i had been running an A64 3400+ (venice core, 1600 mhz HT) system for nearly a year now without any problems and the system is not overclocked. with the recent deal at newegg, i upgraded to an x2 4200+ (toledo core). however, since installing the new CPU, i have been experiencing random reboots. there is no BSOD at all and nothing is logged in the event viewer. usually, the mouse becomes sluggish/unresponsive for a second or two before the screens blanks and the system restarts. i have experienced these reboots during a variety of tasks such as playing videos on VLC, watching OTA HDTV via pci tuner card, doing regular desktop/office work, after playing CS:S, listening to music through itunes, using skype via bluetooth headset, and even while idling (another client was accessing files from the PC via samba).
here are my system specs:
i really don't know what is going on and have tried several different things to no avail:
i don't think that it is a heat issue either as during stress testing the cpu can is usually around 60 C, but that is within the operating range of 49-71 C as stated by amd. the case temp is usually in the low 40 C. the bios is not set to restart/shutdown when it reaches high temps. also, it has restarted within minutes of coming out of standby (meaning the case couldn't have even gotten very hot that quickly)
not sure that it is my psu either, as i think it has more than enough power (it is 500 wtt, SLI certified, and AFAIK has decent specs). up until a few months ago it was even powering 5 IDE hard drives (instead of only 1, like it does now). also voltage, as measured by speedfan, doesn't seem to fluctuate much.
as to stress testing:
-the system restarted at various times during testing with Stress Test Prime (Orthos). a few times it would restart within 30 minutes of testing. other times it would run for 1 hr, 2 hrs, 3 hrs, 8 hrs, or 13 hrs before rebooting. another time it ran for 24 hours before i terminated the test myself as i thought 24 hrs was more than sufficient testing time.
-i have only run memtest for a couple of times a few hours each time and no errors have appeared.
-running 3dmark06 demo in loop mode and haven't experienced any reboots
i formatted and reinstalled windows xp from scratch this morning as a last attempt (i have read some posting about windows not properly recognizing the dual core cpu after an upgrade) but i still experienced these reboots. these restarts are unpredictable and very frustrating.
what could be wrong?
i'd rather not, but might i need to raise the vcore on the cpu?
with all the shipping involved, i would rather avoid an RMA, but is it possible that i have a faulty CPU (though wouldn't a bad CPU simply not POST at all...) that needs to be RMA-ed?
thanks.
update 10/7
i received my replacement cpu late thursday and popped it into my existing windows xp installation to stress test w/ orthos. i don't know whether it can be attributed to better skill/experience placing the heatsink/thermal paste or cooler weather, but temps while idle and under load were noticeably cooler (34-37C, 50-55C) than before. testing with orthos, the system rebooted after about an hour. i let it run again and went out for the night. when i checked back on friday afternoon, the logs indicated that the system had rebooted w/i an hour of my leaving.
on a whim, i set up a partition w/ vista (installed all peripheral drivers, but didn't bother to install my bluetooth driver/software yet) and was able to stress test for 13 hrs before i terminated the test myself. thinking everything was OK, i removed vista in favor of XP b/c i lose fullscreen video mirroring, my scanner doesn't have any vista drivers (vuescan also doesn't work either), and i get a significant performance hit in games. i created a new winxp partition and installed all of my drivers (all of my peripherals). the winxp system would reboot nearly every 30 minutes in normal use or within 10 minutes of running orthos. i got fed up and reluctantly reinstalled vista again (this time with software/drivers for my bluetooth dongle). the system rebooted twice while i was using bluetooth (skype via bluetooth headset). this leads me to believe that something may wrong with the drivers for my bluetooth dongle (or perhaps other peripherals or add-in cards).
another theory: in my research, i have come across many posts where ppl have upgraded from single core to dual core (or just X2 users) and experience BSODs, freezing, or reboots. they all seem to believe that the culprit is USB on NF4 chipset mobos and and its incompatibilities with dual core cpu's. nvidia has not addressed the issue in its drivers. a stopgap solution is to disable onboard USB functions and use a pci usb card.
to rule out hardware, i stress tested using a bootcd that included mprime (the linux equivalent of prime95). i ran two instances of mprime (forced each one to a specific core on the cpu); this ran without any errors for nearly 11 hours before i ended it myself. this leads me to believe that the hardware (mobo, cpu, ram, psu) itself is stable and capable or running the X2, it's a matter of the drivers or peripheral hardware incompatibilities. currently, i'm 4 hrs into orthos testing with a new winxp install. this time, i ONLY installed NF4 ethernet and smbus, AC97 sound, and forceware video drivers. all my USB peripherals, besides the mouse and keyboard, have been unplugged and i have not installed the drivers for the tv tuner card, which is still plugged into the mobo. i'll leave it for a few more hours and see what happens. i may start adding peripherals one at a time or add everything but the bluetooth dongle. or i may go back to my original single-core winxp installation and unplug all the USB peripherals and test. another option would be to test that winxp installation (via remote desktop) with onboard USB disabled.
in summary:
-cooler temps on new cpu
-replacement CPU still reboots in old WinXP installation (with all peripheral drivers installed)
-orthos ran for 13 hrs (before manual test termination) on a fresh Vista install (all peripherals installed except for bluetooth driver/software)
-computer rebooted twice while using (or immediately after using) skype with bluetooth headset in Vista
-was able to use ubuntu for 2 hrs (i was trying unsuccessfully to run mprime; i'm a linux noob) w/o reboot
-able to run 2 instances of mprime (using T Mod bootcd) for close to 11 hrs before manually terminating torture test.
