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The Misfit Computer


Blako

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I have had this computer for quite a long time now.  Starting life as 766MHz on windows 2000 and going through many hardware upgrades the computer worked great.  The harddrive went from 8GB to 80GB to 500GB.  While this computer was a 3.0GHz P4 on windows 2000 I started noticing random computer restarts.  The computer restarted so frequently that it was decided to swipe the computer clean and start anew on WinXP.  It was a major dissapointment when the computer continued to restart seemingly when ever I played a game.  A new power supply was added rated at 500watt.  I concluded that the computer was overheating so I added 2 case fans and ArticSliver5 droped the cpu temp by 10 degrees C to.  But the crashes contined.  I can run Internet explorer for 6 hours and no problem but I have crashed on 5 different games in ONE DAY from 6 year old 2d games like tropico to BattleField 2.  And somthing I find interesting....

Sometimes a game will work for an hour and then crash to desktop.  If I restart the same game or a different one it crashes to desktop in less then 3 seconds.  :tickedoff:

Underclock from 3.0 to 2.9GHz - comp froze

Overclock from 3.0 to 3.1 GHz -  comp froze

Tryed to use msconfig to find faulty program - still crashed when I tryed games.

It could be video problem - I tryed 5 different drivers.

I get memory Errors with two sticks of 512MB and mem errors when i swap them for two sticks of 256MB

Below are outputs from Cpu-z and system info, use notepad

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Sounds like you need a new mobo, or proc. 

Have you tried memtestx86?  http://www.memtest86.com/

Download the ISO image and burn to a CD.  Then boot to the CD and test will run automatically.  It will check your L1, and L2 cache, and all of your RAM for errors.  If you get errors on L1, or L2, I would recommend just getting a new mobo, and processor.

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Memtest86 from a floppy started up and went right to testing.  Its been 55 minutes and the computer is now on test 8. Testing is 50% completed with zero errors found.  When thats done i'll check IRQ conflict, but im not exactly what to look for.  Am i looking for an IRQ channel missing?  I could put in my old video card but, is that related to mem errors im getting?

Just to clearly state:  I have tryed 4 different sticks of RAM in all possable configurations and this program spat errors at me.

http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

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Memtest86 reports a clean computer zero errors.

WindowsDiagnostic also reports zero errors

So I learned that Interrupt Request Lines (IRQ) are a little like taking a number and waiting for your turn.  I read that the IRQ's go from 0-15, totaling 16.  What do you think of all those 21's?  Four usb ports have the same priority.  No more then 1 usb port is used at any time.

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Blako At least in device manager everything but the USB has seperate IRQ's.You might checkto see if your Start /Programs/Accesories/System Toola/System Information/Hardware Resources check both Conflicts /Sharing & IRQ.Sharing is not necessarily bad if both items don't use the IRQ at the same time.I have never had an IRQ conflict but they are supposed to cause problems.

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I found some information for you.Check the links there might be some information you could use for the VIA USB .I read there should be one for each set if USB ports you have .Do all your USB ports work?

4 of the same seems like a lot.I don't have the VIA chipset so I can't help as much.

One of the solutions in one of the links was to uninstall the VIA driver & install the MS Windows driver post by Anthony_Stratton.

http://forums.viaarena.com/messageview.aspx?catid=16&threadid=69491&enterthread=y

http://forums.viaarena.com/searchresults.aspx

VIA chipsets

VIA 3038 Universal Host Controller

Several popular computer motherboards, such as the Abit KT7 Series and Shuttle, use the VIA 3038 chipset. Microsoft has identified communications problems that may occur with this chipset. Complete the following steps to resolve the problem:

Remove the all-in-one software and then disconnect the USB cable from the all-in-one.

Update the Via 4-1 driver from the www.viatech.com Web site

http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2

Update the Via USB filter driver http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=71#usb from the www.viatech.com Web site.

Install the all-in-one. If the installation still fails, remove the all-in-one software, disconnect the USB cable from the all-in-one, and contact the manufacturer of the computer or motherboard to obtain the latest BIOS version for the computer.

Even if this doesn't fix your problem it should make sure your USB hubs are working correctly.

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I have proven all 6 of my usb ports to work by means of my usb joystick.  4 USB ports are on the motherboard and two are on my D-Link boot diagnostic thing Picture Seen Here

The Usb filter Patch and the VIA Hyperion Pro Driver Package have been installed.

Im now going to reboot and explore the world of MSI Live Update for my motherboard PT880 Neo-FSR

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One game has crashed to desktop and another, restarted the computer. :icon_pale:

Ok so I know what doesn't work, (but i appriciate all your suggestions vey much.)

I just remembered! Both pcpitstop scan and objectdock report my processor usage at -1 or -2% and taskmgr says 1%

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that box seems so muddled it might just be worth calling the geek squad.

scnr

yeah, try a different vid car, or onboard if you have. then go into the bios menu and disable as many devices as you can. test everything and see what happens. then put in the vid card you want to run. (remember to disable the onboard video)

run tests again.

if all clean then bring in the other disabled devices (lpt, serial, floppy, hdd controllers not in use, onboard audio etc you disabled before) one by one, checking after each one if there is a problem.

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Tedious but accurate process of elimination 

:police:

I have old Nvidia mx 440  :azn: No on-board video on mobo

I have used msconfig too, turned off half services = crash, turned off other half = crash.

Disable with Device manager?

Yes resopalrabotnick, and I was surprised that replacing the harddrive and operating sys didn't fix it.

This is my Error report, occasionaly i get corrupted error reports.

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Im now interested in what different bios settings will do.  Im going to put my nvidia 6800gt back in.  Not only is it frustrating when the computer crashed on me but when Im trying to find the problem, the problem doesn't happen lol.

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Stock video card.  The temp has seemingly no relation to the time of crash.  At first I thought it was temp because the computer would only crash after it had been on a while.  Taking off the case panels and putting a 120mm desk fan up to the motherboard lowered temps but it crashed all the same.  Perhaps its an acumulation of memory errors the longer its on?  Here's what you asked for:

Im at stock card frequencies, the only change is the core voltage (not to be confused with agp volt) which i took from

stock 1.3v for a 6800gt

to 1.4 v that 6800 ultra runs on.

The thee sections on the core temp represent 3Dmark05 tests 1, 2, and 3

O and on 2d apps the videocard fan is at 53% and on 3D applications the vid card it at 100%

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I wanted you to just try one stick of 512  ram in different slot to see if you have a bad memory slot. You should be able to play a game with one 512 stick , but it may be a little slow. If it works with one 512 ram than you have a motherboard problem and you will have to RMA the board or get a new motherboard.

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Im quite disapointed :angry5: I still have not isolated the problem:

Kingston 512MB = stick#1)

Kingston 512MB = stick#2)

[table][tr][td]

[table][tr][td].[/td]  [td]mobo slot1[/td] [td]mobo slot2[/td] [td]mobo slot3[/td]

[/tr]

[tr][td]stick #1[/td] [td]error[/td]  [td]error[/td] [td]noError[/td]

[/tr]

[tr][td]stick #2[/td] [td]noError[/td]  [td]noError[/td] [td]noError[/td]

[/tr]

[tr][td]stick #1 retest[/td] [td]noError[/td]  [td]error[/td] [td]noError[/td]

[/tr]

[tr][td]stick #2 retest[/td] [td]noError[/td]  [td]error[/td] [td]error[/td][/tr][/table]

[/table]

Although I have not uncovered the problem, I found where its not hiding.

I have not failed 10,000 times. I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work. [nerd]
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