My Daily BSOD - Help Please

[darkus]

Hi, I am new to this forum and would love some help trying to diagnose what is wrong with my pc. I have a Mesh PC which is about 4 years old that was given to me by a friend - i have installed vista 32 on it and it has never run well. I get these bsod on a daily basis.

Can someone take a look at the minidump attached and see what they think?

Thanks

Mark

 

[Route44]

Are you running a single core cpu or a dual core?

 

[darkus]

Hi - Its an Athlon Dual Core

 

[Route44]

Okay, that is what I needed to know. Your error is 0x101 CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT

This means that an expected clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor in a Multiple Processor system (your dual core) within allocated interval. This indicates that the specified processor is hung and not processing interrupts.

In other words, that error code is very common and shows up when the CPU is not stable in one of the cores. It really shows up in unstable over clocks.

Either your CPU or your motherboard's handling of the CPU is not stable enough.

Check your CPU support list and make sure your running the right bios and make sure the board even supports the CPU. Check your temps.

* The "fix" - so to speak - from research says to update the BIOS. If you have never done this before then find someone who knows what they are doing.

Some Other Suggestions:

a. Your cpu may be defective/dying.

b. The voltage to your cpu may need to be adjusted.

c. Perhaps the power supply is beginning to fail.

 

[darkus]

Thanks so much for the reply - you have no idea how much grief this is causing me!

I have updated the bios through the asus update thing, and installed a cpu core temp thing - the cores are at 80 and 78ish - is this normal?

See pic:

darkus.co.uk/shared/cpu.jpg

Aaaaraaghh! not enough posts to post links!

 

[Route44]

If you google your particular cpu you should be able to find the recommended core temp parameters. That seems hot to me but hardware can vary. You may need to put a new heatsink/fan to cool it down.

Also, let us know if the new BIOS helped stabilize your system.

By the way: 80C = 176F!

 

[darkus]

Thanks - have had a search online and the temp does seem a bit crazy hot! I have had a play with the fan settings in the bios and its now sitting at 49 & 47 instead! I might get a new heatsink and fan anyway though. Will see what happens over the next few days and cross my fingers for now more blue screens...

Thanks again

 

[Route44]

Thanks - have had a search online and the temp does seem a bit crazy hot! I have had a play with the fan settings in the bios and its now sitting at 49 & 47 instead! I might get a new heatsink and fan anyway though. Will see what happens over the next few days and cross my fingers for now more blue screens...

Thanks again

Excellent! Heat will really cause system issues. Between the BIOS update and you being able to lower your cpu temps let us know if it briongs stability.

My dual core Athlon 64 3800+ is at 32C. I think you should be able to do just as well with a better heatsink and fan. Do your homework and make sure you find one that fits. Also, keep in mind that when gaming it puts a load on the system (especially video cards) and thus increases your heat.

 

[darkus]

Hi again!...

I have a new problem - Now that my pc is running cooler with the new bios update and settings - my graphics performance is shocking. Something in the bios seems to be limiting the graphics card? I have run the video stress test on counter-strike before and got scores of about 200ish FPS, and when i ran it this morning it was 42! Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Route44]

Hmmm, now this is interesting and completely unexpected. However, with your error one bit of research also recommended updating graphics drivers. Why? I don't know!

Anyway, do the following and get back to us with the results:

1. Download Driver Cleaner Pro (free version; or Driver Sweeper if DCPro isn't available) to your desktop screen and install.

2. Download the latest diver(s) for your video card but don't install them.

3. Uninstall your video card drivers and reboot your PC into Safe Mode. Run Driver Cleaner Pro. If it doesn't find any video card drivers that is quite okay.

4. Reboot and install new video card drivers.

 

[darkus]

All done - still no joy

I had a play in the bios tonight and is definately something to do with turning the fan control on to perfomance (which keeps the cpu temps down)?!