-currently 4 hrs into orhtos testing on a fresh XP install (only NF4, video, and sound drivers installed; no usb peripherals plugged in)
plans
A. hopefully current test runs well for a few more hours:
-install tv tuner drivers and install usb peripherals + drivers one by one (this is going to be very tedious so i may just skip to plan B)
B. go back to my existing Winxp partition (the one i have been using w/ the single core) and:
1. unplug bluetooth dongle and remove bluetooth driver and stress test
2. unplug all usb devices (except keyboard/mouse) and stress test
3. disable onboard USB and stress test
hopeful solutions:
1. removing bluetooth dongle and drivers will resolve reboots
2. find out which is the incompatible peripheral/driver
2. buy usb pci card (if it is an onboard USB/NF4 chipset issue)
3. give up on the x2 and go back to single core
See any possible incompatibilities in my peripherals list below?
my usb peripherals:
connected directly to the mobo:
-logitech elite keyboard
-logitech G5 laser mouse
-samsung ml-1710 laser printer
-usb hub
connected to externally-powered 7-port Belkin usb hub:
-xbox 360 wireless receiver
-dazzle 8-in-1 flash card reader
-targus 25-in-1 flash card reader
-various flashdrives
-Iogear GBU321 bluetooth dongle (i also have a spare Belkin F8T013 bluetooth dongle that i have never used but may try instead)
add-in cards:
-hauppauge hvr1600 tuner card
-firewire card (automatically installed w/o drivers)
RESOLVED!
i received my Syba usb pci card thursday 10/11. i now have my usb hub connected to my computer via the pci usb port. connected to the hub are the 360 receiver, bluetooth dongle, 2 multi-format card readers, and the occasional flash drive. the devices connected directly to the motherboard usb are the keyboard, mouse, and laser printer. i have not run into any issues since i've set it up this way.
thanks again to all those who have participated in this thread.
here are my system specs:
- amd64 x2 4200+ @ stock speed; arctic cooling freezer pro 64
2x1gb ddr400 dual channel using auto/spd settings (pqi 3-4-4-8; crucial 3-3-3-8)
ecs kn1 lite (nforce4 s939); onboard lan and sound
BFG nvidia 7600gt
500 wtt ultra xfinity psu
hauppague hvr1600
pci firewire card
400gb seagate SATA
liteon dvd-rom, iomagic dvd-rw
attached via usb/usb-hub:- logitech elite keyboard, logitech g5 mouse, xbox 360 wireless receiver, 8-in-1 flashcard reader, laser printer, bluetooth dongle
i really don't know what is going on and have tried several different things to no avail:
- --temporarily increased VDIMM to 2.7V
--rearranged/used different DIMMS slots
--switching from dual channel ddr to single channel ddr (though my sticks were not part of a kit, 3-4-4-8 and 3-3-3-8- PC3200, they had been running fine for the past 3 months in dual channel mode)
--rearranged pci card placement (firewire and tv tuner)
--made sure that windows is not set to restart during an error
--i have the latest drivers installed
--installed the amd dual core optimizer and windows dual core performance hotfix
i don't think that it is a heat issue either as during stress testing the cpu can is usually around 60 C, but that is within the operating range of 49-71 C as stated by amd. the case temp is usually in the low 40 C. the bios is not set to restart/shutdown when it reaches high temps. also, it has restarted within minutes of coming out of standby (meaning the case couldn't have even gotten very hot that quickly)
not sure that it is my psu either, as i think it has more than enough power (it is 500 wtt, SLI certified, and AFAIK has decent specs). up until a few months ago it was even powering 5 IDE hard drives (instead of only 1, like it does now). also voltage, as measured by speedfan, doesn't seem to fluctuate much.
as to stress testing:
-the system restarted at various times during testing with Stress Test Prime (Orthos). a few times it would restart within 30 minutes of testing. other times it would run for 1 hr, 2 hrs, 3 hrs, 8 hrs, or 13 hrs before rebooting. another time it ran for 24 hours before i terminated the test myself as i thought 24 hrs was more than sufficient testing time.
-i have only run memtest for a couple of times a few hours each time and no errors have appeared.
