coreI7-Strange stability issue

[frag85]

I have a 24/stable overclock, but sometimes Virtual Dub will cause the system to hang, even with factory defaults.

System:
Gigabyte UD4p | I7 920 @ 4.2ghz "D0" w/ 1.22v (200x21) | 3x2GB OCZ Gold DDR3@1600 8-8-8-16 | EVGA GTX275 @ 760core/1620shader/1337mem | WD Raptor 150gig | WD 640 AAKS | OCZ ModStream 700

with the above OC max coretemp is ~68C

cpu@ stock 2.66ghz @ 1.25v

max stable OC 4.4ghz @ 1.33v
(30 IBT passes with max ram, CoreTemps were reaching 80C, never pushed it past 4.4ghz)

Win7 RC

all bios voltages left on "normal" which equate to:
vcore: 1.22
vram: 1.5
QPI: 1.2
IOH core: 1.1
ICH core: 1.1
ICH I/O: 1.5
cpu PLL: 1.8

I say 24/7 stable because the system is 24/7 stable and never crashes. i can run memtest86 for 24 hours, IBT for 500 passes with all my ram being used, and i've run prime95 for ~48 hours. chkdsk never shows any errors, never had any corrupt files, nothing odd in the Windows event log. nothing ever crashes (except for known program bugs like in ArmA 2). the system is usually on for several days at a time and never faults.

The Problem:
the only time the system crashes is when i try to encode video with Virtual Dub with XVID. sometimes the program will hang and give no error till i use the task manager to force close it. sometimes my system will just hang. other times it will reboot. the problem seems to be intermittent, some times i can encode a dozen files, then other times it will continuously crash or hang my system and then work fine again.

the funny thing with this is that it can pass stress tests all day and night (literally) while i use it for work, gaming, internet, movies, de-fragmenting the drives anything i can think of and it never crashes or hangs.

Troubleshooting:
I have tried under clocking. i have spend (at this point) days off from work trying to make this stable when encoding using virtual dub. i have tried an endless number of voltage combination within safe limits, but i wouldn't think i would not have to do that for just one program. from my experience when memtest and IBT are completely stable, the system should take anything you throw at it. i have tried taking one hard drive out, putting other hard drives in, but the problem still persists.

i have been using Virtual Dub for years and would like to keep using it, but at this point I may have to try something else. i have used XVID in handbrake and AVIDemux this morning with no crash, but as soon as i try VDub, Vdub hangs or the system does.

there must still be a possibility of a hardware issue, but don't you think it would have shown up by now? i wouldn't think a bad codec could cause a whole system crash.

 

[RADEoN]

what cooler do you have?

 

[echn111]

None of the stress tests you mentioned really check the graphics. Is your GPU overclocked and has this been stress tested?

 

[MurderCityDevil]

If, like you said, your hardware is solid and OC is stable, and the system can handle anything and everything with the exception of vDub, it's pretty safe to say that the problem is vDub and not your system.

 

[BillParrish]

I agree. Might want to post over here at the Vdub support forum. Great tool. But it (as you know) uses other programs to encode/decode audio etc and every now and again an incompatibilty sneaks in.
http://forums.virtualdub.org/index.php?

 

[frag85]

what cooler do you have?

Noctura NH U12

None of the stress tests you mentioned really check the graphics. Is your GPU overclocked and has this been stress tested?

i ran Furmark for several hours (with linpack running on the other 7 threads), never any artifacts or crashes, although i reduced my OC quite a bit because i'd get artifcats from the core overheating in ArmA 2, but other games cause the GPU to get warmer and never show artifacts and never crash. i have a custom fan profile that ramps up the fan way before it would with the default profile. the card is also not overclocked while running VDub.

 

[frag85]

this does not make much sense but....

i had a bad monitor. i have 2 Dell Trinitron's that are were manufactured in 2001 that i had received from a friend several years ago during a big move. for a while i have thought that both were burning out and the other day one started go go dark/dim over and over the more 'white' on the screen. when i unplugged it and hooked up my 42" LCD TV as my new primary everything is stable again.

the only explanation i can come up with is that the CRT monitors (plugged into the same UPS power strip as the computer) were causing electrical issues and some how virtual dub managed to load the system just right for it to become unstable. either that or the signal the video card was receiving was causing the video card or motherboard to loose stability.

all fixed now!