Forced Reboot w/o BSOD

A

asyork

2[H]4U
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Jan 3, 2002
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I just built a new system with a core i7 920, EVGA X58 SLI LE, 3x2GB Corsair XMS3 1600 8-8-8-24, Corsair 750TX, and a reused GeForce 8600GT. I am using the Windows 7 Enterprise trial.

Under normal use everything has been fine, but I haven't loaded any of my more stressful software (CS4) onto the system yet. Last night, I ran Prime95, and it crashed after a little over 2 hours. The Event log says, "The previous system shutdown at 7:57:34 AM on ‎9/‎14/‎2009 was unexpected." It appears there was no BSOD error or memory dump when it happened. Prime95 also listed no failures.

Today, I reran the specific test Prime95 was on, and it passed without a problem. Then I decided to run the Windows Experience Index test since I hadn't yet on my new system. During the CPU test, my monitor went into standby, and the next thing I saw was POST. Again, no BSOD, no memory dump, and the event viewer just said, "The previous system shutdown at 4:36:48 PM on ‎9/‎14/‎2009 was unexpected."

I haven't OCed anything yet, just using stock speeds, stock voltage, and the stock cooler. When running Prime95, the highest temp my CPU reached was 60C, at which point my fans kicked in to full voltage, and it dropped to 58C and stayed there. During the Windows Experience Index test, my CPU never reached 100%, and the temps were lower as well.

Is there anything I can do to isolate the problem, and have some real information to determine what I need to return to Microcenter for a replacement? I don't plan to OC for a bit, but I'd like to be able to, and that won't be happening on a system that isn't stable at stock.

I've been checking my temps by the LED on my motherboard, the documentation says that it is a CPU temp, but it is idling around 28C, which is only slightly above the ambient temp of my room, which leaves me questioning it a bit.
 
Thanks. I just installed Core Temp, and it's showing 10 to 15 degrees higher than the motherboard indicator. Idling at 45 to 50C makes me think heat is likely my problem. Now I just have to figure out why it's doing that :/

Edit: After <20 minutes of Prime95 my system rebooted again. My max temps were 75C, and current were ~70C. Far lower than I would expect a failure at.

I got CPUZ and noticed something odd. My multiplier is at 21, even thought I have it set in the BIOS to 20x. Also, I have the XMP profile active. I wasn't aware that this actually OCs my uncore settings, I'll disable that, and run Prime95 again tonight. Could that possibly be why my multiplier was set to 21 automatically as well?
 
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I turned off the XMP profile, and the max core temp on the test was 68C. I'll turn it back on and try again.

Edit: With the profile enabled again, the max temp was 72C. The profile had nothing to do with the multiplier being higher than set.

Edit2: I think I might try to exchange my memory for the Dominator series. It's actually cheaper than what I got right now at Microcenter, though what I have has a mail in rebate that would make it less. I just hate mail-in rebates...

Edit3: Before I go to bed tonight, I'll flash my BIOS to the newest version, and run the Prime95 blend test overnight to see what happens.
 
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well the reason your temps are going up when you have the XMP profile set is that its putting a higher load on the northbridge because the XMP profile is increasing the timing on the ram and/or the clock speed on the ram from 1333 to 1600mhz.. which is integrated into processor..

but heats not your issue.. you are well within the thermal limits of the processor..

also note the 21x multiplier is caused by the turbo mode for the processor which is in the bios and has nothing to do with the XMP profile.. that is for your memory and memory only..

like enginurd said.. try running the small FFT's for a good bit of time.. see what happens.. if it passes.. then its not the cpu.. then run the large FFT's with the XMP profile enabled.. see if it crashes.. if it does then try it with the XMP profile off..

this will basicly rule out if its the processor or the ram.. if both tests pass then we can pretty much rule out the cpu and ram being the issue.. but as a secondary test you can try running memtest86 to fully check the ram..
 
Well, Prime95 has been running for over 8 hours on the small FFT test with a max temp of 74, and hasn't crashed yet.

I did update my BIOS before running the test. If I am really lucky, that will have solved all my problems.

I'll run Memtest86+ tonight.
 
Well, Memtest86+ really threw a wrench in my troubleshooting. It has now been running for over 8.5 hours straight without a single error or reboot with the XMP profile on. After further research, it looks like Memtest cannot make use of the full speed of the memory because it only operates on a single core. My problem could be that the memory is overheating or I have a defective PSU. I guess the motherboard can't be ruled out completely, either. I've got a fans all over the place inside my case, but nothing blowing parallel to my RAM that's anywhere near it.

On top of that, I've had a couple crashes now while playing WoW. There have still been no BSODs with the crashes, and the event log just says it was an unexpected reboot without a clean shutdown.

I'll run the large FFT test for a little bit right now, but I think I'm going to try and exchange my ram today anyway, and then test the rew RAM tonight.
 
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