New Q9450 bluescreen

[williama]

I've recently purchased a new PC to overclock. It's a new project for me as I've never done this before. I kinda expected problems and having to overcome them however I felt that at stock settings it should have been a stable system.

What's happening right now is that I log into windows and I get blue screen then the pc restarts. It could be a software error but this is a fresh install of Windows with pretty much nothing else. It's even crashing at the login screen now

My Rig:

CPU - Q9450 (w/ TRUE 120)
RAM - Patriot DDR2 800 4-4-4-12
PSU - OCZ 700W
Video - EVGA 9800GTX
MotherBoard - DFI LP LT X48-T2R LGA 775

So, since it's just randomly throwing bluescreens and restarting.

What shall I do to test and work my way through this?

Thanks for your assistance ahead of time.

 

[williama]

I'd like to note that i'm using Windows XP 64bit SP2

 

[williama]

Ok I've lowered my multiplier from 8-6x and set my memory to 333:667 and it seems to be stable... what gives?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Here are a few things to try
1. Remove all but one stick of ram
2. Make sure you have the latest bios for your motherboard
3. Check the ram settings in bios closely, maybe the board is setting the voltage to low for your sticks
4. Download Memtest and use it to check your ram.
5. Check the HSF and makes sure its properly seated
6. Download Realtemp and/or Coretemp and check your CPU temps
7. Download Prime95 to test for overall system stability

 

[williama]

I'll definately do that,

I know the ram is rated for 2.1 so I bumped it up to 2.1 first. It didn't make the slightest difference. I suspect the video card at the moment but I'm going to rule out the memory first.

If I just run memtest at default is it ok?

EDIT: even with cpu multipler set to 6x (2ghz) and ram set 1:1 667 I still getting restarts

It doesn't happen on a cold boot, it takes a while to get going so maybe its a heat issue?

Ok, so I ran through memory test, it was ok. CPU underclock still had the issues.

Now i'm thinking to myself, when is it crashing? When i get into windows and load my video drivers.. maybe thats the problem. so i'm loading vista 64 now instead of the xp 64 i was using. I'm hoping it was bad video drivers.

 

[graysky]

Are you sure you're using enough vcore? Not just on the chip, but on the board components?

 

[williama]

I"m not sure. What should I be looking at?

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/ctorry/Q9450.jpg

That's my CPU right now. I wonder if there's a reason Core #2 is so much hotter. This is without stress testing right now.

 

[Mango1970]

Can you post a pic using CPU-Z to show your Vcore and also RAM speed info?

 

[williama]

I took a few pics to illustrate

http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...b56/ctorry/cpuzspd.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/alb.../ctorry/cpuzmemory.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...orry/cpuzmainboard.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...b56/ctorry/cpuzcpu.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...6/ctorry/IMG_02601.jpg
http://i17.photobucket.com/alb...6/ctorry/IMG_02591.jpg

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: williama
I"m not sure. What should I be looking at?

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b56/ctorry/Q9450.jpg

That's my CPU right now. I wonder if there's a reason Core #2 is so much hotter. This is without stress testing right now.

Something is kind of fishy here. With a True 120, your Idol temps should be much lower than you show in your coretemp pic. And As for the higher temp on core #2 that would be telling me something of a cooling issue as you show in your bios of a shutdown @ 85 celsius

Edit: just a slight guess

 

[williama]

what's a good shutdown temp?

 

[TemjinGold]

What kind of TIM are you using with that TRUE? With a discrepancy like that, it's possible you put either too little or too much (latter is more likely) of it.

 

[Drsignguy]

Thats a good question but I think the cpu has a tjunction of 100c. My thought to you is that since you have the bios set to 85c and you have already have an idol temp @ 50c in the 1 core, add a load and it would'nt take to long to get to that temp in a hurry. Just to be on the safe side, I would pull off the HSF, check the TIM and reinstall. Put everything to default levels in bios and check your temps again. Just some reassurance for piece of mind.

 

[williama]

Ok, I'm off to a better start now. Since reinstalling Vista64 I haven't had any bluescreens. I have to assume the XP Drivers for my video card were causing the issues.

Next on the agenda, take the cpu heatsink off clean it and reset it with maybe a little less thermal paste. Then its all OC time!