Random Lockup No Matter What I do

[Inforcer]

System spects to start:

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Motherboard BIOS 1.09, motherboard version 1.02
AMD Althon 64 3200
1GB (2x512MB) DDR400 PC3200 KingstonValue RAM
1x 200GB Maxtor DiamondMax10 SATA150 7200RPM 16MB Cache
1x 250GB Western Digital SATA2 7200RPM 16MB Cache
XFX Geforce 6800XT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 with SLI Support
PLEXTOR Black IDE DVD Burner Model PX-716AL/SW
Creative SOUND BLASTER X-Fi XtremeMusic
Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000BWA Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Enermax Noisetaker 600W PSU SLI certified
ViewSonic P95f+
Windows XP Professional SP2 (Latests updates to date)

Latest Drivers for: SB XFi, nVidia chipset 6.70, and nVidia video 84.21

Problem:

Since December of 2005 I have been fighting to get this machine stable. I have RMAed everything except the CPU, Case, and DVD burner.

I can be doing anything and the computer will lockup. It sometimes restarts itself completely and other times I have to manually restart it. I can simply be moving the mouse to playing a game. The lockups comes in a range of times. From 30 seconds to 3 hours! I never know when it will happen, so I have been playing games to test if it a new setting or change I have done will work. It has been this way since the first day I assembled it. I have tried to change the RAMs latency several times with several combinations. Tried with a single ram chip in slot B1 and it doesn't work. Any ideas?

Temeratures and Power(while I can see it before lockup)
CPU = 31C
MB = 27C
CPU Voltz = 1.41
CPU Fan = ~3500 RPMs

Motherboard settings are back to default.

 

[Steaksauce]

Try another bios version. Try latency with auto? Kingston IMO is not the best out there.

 

[Inforcer]

I'll try upgrading to the latest bios.

I have also tried Corsair's XMS Platinum TWINX1024-3200PTC2 (2x 512mb chips) and changed the latency several times. No luck there and even on auto it doesn't work.

Any other suggestions or idea would be greatly appreciated. I am up for doing anything since I have spent th last 4 months trying to get this to work (while waiting for the RMA's to process too on all the parts)

 

[Steaksauce]

Also try not using the X-fi for a while or use the PCI slot closest to the Video card slot.

Make sure you have the DVD drive jumper set to master.

Also, I've had issues with that Maxtor SATA, I have the same one. Go into Bios and try setting it as "Large". If it doesn't boot, just change it back.

 

[Inforcer]

Originally posted by: Steaksauce
Also, I've had issues with that Maxtor SATA, I have the same one. Go into Bios and try setting it as "Large". If it doesn't boot, just change it back.

I will give that a shot too, however, it isn't the drive with the OS. Would this still cause the errors?

-----------------------------------

On a side note, I have heard from a friend or two that the XFX 6800 card series could be casuing the problem. Is there truth to this statement anyone?

 

[Inforcer]

Status update

Updated BIOS = Still locks

Checked DVD jumper and it was on master

Still need to do the maxtor suggestion.

Any other suggestions?

 

[JSFLY]

hmmm...

what kind of lockups are they? Does the screen just freeze and not move?

I have a friend who had a similar issue, random lockups, and after a month of trouble shooting he solved it by changing AGP8x to AGP4x. However he had the patience to test every single bios setting and tweak imaginable. And I don't know if this would work out for you.

I dont really have a clue as to whats causing your lockup, but My guess at this point would be that there is some type of incompatibility with your hardware thats causing this issue. Again this is only a guess.

I would start trouble shooting by pulling everything out except 1 HD, 1 DVD, 1 stick of Ram, 1 video card and nothing else. Do a cmos clear, load optimized defaults in bios, and If it still crashes I would then switch out the video card as that is most likely the cause of your problems.

Also, could it be a defective CPU? but pretty unlikely.

Note that sometime when you RMA, you dont always get a new part. Sometimes they mail you the old part after they've tested it fine.

 

[JSFLY]

Doubled

 

[Blake]

I've had to increase the size of the paging file in Windows virtual memory to eliminate crashes on the computers I've built. I did get error messages giving me a clue it was memory related.

