Did Overclocking kill my computer?

J

JamesCurtis

n00b
Joined
Jun 20, 2006
Messages
56
Hi, I just recently assembled a computer with these specs

E6300, 2x1GB Corsair dominator pc2-8500, evga 8800gtx ko, Asus p5n-e sli.

I'm running this in a server 2003 enterprise environment.

Last thursday I received my cooling parts (Scythe Ninja, HR-05, and a standard southbridge passive heatsink)

Put all the cooling parts in, successfully get my fsb to 495 stable, and begin a stress test. Stress test begins Thursday night at 11:00

Friday afternoon at 5:00 I get back from work, and check on my computer. It seems to be running fine, and prime95 is still running just fine. I turn prime95 off, and reboot the computer. I get into Supreme Commander, the game freezes, reboots. This freezing problem gets worse and worse until on Sunday the computer refuses to POST. I find out that it's a bad memory module (Corsair Dominator PC2-8500). The computer will not boot with that memory module in it.

The cpu core temps on the cores didn't exceed 55C at load, NB temp was 32'ish.

Today I bring my computer into work to test out the other memory module. The memory module goes through 18 memtest86 passes just fine, all morning into the noon hour. I go into the recovery console in the windows setup and run a chkdsk /R, it completes, finds errors, and goes. I boot back into windows, load prime95 on both cores, and open up supreme commander. I let it run like this for 2-3 hours, nothing happens.

I get the computer home, and it has worked fine until about 10 minutes ago, it froze when I was checking my bit torrent status. It refused to bring up bit torrent, then I brought up task manager to see the cpu util. and it came up as 60-70%, then froze solid. The error code that came up on the reboot was 0x0000000a.

One thing to keep in mind, when i reassembled everything with the new cooling equip on thursday, my 4-pin ATX connector got dislodged a bit. I don't think it was making a solid connection through those 14-16 hours of stress testing.

What damage am I looking at? I'm thinking of replacing the motherboard but I'm not sure what to do at this moment, I hate to have spent this much money and then start spending away again. I can't return the motherboard due to the northbridge cooler removal, I snipped the plastic pins instead of removing them the proper way. Ever since I ran that stress test, nothing's been the same.

Please help :(
 
Aw man.

Sorry to tell you this, but you're fucked. It's the mobo/
 
Is there any chance the cpu could be shot?

It won't stay up through the night, always has a stop error code when I get up in the morning (it's at the login screen, login and it says there was an error). I just want to make sure that I get the right thing :)
 
what are your bios settings particulary the memory timings. Provide details.
 
I repalced the NB heatsink with an HR-05 and snipped off the plastic retainers on the stock, so i won't be able to send it back for RMA.

Specifics are - Everything's left to auto other than the voltage and timing on the memory.

Memory timings - 5-5-5-15 2.2v
 
dumb question but it might have an even dumber answer... have you tried putting everything back to stock speeds and voltage? or were you even overclocking in the first place? i assume you were sence you posted in this subforum
 
After I found out that I had a bad memory module, I had reset the bios to all stock speeds. Before I had all of this happen, my computer was rock stable at any voltage I would set it to. The only thing i've done different since the bad memory module was put the good module in slot 1, maybe i'll try it in slot 2 to see if that'll make a difference. I've heard that some people have had problems with slot 1.

Thanks for the replies :)
 
ok Nforce chipset, lots of issues, and I am not up on it. dont want to alarm you but there were some reports of bios issues were if you set your memory voltage to a high value the MB set it higher and fried peoples memory, no idea if your board is affected or not. hated to even mention it but some investigation might be warranted. Find threads on your board everywhere you can. See if Asus has a forum.

I going to bail on you as I have no expertise on that chipset. yet.
 
I'm trying a different cpu as we speak, I'll let you know how it goes. I just heard a rumor from my friend that they had problems with that on the 680i, didn't know it applied to the 650i too :(
 
JamesCurtis said:
I'm trying a different cpu as we speak, I'll let you know how it goes. I just heard a rumor from my friend that they had problems with that on the 680i, didn't know it applied to the 650i too :(
Click to expand...

yeah... the 680i and 650i chipsets are pretty damn poor for long-term stability AFAIC. I mean, when they work they're amazing, but they're very finnicky.

The NF4 chips were similar too, they'd work for a year or two, then refuse to boot. I had lots of Asus boards RMA'd through me because of that damn chipset.

OP: Have you tried removing EVERYTHING from the computer except for:
-GPU
-CPU
-1 RAM stick
-MOBO

(that means unplug all drives and everything)

After leaving the backup battery out for a full night (with the PSU unplugged)?

That's revived my "dead" P5B-deluxe a few times, although it's a different chipset.

Looks like a new mobo though... RMA time.
 
Can I RMA it with no heatsink on the NB? like i said, I cut the plastic pins that keep the stock NB cooler on, so I can't put that on again.

Edit: Oh yeah, and I have my SB heatsink thermal epoxy'd to the SB, that isn't coming off any time soon ;)
 
after you use epoxy there isnt any coming off, and there isnt any RMAing either. although it depends on what company you got it from.
 
you can leave off the nb and still be able to rma the motherboard.

done that couple times with asus, dfi, epox
 
Have you actually run any memory tests on the module that you think is good and the module you replaced the bad one with??

Memtest86+ should pick up anything wrong with the RAM 99.9% of the time.

Just because the board posts and boots with the RAM you are using doesn't mean that it isn't bad.
 
JamesCurtis said:
Can I RMA it with no heatsink on the NB? like i said, I cut the plastic pins that keep the stock NB cooler on, so I can't put that on again.

Edit: Oh yeah, and I have my SB heatsink thermal epoxy'd to the SB, that isn't coming off any time soon ;)
Click to expand...

You can be really ninja, and purchase another board, do a 'switcheroo' on it (put the old mobo in the new mobo box), put the new mobo's nb hs on the old mobo, and attempt to do the same to the sb. Claim it was doa, and get your money back. :D although that could be unethical, and immoral.
 
Well, it appears I got one of those finicky P5N-E SLI motherboards. I put my good ram (still waiting on the 2nd stick to be rma'd) in the 2nd slot instead of the first (black instead of yellow). I've been running stable ever since yesterday afternoon. This will at least get me by until I get a different motherboard. Thanks for all the help everyone, it was much appreciated :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top