Major problem: Computer only stable WHILE overclocked now..

[snoopy3525]

The rig built in 2004:
P4P800-E Deluxe (using latest BIOS)
Pentium 4 3.0E socket478 (clocked to 3.5 GHz) Gigabyte pipe cooler
4x512MB DDR400 Kingston Value Ram (dual channel)
Geforce 7600GT 256MB
1x Floppy, 2xDVD RW drives
2x320GB Hitachi RAID-0 drives
using onboard LAN. Onboard sound disabled(dont need it).

A couple of years ago I had everything stock with stock settings. Never had a problem. Decided to get a gigabyte cooler when compUSA was closing down because of the cheap price. With this I was able to easily overclock the computer to about 3.5 GHz with good temperatures and stability. Was able to achieve it all with fine tuning voltages, memory speeds/clocks, and so on. Overclock still going strong with no problem years later.


I no longer use this computer for gaming so I don't want OR need it overclocked anymore. However, regardless of what I do I can not run the computer at stock settings. I get constant blue screens(pointing to different problems every time) some coming from iaStor.sys (the intel storage controller). Also while transfering files over a network at high speeds, the computer will completly lock up. Keep in mind: I do not have ANY of these issues while the computer is overclocked.

Now.. Things I tried to troubleshoot which did not fix the issue:
-Reset to BIOS defaults
-Cleared CMOS
-Re-flashed bios JUST incase. then cleared CMOS again
-After this all I did a fresh install of Windows XP (regardless if it was XP or Vista, It would still crash)

None of these fixed the issue. So what do I do? Put in the overclocked settings back in my bios. Now everything is fixed, no more crashes!

Is this some sort of joke my computer is playing on me? Is it possible my computer got acustomed to the overclocked speed it had for years and dosen't like stock settings anymore? I am completely stumped...

I do not wan't to leave it at these overclocked settings because of power consumption issues. I need it to be the most power efficient it can be (even though it won't be a lot more, but every little bit helps)

 

[jedimasterben]

Well, this almost has me stumped. The only thing I can think of is that it no longer runs as efficiently as it did when it was first built, i.e., requiring more voltage to operate at stock levels. Put everything back at stock, but raise the voltages slightly and see if it still BSODs.

Good luck!

 

[paul mohr]

Well most likely the overclock wore something out, like your cpu, memory or chip set. So now it won't run stable with stock settings. I agree with the above, try stock settings but play with the voltages and see what happens. Might try swapping out the memory too just to see if that effects it.

Electronics can be funny sometimes and they do wear out. Overclocking certainly does not help.

Good luck,
Paul

 

[snoopy3525]

Very good reasoning. I'm doing some testing and i'll report back. Some weird things i'm coming across. Tried putting everything stock then upping v-core about two notches. still a no go

Prime 95 failing within a minute on blend test(tests some of everything, lots of memory tested), but not as fast on in-place FFT(max heat,power consumption). Will try some memory tests next

 

[snoopy3525]

Well... After hours of testing higher voltages to both CPU and Memory, i found thd culprit. Ironically it wasn't the CPU or memory voltages...

For years ever since i built the thing even on stock, i was able to have Memory Accelleration Mode enabled. This tightened the latencies between the memory and the FSB; a special feature in the 865/875 chipsets.

I don't know why i even re-enabled this setting, maybe under instinct because It was never a problem before. I guess it's the memory or chipset thats going bad since It cant handle it anymore. but everything is back on stock settings again!

Thank you a lot guys =)

 

[paul mohr]

Glad you got it figured out.

Paul