Computer sporadically stops responding?

well to be honest with you the processor has worked great in this computer up until my PSU has started doing this. I mean, the voltage from my PSU i'm sure was running fine up until 2 months ago when my computer started doing this periodic lockup thing. The PSU has a really bad reputation as i've recently read in reviews, unfortunately when i was looking to purchase the PSU in the past all of the reviews on the front page were 4 and 5 star reviews, given the fact the people reviewing the PSU had just installed it out of the box and were like "Wow runs great! blah blah blah" as opposed to waiting a few months to review it. I was going to see if i could return it to Tiger-Direct, but unfortunately it looks like the PSU box is the ONE box that went missing out of all the packaging i have kept from my purchases, and returns to them are unable to be done without original packaging.

The keyboard is working okay now, and it worked on my sister's computer, so i'm pretty sure it is due to the PSU. I think a new PSU is really all i need. I get my paycheck friday, hopefully it will be in excess of 450 dollars so that i can purchase a new one ASAP.


As for the Asus QVL, their website makes their product inaccessible to view further than the thumbnail after search, and it seems they have AWFUL support service, so i may just go with another brand. What exactly would you recommend? I am, after all, very satisfied with my computer except for this issue that has recently popped up, and if there is anything that is Slot 775 SLI ready and has support for the Q9400 CPU i have, i'd like to know about it =)
 
Archean said:
@Sharam
If this motherboard has such a bad reputation, I wouldn't recommend selling Q9400 just to find out that Q6600 is doing the same thing. So safer option IMO would be to go for a new motherboard and new PSU.
Click to expand...
680i LT SLI is a great motherboard as old as it is, When 680i was released, there were no 45nm CPUs, there were no Q9xxx, Intel, to stop Nvidia from making chipsets for Intel based motherboards or to hurt their rep, did not disclose important needed info to Nvidia, this was mainly with the 45nm series when they first came out. Intel even offered huge discounts to OEMs if they bought Intel based chipset with their CPUs or other "hidden" bonuses if they did not use Nvidia for Chipset. The lawsuit had to do more with punishing AMD buyers.

Intel settles antitrust suit with FTC, admits no wrongdoing

Intel settles FTC antitrust suit, stops punishing AMD buyers

With Intel CPUs I always went Intel Chipsets as much as I like Nvidia but have built many gamer systems based on Nvidia as well and would recommend them any day. (Never used the 750i so I can't say anything bout them.)

When Intel didn't share the changes in their new CPUs or even make changes to cause incompatibilities with other chipset, other Chipset designer can't release a proper board/ BIOS to support that CPU, best they can do is guess and trial and error, this shouldn't translate to "bad reputation"

Most gamers have moved on to 780i/ 790i or knew about this, since 680i from EVGA, XFX, BFG were considered enthusiast/ gamer/ high end boards, the person buying it, usually did their homework and already knew what CPU, GPU, RAM, case and PSU he was going to get and what BIOS he was going to flash it with.
 
@Archean

My 680i specs say it only supports up to DDR2-800, however some bios tweaking allows to overclock to 1066. From what my buddy told me, DDR2 ram is only going to go up to 800 unless you overclock it. He could be wrong of course, i'm not laying full faith in him on everything he says since he is not an expert, but from what i've found when looking for RAM, this seems to be the case, as any RAM advertised as 1066 is only "Overclock ready" as opposed to being 1066 right out of the box. So i would imagine the 750i would allow for DDR2-1066 if overclocked.


@ Sharam

My friend says that his dad may have an old Q6600 laying around that i might be able to give me for free, or for a small price of around 50 bucks or so. So i may be in luck. I just have to wait for him to come home from boot camp in about 3 weeks.

And yeah, unfortunately i did not do my homework lol. I just bought what i thought would work good. I was just getting into computers at the time I built this one, so I'm kind of uneducated. I'm learning a lot just through you two, however, and I really appreciate all the help you have supplied me so far. Once I get paid this friday i'll buy a new PSU.

Any really good recommendations that you have would be great, I plan on doing SLI with the Nvidia EVGA Geforce 9800 GTX gpu in a few months, so I'm curious as to what size PSU i need to buy. Also, since i have the 9800 GTX, and the only one on the market right now is the 9800 GTX+, that would not cause any incompatibilities or such would it? It is still made by EVGA i believe.

Also, if I am going to be using OC'ed RAM and SLI with two large GPU's, would i need a better case than what i have now? The case i presently use is a Thermaltake SopranoRS. It keeps things cool enough right now, i listed the temps in the original post.
 
