD2H motherboard
Zerotherm FZ120 heatsink/fan
4GB Obsidian (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
ATI Radeon 4600 video card with 512MB RAM
Coolermaster 600 power supply
Windows Vista Home Premium
three hard drives
dvd burner

I know it's not a heat issue because I have tried four different heatsinks and tried every method of thermal paste application, from a lot to a little, used the plastic bag method to smooth it out, put a pea sized in the middle of the cpu and squished the heatsink on it like Arctic says to do. I was using Arctic silver 5 by the way. I mean, I can definitely give out advice on what works. I finally went back to what Arctic says about a dab about the size of a bb on the middle of the cpu and then flatten it with the heatsink. Anyway, Core Temp tells me my cpu temp is 35 to 48 Celsius so the temp is not the problem.

I have switched out video cards so that is not the problem.

Is it possible that the cpu I bought was damaged before I bought it? I know cpu's are pretty durable. If that were the case, it should not even work, right?

I am going to give the Arctic 200 hours to set properly but again, cooling is not the problem.

I was thinking about changing the power supply but I don't think that is going to make a difference because the one I have is pretty good a rated well.

Anytime I try to run a processor overbearing program like a video editor, the machine locks up, freezes, or re-boots. It's funny that an older Pentium 4 computer I have will run the same program but a lot slower, without any issues. Just takes a lot longer, hence why I built this machine.

Any advise would be great.

 

[roofus]

Have you ruled out a memory issue? test with one stick at a time or run Memtest to verify there isn't a bad module?

 

[saint19]

Switch the RAM and try again.

 

[jkim]

okay, what the heck. I have nothing to lose. I have tried so many things already so I don't mind trying this.

 

[lithp]

Well, I can tell you that there is a problem with c3/c2 compatibility between the Asus M4A79XTD mobo (a similar one to yours) and the AMD 955 BE. That appears to be an Asus problem, however, and not AMD. It could be that the Gigabyte mobo you have could have the same problem. In this case, it won't even boot, I don't think, and you said yours boots.

Here is the newegg link so you can see the review...it is the latest review of only 2 eggs by "Greg"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402&cm_re=790x-_-13-131-402-_-Product

I planned on buying that Asus/AMD combo, but I'm waiting a few months so the hardware is correct, with the right BIOS and all.

Don't know if I am right or if this even helps....

 

[mrcrybaby]

I had that issue with an old asus 939 mobo... So i agree that it's most likely the mobo. It is also possible that it could be your power supply thats failing too :/

 

[swifty_morgan]

Did you try running the ram at 1333 and at the right voltages and at the right cas settings ? And did you check the multiplier on the processor ?

 

[swifty_morgan]

EDIT:............ did you run the installation cd and install all the mother board drivers ? Did you go to Windows Update lately ? Did you look in the device manager to see if anything needs updtating ?

THIS SITE REALLY BLOWS FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO AMEND YOUR PREVIOUS POSTS......... WHEN ARE YOU GUYS GONNA FIX THAT ?

 

[jkim]

Well I figured it out. After wasting many hours and getting almost to the point where I was going to part the machine and sell the parts, I decided to check the bios and lo and behold, the RAM memory clock/speed was slightly overclocked. Instead of the default "auto" setting, I had accidently overclocked it by one setting higher.

Once I re-set the memory clock/speed back to "auto" the problems went away. I can run the video editting program, surf the web and have a lot of windows open with no problems whatsoever. Before, just running the video editing program caused the computer to lock up, freeze, and sometimes even re-boot.

That's what I get for messing with the bios in the first place!

Thanks for all your suggestion folks.