P4 550 Prescott and Gigabyte MB system unstable

[rob05]

Hello, I'm new and this is my first post to the board. I've been building systems for years now but this has stumped me. I need all you geniuses to help

I built a new system which ran fine for 2 months and then became completely unstable. Random reboots, after reboot I will lose video or get a message during POST "OC Fail, please change OC fail settings"

No new hardware has been added except a small IDE HD for use as a Linux drive. I replaced the motherboard (GA-8I915P Duo), the video card (Gigabyte Geforce 6600) and the power supply (350w that came with the case) but the problem remains. I listed everything I replaced in the list below. Everything I change seems to help for a day or two and then back to random restarts and then followed by OC fail at boot.

Here is my current system config:

3.4GHz Pentium 4 550 Prescott
MB GIGABYTE GA-8I915P DUO PRO 915P (replaced, no change)
512MB Kingston RAM DDR2 533
Western Digital 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150
CHAINTECH GEFORCE6600 256MB (replaced, no change)
THERMALTAKE 420W Power Supply (replaced, no change)

Cpu temp between 34 and 38 celcius
Voltages:
+3.3V = 3.3.20
+12V = 11.850
VCoreA = 1.320

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Could it be your ram that`s the problem?

Download and run the Memtest86+ programme from www.memtest.org

Let it run for at least seven passes. If you don`t have a floppy drive, there is an iso version that you can burn to cd, and then boot from that.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

 

[rob05]

Hi Howard and thank you for your reply. Acutally I tried booting to Memtest and it ran for 5hrs no problem BUT then I tried 3 times since and it has stopped with "Unexpected Interrupt - Halting" error. Its very strange, if its going to fail it will fail within 2min if it doesn't fail within the first 2min then it seems like it can run forever. Do you think that error points to a RAM failure? I checked the memetest site but I wasn't sure what that error means.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

The unexpected interupt error is a crash of memtest caused by your system instability. I don`t know if it`s the ram that`s causing this, but I wouldn`t have thought so.

I`m begining to suspect that you have a faulty cpu. But don`t quote me on this.

To be frank, I don`t really know what`s going on with your system.

Maybe some of our other members will have other ideas.

Regards and good luck Howard

 

[bayouboy]

Try a program called Prime95 to test your processor. http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
Use the CPU test and it will throw some pretty wicked itterations at it. If it can do it for several hours, then it's all green. If it passes, then use the CPU/Memory test. If it fails here, then it is your memory. If both pass, then it might be some weird problem with your CPU. Hopefully this will help you nail the problem.

 

[rob05]

bayouboy,

Thanks for the reply I will give it a try. I've used that program a long time ago on a different computer and I forgot what it was called. Thanks for the link I'll let you know how things turn out.

 

[Secondgunman]

Ok...

It is one of three things:

1) your RAM is junk now try new RAM
2) your CPU is junk now try new CPU
3) Your PSU is junk now try new PSU

Either way intels may over clock but once an Intel System starts to dies it is a nasy death on the family.

 

[rob05]

Secondgunman,

Thanks for the reply. I already tossed the PSU and got a new one and the problem remains. I just bought new RAM so I will try that next...and then the CPU if I have to. This setup is only a couple months old, after 2 months the system became REAL UNSTABLE.

 

[Secondgunman]

I am woundering...

Are you overclocked I would reset your clocking you can overclock an petium to a higher level then AMD but when the chip desides it has had it that is that. Same with the motherboards they will only handle so much for so long the they just won't do that any more.

P.S. I have learned that untill I have found the problem and a system is running proper again never to toss parts out... I learned the hard way as well :monkey:

 

[rob05]

Secondgunman,

I was never overclocked, that was the funniest thing I got OC fail warnings when I never even overclocked it! I swapped the memory with new and for 8 days now the computer has been, dare I say it, STABLE Sometime the original memory would pass memtest for hours, other times it would fail right away. The new memory seem good.

P.S. I actually returned the case/ps combo and bought a new case and a decent PS seperately. Price was the same but I got 420w now vs the 350 I had.

Thanks for your help

 

[Secondgunman]

Any time...

Any time there... Yah that pesky memory can do all kinds of things when stuff like that happens i place blame in this order USER, House power, PSU, Memory, CPU, Software and BIOS, Other hardware. Well good to see it is working now.