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Is Prime95 a reliable hardware test?

D

Daemorok

Gawd
Joined
Aug 18, 2000
Messages
700
I have been having random BSODs some with errors, some where the screen just turns blue and, thats it. They usually happen when gaming (Quake3 rocket areana, and Counter-Strike).

The windows install was fresh as of about a month ago, and ive crashed 3 or 4 times since then. My windows is tweaked a little, but the only major "hack" is the theme dll swap so i can run themes without styleXP or whatever.

So hardware specs:
A7n8x ultra400 standard.
AMD XP 3200+
2x512 Corsair 3200LL 2-2-2-6
Sapphire 9600xt
SB Audigy1
Winfast TV 2000 XP Deluxe (TV tuner)

WD 250 jb
WD 200 jb
lite-on DVDROM
lite-on 52x CDRW

enermax 550w PSU

Nothing is OCd or has been.
The ram is running at 2.7v

I have run memtest, goldmem, and msinst for at least 8 hours each on seperate occasions, with the ram running stock except for the 2.7v
and have never gotten any errors.

When I run prime95(version 23.8.1) tourture test It always fails somewhere along the line.
It could take hours, or minutes, or seconds. Lately it dies on the first test.

When I BSOD from gaming its a random amount of time, I have had it crash minutes after i load the game, and it has crashed after playing for over an hour.

I am thinking that maybe I should get new ram. I have had this ram for awhile, and I have changed the mobo and CPU and still get these issues.
 
RMA your processor. If it's not overclocked and fails Prime95, the processor is definately dying. Contact AMD and get a replacement...
 
What are your temps under load? How are your voltage rails? Are your drivers and Windows Updates current?
 
Shorty: It has done this with 3 CPUs. 2 seperate 2500+ and this 3200+

dandragonrage:
Under load the bios shows 40C for CPU and about 35C for case temp.

Last I checked (a month ago or so) my voltage rails were stable however I dont remember what the readings were. I need to instal MBM or asus probe to get you a current reading.
I will do that when I get off work.

Windows updates and drivers are all current.
 
Take out the sound card and TV capture card. If that doesn't help (it probably won't), then reset your BIOS to failback settings or whatever (or manually make everything untweaked). If that doesn't work, I'd think it's the RAM, but you say memtest comes up fine.... Motherboard, I'd say then.
 
Actually I was thinking motherboard too so i got a new one yesterday. Since it would have been the cheapest fix anyway. Same problems, so i posted.
 
i have tested the ram at
2226 2.6v and 2.7v
2326 2.6v and 2.7v

using mtinst.exe (microsofts ram tester)
but always at 200mhz
 
i think you should test your RAM for 24hrs on memtest.

then, if it checks out, it's obviously your proc. biting the dust :eek:
 
Overall, this sounds like a cooling problem. What heatsink are you using to cool the CPU? Do you have thermal paste between CPU and heatsink? Is there decent airflow throughout the case? Is the heatsink clean and free of dust?

Also, doublecheck to see what voltage your CPU is running at. It should be set for 1.65. Check to see if it's a set higher or lower than that. Could cause too much heat if it's high or could cause the CPU to not get enough juice if it's low.

Prime 95 will very quickly raise your CPU temps as soon as you start running it.
 
Heastink is a swiftech MCX462V with a 92mm tornado on it and it is clean.

Case is a lian-li with 4 80mm sunons, it moves about 100cfm in and 100cfm out
Fans are mounited as follows:
dual front intake
top exhaust
rear exhaust

I use AS5 thermal paste
The CPU is running at 1.65
 
Interesting...

You mentioned getting MBM to check your voltage rails during normal operation. Did you get those?

It doesn't happen when you just test the memory right? It happens when you nail the processor to the wall....

Do you have to have the voltage of your memory turned up? Try lowering that down some and see if that introduces more stability for your processor...

Do you have any background apps like AIM or anything like that running when you run Prime95?
 
I would try a few other stress tests first.
Theres the Weathermans stress test.
Go Here -> Downloads -> Bottom of the page is "StressCPU". Try downloading and running that.
Try the Soft Sandra Burnin Test.
Also try a vidio card tester like 3dMark.

Could possibly be PSU when everything becomes loaded down.
Try removeing anything not needed to run windows and then try the stress tests again.
By removeing exess hardware ( all spare drives both hard and disk, sound card, nic card, etc ) you cut the number of variable that could be causeing the problem.
If you find that it runs ok at min spec then start adding hardware and keep testing each change.

Plus the other thing to do is try and make it BSOD.
Make sure that the auto-restart is turned off so that you can write down both the stop code
and the line in capitals.
Is it the same stop code/ reason each time.
If it is then use the stop code to look up why.
If not then you may have more than one slight problem.

Luck......... :D
 
I'm not familiar with how the heatsink mounts, but are you sure it's mounted correctly and making good contact with the core?
 
ok, under load (prime95) my 5v and 12v rails drop 0.1

my 12v at idle is 12.3 and under load 12.2
my 5v at idle is 4.9 and under load 4.8
my 3.3v is stable.
the vcore is actually 1.68 but thats cause of the asus bios. thats as low as its gonna get.

Here is some interesting info. The ram becomes more stable at higher voltage.
if i set it to 2.6 or 2.7 the prime Blended (RAM intensive) test dies almost instantly.
if i set it to 2.8 it takes about 5 minutes to die.

If i run the Small prime test it does not fail (only 5 hours worth though)

The STOP codes are almost always different.
I run prime with nothing else running.
 
Try different slots for your memory. Because now it is starting to look like a memory issue.
 
If it was a pure memory error then Memtest86 would show it up.
I'm more inclined to go for something like an overheating northbridge.
It will give you memory errors plus other errors hence rare random BSOD.
One thing to try is to run open case with a room fan blowing cold air into the case.
That way there will be no way its heat.

Another stress test to try is PiFast.

Luck............ :D
 
Well I ran memtest86+ last night and after only 8 hours it had 2100 errors, all within the last 100 megs of RAM. I find this strance since less than 3 months ago both memtest86 and mtinst.exe came up with no errors after 8 hours of testing. However, this is a different program... anyway I will be calling corsair today, to see how their lifetime warrenty works. :)
 
There is no one tool for testing any given part. Even memtest86, which tests memory *NOT RAM* needs additional diagnosis.

It definatly seems like bad RAM at this point. Here's why... Memtest, tests memory, not RAM, however you have replaced/tested all the other possible components (mobo, CPU, PSU). At this point you need to remove all RAM, and test each stick one at a time. This should show you the bad stick, double test this stick on another PC if possible. If it's bad on that machine too, RMA it. There is a outside chance it's the PSU, but you have tested that pretty well.
 
I am glad you finally found what looks to be the problem. From what you've said above (3 diff. procs., 550w psu, new mb...), you have spent a lot of time and money diagnosing your system.

I have been in the same boat and know just how bad it is to have a flakey system that you have already put your time, money and heart into only to have it crash all the time.

So congrats to you... Your trial by fire has now made you a better computer troubleshooter!
 
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