New Build Woes

Vikings

Guys hope you don't mind me putting this here, think more people in this forum will be familiar with this kind of problem than in the regular computers forum.

If any of you have been following my previous threads you will know my luck is completely shot when it comes to this computer. Anyway, RMA'd the processor and got the system up and running.

i5 2500k
P8P67 Pro
8gb gskill ram
MSI R6870 gfx
1000w antec psu

Installed windows 7 ultimate x64 - all going well. Dowloaded all drivers, updated bios etc. Installed steam, then mafia II & league of legends. If I game for more than a few minutes I crash. No BSOD. Just a restart. But the computer completely shuts down for 2-3 seconds then starts up again by its own accord.

In event viewer I get a critical error, event ID 41 kernel-power task 63 blah blah. Googled this to bits and everyone seems to have a different solution none of which work for me.

I've reinstalled windows about 6 times now. Only installing wireless card and graphics driver and trying to play a game, crash every time. Disabled automatic restart and instead of switching off I get a "hard hang" complete freeze up and all I can do is restart.

I ran memtest86+ last night and memory is fine no errors, timing is the same on both sticks.

Any suggestions for me? I need help

deconduo

My girlfriend had a problem with wireless drivers on one of her computers. Try doing a clean install without the wireless card.

What are your temperatures like as well?

Vikings

Also wanted to add - I first had windows installed on crucial m4 ssd, thought it might have been the ssd so I installed it on the spinpoint f3 instead and I still end up with the same issues.

I have 3 SATA devices powered from the PSU going into the same slot on the power supply could that be a problem? As in the cable coming from the power supply has 3 sata power connections and I am using all 3 of those.

I'm hoping this is a software/driver issue and not hardware :mad:


This is the error log for anyone interested.

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date: 16/08/2011 12:39:30
Event ID: 41
Task Category: (63)
Level: Critical
Keywords: (2)
User: SYSTEM
Computer: RedThunder-PC
Description:
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"&gt;
<System>
<Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" />
<EventID>41</EventID>
<Version>2</Version>
<Level>1</Level>
<Task>63</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-08-16T11:39:30.418421000Z" />
<EventRecordID>1104</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" />
<Channel>System</Channel>
<Computer>RedThunder-PC</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data>
<Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data>
<Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Vikings

deconduo wrote: »

My girlfriend had a problem with wireless drivers on one of her computers. Try doing a clean install without the wireless card.

What are your temperatures like as well?

Problem is without the wireless card I have no net access = no steam or league of legends. I'll try a reformat without it and install fallout 3 from dvd see if I get anywhere.

Temperatures are good too, downloaded coretemp and max temp recorded was 51 on the cpu. Using stock heatsink.

deconduo

Vikings wrote: »

Problem is without the wireless card I have no net access = no steam or league of legends. I'll try a reformat without it and install fallout 3 from dvd see if I get anywhere.

Temperatures are good too, downloaded coretemp and max temp recorded was 51 on the cpu. Using stock heatsink.

Is that 51C when idle? What happens if you run Prime95?

Vikings

No, idle is about 38c.

Interesting - downloaded prime95 and as soon as I clicked start on the stress test and I mean literally as soon as I pressed it, crash.

deconduo

Vikings wrote: »

No, idle is about 38c.

Interesting - downloaded prime95 and as soon as I clicked start on the stress test and I mean literally as soon as I pressed it, crash.

Then its almost certainly either CPU or PSU related. Is the PSU brand new as well?

Vikings

No, power supply is actually a few years old but I thought would still do the job as it is/was fairly expensive at the time and hasn't shown any signs of trouble.

Every other part is brand new apart from power supply.

deconduo

Vikings wrote: »

No, power supply is actually a few years old but I thought would still do the job as it is/was fairly expensive at the time and hasn't shown any signs of trouble.

Every other part is brand new apart from power supply.

Yeah its a good PSU, but things can go wrong with age. Do you have an old build or anything you can test the PSU with?

Also I would check the BIOS and make sure there isn't any auto-overclocking happening or something. I know one person had a problem before where their motherboard was overclocking automatically for someone reason.

Tea_Bag

Where in the country are you?

