joshp Posted December 4, 2010 Share Posted December 4, 2010 My problems started ~1week ago playing COD: Black Ops Multiplayer. I would frequently have freezes requiring Ctl-Alt-Del task termination. This progressed to red-dot artifacting with system freezes (requiring hard reset) while gaming. Then I started having spontaneous reboots (Event Viewer showing a zero bugcheck code/parameters), followed by complete loss of video signal from my video card (8800GTS). I swapped the vid card out for an old HD 3450. Although I now had perfect video (but no gaming :< ), the major issue of very frequent spontaneous reboots continued. Still, Event Viewer shows zero Bugcheck codes. I have 4x2Gb sticks (2 pairs of TW3X4G1333C9A) of Corsair memory, making 8Gb total [i never changed the default timings/voltage on my GA-P55A-UD4P mobo BIOS defaults: 9-9-9-24, BCLK 133, Mem freq 1333, DDR Voltage 1.5V, QPI voltage 1.1V]. Running Memtest86+ yielded lots of errors, so I tested the sticks individually in the same slot. This showed that one of the sticks had 41 errors within 30mins of testing (while the others all showed zero errors after ~1.5hrs each). Further inspection revealed that this stick and its "pair" actually had different serial numbers, and were even different version numbers! (Which were also different to those on the original packaging - I now know to check these sorts of things!) I currently have an RMA in progress for these 2 sticks. In the meantime, I re-installed the remaining "good" sticks (which DO have the same serial no's and version no's), hoping that all would be well. Things went very well for around 12hrs, when in the middle of a Skype video call, another spontaneous reboot!! (ARRRGH!!) Again, zero Bugcheck code with no other useful diagnostics. I'm now left with a few possibilities: Theory 1: The 8800GTS dying, the memory errors and the spontaneous reboots are all unrelated, and I now need to find the device causing the reboots. This seems decidedly unlikely, because this is a system that's been running pretty well since Feb '10 - so methinks there's a common link here. Theory 2: A central cause to all failures - namely a PSU or Mobo issue (or even a CPU issue if there's a memory-handling component to it all?). Or maybe heat - but monitors suggest otherwise, and problems persist with case off and desk fan blowing inside! (No major dust issue either) I'm just not sure where to proceed from here... I will try testing another PSU, but can't exactly test a new mobo or CPU easily. I would be GREATLY appreciative of any help offered! Regards, Josh P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chazzy84 Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 A little more information would help, here. What motherboard? What CPU? PSU wattage/model? Considering the 3450 is actually a touch more powerful than the 8800GTS, and that card won't do work well enough for your needs, I'm wondering if the problem is deeper than you would like the hear. But then, we all have different preferences and opinions. In either event, a bit more information will help wonders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshp Posted December 8, 2010 Author Share Posted December 8, 2010 Thanks for the reply! All info was listed in the "PC Specs" thingy. In the meantime, I've already upgraded the GPU to an HD 6870 (in retrospect, would've waited for a GTX 570! Oh well...) No reboots as yet. Still haven't tried Skype with this setup, but will post back soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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