Q9400 lockup

[gsparx]

Hello Gentlemen and Ladies,

I have a conundrum that I would love from feedback on. Here's how it is:

Installed a new CPU recently (q9400 replacing an e8300) and it seems to be unstable. I mean like overclocking unstable, i.e. Windows 7 will lockup fairly randomly requiring me to hard reset my computer. The CPU is not overclocked in any way, and my BIOS settings are in failsafe mode. However, here's the kicker. Prime95 runs completely stable (read 7-hours) on both Windows Safe Mode, and an Ubuntu Live CD, just not in regular Windows 7.

Temps seem to be fine although I haven't done extensive testing of that. The fact that it runs fine in Ubuntu says to me that my thermal paste application was fine and I don't need to worry about that aspect.

This is a fresh install of Windows 7. Only the NVIDIA 310.70 beta driver installed, along with things like 7-zip and Notedpad++.

I have successfully run memtest for 8 hours so I'm pretty sure I can rule out memory.

I have also successfully run chkdsk with no errors.

I have reinstalled Windows 7 twice with the same issue.

My current BIOS is at 1.4b1 (I really hope that b doesn't mean beta because installing a beta BIOS just sounds like a bad idea, but I haven't messed with the BIOS at all yet)

My Specs are as Follows:

CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400 (newly installed)
GPU: EVGA 560 TI 448 Cores FTW edition (newly installed)
MOBO: XFX 750i SLI (from the old build)
RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) OCZ NVIDIA SLI-Ready Edition (from the old build)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (from the old build)
PSU: 550w Tuniq Potency

So I'm basically stumped at this point as to what the issue is. The CPU seems to run fine in Windows Safe Mode and Linux, but not in just regular Windows. Temperature does not seem to be a problem. The only thing that I can think of at this point is that the MOBO is not automatically setting the RAM timings/voltages or the CPU voltages correctly.

My next step is to manually configure timing and voltage settings, but I'm not sure what I should be shooting for in a stable system. I'm not trying to overclock, just going for a stable clock with manual voltage and timing settings.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,

G

 

[thomasd221]

Right, i'm having the same problem with my athlon ii x4. To fix it i updated all driver like audio/video/chipset. Bu in your case, it might not just be drivers.

it could be the PSU, iv'e never heard of the brand before.

Download the latest bios. It's easy to do if you do it right.

Make sure the ram timings are at DDR2 800, as that is what the board supports.

Set the voltages to AUTO and the ram, also remember to put in the CAS latency if it's not already right, for you ram, it's 4-4-4-15.

Try all these and report back, also make sure AVG/Norton/Mccaffe are installed

Hope i helped!

 

[thomasd221]

Hello Gentlemen and Ladies,

I have a conundrum that I would love from feedback on. Here's how it is:

Installed a new CPU recently (q9400 replacing an e8300) and it seems to be unstable. I mean like overclocking unstable, i.e. Windows 7 will lockup fairly randomly requiring me to hard reset my computer. The CPU is not overclocked in any way, and my BIOS settings are in failsafe mode. However, here's the kicker. Prime95 runs completely stable (read 7-hours) on both Windows Safe Mode, and an Ubuntu Live CD, just not in regular Windows 7.

Temps seem to be fine although I haven't done extensive testing of that. The fact that it runs fine in Ubuntu says to me that my thermal paste application was fine and I don't need to worry about that aspect.

This is a fresh install of Windows 7. Only the NVIDIA 310.70 beta driver installed, along with things like 7-zip and Notedpad++.

I have successfully run memtest for 8 hours so I'm pretty sure I can rule out memory.

I have also successfully run chkdsk with no errors.

I have reinstalled Windows 7 twice with the same issue.

My current BIOS is at 1.4b1 (I really hope that b doesn't mean beta because installing a beta BIOS just sounds like a bad idea, but I haven't messed with the BIOS at all yet)


Sorry, the PSU should be fine.

My Specs are as Follows:

CPU: Core 2 Quad Q9400 (newly installed)
GPU: EVGA 560 TI 448 Cores FTW edition (newly installed)
MOBO: XFX 750i SLI (from the old build)
RAM: 8GB (4x2GB) OCZ NVIDIA SLI-Ready Edition (from the old build)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (from the old build)
PSU: 550w Tuniq Potency

So I'm basically stumped at this point as to what the issue is. The CPU seems to run fine in Windows Safe Mode and Linux, but not in just regular Windows. Temperature does not seem to be a problem. The only thing that I can think of at this point is that the MOBO is not automatically setting the RAM timings/voltages or the CPU voltages correctly.

My next step is to manually configure timing and voltage settings, but I'm not sure what I should be shooting for in a stable system. I'm not trying to overclock, just going for a stable clock with manual voltage and timing settings.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,

G

 

[djosbun]

I don't think you can safely say that since it's running fine in Ubuntu that it's not a heat issue. Ubuntu is a much 'lighter' OS than windows, and will not put as much stress on the processor, which causes heat.

 

[gsparx]

Thanks for your reply. When I installed the 310.70 Nvidia driver it installed all the chipset drivers as well since the 750i is an Nvidia chipset.

Also, I realize that Ubuntu is much less resource intensive than Windows alone, however, Prime 95 regardless of the OS will still stress the system to it's maximum load, so I do think it's safe to say it's not a heat issue.

I'm going to mess around with drivers more, as both Ubuntu, and Safe Mode will use different/generic drivers, and I think that's the primary difference between the setups.

I'll post updates as I find out more information. I'm in contact with XFX as well, and we'll see if that turns up anything. Let me know if anyone else has ideas.

Thanks,

G

 

[thomasd221]

Thanks for your reply. When I installed the 310.70 Nvidia driver it installed all the chipset drivers as well since the 750i is an Nvidia chipset.

Also, I realize that Ubuntu is much less resource intensive than Windows alone, however, Prime 95 regardless of the OS will still stress the system to it's maximum load, so I do think it's safe to say it's not a heat issue.

I'm going to mess around with drivers more, as both Ubuntu, and Safe Mode will use different/generic drivers, and I think that's the primary difference between the setups.

I'll post updates as I find out more information. I'm in contact with XFX as well, and we'll see if that turns up anything. Let me know if anyone else has ideas.

Thanks,

G

If you can't get it to work, try changing your antivirus, some antivirus's don't like programs/drivers on your PC. I recommend Avast or Avira, both really good.

http://www.avast.com/index

http://www.avira.com/en/index