If you're in Limerick I can loan you a PSU for a day or so to see if that's the problem.

marco_polo

You should also download a GPU only benchmark (like OCCT or Furmark)and run that as a fully loaded HD6870 will draw even more power than prime 95. Just don't run them for too long (I'm not a big fan of these GPU load tests personally)

If you see the same thing as prime 95 you would have to be looking very suspiciously at the PSU.

Vikings

My old build was working fine without problems using this PSU ... that is up until I changed the parts out which is why I thought it would be fine!

Running furmark at the minute, been going 2 minutes so far and no sign of a crash. (Assuming graphics card is ok)

I might change out the graphics card to my old X1950 pro to see if it makes a difference, maybe all the new parts are drawing too much power from psu?

I'm in Dublin - could probably get a loan of a cheap power supply from a friend think he has a 450/500w at home in a box new.



edit: only ran furmark for 5 minutes - no problems. went to try prime95 and crash after 1 second. It sounded like the computer was doing a lot more work for furmark, in particular the gfx card - which confuses me even more!

Might try the micro atx version of the board which I happen to have here in case it is the board?

Vikings

Ok tried a few more things.

Took out the 6870 and put in X1950 - same problem.

Disconnected sata dvd drive and hard drive, leaving only boot ssd plugged in - same problem.

Borrowed 400w power supply and connected up the motherboard, 8gb ram, processor, x1950 card and the SSD and booted up, ran prime95 and same problem again exact same error.

Think my next step is to try the matx motherboard over the atx version what do people think?

Could it be the version of windows I am using? (using a downloaded copy with a legit key I own)

Or is it definitely hardware related?

Monotype

Given that you get a clean restart like that, it sounds like a PSU problem alright. I have had similar problems because of an SSD though.

You switched out the SSD, but what about the cables themselves?

I remember one time being stumped at windows not installing right a few times and when it did, it crashed a lot. Thought it was a bad board or drive, turned out it was just the cable.

Check that you have all the drivers that you need installed, particularly motherboard chipset drivers. Try different sources to see who has the most up to date - Intel or Asus.
You said that your BIOS is up to date. The Asus P67 boards had a bad reputation at the beginning - I think it was mostly cleaned up with BIOS updates, but have a quick look around to make sure that the one you have is stable. Downgrading BIOSes happens often enough!

Finally, check to see if there's any conflicting programs and/or services:
Go to the start menu and type in msconfig. Go to the services and startup tabs. Tick the box to hide Microsoft services (you can work with these later, but be careful) and disable a few to see if helps any bit.

Can you go into offline mode with steam and uninstall all traces of the wireless card?

Vikings

Swapped the SATA cable going to SSD from a 6gb to an old 3gb one that I know is good. Same problem.

Ran msconfig and disabled non MS services - had catalyst control centre and another ATI running at same time, maybe an issue?

Out of interest I turned on the EPU and TPU switches on the motherboard and held the memok button to start. Rebooted a few times and came back memory is fine, so happy with that at least.

When I finally got back into windows ran prime95 - this time it didn't crash. Granted I only let it run for 2 minutes, the temperature got up to the 80's and I didn't want it going further so I stopped it. But no crash, every time previous it would crash within 3-4 seconds. This time 2 minutes. Resolved? (FINGERS CROSSED)

Going to reinstall my old power supply and new graphics card and hook the rest back up to see if I can get anywhere.

Monotype

Vikings wrote: »

Could it be the version of windows I am using? (using a downloaded copy with a legit key I own)

I wouldn't install with any key until you have your problems sorted. Nevertheless, it might be worthwhile doing a checksum of the image that you downloaded.


Microsoft's hash list
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/default.aspx

Hash generator program: this one. Rightclick on any file and click properties after you install and you get a checksum tab.

It might be worth your while not only burning a new disc/USB drive but also getting a service pack 1 disc.

http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-24209.iso

Home premium x64 SP1.

Vikings wrote: »

temperature got up to the 80's.

waaait... what? That's too high - and two minutes isn't enough.

What kind of heatsink have you got and what kind of thermal paste?

Ignore the above until you get this sorted straight away.

Vikings

Monotype wrote: »

waaait... what? That's too high - and two minutes isn't enough.

What kind of heatsink have you got and what kind of thermal paste?

Ignore the above until you get this sorted straight away.

