in need of troubleshooting help

[jkcheng122]

Hi all,

I seem to be having some issues with 3d apps where the video will fuzz out followed by a blue screen that would disappear b4 i can get a good read on it. The bigger issue is after the BSOD, i can sometimes not mostly not be able to boot back to windows. Most recently the blue screen message i can read off states problem with with \windows\system32\config\system, 0xc000014c, saying the registry is either bad, missing, or corrupt.

Current operating system is Windows Vista 32bit Business, tho the BSOD has occurred with XP Pro SP2 as well. I've tried swapping video card, RAM, hard drive, and motherboard. Still get the same issues, after some gaming BSOD happens while playing WoW, and system goes down the drain and have to reinstall OS. Most of the time reinstalling OS presents problems as well, blue screening during installation and what not.

I believe so far the only things i haven't tried swapping out are the processor and power supply as i do not have spares around to substitute them. Is it possible there's a problem with the PSU causing the video card to have problems pushing 3D? or is this problem caused by bad CPU?

System Specs:
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600 with Arctic Freezer 7 Pro Cooler
Motherboards: ASUS P5N-E SLI & ASUS P5B Deluxe
RAM: OCZ Platinum Rev 2 DDR2-800 (2x1GB) & Corsair ValueSelect DDR2-533 (2x1GB)
Hard Drive: WD Raptor 74GB SATA & Seagate 7200.10 80GB SATA
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S182L DVD burner
Video Card: eVGA 8800GTS 640MB & BFG 6800GT 256MB
Sound Card: X-Fi XtremeMusic & Onboard of both motherboards have been tried.
Power Supply: Thermaltake ToughPower 600W
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 & Windows Vista Business, both 32-bit

let me know if any other info is needed. i think i may have to pick up a E4300 and borrow a PSU to see if i can isolate those to be the cause of the problem.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[sieistganzfett]

powersupply causing problem is @ 99.999%. the cpu being the problem is only at %0.001 so the powersupply causing the problem is nearly guaranteed. cpus never are the problem at stock settings.

when you changed to a different motherboard, you did reinstall the os each time you changed the motherboards? you did a format or delete the windows directory then install windows, not doing a "repair" install to get the blue screens during installation?

you swapped so many parts, but do you know which sets actually are known to be good? i think the known good parts that do work fine in a working system are all the 2nd parts you listed off, with the parts on the 1st half (new parts) being the ones in question.

 

[jkcheng122]

i did indeed reinstall windows with a full format each time i changed parts, as the cause to change parts were due to not being able to reboot to windows. no, did not use the repair feature.

the parts listed have been used in different combinations and all have failed, in any combination. like i've had failures occur with the 8800gts and the 6800gt on both the p5n-e sli & p5b deluxe, which is why i dont believe those to be the problems.

btw, when the system crashes, it is while running WoW and last night while running 3dmark06. i wasnt at the comp when 3dmark crashed, but most of the time when crash occurred on WoW i either get a screen freeze followed shortly by a bsod, or the video would fuzz up and show artifacts that leads to a freeze and then bsod. at first i thought my video card was overheating or defective, i even had it rma'ed with evga, but the 2nd card did the same as well as the 6800gt that has a zalman fan on it.

 

[arthras]

Just an FYI, 8800GTS are known to have TONS of problems with WoW. Might want to check the WoW forums out, there have been a few fixes I think. They are becoming rampant on the forum. Theres even a zone in the outlands where it totally freezes most 8800's

Sorry, forgot to mention, the fix supposedly was a ForceWare 97.95 Win 2000/XP , found on guru 3d. Might want to check it out.

 

[sieistganzfett]

i have a 6800 vanilla and love the card, tried a x1950 and it died within 3 days of using it full load, but the 6800 worked still. i know an 8800 requires 30A on the 12v rail, as does the x1950. its a lot of power, but if the power supply were not shot it would handle a 6800 fine, which i think recommended ~400W, about 15A or something like that.

the fact that you said it blue screened during a windows install says hardware. the only thing you didnt change was the power supply, i wonder if the voltages are off by more than 5% of the 12v, 5v 3.3v, etc. your 12v should be within 5% regardless of no load, vs full load under WoW or 3dmark or what ever. if any voltage drops or fluctuates its definitely the power supply being weak.

regardless of what thermaltake claims "Next generation four +12V rails(12V1, 12V2, 12V3, 12V4) supports high-end graphic card and PC system (combined loading of 48A)" a high end video card would need to be run of multiple rails to prevent problems with power. connecting to power cables that are seperate, not on the same line., etc each of the 12 volt rails are only 18A. however, the 6800 would not have any problem with that. it must be the power supply thats your problem.

if you think its the cpu try running prime95's torture test, or cpuburn http://pages.sbcglobal.net/redelm/

if memory run it through memtest86+

but i think it could reboot under any test that draws power or lock up. try a better power supply before testing any more with your current, your hardware may all get damaged due to the power supply if thats the problem or was the problem.

 

[jkcheng122]

thanks all. i'm borrowing a psu from a friend at work tomorrow, will stop running any 3d apps on the current psu for now.

 

[jkcheng122]

any psu's u guys can recommend for this rig?

 

[jkcheng122]

how should i config prime95 for testing?

 

[jkcheng122]

prime95 torture test set on blend ran for 2 hours with no errors.

 

[sieistganzfett]

i recommend any power supply by pc power and cooling. i use the silencer 610, but this powersupply is really long depth wise (and price wise its not cheap, but its very quiet and does not fluctuate any for me voltages ever). so for some atx cases, it wont fit since it hits where the cdroms would be, but i do not have the problem with my case. you should measure it all first if you choose to get the silencer 610. good thing about pcp&c is that their power supplies say exactly what they are rated at, and how they get such a rating. i never see any other power supplies by anyone else that are up front about those things, they just say, the "max" which you cant even go by since they do not say what temp that max is at and a power supply will die if at the max wattage within so many milliseconds. pcp&c rates their power supplies at a max continuous load, not the peak which everyone else rattles off.

for prime95, in-place large FFTs would be best for power consumption and giving off heat. i don't really enjoy the blend as much since it sucks up ram, and i feel memtest86+ is better at testing memory.