-running 3dmark06 demo in loop mode and haven't experienced any reboots
i formatted and reinstalled windows xp from scratch this morning as a last attempt (i have read some posting about windows not properly recognizing the dual core cpu after an upgrade) but i still experienced these reboots. these restarts are unpredictable and very frustrating.
what could be wrong?
i'd rather not, but might i need to raise the vcore on the cpu?
with all the shipping involved, i would rather avoid an RMA, but is it possible that i have a faulty CPU (though wouldn't a bad CPU simply not POST at all...) that needs to be RMA-ed?
thanks.
update 10/7
i received my replacement cpu late thursday and popped it into my existing windows xp installation to stress test w/ orthos. i don't know whether it can be attributed to better skill/experience placing the heatsink/thermal paste or cooler weather, but temps while idle and under load were noticeably cooler (34-37C, 50-55C) than before. testing with orthos, the system rebooted after about an hour. i let it run again and went out for the night. when i checked back on friday afternoon, the logs indicated that the system had rebooted w/i an hour of my leaving.
on a whim, i set up a partition w/ vista (installed all peripheral drivers, but didn't bother to install my bluetooth driver/software yet) and was able to stress test for 13 hrs before i terminated the test myself. thinking everything was OK, i removed vista in favor of XP b/c i lose fullscreen video mirroring, my scanner doesn't have any vista drivers (vuescan also doesn't work either), and i get a significant performance hit in games. i created a new winxp partition and installed all of my drivers (all of my peripherals). the winxp system would reboot nearly every 30 minutes in normal use or within 10 minutes of running orthos. i got fed up and reluctantly reinstalled vista again (this time with software/drivers for my bluetooth dongle). the system rebooted twice while i was using bluetooth (skype via bluetooth headset). this leads me to believe that something may wrong with the drivers for my bluetooth dongle (or perhaps other peripherals or add-in cards).
another theory: in my research, i have come across many posts where ppl have upgraded from single core to dual core (or just X2 users) and experience BSODs, freezing, or reboots. they all seem to believe that the culprit is USB on NF4 chipset mobos and and its incompatibilities with dual core cpu's. nvidia has not addressed the issue in its drivers. a stopgap solution is to disable onboard USB functions and use a pci usb card.
to rule out hardware, i stress tested using a bootcd that included mprime (the linux equivalent of prime95). i ran two instances of mprime (forced each one to a specific core on the cpu); this ran without any errors for nearly 11 hours before i ended it myself. this leads me to believe that the hardware (mobo, cpu, ram, psu) itself is stable and capable or running the X2, it's a matter of the drivers or peripheral hardware incompatibilities. currently, i'm 4 hrs into orthos testing with a new winxp install. this time, i ONLY installed NF4 ethernet and smbus, AC97 sound, and forceware video drivers. all my USB peripherals, besides the mouse and keyboard, have been unplugged and i have not installed the drivers for the tv tuner card, which is still plugged into the mobo. i'll leave it for a few more hours and see what happens. i may start adding peripherals one at a time or add everything but the bluetooth dongle. or i may go back to my original single-core winxp installation and unplug all the USB peripherals and test. another option would be to test that winxp installation (via remote desktop) with onboard USB disabled.
in summary:
-cooler temps on new cpu
-replacement CPU still reboots in old WinXP installation (with all peripheral drivers installed)
-orthos ran for 13 hrs (before manual test termination) on a fresh Vista install (all peripherals installed except for bluetooth driver/software)
-computer rebooted twice while using (or immediately after using) skype with bluetooth headset in Vista
-was able to use ubuntu for 2 hrs (i was trying unsuccessfully to run mprime; i'm a linux noob) w/o reboot
-able to run 2 instances of mprime (using T Mod bootcd) for close to 11 hrs before manually terminating torture test.
-currently 4 hrs into orhtos testing on a fresh XP install (only NF4, video, and sound drivers installed; no usb peripherals plugged in)
plans
A. hopefully current test runs well for a few more hours:
-install tv tuner drivers and install usb peripherals + drivers one by one (this is going to be very tedious so i may just skip to plan B)
B. go back to my existing Winxp partition (the one i have been using w/ the single core) and:
1. unplug bluetooth dongle and remove bluetooth driver and stress test
2. unplug all usb devices (except keyboard/mouse) and stress test
3. disable onboard USB and stress test
hopeful solutions:
1. removing bluetooth dongle and drivers will resolve reboots
2. find out which is the incompatible peripheral/driver
2. buy usb pci card (if it is an onboard USB/NF4 chipset issue)
3. give up on the x2 and go back to single core
See any possible incompatibilities in my peripherals list below?
my usb peripherals:
connected directly to the mobo:
-logitech elite keyboard
-logitech G5 laser mouse
-samsung ml-1710 laser printer
-usb hub
connected to externally-powered 7-port Belkin usb hub:
-xbox 360 wireless receiver
-dazzle 8-in-1 flash card reader
-targus 25-in-1 flash card reader
-various flashdrives
-Iogear GBU321 bluetooth dongle (i also have a spare Belkin F8T013 bluetooth dongle that i have never used but may try instead)
add-in cards:
-hauppauge hvr1600 tuner card
-firewire card (automatically installed w/o drivers)
RESOLVED!
i received my Syba usb pci card thursday 10/11. i now have my usb hub connected to my computer via the pci usb port. connected to the hub are the 360 receiver, bluetooth dongle, 2 multi-format card readers, and the occasional flash drive. the devices connected directly to the motherboard usb are the keyboard, mouse, and laser printer. i have not run into any issues since i've set it up this way.
thanks again to all those who have participated in this thread.