New SSD. Lots of Blue screening.

[casshern09]

Hello everyone.
I just upgraded to a Crucial 512GB SSD and also bought a Seagate 2TB HDD. It was a bit of a fiddle installing windows but I got there in the end.

Although I seem to be getting a lot of blue screens. This morning it happened as soon as Windows 7 botted about 3 times in a row.
IMPORTANT NOTE: I did change one thing in the BIOS that I would not normally play with. My RAM is DDR3 2000mhz Corsair. I noticed it said the target frequency was 1033mhz on the BIOS. The DRAM thing was actually set to auto, so I changed it to a particular one. 1833mhz in this case (or something like that anyway)

I have since changed it back to auto and thus far don't seem to be getting any crashes (fingers crossed)
Is it possible that changing that will have caused the crashes?

System Spec:

Intel i7 970 3.2ghz
16GB DDR 3
2 x GTX 580 SLI
Recon 3D fatality series Sound Card
Crucial 512GB SSD / Seagate 2TB HDD
Win 7

Thanks for any help.

 

[tomatthe]

Absolutely, even if the ram was rated at 2000mhz you can't just change that setting and expect it to work. Check the corsair forums for your particular ram/board and they might have the specifics you need to change to get it running at 2000mhz. Even if they don't have the exact board they will have settings that will likely apply to your board you will just have to hunt a little to match things up.

99.9% chance the bsod were from overclocking the memory without changing power, timing etc.

 

[casshern09]

Thanks mate. I fgured as it was the only thing I fiddled with. I really shouldn't mess things I don't fully understand

Will take your advice.

 

[tomatthe]

Yeah it's worth checking into the proper settings for your memory. Might as well get what you paid for out of it. Realistically you probably won't notice any difference even if you do get it setup running at 2000mhz, but hopefully you'll feel like you accomplished something and you WEI mem score will probably jump up a bit.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Run Memtest86+ overnight to rule out any memory issues.

http://www.memtest.org/

 

[casshern09]

Just got another BSOD. Thought the memory thing had sorted it.
Seems not.
I shall give the memtest thing a try.

 

[casshern09]

it says you have to put it on a disc? bah don't have any spare.
Really no idea what is going on now.

 

[Pinhedd]

Some SSDs require a firmware update out of the box in order to reach stability

 

[drwho1]

it says you have to put it on a disc? bah don't have any spare.
Really no idea what is going on now.

If I remember correctly, you need a CD, it will make a MemTest Boot CD.
It needs to be this way so there is nothing to interfere with the test.

It is always a good idea to keep a copy "around".

Some SSDs require a firmware update out of the box in order to reach stability

This is also true.

 

[whoareyou1982]

Just a thought: But do you have the SSD setup in AHCI mode in BIOS and have the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers installed? I recently helped someone that was having random blue screen issues. He had built a new rig and he had his Crucial 128 gb SSD set to IDE mode in BIOS. As such, he also couldn't install the IRST drivers. He reinstalled Windows with the drive in AHCI mode (he had to as once he changed to AHCI mode from IDE it wouldn't boot into Windows anymore), installed the IRST drivers and hasn't had a blue screen again (knock on wood).

 

[casshern09]

Thanks again everyone for the help.

whoareyou1982 - I checked and yes it was in IDE mode. I have changed it to AHCI mode.
I am also downloading the IRST drivers. I noticed it said something about Raid config on them? Do I still need these? As I am not running my storage in Raid.

Also I have no idea what IDE or AHCI are? Could you explain?

 

[whoareyou1982]

Well, there's a lot of technical mumbo jumbo involved that I just barely understand, let alone be able to explain. This might help a bit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface

Basically IDE is the old standard, while AHCI is the new. I'm sure someone can chime in with specifics, but running your SSD in AHCI mode should improve performance, plus it seems you can't install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver without it. That driver also helps manage the SSD and improve performance. I've read some places that the driver isn't needed unless you have a RAID array, but I've read other places that it does indeed improve performance with drives in AHCI mode. I would recommend installing it. I don't see any harm in it by any means. I have it installed.

Also, as mentioned before, make sure you have the latest firmware on your SSD. Very important.

 

[casshern09]

Ok I have the IRST installed. Will have to wait till tomorrow to install the firmware as I don't have a disc to burn it to.

Thanks for all the help everyone. Will be back if it doesn't go well