2 PC's, 3 mobo's, 2 ddr2 sets, 1 PC BSOD's and errors

[deadman3000]

I have 3 motherboards. I have an Asus P5Q Premium upstairs, I did have a Asus P5N-E SLI downstairs but now have an Asus P5Q Deluxe downstairs.

Problem persists and is outlined below.

Downstairs PC random reboots even whilst idling maybe once a day...can sometimes get away with 2 days or more without rebooting. One set of memory (Both are Crucial 800Mhz DDR2 4Gb kits) causes random reboots and file corruption copying a large set of test Rar files between ANY hard disks, even from a network drive to a local drive). The Rar files fail crc check randomly (Never the same Rar file twice). One set of memory does not cause file corruption but just reboots randomly.

Both sets of memory have been swapped with Crucial. Both sets run PERFECTLY in the motherboard upstairs. Rar file copy test works great every time. No reboots or spurious errors in event log.

Problem PC has had the following done to try and resolve the issue.

Clean install of Windows 7 64 SEVERAL times.
Malware/Rootkit and Virus free (Verified).
Drivers and BIOS are all up to date.
Replaced all SATA cables.
Replaced with NEW hard disk.
Tried both sets of memory as above (I find that only one set causes file corruption odd though whilst there are no such issues on the other PC).
Changed motherboard from Asus P5N-E SLI to Asus P5Q Deluxe.

Memory voltages and timings are correct and BIOS is up to date.

Burn-In test and Orthos and Prime95 tests all pass.

Memtest86+ passes but the memory runs perfectly upstairs anyhow and has been exchanged with Crucial.

Suspect areas are now PSU (But seems strange it would pass the stress tests).
Heat (I have a fan controller I use to bring the case fan speeds down because I hate the noise). Again it seems odd that it would pass the stress test if it was a heat issue? My CPU is always running cool (E6600 idles at 20-25c). However I am unable to monitor the memory temperature.

Other possible causes. Power spikes (I have a Enermax 82+ 525w PSu attached to a power surge protection strip). I have now changed the PSU power cable just in case.

USB device or hubs or spike from the hubs (Can these cause problems like this? Putting too much stress on the PSU via the USB ports or send bad spikes up them?)

I am now running without most of the USB devices and hubs attached and the fans running full speed for a couple of days to see if it happens again. I will then reconnect the USB hubs and devices if it remains stable.

I also took out a soundcard that is no longer supported in Windows 7.

If it's a heat issue I will replace case fans with silent type (Scythe Gentle Typhoons probably).

Opinions?

 

[MrkXCeL]

Other than testing CPU by swapping. Have you tried lugging upstairs PC down to rule out any electrical power issues? When did this start happening ?

 

[deadman3000]

This pretty much started to happen after upgrading from 2 x 1GB sticks of Crucial memory to 8GB (But I did run 6GB for a while in between). I have now split that memory between 2 PC's after upgrading the motherboard upstairs to the P5Q Premium.

So yeah it pretty much started with a memory upgrade. It's not practical to swap the PC's about. Upstairs is a large file server I do not use for daily work.

This is why I am suspecting it's either a PSU issue (Maybe adding more memory pushed this PC's PSU to a threshold where it started failing other components). Or a heat issue whereby running 2 x 1Gb sticks was fine with low airflow but now 4GB or more requires better cooling. This is why I am trying with the case fans on full for a while (Hating the noise BTW. I suffer from chronic tinnitus which the case fans agravate).

 

[deadman3000]

I've hit a brick wall. I started to get the file corruption errors again and the system locked up in standby mode so all I could do was reboot. The file corruption began a day or two in of continuous uptime. It does not appear to be a USB device issue. It also does not appear to be heat related. Temps are good and I had the case fans on full etc.

I have taken out the PSU (525w Enermax 82+) and replaced it temporarily with an old 420w PSU and will try not to stress it too much (The errors creep in even whilst idling anyhow).

If it still does it I am at a loss because everything has been changed except the CPU and video cards. I checked for any bulging caps or leaks and could find nothing wrong. I thought it might be a software or driver issue but it even does it in safe mode. So I can only assume it's hardware.

The next step if the PSU is not the issue is power supply from the wall socket and what lies in between or other things around the PC that could be affecting it (Mobile? Modem? Router?).

 

[deadman3000]

It's not the PSU.

OK I think it's memory compatibility. Even though Crucial says their 4GB kit is guaranteed compatible. I don't believe it is. Why? Because I have had 2 x 4GB kits replaced and swapped out both 4GB kits between the two PC's (One with P5Q Deluxe and the other P5Q Premium). Although more stable the Premium BSOD'd after several days uptime. It was a similar issue to the one on the Deluxe. The event log shows nothing. Just that there was a sudden reboot (kernel power failure). This is pretty much what hapens on the PC with the Deluxe (and previously the P5N-E SLI). I wish I had gone with Gigabyte or another motherboard manufacturer now. I have 3 Asus boards and they all fail with this memory. It looks like I am going to have to get some memory off the QVL and flog this stuff on Ebay to recoup the costs.

EDIT: I think most people tend to power down their PC's overnight so these issues may not arise with them. I run my PC's 24/7 and these errors creep in after a day or two of uptime. The other thing is I run Windows 7 64 which is pretty new. Perhaps when people were running Vista or below these compaitibilities did not rear their ugly head. Just some random thoughts on this.