Oh Noes!! My Asus A8N-SLI is Hanging! (Possible Sound Blaster Problem!)

[FlasHBurN]

So it turns out I noticed my chipset fan stopped functioning (like many others), and it probably happened a couple months ago. I didn't notice it until a couple weeks ago.

On top of this, when playing WoW I noticed I would occasionally lose monitor sync and whatever sound was playing would loop, until I reboot the machine. So naturally, once I saw that my chipset fan was not working, I thought the chipset overheating was the problem.

So yesterday, I get my replacement fan from Asus. However, like 10 minutes in while playing 'Act of War' (one of the two games I play), it did the same thing. Is there a possiblity that the damage was already done, or could it be something else?

I don't want to go through the hassle of RMA'ing the board just to have the same problem when I get a new board from Asus.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Need more info? System specs? Brand of ram and PS? Overclock settings?

Generally in my experience hangs, freezes, and reboots are ram or overclock related. Run memtest for several hours to test your ram. Also run Prime95 overnight to see if you get any errors

 

[imported_Rupert]

Hi, I'll just borrow your thread instead of creating another one..

I've got a similar problem. My computer is stable in win, I can run prime95, 3dmark etc without problems. But when I try to play games, it will give me a blue screen and reboot after a while. The point where it gives me the blue screen varies from 1 minute to 30~..

I have the following rig:

Asus A8N-SLI Delux
S 939 AMD 64 3200+ (Winchester)
ATI x850XT
1gb Crucial Ballistix RAM
2x 200gb SATA Drives @ RAID 0
Hiper Type R ATX 480 W PSU

My chipsetfan also stopped running. So I mounted a passive Zalman cooler instead.
I got 4 case fans so heat should not be an issue.
I havent overclocked anything.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Need more info? System specs? Brand of ram and PS? Overclock settings?

Generally in my experience hangs, freezes, and reboots are ram or overclock related. Run memtest for several hours to test your ram. Also run Prime95 overnight to see if you get any errors

Sorry, here are my spec's :

AMD Althon 64 3500+
2x512MB Crucial 2/2/2 ram
X800 XL PCIE
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB
WD Raptor 74GB
Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy 2.

I'll go ahead and do your suggestions of running MemTest and Prime95 overnight. Also, I am not overclocking anything.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I would guess that both of you guys problems are ram related. I had a similar situation with my overclocked settings. I could pass Prime95 overnight, but I was getting occasional crashes in a couple of intense games (Doom3 and X2). At the advice of a fellow overclocker I ran memtest overnight and it showed some errors, so I loosened the timings and bumped the DDR volts a notch and everything has been good since.

FlashBurN, since your problem is happening at stock speeds, you may have 1 stick giving you problems. I would up the DDRvolts a little and loosen the timings, then run memtest overnight. If you get errors in memtest overnight, I would then try each stick individually and run memtest for several hours on each.

Or you could have a chip with a bum memory controller. Unfortunately with the onboard memory controller, it is sometimes very difficult to figure out if the problem is ram or memory controller. If you get errors in memtest with both sticks and individually, I would then try and test the ram in another computer if possible. If it works fine in another computer then its your memory controller. If adjusting voltage and timings don't fix your problems you will likely need to RMA the ram or the CPU

*edit*

Also test the voltages on the three power rails 12v,5v and 3.3v with Asus probe utility while under heavy load, and with a multimeter if you have one. These kind of problems can also be the result of too much fluctuation in the amperage provided by the PS. Although this scenario is not as likely IMHO, because it should also show up in other intensive Apps besides games.

 

[FlasHBurN]

I ran Prime95 overnight, and 3dMark05 for about 8 hours, neither had any issues.

Also, I recorded my voltages on my Antec Neopower 480 while running Prime95, my +12v stays steady at 11.584 (is that bad?), my +5 at 4.919, my 3.3 at 3.28, however my VCore jumped around from about 1.45 to 1.504 most of the time.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Also, how do I know what my DDRVoltage is set to when the default setting it was at is 'AUTO'?

 

[FlasHBurN]

Well damnit, I just lost sync/hung while playing Act of War.

 

[mofrack]

11.584 isnt too good for a 12v rail, however if you got this reading from anything that wasnt a multimeter, I wouldnt put too much trust in it.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Here is what I have been able to figure out so far.

I removed my SB Audigy2 and the hanging/loss of sync issue seems to have went away.

With the Audigy I have tried drivers from a couple months ago, the ones from about a month ago, and the latest beta drivers, and none changed the issue. Any ideas?

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: mofrack
11.584 isnt too good for a 12v rail, however if you got this reading from anything that wasnt a multimeter, I wouldnt put too much trust in it.

That is what I figured, this was from Asus Probe.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: FlasHBurN
Here is what I have been able to figure out so far.


I removed my SB Audigy2 and the hanging/loss of sync issue seems to have went away.


With the Audigy I have tried drivers from a couple months ago, the ones from about a month ago, and the latest beta drivers, and none changed the issue. Any ideas?

Anyone?

 

[malcolmmp]

I get the same kind of problems with my Audigy 4 on my A8N-SLI Deluxe. There are a lot of people complaining on Creative's forums about these kinds of issues with the Sound Blasters, and no real solutions seem to be offered. Early next week I'm probably going to try a reformat and start out with onboard sound to see if I get any of the same behavior.

I was having a problem a little while ago with Doom3 consistently locking up in the same place. When I disabled EAX in the game, the problem went away. There are still some other places where I get the same kinds of lockups, but I'm pretty convinced it's a Creative Labs driver problem.

For me, Memtest didn't return any errors on my memory, so while you may have a seperate problem there, I tend to think that would have a different set of problems, if any.

Keep the thread going, I'm really interested to see if there are any solutions floating around out there.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Sounds good. I am using the onboard sound now, but I hope Creative releases a fix soon, as I would rather use my Audigy.