help BSOD - tried everything incl. reformat

T

tomplatz

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
70
Here's my recent hell:

For starters, I had an AMD x2 4200+ on a DFI Lanparty board with 2gb DDR1 ram, 2 seagate barracuda drives in raid0, a 7600GT PCI-E card with 2 cd-rom drives and a 350W antec PSU.

The random BSOD with different messages each time began occurring.

I replaced the PSU with a 480w model. Same thing.

I replaced the cpu/mobo/ram/vid card all at once. Now I run a Gigabyte GA73-VM S2 board with a q9450 cpu, 8800GT PCI-E vid card and 4gb of crucial ram. Same hard drives, though reformatted and running non in raid; same 2 cd/dvd drives, same case and PSU.

Lo and behold - BSOD.

I use a low-level formatiing dos program to wipe both drives, in case it's a boot sector virus.

BSOD

I tried disconnecting varous combinations of hard drive and cd/dvd-rom. BSOD

I can usually work a few minues in windows before it hangs.

Temps are stone cold. CPU is 28 with this monster TR-120 HSF I put in and the case is in the low 30s.

No unusual boot tones. Nothing.

Then only things I can think of are as follows:

1, The case wiring (which controls the HDD LED, power switch, etc..) could have a short somewhere.
2. The PSU doesn't have enough voltage on one rail for the video card, though I tried putting my old 7600 back in and it made no difference.
3. A short in the PSU.

Otherwise I'm lost. I've spent a fortune in time in money trying to make this box work. Could peripherals like mice/keyboards cause this maybe?

PLEASE help
 
BSODs indicate some sort of hardware issue, but peripherals wouldn't be the source of your problems.

Have you tried using some of Seagate's SeaTools (or some other form of bootable HDD diagnostic software) to diagnose a potential problem with your hard drives?

With your latest upgrade, you may also want to get a stronger (>450W) power supply.
 
tiraides said:
BSODs indicate some sort of hardware issue, but peripherals wouldn't be the source of your problems.

Have you tried using some of Seagate's SeaTools (or some other form of bootable HDD diagnostic software) to diagnose a potential problem with your hard drives?

With your latest upgrade, you may also want to get a stronger (>450W) power supply.
Click to expand...

yup, ran Seatools on both drives, no errors. my psu is 480W, but I noticed it only puts out 16A over the 12V rail. could this be too low for the 8800GT? still doesn't explain why it crashed with my old setup.

i'm pulling out what little hair I have left over this
 
alright - now I've changed the PSU to a 575W beast with 2 12v rails and SLI compatible, so there's no way my one 8800GT is overtaxing it.

FYI - I even tried running off the onboard video with the 8800GT out, still crashing.

now I'm looking at wacky stuff: Can a keyboard or mouse crash a system? A monitor? Interference from something nearby? No big appliances next to it.

Please, please help. I'm desperate. Going to RMA my new ram and motherboard in the hopes that it's one of these.
 
One, which specific power supply did you switch to?

Two, have you tried all of the troubleshooting steps listed in the GenHard FAQ? (Specifically, have you tried troubleshooting the motherboard outside of the case, to see whether or not the case may be shorting it out?)

Three, since you've replaced just about everything else, have you tried using a new hard drive?
 
Will the system run Memtest86+ for at least 24 hours, error free? Seen a lot of BSOD's related to flaky memory subsystems.

A cool way to get Memtest86+ and a bunch of other handy diagnostics in a bootable CD is to download and burn the Ultimate Boot CD. I keep one on my bench all the time.....:cool:
 
okay, memtest86+ picked up many errors. I'm rma'ing the ram. thanks.

psu: logisys 575W SLI unit. 24 amps per rail available.

question for the masses: can a case really short out your board? it's odd that two completely different psu/mobo/cpu/ram/vidcard setups had the same problem, the only common factors being the case, hard drive and peripherals.
 
Logisys PSUs are crap. Whoever told you that PSU was SLI capable was lying to you. Replace it ASAP. Get this PSU:
Corsair 450VX 450W PSU - $70

Yes a case can short out the motherboard.
 
tiraides said:
BSODs indicate some sort of hardware issue, but peripherals wouldn't be the source of your problems.
Click to expand...

I am sorry but I have had a computer a couple of years ago that would give me the BSOD intermitenly. First I checked out the software, everything looked good. I did just like you and swapped out ALL components even mouse and keyboard, still BSOD.... Then out of curiosity and out of options i swapped out monitors and all be damned if that fixed the problem. May try swapping out monitors before you RMA everything back. Hope this helps.
 
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