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Doggie52

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Posts posted by Doggie52

    X.M.P. DIMM support

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    Hello!

    In the manual for my ASUS P7P55D-E LX, in the Memory Configurations section, the following note appends the instructions on how to install the memory:

    Due to Intel spec definition, X.M.P. DIMMs are supported for one DIMM per channel only.

    What does this mean? Does this mean that I only can use one stick of RAM per channel, meaning that I can't run two sticks in Dual-Channel mode?

    If I buy two 2GB sticks of RAM with the X.M.P. feature, can I turn this on/off inside the BIOS and thus use them in Dual-Channel mode anyway?

    How is the performance of X.M.P. RAM versus Dual-Channel RAM?

    Thanks in advance,

    Doggie52

    0

    Diagnosing seemingly random errors

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    I've tried pretty much everything related to BIOS-RAM settings, I've actually "overclocked" (quoted as they are vendor marked at what the BIOS thinks is an overclock) them to DDR3-1600 to no avail. I've also run MemTest for several passes without any errors when running each stick separately, yet I keep getting errors when running both together.

    I've mailed both ASUS and OCZ and I will see what they say.

    0

    Diagnosing seemingly random errors

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    Where I am at right now:

    I have run both sticks of RAM separately for ~20 standard MemTest passes each (more than enough, I hope) and they come out with no errors.

    This means using two sticks fails, whilst using one stick at a time works well. Now, of course, I wonder what can be the cause of this weird behavior. Perhaps my RAM isn't meant to work with my mobo?

    The DRAM-frequency you saw in the picture was the default, set by the BIOS. In fact, I can only push that to DDR3-1333 (667MHz) , which is less than the optimal (DDR3-1600 @ 800MHz) for my RAM.

    Possible culprits?

    • faulty PSU
    • faulty mobo
    • faulty RAM

    That the RAM is faulty seems unlikely, given that they work independently - or am I wrong here? A faulty PSU seems more and more like a likely culprit - given that my computer sometimes (rarely, but still, 2 times over two weeks) spontaneously powers down and reboots the PSU might be damaged. It might be providing too little power for two sticks of RAM to work simultaneously, or might be overloaded as an earlier poster suggested.

    But, it could also be the motherboard that is broken.

    What do you think? Is there any way (apart from getting a replacement PSU) I can with relatively high certainty determine whether my PSU is healthy or not?

    0

    Diagnosing seemingly random errors

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    I had a quick look into what timings my RAM is supposed to run at vs. what BIOS sets them to run at:

    BIOS default settings: 7-7-7-20

    proposed settings for OCZ3RPR1600ULV4 from OCZ: 7-8-8-24

    Why is there a difference here? Which one of the settings is most likely to cause problems?

    I switched the CR to T2 and the timings to what OCZ proposed, and I get errors on test #6 and #7 on the first pass.

    My RAM has passive heating and after feeling them, I can conclude that the temperature is not a problem.

    I am running a 630W PSU which I bought no more than 1 year ago. Is there a way I can determine whether it is faulty without having to replace it?

    What I will do now:

    • test each stick separately for 12 hours
    • try to find a temporary replacement for my PSU in order to rule that out

    0

    Diagnosing seemingly random errors

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    Hello!

    After having built together the following rig I am experiencing several problems within Windows.

    MB: ASUS P7P55D-E LX

    CPU: Intel i5 760 @ 2.8GHz stock

    HDD: OCZ Agility II SSD (60GB, the OS-drive) and a Samsung 500GB (secondary drive)

    GPU: nVidia GTX260 chipset, ASUS make

    RAM: OCZ Reaper 2x2GB CL7

    All of the above, except the Samsung HDD and the ASUS GPU, are brand new.

    OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 retail

    Issues

    • MEMORY_MANAGEMENT and PFN_LIST_CORRUPT BSODs at random times
    • random computer shutdowns (complete death, as if power cable had been pulled out), then, 5s later, reboot by itself
    • GPU driver crashes and then recovers
    • corruption problems when downloading certain files and extracting them
    • large amounts of apps crash at irregular intervals
    • motherboard refuses to boot from USB devices, it only loads a black screen with blinking cursor (neither W7 nor MemTest boot, finally had to burn them both to DVD)

    All of the above issues have been occurring during a period of two weeks or less.

