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i need some help with a computer i just built

B

Boozer

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 11, 2004
Messages
2,348
hi, i just built a system for a friend. the specs are

AMD 64 3500+
2Gigs PC 3200 RAM
Gigabyte X850XT 256Megs
K8N Neo4 nForce 4 Ultra non sli
OCZ 520 Watt PSU
and a couple of hard drives n your usual optical drives

ive had a few... problems i guess. first time building a 64 system. the first problem i noticed was that it doesnt want to finish benchmarks. well ive only tried 3DMark2001SE. it gets to where the similar matrix scene is then it just freezes. i have to reset the computer to do anything. then a little while ago i was testing some games and was playing Rome: Total War and the screen just went blank, with a little crackle at the sound when the screen went blank. the system was still on, i was waiting for it to come back up hoping it was just a heat issue. but it never came on.what problem could this be? video card? thanks for your help
 
almost sounds like a memory problem. Download the newest version of memtest and let it run overnight. 1 cycle of the test isn't thorough enough as some errors only become apparent in extended testing.

You may also want to download and run prime95. That should test the processors ability to perform math functions.

Also, check your heat, especially on your vid card (fans spinning, etc)

did you install the newest drivers for your system or the ones that came with the Mobo? Make sure your stuff is the newest out there.

Also check your bios version against what is available on the website. If there are newer versions available read what those versions were released to fix. If you problem is listed as a fix then you have found the culprit right there. If not, you can still upgrade, you just do it at your own risk. I am personally very hesitant about flashing the bios after toasting a rig a few years ago.
 
There is a series of tests that I'd run, but first, just double check and ensure that all your parts are in their places securely. Now then...

1) go into your bios, and see if your voltages are jumping around. If not, then you can rule out that.

2) Run memtest for a while...make sure you do several runs through the tests. If it passes memtest, your memory is likely ok.

3) Run Prime95 on the torture test for a while. This will check to see if your CPU and memory have problems.

4) Dload ATI tool and see if it crashes. If it does, check your temps, check you speeds. See what happens when you ease off your clocks. If you have to lower them below what they should be, out of the package, running at then RMA the card.

5) Unistall all your drivers, and then reinstall them. Use drivercleaner.

6) Post your results if none of the above helps to resolve your problem, and we can go from there.
 
okay, thank you both. i will tell you the results asap

oh yeah i checked the voltages. very very stable. more stable then my enermax cooler giant. right where they should be. i went through and checked everything also. everything is exactly where it should be. im gettin worried now, hope its not the ram or vid card. ill be back later with results. thanks guys
 
i updated motherboard bios, and thats a no go, video card bios is up to date, i thought it was the ram so i took them out n tried different configurations like one at a time thing. same thing happens so its not the ram. i cant do mem test cuz i dont have a floppy disk unless theres a way to get around that. prime95 i let it run for 4 hours, thats not enough to get a definite answer but no errors. i do know that the cpu and video card are slightly clocked higher then they are supposed to be. the cpu is 2211Mhz not much. and the video card ram and core clock are a few points higher then they should be. im not sure how much i forgot. i lowered them just for the heck of it and nothing changed. i reset bios, nothing worked. and it only does the error on the lobby on 2001. i should try 2003 and 2005. tonight i will let prime95 run and mean while ill try to get a floppy. does anybody have any ideas? thanks alot
 
i did prime95 all night with no errors. i installed tribes vengance right now and started it up. going through all those little production previews, it did it again. the screen blacked out and a little bit of static came out of the speakers for a split second and that was it. the monitor went into stand by mode while the computer was still on. so far its done this in two games, tribes vengance and rome: total war. i can play half life 2 and counter strike source no problem. but these two other games.... everything is stock. so its not an overclock problem. im really thinking its the video card. has anybody had a problem like this before? your feedback is much appreciated. thanks
 
The only time I have had that problem is with a flaky videocard. Have you swapped it out for a PCI to check?
 
well thats the thing, the only pci card i got wont play any games. it wont even come near starting one up. because it only happens when i play games and minimize them or during startup of a game. it only happened onces in the middle of one. cpu and ram seem to be perfectly fine, im really leaning towards the video card but im not sure.
 
