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Need HELP diagnosing problem

I

Impulse

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Apr 5, 2001
Messages
10,232
Ok, I'm by no means a newb to OC'ing but this is getting irritating, mostly because of how little I have to go on and how stable the system seemed when I first assembled it. In windows it runs like a rock, I don't think it's crashed yet at the settings in my sig and it passed Small FTT Prime tests as well as Prime Blend + rthdribl + a looped MP3 + other stuff running (see pics), no errors.




However, there's something seriously wrong with it and games are not even close to being stable. HL2, CS:S, and KOTOR all lock up the system, with a scratched-like sound looping in the background, at rather random intervals, even at stock speeds (no OC on the vid card or proc)... Doesn't seem tied to heat at all given my temps.

The first clue I've got about what the problem may be (and the main reason I believe it is a faulty memory problem) is that Memtest86 is spitting out the same error on Test 6 over and over. At stock speeds and 2.5-2-2-8-1T timings it didn't take long to produce it. At 2.5-2-2-10 it took a lot longer but it still produced the same error, see pics.

memtesttras87zu.jpg

memtesttras105qp.jpg


The Ballistix is supposedly rated at 2-2-2-6 (according to Crucial's site) though I'm kinda confused about this fact as well... I clearly remember the site changing a number of times since it was first introduced (first it said 2-2-2-X, then 2-3-2-X). Furthermore, the SPD rating on my sticks (via CPU-Z) reads 2-2-2-8, note the TRAS of 8 not 6. In any case... I'm gonna do some further tests by loosening up TRCD to 3 to see if it alleviates the problems before I call in an RMA.

Gonna also test both DIMMs independently, I post this mostly to see if anyone can tell me whether this could be the cause of my crashes or not and whether I should be RMA'ing the stick (s). The only other clue that I've got (besides the Memtest errors) that it could be the RAM that's at fault is the way Splinter Cell 2 crashes after a long while. Instead of locking up like the others it displays a stop error (blue screen though from what I understand it's not classified as BSOD) that says IRQL_NOT_LES_OR_EQUAL.

It also displays this stop error every single time I quit the game (which reboots my machine), see below:

sc2stopirql5jt.jpg


I did a fair bit of research on this error message (couldn't find anything on the specific stop message, see pic above for it) and I think I've eliminated every other possible cause for it... Just gotta do one more test without Roxio software installed which was one of the supposed causes. But it's not an IRQ conflict (even tried without my Audigy in the system, which shares an IRQ with the 6800), it's not a PCI latency issue, and it's not my OC as all of these crashes happen even at stock speeds.

Thanks for any help in advance, diagnosing this has been fairly frustrating. I'm guesing it's a faulty dimm stick issue (since the Memtest86 error is always the same and it gets repeated on multiple passes) but I wanted to consult more expert opinions.
 
First make sure everything is properly seated (psu connects, cpu, memory, etc.)
Make sure the heatsinks on cpu & vid card are seated properly (some vid cards have issues with the heatsinks not touching the gpu...)
Ok, what is your sound card? Is the pci bus speed overly out of spec? Creative cards can be very testy about such, and having a sound lock up points at that...
If you are failing memtest try these things - pull one then the other memory stick see if the fail still happens - if so slow your memory timings - if it happens with only one stick - then bad memory - rma if possible - if both are still failing - up the voltage as small amount as you can to the memory. If slowing the timings/bus/and upping the voltage does not help - you have 2 bad sticks-rma both - that points to perhaps a poor psu as memory can be damaged easily with an out of spec psu, especially if overclocking (could be a motherboard issue too)
See if you can borrow or swap out memory and see if prob still exists
Double check all connections especially psu to board/vid card. Check both vid and cpu for overheating issues (since stable in non-video stress tests look hard at vid card too)
lower the clock speed of the vid card and see if problem goes away - if so then vid card has cooling issue or is clocked too high.
Double check your psu's output (motherboard monitor, etc.) and see if any of the rails dip during heavy gaming use. If so, put your vid card on a rail independent from anything else and try again. IF rails dip too low still - look at what you have pulling on the psu and perhaps look at removing needless power usage or consider getting stronger psu.
GOOD LUCK
 
Like I mentioned above, I've got a SB Audigy but I tried running the system w/o it (using the on-board sound) figuring it might be an IRQ conflict... Alas SC still crashed. PCI bus should be locked but as I also mentioned, the crashes happen even at stock speeds so that's not the issue. I'm gonna run Memtest overnight at 2-3-2-8 and tomorrow morning I'll be testing both sticks separate.

I did check the molex connector on the 6800 yesterday but I didn't check the ATX connector, I'll get on that. The 6800 isn't overheating though, it's running very cool... I ran rthdribl for the 13 hours that I ran the Prime Blend test and it didn't go over 66C or so (I hear 6800s with stock heatsinks go up as high as the 70-80Cs), I think that was in one of the above screenshots.

The 6800 is running on an isolated rail with nothing else on it right now and all my voltages are really stable all the time. The 12v line is a little low (according to the ASUS PC Probe, according to the BIOS it's over 12v) but it's stable there. Vcore fluctuates around .2 but always upwards (never under what I've set it at). It doesn't look like a power problem really considering I haven't got much as far as power hogging goes (only stuff not listed in the sig is two optical drives).

That and the consistent Memtest86 error which is the same on every pass, not to mention the crash/stop error on Splinter Cell whenever I exit it. Will update with further Memtest testing tomorrow. Thanks for the help! I'll make sure to test with another video card to completely rule out my 6800 if the RAM doesn't error out at 2-3-2 or using only one of the sticks.
 
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