I installed a volcano 12 heatsink and fan tonight, and thought everything went OK. I haven't done any overclocking yet.

But I seem to be rebooting every few minutes, and I am getting all kinds of windows error messages coming (internet explorer).

Did I mess up my CPU?

If anyone can help me out with a checklist of what I should be looking at, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

- Please use proper thread titles
Didou

It does not seem to be from overheating. I have motherboard monitor installed, and I am showing temps at around 104 - 110 F at the time the system suddenly reboots.

Another note, I have just installed new ram. Hynix PC3200 400Mhz. I didn't go for the cheap stuff as I plan to overclock. Could it be the ram, and if so, how do I go about testing that?

www.memtest.org has the newest version (Thanks, Didou)

Thanks, I'll give that a try. Now I am getting windows errors all over the place, then rebooting.

Aaarrrggghh..

I guess it is way past my bedtime. Just spent the past half hour trying to figure out how to make a bootable disk for that software. Couldn't do it for the life of me! I guess I'll have to take my system in to the city tomorrow. 4 hour drive.... aarrrrggghh.

There's a bootable cdrom ISO file. Just download it & open it with Nero or any other CD burning software. Once you've burnt that CD (on a CD-RW for example-, leave it in your CD-Rom drive, reboot & set the system to boot off the CD-Rom. It'll launch memtest automatically, set it to run the extended test in the options, then let it run for a few hours (the more, the better).

Thanks Didou. You are always such a great help (among others as well).

I ran the ram test, and it came up with 12 errors on test 5 (after running for an hour and a half).

Looks like it is my ram. I have my old ram back in now to see if I get the random reboots again. At least I think we found the problem, that's the good news.

Bad news is, I have to drive another 4 hours on Japan's crappy highways to exchange the ram I just bought YESTERDAY!!!

[insert language so profane, your jaw drops]

Quick question, how have you set the memory in the BIOS ? Did you set to run at the same speed as the FSB or did you leave it on "By SPD" ? & also, what memory timings have you applied on the memory ?

Everything is still at default. I haven't touched any settings at all in bios, ever.

I plan on OCing my CPU as soon as I get this random crash fixed (and I am now assuming it is my new ram).

Get in the BIOS setup & set the memory to 100%, that way it runs in sync with the FSB. Then either set the memory timins to "Optimal" (2.5-4-4-8) or set it to "User specified" & manually set them to something failsafe such as 3-4-4-8.

You can also try to instal the memory modules in slot 1 & 2. It will deactivate the Dual Channel feature but it will also be a little less picky memory wise.

Just a quick question before I try this. Should I just take the memory back, and get two new sticks seeing as it came up with errors in that test, or should I give your suggestions a shot?

You could do that & end up with two new sticks which will give you the same problem. I know for example that the A7N8X board doesn't really like Kingston Value ram. It could turn out that it doesn't like Hynix memory either. Btw, Hynix memory means the chips used are from Hynix but what is the brand of the memory ? Hynix is like Micron. They produce memory chips but do not produce memory modules themselves.

It could be that your module is a no-name brand & the a7n8x does not like those at all.

Yikes. That's a scary thought (driving to Tokyo and back and having the SAME problem).

I am looking at the modules now, and see no name brand anywhere. Could be a no name then. Grrr.

On the modules it says the following:

hynix Korea05
PC3200U-30330
512MB DDR 400MHz CL3
HYMD264646D8J-D43 AA

So..... it is possible that this memory will not work with my motherboard A7V600?

Would it be better for me to get some different memory, or should I mess around with the settings as you have suggested?

Again, thank you Didou. Thank you so much.

Oops, I for some reason believed you had an a7n8x. :giddy:

Try setting the timings manually to something failsafe like I said. If that still doesn't work, get some brand ram like Crucial, Corsair, TwinMOS or real Samsung modules (not with just Samsung chips, with everything made by Samsung including the chips, the PCB, etc.).

For example Corsair has a Value series which isn't that much more expensive then regular no-name ram but you have the Corsair quality & lifetime warranty to make sure it's worth your purchase. Crucial is also very popular. Their shipping packages are very good & once again you have a lifetime warranty.

OK, I have set the timings to what you suggested, but having a hard time finding the option to set the memory to 100%. I just can't find that option... Do you happen to know some common names that this setting is listed as?

Well, I have my memory timing now set at 2.5 4 4 8, and I also OCd my CPU to a 3200.

One question, I have my 2 sticks of memory in slots 1 and 2 (3 is empty). Stupid question perhaps, but is that the best setup?

Things seem to be stable now. Ran Benchmark and made it through to the end, been about 2 hours since I last sudden reboot.

Fingers crossed, and thank you to all who helped.

Yes, having your memory in slot 1 & 2 should work fine. Have you tried the extended test with memtest86+ ?

I will try that now. And as an update, it appears that I am still getting some little glitches here and there. IE just froze up on me.