Freeze ups, P5B, D935, 1Gigram, Stressed out

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Squirralien

I built a PC for our 83yr old g/father a P5B m/board, D935 pentium 3.2gig proc, 1 gig Kingston ram, WD 250gig sata drive. running windows xp pro, I am getting inconsistant freeze ups they could be at 5 minutes or 6 hours or anything inbetween, i have the 1405 bios update for the board and the prossesor temps are high. at idle 53 to 58 degrees celcius and can tip 62, the thing I dont understand is the heatsink on the D935 isn't getting warm, it is clicked in correctly and making good contact (thermal paste spread evanly and it is a thin smear virtually transparent from factory heatsink). I took it to a tech and he is as baffled as I am. Oh the temps are taken from both asus pcprobeII and the bios on a reboot. I have built many systems and never had a problem.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated
Oh,,, the vcore is only 1.18 but I can't see how to change that in the bios as it is locked out and I would think that increasing this would result in more heat.
Thanks
 
This will be repetitive, since you are experienced, but it is always good to have a check of yourself. More experienced builders make mistakes, than new ones.
You have perhaps missed something fairly simple and obvious. Go back over everything when you are not stressed.

Those temperatures are really not too high, if they are being read correctly 62c is a working average for the D935
.
The errors such as you describe are usually:
Bad CPU fan which is not running at the right speed consistently.
Inadequate thermal past
Bad or incorrect or defective video graphics driver. This is where we most often see problems.

Bad or incorrect memory module.
or some other defective component, which is not all that unusual in a new build, as you know.

But it is difficult when your relative is expecting a fantastic result.

First, download and run the free MemTest86 for four hours or 7 passes, which ever is longer.

Reboot

Go to the website of your video graphics to see if they have released a different video driver. If not, go back to the previous driver, if available.

Calmly disassemble the cpu fan and heat sink setup, and be sure everything is level when you reinstall it... Use new thermal paste when you do this, and it should be thin but providing a connection the full surface of the unit.


These problems of inconsistent results are maddening, but all you can do is plug away... one step at a time.

Remember nearly 15 percent of new board setups have to do with a defective component or a defective driver.

Let us know what the real problem was when you get it right.
 
OK thank you for that I have gone over and over things including a complete disassembly and reassembly, I have run a series of dos and windows diagnostic software with no error found, I will go back to the video card site and look for a later driver and I am pleased to hear that these temps are not so bad, any opinions about the core voltage being 1.18 ? I was going to take it to the parts supplier but I see this to be a long and teadious chore and they regardless of what they find would most likely say builders error and charge for it,, I am soldiering on and seeking different opinions and hoping for someone to have had and solved a similar problem.
Thanks Raybay
 
If possible can you check the event log and see what the error indicates.
check manage under "my computer" and click event viewer, system.
This will give you a good idea where to look for your resolution.
 
Ok thanks for that ashes I will have a look at that and see if it gives me any clues, I have upgraded the video driver as raybay suggested and now running the computer to see how it goes but I can have a look at that and see how we go, thanks again.
I am still looking for possible suggestions as time will tell if the driver has done the job or not.
Thanks
 
get a copy of memtest.exe -- it could be ram related.
I had a friend's system look like HD failures, but in fact it was RAM failures causing
bad I/O.
 
'the thing I dont understand is the heatsink on the D935 isn't getting warm'


The heatsink isn't attached properly!

Design temp for the 930 is 63.4 C and for the 940 it's 68.6 C. I cannot find info re the 935 specific to heat but the wattage is similar to the 930 so I assume, possibly incorrectly, that the cpu thermal max is the lower figure of 63.4 C.

Thermal shutdown occurs at 125 C.

Throttling starts at or very near the design temp as far as I know.
 
What are you using to determine the temperature at the heatsink?
You might want to invest in an infrared thermal/temperature detector gun. About $35 but worth it.

If your heatsink is properly installed it will get warm as it is the only way to cool the cpu... and the cpu cannot work without getting up to at least 62c
 
Ok, Jobeard, I have tried the ram from my perfectly working machine and there was no change so I took that as ram ok,,,

CCT I agree with you but as there is no way I know of to check this 100% I think I can only go on the thermal paste pattern and that was spread evenly and a complete coverage thin layered basically transparently thin so I can only assume that it is doing as it should but this has been my biggest puzzle,

rayban,,,the only way I have for temp on the heatsink is by touch and it basically isn't warm when the cpu is at 60 deg c. it should be noticably warm I am sure. I have the intel d830 3gig processor and that idles at about 48deg c and around 53deg c for basic operation, so I was going on that but I take it now that the different processors have there different operating specs.
 