 

[Hersh]

I suggest troubleshooting from bottom-up. Disconnect everything non-essential and keep mobo, cpu + hsf, one stick of memory, video, and primary drive. Will definitely take some patience on your part to troubleshoot this. As soon as you can run the box without any issues with the essentials, you can be assured it is not one of those components that failed. Then you can miscellaneous components one at a time and see if it causes any issues.

Also, go into BIOS and check the CPU temp right after it freezes and you hard boot it. Sometimes monitoring software may not have refreshed in time to get the temperature of your CPU and mobo before crashing.

 

[Inforcer]

JSFLY:

Complete lock up. Can't move the mouse, keyboard no longer responds

I don't have AGP. I have put my card in the next PCI-e slot, which ASUS says it will be slower if only one card is in that slot, and it doesn't help.

Blake:

Unfortunately I don't get an error message regarding that. What OS are you using?

Hersh:

I have check the temps right after a freeze that it reports the same as I have stated earlier.

ALL:

I have tried removing all the parts and slowly putting parts in. It still locks up with 1 stick of ram, 1 cpu, 1 video card, and 1 hard drive.

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: Steaksauce
Also try not using the X-fi for a while or use the PCI slot closest to the Video card slot.

Make sure you have the DVD drive jumper set to master.

Also, I've had issues with that Maxtor SATA, I have the same one. Go into Bios and try setting it as "Large". If it doesn't boot, just change it back.

My bet is an IRQ conflict with the X-Fi. That's been a common problem with that mobo in this forum. Check your Asus manual for the IRQ/PCI slot sharing table, move the card to a slot with something that it can share an IRQ with, like the USB bus. DO NOT SHARE with the video card IRQ.....that's frequently the problem.....sound and video trying to share an IRQ is a receipe for problems!

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Inforcer
ALL:

I have tried removing all the parts and slowly putting parts in. It still locks up with 1 stick of ram, 1 cpu, 1 video card, and 1 hard drive.

If it still locks up with that, then go to your vendor, have him troubleshoot the arrangement, or return it all and get new parts. One of those components has failed. I don't see how one could blame the X-Fi when it isn't in use.

No Windows event log errors at all?

 

[Inforcer]

In the event viewer, here is an error I get.

Details
Product: Windows Operating System
Event ID: 3011
Source: LoadPerf
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: LDPRFMSG_UNLOAD_FAILURE
Message: Unloading the performance counter strings for service %1!s! (%2!s!) failed. The Error code is the first DWORD in Data section.

Explanation
The performance counter could not unload the strings for the specified service. The registry might be corrupted.


User Action
To rebuild the string tables:

On the computer that displayed the message, at the command prompt, type
Lodctr /r

----------

I guess this would affect lockups?

Also if the registry is corrupted, is there anyway of repairing it or would I have to reinstall windows xp?

I have RMAed all those parts before. Should I just get a new motherboard because I have RMAed it 3x......

 

[dclive]

If the registry is corrupted you wouldn't be able to boot; you'd get a nice message saying (sam/system/software/security) was corrupt.

The machine still has this problem when you boot up in safe mode?

For all tests I suggest you keep the setup as outlined above - 1 memory stick, no optical, one HDD, one simple video card, one RAM chip.

 

[Tango Charlie]

Could be the Maxtor drive. There's a firmware upgrade available that's supposed to make the DiamondMax 10's happy with the nF4 chipset... could be worth a try. The only frustration is that you need to phone tech support and have them email it to you.

Er.. except that I assume the one HDD you troubleshoot-ed with was the WD, right?

In talks with NCIX trying to troubleshoot MY system, they just told me that the DiamondMax 10 was flat-out incompatible with the A8N-SLI Premium. Shame about all the problems with the board, it has such a great feature set.

 

[Inforcer]

I looked into the manual a little bit deeper and found a selection of SLI cards that were found to be compatible for running at "optimal performance". The GT series was listsed for the XFX cards, but my XT was not. Does anyone know if they are referring to cards that are connected via SLI or just single cards?

BadThad -
I checked and the sound card is not sharing the IRQ with the video. The video card is sharing the IRQ with the IDE Controller.

Tango Charlie -
I am up for trying anything so were you able to find that maxtor number on their web page? I have tried a registry patch to make it so the HD runs better when the space is over 138GB. Apparently it causes issues with windows when you have over that much space. I applied THAT patch and it still locks up.

And Yes the trouble shooting was on the WD, because it is my primary. The Maxtor is for my music, downloads, and backup uses.