Bizzare ati/nvidia crashing

[calhoun]

Hi, Ok where to start...

First, about a week ago I upgraded my graphics card, motherboard, ram, cpu and power supply to the following (same hdd etc.): (using xp sp2)

1 x ASUS P5LD2 SE R2.0 i945P Socket 775 6-channel audio ATX
1 x MSI 8600GT Silent edition 256MB DVI HDTV PCI-E
1 x Extra Value 1GB DDR2 667MHz PC2-5400 240pin Extra Value Ram
1 x Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 (1.86Ghz) Socket 775 FSB1066 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
1 x Extra Value Gold 600W 12cm Fan Silent PSU - PFC 20+4pin

I reformatted ofcourse. Everything seemed to run fine but I noticed that after about 30min of gaming the gfx card would freeze for a long time or I'd need to reset. I then noticed it seemed to happen when I would start a game, close it down, start it again then it would usually freeze again (so i assume not overheating since in total it would of been running for like 5min). Anyway after trying rerformats to vista/xp etc heres what i found:

Vista + latest drivers i get "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding, but has succesfully recovered."
XP + nvidia site version drivers (i.e. non-beta) i get freezing + eventual crash saying something about nv4_mini.sys.
XP + beta drivers i get just freezing.

I put the card in my friends PC and that seemed to run fine, bizzare. A few days later i RMA'd the card and asked for a 2600XT in return (didnt know what else to try), they said they found a problem with the card and they sent the 2600XT.

Again all went fine for about a day... then i notice colours starting to go crazy. After about an hour no game would run (crazy colours followed by VPU recovery). So I thought I'd try it in my friends pc again, once again it runs fine. I pop the card back in my PC and it runs fine again !?!? well at least for a day... then back to crashing.

So now im guessing its a hardware problem either ram or motherboard maybe lose connection or something...

Anyway i tried this:

start a game, ofc it crashes etc..
reformatted my pc, latest drivers etc.
install game, runs fine.....

Now I'm totally puzzled to whats wrong... If I look at the individual problems i seem to come to different conclusions:
vpu recover / odd colours -> gfx card/drivers problem?
pop the card in and out fixes it -> lose connections?
reformat without taking the card in or out fixes it -> software/drivers?

I'm tempted to RMA the motherboard :S

Forgot to add: I install xp with slipstreamed SP2, intel chipset drivers, new ati drivers, latest driectX, few games and steam (HL2) always when I've been reformatting.

 

[Rik]

Knowing asus as i do (i use asus). I know of 2 things that may help.

1 - Make sure you have the most up to date mobo drivers from their website.

2 - Make sure the mobo isn't set to dual channel (you will have to refer to the mobo manual for that) or get a second identical stick of ram.


Hope that helps.

 

[calhoun]

thanks for the reply.

1. I've disabled the on-board sound card (have audigy 2ZS) so I believe the motherboard drivers only entail the intel chipset drivers and the ethernet drivers both of which i have those off their site.

2. hmm doesnt seem to be a dual/single channel setting in the bios or in the manual.

But either way, it would seem odd that a reformatting would fix it if it was a bios setting problem?

 

[calhoun]

Ok getting VPU recovers again, guess reformatting fixed it for like 3 hours

Either way, bizzare it would fix it even for a short time, no?

 

[Rik]

Its probably a driver issue of some kind i would think. I had the same problem with my asus mobo when it was new. I put it back in its box and carried on using my old system until asus released a new set of drivers. Forks perfectly now.

 

[calhoun]

Right ok thanks.

i just tried running dxdiag, crashes during that direct3d test.

I think I'll try RMA the motherboard - since I only just bought it I think its a bit unfair for me to wait until they fix it seeing as I can't play any games.

Since i replaced the graphics card, motherboard, ram and cpu without looking at what the errors are it could be any of those parts that are wrong. Now I've replaced the card once, but its not very likely its the ram or cpu is it??

 

[Rik]

Asus mobo's are also known for being picky about what make of ram you put in them, so the ram is a possibility. Any idea what make your ram is?


My ram is infinion if thats any help. If you dont know what make your ram is then google and get everest home edition and look under "Motherboard" then "SPD".


Another thought, what slot number is your ram in?

 

[calhoun]

CPU-z says "SpecTek Incorporated" for ram manufactorer - it is like the cheapest ram going but would that really only affect games/dxdiag? - I get that maybe games push the ram a lot but that spinning box in the directx test can't be too taxing?

I did do a memtest a while back and it was ok.

DIMM 1 I think the slot is, motherboard manual says you can just put 1 in that slot.

 

[Rik]

I have just been checking the asus site about your mobo, but there doesn't seem to be much info there.

I'm fairly sure that your ram isn't on their "trusted ram list", i know it isn't for my mobo, nor is the ram i use tho.

Incompatible ram can have all sorts of effects so it is possible that that ram inst good for your mobo even if it passes memtest.

If you got both the mobo and ram from the same shop then it may be best to get them to have a look and perhaps try a different make of ram.

I don't really know what else to suggest.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Tried replacing your PSU? That one is not a reliable brand and might not be putting out enough wattage for your card, assuming you have it plugged in via the 6-pin power cable.

 

[calhoun]

Yeah would be nice - only problem is that the place I ordered the parts from only allows me to RMA parts if they are faulty - they get tested and if they were not faulty I get charged for the delivery.

So if I return both ram and mobo and only the mobo has the bad part then i get charged for the ram irrc. How sucky

 

[calhoun]

@ rage: theres no seperate power supply to the card but I have tried my psu with my old parts (9800pro, amd etc) and that did have a power supply slot but it ran fine [when i was RMAing the nvidia i used my old parts for about a week with the new psu]

Note: it runs movie files fine, DVD's TV shows etc. half life in "software mode" but not opengl or d3d

Edit 2: Ok just looking at "it runs HL fine in software mode" and "runs in opengl mode on my friends pc" seems just totally conflicting to me