    Attempted diagnosing

    • MemTest86+, attempts listed below in descending order:
      1. (both sticks of RAM installed): multiple errors on tests #6 and #7 in the 4GB-range somewhere
      2. (one stick of RAM installed): no errors after 3-4 passes
      3. (other stick of RAM installed): no errors after 3-4 passes
      4. (both sticks of RAM installed but in opposite order compared to #1): no errors after 3-4 passes
      5. (the next day, same configuration as #4): errors on test #6

      [*]S.M.A.R.T status on both HDDs

      • no errors, status OK on everything
      • SSD: 100% life-time

      [*]Windows Memory Diagnostics

      • no errors after two passes

    Attempted solutions

    • re-format (new system has only been running for a day or two)
      • no errors appearing yet

      [*]BIOS update

      • seems to have caused the BIOS to no longer boot from USB devices, however I am unsure of when that problem started appearing

    Questions

    1. is faulty RAM the cause of all my issues?
    2. can a faulty mobo be the cause of all my issues?
    3. why does MemTest appear to give inconsistent results?
    4. is there any way I can diagnose motherboard issues?
    5. is there any way I can go beyond S.M.A.R.T when diagnosing my SSD?
    6. is there any way I can diagnose CPU issues?

    Do you people recommend any further diagnosing? Is there anything you would like me to add to my post?

    My sincere thanks in advance, I hope my post was not too lengthy!

    // Douglas

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    The numlock is still lit when it's down, but it does not respond to anything.

    I've checked the voltages with Motherboard Monitor and they all seem to look fine. I've set it up to monitor temperatures and fanspeeds and send email alerts when alarms have been breached. Though I think the problem lies elsewhere.

    What if... What if it just is my processors instability? Can it be that simple? The processor can't cope with 72 hours of uptime? When I bought it, the salesman said the s478 Pentium processors were unstable.

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    The BIOS update did not solve anything :'( . I will check the voltages once I get back home and can fix the thing. It feels kind of hopeless being in Italy right now :/ .

    0

    Great gaming Wiki!

    in Gamers Hangout

    Posted

    Hey guys!

    I apologize in advance if advertising is not permitted on these forums, but I hope you see the potential of the site I'm about to show you (this is not my own website, don't worry).

    The EncyClanPedia is a massive project founded by the people behind Total Gaming Network.

    It's a combined gaming- and clanwiki with tons of great features. If you have a clan - post it up and get visitors and interested people! If you're just looking for information on a broad variety of topics within gaming and computing, browse through the massive amount of topics covered inside.

    Maybe the most thrilling part of the ECP experience is the Call of Duty 4 Database! This is a cooperation between a host of contributors and is a giant database full of information about COD4. Things included are a Weapon Database, a Map Database, a Challenge Database, a Weapon Comparison and tons of other great additions!

    So yeah, visit ECP today and discover the wonderful tidbits of this project :) !

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted · Edited by Doggie52

    This is so extremly annoying. I have tried every goddamned dos boot disc there is, and no success.

    With Windows XP's own repair console I can for some reason not run files at all.

    With Windows Vista's repair console > Open Command Prompt I can not run files either.

    With Ultimate Boot Disc's DOS-bootdiscs I can access anything but the contents of the extracted image (of the DOS-program itself).

    PLEASE can SOMEONE help me in finding a sollution that will let me flash the damned BIOS!

    I fixed the above - now I can access and run the BIOS flasher program. But guess what, it's not functioning. I type "ADSFI713 nameofthebiosfile.200" and all that comes up is the usage of the program, the /? argument.

    I have updated the BIOS through MSI's Live Update, and it also updated a few of my other mobo drivers. I love that program.

    Now I'll just have to sit and wait and see whether this fixes itself!

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted · Edited by Doggie52

    Sweet... Seems I can't flash the BIOS, because I just can't access the BIOS flasher on the harddrive... Can someone give me a guide on flashing the BIOS WITHOUT a floppy and a bootdisk?

    I have the Ultimate Boot CD with several bootdiscs included, yet when it mounts them they can't access my HD and only display the CD and the mounted image. A pain in the *rse, to say the least.

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted · Edited by Doggie52

    I might not have mentioned it - but the problems started appearing after I bought myself a new motherboard and CPU. I will, as I said, flash the BIOS soon and see if that solves the problem. Who knows, it might be the co-operation between the BIOS and the CPU that's failing, it doesn't have to be something that's broken, right? The motherboard and processor are both new and not second hand. Same goes with pretty much everything inside the case except the PSU.