I'll post back in about an hour, have to jet out the door, what you say about the RAM or have been told, needs a bit of explaining. I will post about PSU as well.
 
okay, a little update..

I bought the Corsair 750watt PSU

I'm still getting the same issue.

maybe the mobo is bad?
i'll upload the .txt document of a new scan from CPUZ in a bit, but i'm kind of confused as to why i'm getting the same problem
 
We need a new reading to see the changes after the new PSU, with +12V under voltage or may be over voltage in case CPUZ dropped the first digit (1), we can't say how the rest of your components are.

The CPU could have been hurt, I have a Q6600 here that goes through POST with no problems but does not allow Windows to load, and this was something like your situation that got worst.

I like to test the hardware using bootable ISO like UBUNTU or even Hirens Boot CD to run some tests. Or a quick install of XP on another drive.

You can download BurnInTest™ the trial version allows you to run 15min tests that you can do back to back, you need to change the preferences, like only select CPU first at the default 50% load then increase the load to 100%.

Let's read a new CPUZ first and go from there, since you never tweaked the BIOS, may be we need a few changes to timings and voltages.

Hope we figure it out by Noon on Monday, long drive coming up, from London, Ontario to Arlington, Virginia then to Raleigh, North Carolina stay a week and back to Lake Orion Michigan then home ... phew ... once away I do have internet access but very little time.
 
Okay here is the new CPUZ rating. I did overclock my RAM to 1066 however, I dont know if that will throw anything off. but here it is.

as for bootable ISO's, I can't use them. I can't burn anything to disc, my computer allows installation and dvd/cd play/rips but both drives will not burn. this is a problem I've had since I updated to windows 7 and wasnt too worried about it. The drivers are up to date which confused the hell out of me. but whatever, I can't burn iso's onto a cd.
 

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  • INSANITY-PC.txt
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Heres the CPU-Z reading after putting bios settings to default.

also, after the new power supply, it seems to be worse.

I don't understand what the hell is going on here but I feel as though the best solution is throwing this damn thing off of my balcony and pissing on it.

excuse my language, but it took me 15 minutes just to open firefox, get to this page, and type this.
 

Attachments

  • INSANITY-PC.txt
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What program have you tried to burn CDs or DVDs?

This is very common, we fix/ replace a major component and other problems that were hidden start poping up. Your system is getting proper power now, that is for sure. If you want to fix this once and for all, we need to take quite a few steps.

I'll take a look at the CPUZ dump and read over what we have gone through.
 
I have another issue now.

After running a scan of my hard drive, my computer is now telling me that my copy of windows is not genuine. What is up with that?

and the program(s) i have tried burning with are as follows: Windows Media Player, Nero, and the windows 7 backup thing.
 
okay nevermind about the not genuine thing, it disappeared after going into 'properties' of my computer.

What are the many steps i need to take that you were describing?
 
You should be able to burn?!?! Try ImgBurn.

CPUZ still reports your voltage is low on the +12V, which I know it is not since you got a new PSU.
We do need to make sure using a multi meter.
It is possible a regulator is gone on the board.

I have to read the posts again to see how many RAM and hard drive tests we have done first.
CPUZ shows your RAM is "EPP" ready (5.0-5-5-15-26-2T @ 533 MHz 2.100 Volts)
This is where you enable the "SLI Ready RAM" in the BIOS, newer board call it EPP. This will set number of timings and voltages and allows us to concentrate on other settings. Basically your RAM will be set properly from the SPD on the RAM.

In such cases, with all you have been going through, this is what I would do, you have to decide if you want to go with my way or hear other opinions.

After the above, I would test the motherboard out of the case; this is where other steps come in ;)
 
Okay so does this mean my RAM is running at 533mhz as opposed to 800mhz? If so, then i could run my games at much higher settings than i already do. I would need a step by step instruction on how exactly to get my RAM running at 1066mhz since when it comes to the BIOS i am not that knowledgeable, and don't want to damage my RAM.

Also, how do i test the motherboard out of the case? i was thinking i might just put next paycheck towards a new board that supports my CPU since it's looking like my friends dad sold the old Q6600. More than likely i'll purchase the Asus Nvidia 780i since it has everything i need plus the ability to go Tri-SLI [since my GPU is a tri-sli ready card :) ]. One thing that I have seen though is that Asus boards are often unstable. Is this true? Also, how could i possibly tell if the low voltage cause any damage to my other components (RAM, CPU, GPU)??

I'll try the program you gave me and see where i get. Just out of curiosity, does that program allow you to burn music CD's as well?
 