Have you followed up on suggestions to disassemble and reassemble your heat sink, CPU Fan, etc. One problem occured on a machine here this afternoon, where the tie-down supports were plastic poles... the eyeholes that the cpu fan and heat sink clamps fit into were broken. You could not tell unless you used a strong set of blueish florescent lights.
The tie downs and clamps were made/sold by Cooler Master.
The fact that the cpu fan and heat sink were not held tightly against the cpu were the reason for the cool heat sink.
Cost to replace: $15.
 
I have pulled it all down and reassembled the gear and it is the standard heatsink and 4 push down pole clips that come with the D935 and all seems ok there, all 4 appear to pull down tight and pop up when turning them to remove, the only thing I wonder is if the heatsink could have a faulty face on it that is not 100% flat,square,true to specs and when its clamped down it isn't quite down tight everywhere,, but the spread of the paste would indicate it is doing the job, I am baffled,, Please keep in mind raybay I did update the drivers for the video card and so far it hasn't had a freeze up session, if that problem is solved then I am tempted to forgive any temps as long as it works ok, this one has made me contemplate becoming a trolley boy at the shopping centre,,
I really appreciate all the help and ideas,,
I might go and get another heatsink for this one and try it out, ill get a nice one and if it shows no difference I will accept it to be, as long as there are no freeze ups.
 
Just like any other computer part, cpu's can be defective.

Why not just RMA that one as being an overheater?
 
CCT,, I will try and find the specs for this chip or contact Intel and try to find out the idle and operating temps for this chip and go from there, I have been comparing it to my chips stats and I now understand even tho they are very close being a 3 gig and a 3.2 gig that they can have different runing temps,,, I would also like to try another heatsink on it to make sure it isn't just a fault with the heatsink facier
(Is RMA Return to Manufacturer)
Thanks CCT
 
Well after an extended time without freeze ups the pain has just frozen after only an hour on, it survived about 20 hours without a freeze up and thats a record,,
I have looked in the event log and found nothing to indicate a problem.
I am now going to swap my video card in to this other machine and see if that causes mine to freeze up at some stage and fix the pappybox (Grandfathers computer in question, grandpappy, pappybox)
 
After that I think I will look at the two processors and see if they are compatible for a change, I am thinking about just buying another processor and motherboard and going with that, maybe a time to upgrade mine and give him my gear, I am getting tired of the long winded search for an intermittent problem with no apparent signs.
 
This could be my most important question,, I am wondering if anyone can tell me how to get in to the bios manual settings for the core voltage as I have found some specs for the chip and they say Core Voltage: 1.225V-1.325V.
The core voltage running on this computer is only 1.18, so I guess that with slight fluctuations it could momentarily drop below this and at some point the processor would have to begin to fail, is it possible that this could be the freeze up problem, the cvoltage has been a concern from the start but haven't seemed to had to many answers on that.
I am still searching but if you have the answer before i get time on it that would be appreciated
Thank you
 
The core voltage reduction is an Intel thermal protection that you cannot override - until you adequately cool that cpu you are going to have that reduction.
 
Firstly I would like to really thank every one that replied and tried to help me out in this situation and also let you know that I am taking the box in to the supplier of the parts and I will let you all know what the outcome of that is, I expect it will be a week or so before they get back to me, and I am hoping that they have something special to find this problem because it has stumped me and many others and I would just like it if they replaced it all but I know my chances of that,,
thanks again
 
Thanks CCT I just found your message after putting this last message up, sorry I didn't get a notification for that message. I would like to continue but my patience has worn to thin, this has been going on for a couple of months now trying to sort it out and I have had enough and hope the supplier can sort it out.
I will post the outcome either way if they work it out or not.
thanks again
 
Well after all this time the supplier of the parts can not fault the computer and have not got it to freeze, I really don't think they have had the computer on for long, looks like I will go for an upgrade and give the grandfather my setup and see how things go from there,, not the outcome I was hoping for but at the same time I really didn't expect much from the supplier.
 
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