Yeah I had figured that, but like you say 80 is way too high and I didn't want to risk any damage by letting it run any longer. Just using the stock heatsink with the stock paste it comes with. (CPU installed just this time so should be fine paste wise?)

When the computer was up and running it was idleing in the 30's and during gaming went up to the 50's - before crashing that is.

Monotype

It could climb up very suddenly in games. The CPU will somtimes underclock, sound an alarm or just shutdown if it gets too hot. There's usually options in the BIOS about this. I recommend you clean it off and put some new thermal paste on it, if you can get some.
If you're in a warm environment, a new heatsink mightn't go a miss either.

I don't think even the stock heatsink should be that hot with no overclocking. You could underclock it as a temporary measure to cool it down and see if it has an effect on the crashes.
Check the heatsink anyway to see that it's attached properly.

kahf1_02

I too had the exact same problem, literally. I also tried all that stuff. It drives you mad looking for the problem.

I'd test out WinXP on it mate, I installed Win7 Ulitmate 64-bit off a USB stick apparently there were some problems with that setup.

Also those heatsinks aren't great for gaming, I'd get a good decent solid one. (80 is way to high) Be careful when removing the CPU from the heatsink. Last time I did it the paste melted onto the CPU, had to get a knife and force it off, pins bent, then used a laser card to strigten them up - messy. Avoid.

Apart from the above 80% of these problems are either PSU related OR mobo, my honest opinion: the board is under-performing, RMA it. Get a new one.

Hope th is helps P.S did you buy off Hardwareversand.de?

Tea_Bag

with those temps OP Id almost rule out the PSU and look into the Mobo or CPU. does the heatsink fan run at full speed all the time?

next step would be to test it with your other board. don't forget to clean the CPU and heasink properly with strong fragrant free alcohol before putting on new thermal paste!

Monotype

kahf1_02 wrote: »

Also those heatsinks aren't great for gaming, I'd get a good decent solid one. (80 is way to high) Be careful when removing the CPU from the heatsink. Last time I did it the paste melted onto the CPU, had to get a knife and force it off, pins bent, then used a laser card to strigten them up - messy. Avoid.

The trick is the switch on the computer beforehand for a short while to heat it up (but not hot enough to burn your fingers!) to soften it. Then twist it when you're pulling it off.

Gadgetman496

In Win 7 go to

Control Panel

Hardware and sound

Power Options

In power options, click on the link for "Change Plan Settings" (for the chosen plan)

Click on the link for "Change advanced power settings"

In the resulting window, scroll down to "Processor power management"

Set the "Minimum processor state" to 80

Set the "Maximum processor state" to 90


Restart the system and see if it sorts your shutdown issue while gaming.

-

Monotype

^^ Good idea, I'd forgotten that there was a maximum setting in that.

Vikings

gadgetman496 wrote: »

Set the "Minimum processor state" to 80

Set the "Maximum processor state" to 90


Restart the system and see if it sorts your shutdown issue while gaming.

-

Ok, i've tried this. I spent some time last night fiddling to no success. In the midst of formatting and reinstalling windows umpteen times I forgot to save my steam folder so re downloading mafia II to give it a testing.

Going to leave the computer sitting for a few hours while it downloads - hopefully it will still be on when I get back to it!!!

Appreciate the help folks, god knows I've been needing it

Vikings

Well its safe to say that didn't work. Went back to check on the download and the damn thing was shut off. Started it back up again, checked the error - same as always. Wanted to turf it out the window.

Tea_Bag

bad luck man. try the other board!

Vikings

Well i'm not sure whats happened but it's been going solid since about 3 today and no crash just yet.

Downloaded mafia 2 and left for dead 2 and league of legends - got to play 2 games of LoL and 20 minutes or so of mafia without a crash.

I'm almost afraid to turn it off just incase..... knowing my luck!

kahf1_02

That system seems as stable as a 3 year old chid, unstable 1 minute stable the next. Try out at different mobo, nearly always works for me when I have problems. Best way to test a system is stress test it. Prime95 or Everast are great. Running games for 20mins doesn't give 100% gaurentee of a stable system.

Post some pics

Monotype

Is this using the underclocking with the power settings?

kahf1_02

Is it working now, Vikings?