EPP from Serial presence detect

Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP)
Memory generally comes with conservative timing recommendations in the SPD ROM, to ensure basic functionality on all systems. Enthusiasts often spend considerable time manually adjusting the memory timings for higher speed.

Enhanced Performance Profiles is an extension of SPD, developed by NVIDIA and Corsair, which includes additional information for higher-performance operation of DDR2 SDRAM, including supply voltages and command timing information not included in the JEDEC SPD spec. The EPP information is stored in the same EEPROM, but in bytes 99-127 which are unused by standard DDR2 SPD.

EPP SPD ROM usage Bytes Size Full profiles Abbreviated profiles
99–103 5 EPP header
104–109 6 Profile FP1 Profile AP1
110–115 6 Profile AP2
116–121 6 Profile FP2 Profile AP3
122–127 6 Profile AP4

The parameters are particularly designed to fit the memory controller on the nForce 5, nForce 6 and nForce 7 chipsets. NVIDIA encourages support for EPP in the BIOS for its high-end motherboard chipsets. This is intended to provide "one-click overclocking" to get better performance with minimal effort.

NVIDIA's name for EPP memory that has been qualified for performance and stability is "SLI-ready memory". The term "SLI-ready-memory" has caused some confusion, as it has nothing to do with SLI video. One can use EPP/SLI memory with a single video card (even a non-NVIDIA card), and one can run a multi-card SLI video setup without EPP/SLI memory.

An extended version, EPP 2.0, supports DDR3 memory as well.
Click to expand...

I best not comment on what you said about your RAM, the 533MHz setting and the game performance ... it will take a page or 2!

780i had some issues with 45nm CPUs at the begining, this had/ has nothing to do with the board design or performance, 780i is a great board, just because Intel didn't play fair with them it should not mean 780i is at fault. 790i is a better choice.

Only thing you need to watch with the 780i "EVGA" is the south Bridge heat Sink, it is warped on some boards causing it to heat up to 10 C more compared to other boards.
 
hmm. okay. the only thing is that ASUS is the only brand i can even hope to find that actually sells gaming boards nowadays. So finding an EVGA board wont happen. The EPP thing didnt really tell me much, I'm still at a complete loss with the memory overclocking stuff. I just want my RAM to run at 1066mhz without any voltages being off :(

I'll check out the 790i if i can even find it. I'll be buying a new one within the next two weeks. wish me luck... hahaha
 
okay... so i found the XFX 790i on amazon.

300 dollars. i do not have that kind of money. this is kind of saddening to know that i need to not only upgrade to DDR3, but dish out this kind of money for a good motherboard that will support all of my components.
 
790i is expensive ... I only said it is a better choice than 780i. You can always build a gamer system around an Intel Chipset too.

Wish we could test your CPU and motherboard, as in testing your CPU with another board and another CPU in your board.

Do you see SLI Ready or EPP option in your BIOS, if yes, what options does it give you once you enable it?
 
well we'll see if i have enough for it in the coming weeks. it would be nice to have, but i feel as though if i want to upgrade again sometime in the next two years then it will be like throwing money away.

I have to check. i don't think there's an EPP or SLI ready selection in my bios. i'll double check, but i doubt it, i've been through there a few times already.
 
Okay, so there IS an "SLI-Ready Memory" section on my computer.

However, it says "Not Detected"

This could be for 3 reasons i have gathered at least.
1. I am only using one GPU at the moment.
2. My bios is not up to date
3. My memory may not be fully supported by my motherboard.

Whats your input?
 
SPD dump from CPUZ shows EPP values!
Have to look at things closely, another day in North Carolina, back to Virgina and then home Wednesday or Thursday.

Hang in there!
 
well, I have found a used 790i on amazon really cheap. I'm going to buy that on friday after i get paid. but i'm just hoping that my other components are OK. I will, after all, have to buy DDR3 as well and have to wait ANOTHER 2 weeks minimum depending on shipping lengths to actually install anything..
 
i'm guessing you got back some point today. but i just wanted to let you know that i googled "680i voltage regulator bad" and a whole bunch of crap came up.

basically the heatsink on some of the 680i's vreg northbridge and southbridge were not contacting correctly. my guess is the 12v regulator burned up cause of this.

I'll be purchasing an EVGA P55V SLI motherboard, an i5 655K CPU @ 3.20 Ghz, and some OCZ gold 4gb 10666 DDR3 RAM.

And don't worry. i made sure everything matches this time. it'll cost me about 420 bucks plus shipping, but i dont mind. it'll solve allllll my issues.
 
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