Boozer said:
well thats the thing, the only pci card i got wont play any games. it wont even come near starting one up. because it only happens when i play games and minimize them or during startup of a game. it only happened onces in the middle of one. cpu and ram seem to be perfectly fine, im really leaning towards the video card but im not sure.
Click to expand...

You can't get it to run 3dmark 2001 either? I had a radeon 9200se and it would. You should be able to get one online pretty cheap. It really is great to have a pci card laying around just fro diagnosis purposes.
 
the pci card i have has 2 megs of ram. so i dont think it can do much of anything. ill see what i can do though, thanks anyway
 
i downloaded the patch for 2001 and now it goes through everything fine. hmmmmmm but my computer still freezes up on games or whenever i minimize. so i duno
 
what are your RAM timings? You may need to loosen them up a little. If you command rate is at 1T, you may need it to be at 2T with that much RAM.
 
i have no clue about losening up ram timings. its not overclocked so why do i need to losen them up?
 
sometimes AMD systems are just picky about their RAM timings. It's something easy to try. If loosening your timings doesn't solve your problem, then you can eliminate that as your problem.
 
okay i saw... 8t, 4t, and 2t. not sure what to do. its not like my asus mobo, i was used to that bios. but this is a whole new bios i have to learn. also i went into the corecell thingy i think its called... or cell, something with cell and it showed my cpu at 2211mhz and the ddr at 186.. isnt that a bit slow for ram? or well not running at its fullest i should say. wouldnt that create errors since its not up to par with the cpu?
 
ok, so here's the web site for that mobo: http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K8N_Neo4_Platinum&class=mb

There's a big nasty red statement:
"Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability. "

I think that's the issue here. You may just be able to put a little more voltage in your RAM to get everything to work (I would only reccomend going up to 2.8V). I'll look around for the mobo manual to see how to adjust the timings.

(you wouldn't happen to be boozerbear from KOL?)
 
wow thank you very very much dude, that may have solved my problem right there. thank you for helpin out yall. ill let you know whats up if i can adjust it correctly.

nope thats not me. i go by [BLK]Boozer or -=]NS[=-^PUINSAI^
 
i got really confused in the bios, it says the ram is 167Mhz not the other.. number i said earlier. i dont know exactly what to change. and what to change them to. so if anybody knows what to do please tell me. thank you very much.
 
There is one thing that I noticed coming from an Intel to the A64 and thats memory performance is afected by not only voltage to the dram along with timings but the voltage to the cpu core must be correct . I had similar issues and things did smooth out by going manual on the dram setttings but things did not really smooth out until I increased the cpu core voltage marginally. I suspect that the voltage setting for the core (called Vcore) afffect the on die memory controller and subesequently system memory behavior. I have no proof my theory is correct other than by increaseing my system vocore from 1.5 to 1.5125 provided a instant stability and very good performance. To be more specific , I believe that many of the motherboards, while in tolerance ,tend to be on the low side regarding v-core. I believe my current setting is actuallly 1.5 and that i was under volting the Cpu by leaving set to defualt 1.5(actualy 1.47)
 
well i think im gonna have to stick with this. 4 sticks of 512 muskin ram double sided. as i hear that there is a compatibility issue. theres a problem with dual channel ram using 4 dimms. i guess ill have to sell the 4 sticks and get 2 sticks of 1 gig. or just stick with 1 gig.
 
Did you try raising your VDIMM (to 2.8V)? I looked through your mobo manual while I was at work and you are correct about the BIOS being confusing. I don't have it in front of me now, but I remember there being something where you have to enable expert setting from within the Cell menu. Also, make sure that the automatic overclocking is disabled.
 
thank you bigbad, i just got home n adjusted my voltages. and it seems to have worked. i also changed the ram speed to 200mhz, it was at 167, not at its fullest. i think that was also the reason why things werent acting right. thank you all very much for your help. i think the problem is fixed. good day to you all, and thank you very much... again. :)
 
BigBadBiologist said:
No prob. It's fun helping people that actually ask intelligent questions and try what you suggest. :)
Click to expand...

lol, yeah. guess you've dealt with some people who aren't so rational. this situation seems to come up alot when you ask troubleshooting questions that actually require some effort, such as running tests or changing bios settings and experimenting

person: help, my stuff's not working
me: why not try this(gives solution)
person: argh, i'm so fed up, (insert company) is total crap
me: did you try the stuff i said?
person: no.....
:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
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