    In the meantime, guys, thanks for your help :) !

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    Actually, speaking of the CPU, I found some interesting BIOS driver updates on my mobo's site. As I have a prescott CPU this kind of catched my eye:

    Update CPU Microcode for Prescott CPU.

    System can't resume from S3 with Prescott CPU.

    Can a flashed BIOS solve my problems? I will flash it in the beginning of next week when I get back from my holiday.

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted

    I've never had anything like that turned on. This is a server - letting it hibernate would be useless. I also ran some MemTest86 tests today. It went for 8 passes with zero errors. So it's not the HDD and not the RAM.

    Actually I doubt it's got anything to do with software, since it happened with three differents OS's.

    0

    Odd Hangs

    in Hardware Hangout

    Posted · Edited by Doggie52

    Hello everyone!

    I turn to you, MSFN, to help me with my very odd problem.

    My server computer, running Windows Server 2008 Standard, has been getting weird hangs the past few months. Since it's always in screensaver mode / monitor turned off I can't see what the error looks like, but it seems after a random amount of time the computer basically completely hangs with all hardware still running. Basically you could call it a shutdown but without shutting down the hardware.

    This is... uhm... slightly annoying - as it obviously kills all the different programs I am running on the server and forces me to restart it. As I never know when it's happening it most often brings my uptime down by a few %.

    Needless to say, it has to be fixed.

    The first errors came after I recently had bought new hardware. I experienced some hangs in Linux and after a format they passed on to Windows. At first I checked the System Event Log and there I found a "Disk32" error with my harddrive, saying a failure was imminent. Those errors popped before the crashes happened, so I figured it caused the hangs and immediately bought a new harddrive, a Western Digital 320GB. But after a few days I started noticing the same errors happening with that harddrive, and so I had to start my troubleshooting all over again.

    I did some RAM tests to make sure the RAM wasn't corrupt or faulty - but the tests all came out clean. My motherboard is fairly new, my processor likewise. Is there anything other than the HDD and RAM that can be broken? Is there something in the BIOS that can create these crashes? Anything in the power management?

    Here come the specs:

    HARDWARE

    Processor: Intel Pentium 3.0GhZ

    RAM: as of yet only 1GB DDR 400

    Mobo: MSI PT8 Neo-V

    GPU: an old nVIDIA GeForce 3

    HDD: WesternDigital Caviar 320GB

    Drives: DVD-drive

    Manufacturer: Myself

    SOFTWARE

    OS: Windows Server 2008 Standard

    Gameservers: SRCDS (Source Dedicated Server), HLDS (Half-Life Dedicated Server), Ascent (WoW), HLDSUpdateTool

    Other servers: Ventrilo, RAdmin Server 3.2

    Boosters: SRCDS FPS Booster, SRCDS Autorestarter

    A big thanks in advance, if there's anything more you need to know just post.

    0

    Media Center video-problems [SOLVED]

    in Windows XP Media Center Edition

    Posted · Edited by Doggie52

    Hi there!

    I've got a big problem with MCE...

    My Specs:

    Celeron 2Ghz

    nVIDIA TNT2 RIVA 64MB (I think)

    Hauppage HVR-1300 MCE Kit

    368MB RAM

    Description:

    I can get everything to work, the sound, the remot controller, the monitor (which is a TV) and MCE overall. But as soon as I try to view video or TV, I get sound but no video.

    The screen flickers between black and MCE-blue with the audio running in the background. Bear in mind though, that I can actually change channels etc.

    It totally locks up... I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL out myself and then back in to come back to the menu itself...

    And the funny thing is that I DON'T get any "incompatible driver" message inside MCE.

    What have I tried?:

    I have tried PowerDVD 6 CLJ Deluxe edition, nVIDIA PureVideo and XP Codec Pack's decoders and none of them give any kind of different result.

    I have checked the Windows Decoder Checkup and it tells me that the decoders are OK (except XP Codec Pack).

    Consclusions (this is only what I think, if you know better disregard this!):

    It's probably not a TV card problem, because it's certified for MCE and is a MCE-kit...

    And it's not a codec or decoder problem, because they are working.

    So it ultimately must be either a problem with Media Center itself, a graphic card driver problem, or an internal hardware problem (to make this computer I use parts from other computers).

    Footnote:

    If someone could point me in the right direction with this issue I'd be very grateful.

    If you need any more info just post here and I'll be pleased to add it.

    Thanks alot in advance,

    Doggie52

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