SolarPete Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 You can depend on it. If hyperthreading is enabled in the BIOS settings the PC will freeze within 5 minutes of boot-up. Happens every time. If hyperthreading disabled, PC works perfectly. I've been back and forth many times and its completely consistent. Its a new Shuttle ST62K. CPU is 3.0 gHz Prescott Socket 478. RAM is a dual channel set of VS512MB400. OS is Windows Server 2003 Web Edition with Service Pack 1. Had the same problem before upgrading to SP1. The freeze occurs regardless of what is executing. It will happen with no programs executing and just the desktop showing. It will happen with the login screen showing. When it happens, everything halts - no mouse motion or keyboard action and the monitor-off timer does not function. Only recovery it to force the power off. I'd believe that hyperthreading imposes some additional load on the RAM, but don't otherwise have evidence that the RAM is at fault. I ran Windows Memory Diagnostic on it for 2 full days and no failures detected. But RAM would be the easiest thing to replace, so I'll blame it first. Is it remotely possible that this particular model of RAM isn't suitable for hyperthreading? Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted May 17, 2005 Corsair Employee Share Posted May 17, 2005 Pete, No those assumptions are not realistic. 1. Make sure the system and the bios version you have supports the CPU you have. That can cause this symptom! And some systems may not support Prescott CPU's especially with out a bios update. 2. If you MB and bios are supposed to support the CPU you have then I would try and RMA the CPU as that would suggest a problem with the CPU internally. 3. We can always try replacing the modules for you, but if you had a bad module you would be getting some type of memory error in memtest. Another way to diagnose this would be to see if a friend can help you test the CPU in another system and if that works then test the memory in known working system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolarPete Posted May 17, 2005 Author Share Posted May 17, 2005 No those assumptions are not realistic. Snip - - - Thank you RAM GUY for your prompt reply. New light has been shed this morning that seems to absolve RAM, CPU, and MB. Whereas the freeze problem is 100% predictable with hyperthreading and Windows Server 2003, the problem disappears with hyperthreading and Windows XP Pro SP2. The computer is now dual-boot, so I can switch between the two OS. XP has been running "CPU Burn-in" for several hours now with no ill effects. It was necessary to run two instances of this stress-test to occupy both threads, which flatlines the total CPU usage at 100%. I've been hoarding a gift card from Microsoft that entitles me to one no-charge telephone tech support incident. Looks like its finally time to cash it in. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted May 17, 2005 Corsair Employee Share Posted May 17, 2005 That would suggest a driver/SP2 issue, and you may want to search for this error at http://www.microsoft.com/technet that has been a very useful tool for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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