• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Please help troubleshooting a friend's machine

J

just.an.average.joe

n00b
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
5
Hi, I'm trying to get a friend's computer up and running. It's a prebuilt custom machine by Cyber Power PC (specs below). She bought it "open box" from Newegg. Apparently the RAM was not properly seated when she received it, that was easily fixed, but the machine than had graphics anomalies. These were temporarily corrected by moving the GPU to the other PCIe slot from the one it came in. However, the problem recurred after a few weeks.
This is where I was brought into the process, when I tried to start the machine to see what it was doing it got into the Windows logo screen stayed there briefly and then gave a blue screen of death.
I reinstalled the OS, and it seemed to be working but after doing Windows security updates, and a video driver update the BSOD is back. As an alternative to the BSOD it also sometimes just goes to a blank black screen after the Windows logo. I can consistently get it to boot in safe mode, but uninstalling the video driver from there did not seem to fix the problem. Any suggestions of things to try are welcome.
If you need more info just let me know, I may not have it, but I will do my best.

Thanks,
-Joe

Specs:

OS: Windows 7 (currently 64 bit professional edition)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3

RAM: ADATA DDR3 1333 (2 X 4GB)

GPU: MSI Radion 6850

PSU: XTREAME GEAR PSAZ-CP700 700W

Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB

CPU: Intel i7-2600K @ 3.40GHz 3.41GHz
 
Get a new PSU. That's an extremely low qulaity PSU. Even it isn't the cause of the current issue, it still would be a good idea to replace that PSU before it damages the system any further. I recommend this replacement:
$57 - Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W PSU

Also what voltage is that RAM rated at? At the very least, get us the model number of the RAM.

Also, hit up our stickied "Basic Troubleshooting Guide" for some test you can run.
 
Thanks Danny,

I think the reason she bought an open box machine to begin with is that money is tight, I don't know if a new PSU is an option financially, but I'll suggest it.

I don't have any documentation with this machine, I gave you all the info printed on the RAM sticks themselves. I realize that isn't ideal, but I haven't got more info to give.
 
just.an.average.joe said:
I think the reason she bought an open box machine to begin with is that money is tight, I don't know if a new PSU is an option financially, but I'll suggest it.
Click to expand...
Yeah thats why you don't buy open-box Cyberpower PCs in the first place: They're always filled with crappy parts that shortens the life of the PC. In the mean time, do you have a spare PSU that you can use to test this PC? I have a strong feeling that the shitty PSU in that Cyberpower PC is damaging the PC as is.

just.an.average.joe said:
I don't have any documentation with this machine, I gave you all the info printed on the RAM sticks themselves. I realize that isn't ideal, but I haven't got more info to give.
Click to expand...
Ok, google and download a program called "CPU-Z". Unzip/install it and run it. Click on the "SPD" tab. Either take a screenshot of it and post it here or tell us the following info: "Part Number" and "Voltage".

I'm also focusing on the RAM because A-Data had RAM rated at 1.65V at one point which is far above the recommended 1.5V voltage for Intel CPUs. As such, that RAM may also be causing long-term damage to the CPU.
 
Lets try to rule out the GPU, remove her 6850 and use the on board graphics, see if the problem repeats it's self if it doesn't we can narrow it down to PSU or GPU.
 
Vithar said:
Lets try to rule out the GPU, remove her 6850 and use the on board graphics, see if the problem repeats it's self if it doesn't we can narrow it down to PSU or GPU.
Click to expand...

I had the same thought. I also realized that I needed to go back to the version of Windows 7 for which she has a valid key. I was using one of mine for troubleshooting, but when I get it working I want to return her software, not mine.

While I had the new image downloading/burning on my machine I decided to put Linux (Mint-7) on hers just to see what would happen. With the GPU installed I get a working desktop, but there are faint vertical bars visible across the entire screen (~1 inch wide and 1 inch apart at 1280X1024). With the GPU removed, and the on-board graphics in use the bars are gone.

I am about to reinstall Windows 7, with the GPU still out, and I will hopefully have the CPU-Z results Danny asked for after that.
 
Ok, I have the CPU-Z info, the machine is currently up and running Windows 7 (Home Premium) fine on the on-board graphics. Vithar, I'm inclined to agree with you.

I couldn’t figure out how to attach pictures, but here is the part of the text report about RAM, if you want the rest the report let me know.

I looked into the GPU a bit more, and it appears to be a factory-overclocked version. It looks exactly like this one. Is there any way to un-overclock it or anything? I’m thinking that might help it to work right.

It looks to me like the voltage is 1.50 V.

Memory SPD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------



DIMM # 1

SMBus address 0x51

Memory type DDR3

Module format UDIMM

Manufacturer (ID) A-Data Technology (7F7F7F7FCB000000)

Size 4096 MBytes

Max bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz)

Part number

Serial number 00007C32

Manufacturing date Week 06/Year 12

Number of banks 8

Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts

EPP no

XMP no

AMP no

JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency

JEDEC #1 5.0-5-5-14-19 @ 380 MHz

JEDEC #2 6.0-6-6-17-23 @ 457 MHz

JEDEC #3 7.0-7-7-20-27 @ 533 MHz

JEDEC #4 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 609 MHz

JEDEC #5 9.0-9-9-25-34 @ 685 MHz



DIMM # 2

SMBus address 0x53

Memory type DDR3

Module format UDIMM

Manufacturer (ID) A-Data Technology (7F7F7F7FCB000000)

Size 4096 MBytes

Max bandwidth PC3-10700 (667 MHz)

Part number

Serial number 00007C31

Manufacturing date Week 06/Year 12

Number of banks 8

Nominal Voltage 1.50 Volts

EPP no

XMP no

AMP no

JEDEC timings table CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency

JEDEC #1 5.0-5-5-14-19 @ 380 MHz

JEDEC #2 6.0-6-6-17-23 @ 457 MHz

JEDEC #3 7.0-7-7-20-27 @ 533 MHz

JEDEC #4 8.0-8-8-22-30 @ 609 MHz

JEDEC #5 9.0-9-9-25-34 @ 685 MHz
 
UPDATE: I now have the machine up and running with the GPU installed. However, I do not have the driver for the GPU installed.
I was at this point last night, installed the driver, and the BSODs and blank screens returned.

Any recommendations for how to deal with this issue? It has recurred with multiple driver versions.
 
Let windows 7 install the drive through divice manager, that's what I do and those drivers rarely crash my computers, who knows maybe you downloaded a bad driver the first time.
 
The PSU or GPU is the two most possible causes.

Test the GPU in a different machine, as it may be the culprit.

If the GPU is fine, then test with a different PSU.

The GPU may be fine, but the extra load is to much for the PSU, and the system goes unstable.

BTW

The memory info was for the voltage rating, which is 1.5 and that is fine
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top