Serous System Issue! Help!

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EnFoRcEr!!

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 29, 2003
Messages
472
Last night my pc began to restart on me speratically. Its done it before but it was rare. I was pretty sure my 9800 pro was at fault. Now though, my pc restarts A LOT. Usually when it reboots I can get 5-10 error messages about window recorering....blah blah blah. It usually points to a device driver(9800 pro probably), or a RAM issue. But I've tried numerous drivers for the 9800 pro and it doesnt fix the problem. I also ran memtest86 for 6 full hours, and found not one problem with my RAM. Norton found 3 viruses then stopped and couldnt continue from some error. Now I cant even scan my pc. Ckdsk finds nothing wrong either. My programs keep randomly shutting down(hence why im typing this a 2nd time, lol), and I keep getting a memory error in cs:source. If it was my 9800 pro, why would norton and my other programs be shutting down and not working? If its a virus(even though i just scanned my entire pc 4 days ago w/ every up-to-date), then why do I keep getting a million device driver errors? HELP!
 
W/out specs, it'll be hard to tell. However, initial signs point to dying HDD.
 
System Specs:

P4 2.8c --> 3.08ghz
SB Live!
Sapphire 9800 Pro
Gigabyte P4 Titan 875P
Geil Dual-Channel PC3200(2 x 512mb)

Even though memtest didnt find anything wrong with my memory, it seems that somehow that IS the problem. Now, how it caught no errors after 6 hours is beyond me, but w/e. For some reason, I cant run my memory in dual-channel or I get the errors. Also, I cant put my 2nd stick in the 2nd dual-channel DIMM slot or I get them also. So Im running both stick but in normal DIMM slots. Although I'd prefer to be running them @ DC like I was. The only thing I did before it started to act funny was clean out my system(cleaned the fans with canned air), and I DOWNCLOCKED my cpu back to its default 2.8. Sounds kinda ass backwards to me. =\ Any ideas?
 
After running DC mode in 2 other DIMM's it started getting errors and restarting again. I'm gonna run another memtest on it and see what happens this time. I still think one of these sticks is bad, because everything happening makes me think the RAM is bad.
 
Norton found 3 viruses then stopped and couldnt continue from some error
Click to expand...

I would try clearing those viruses before you start blaming your ram if you've already run memtest on them.
 
what kinda powersupply brand and rating,geil is a good brand shouldnt be anything wrong with them it could be a bad memory slot
 
It could be that those viruses have messued with your BIOS.

Get rid of the viruses, clear the CMOS, and then see what happens.
 
A faulty power supply can cause any kind of weird errors, since videocard crashing, computer turning off randomly, etc
 
Antec SmartPower 350w

I finally managed to scan the entire pc with norton and everything was in the clear. I thought it may have been a bad slot, but I switched both and its doing it again. I didnt bother to think of the HDD though. I'll run a diagnostic on that today. Thanks for the ideas guys! :)
 
Well, I just finished a diagnostic on the sectors and such on my HDD. Everything came out fine. Im so confused now. :( Im about to leave to test my RAM on my dads rig. Maybe that'll turn up something. *sigh* Im still open to more idea, lol. Thanks for the help though, I really appreciate it.
 
EnFoRcEr!! said:
Well, I just finished a diagnostic on the sectors and such on my HDD. Everything came out fine. Im so confused now. :( Im about to leave to test my RAM on my dads rig. Maybe that'll turn up something. *sigh* Im still open to more idea, lol. Thanks for the help though, I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
download a program called speedfan and check the S.M.A.R.T. status of your harddrive
 
Could I just try disabling SMART in the BIOS to see if thats the problem? Also, I still have to reset the CMOS to see if that somehow helps. I just let my dad run my RAM in his PC for a couple hours while playing cs, and its running fine. ALthough I ran it fine for 3hours last night before getting errors again as well. Hopefully the SMART or CMOS stuff helps. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!
 
well i can think of a few things.

The OC might hurt you depending on your ram. I usually use OCZ Mushkin or Corsair for overcloks, so i dont know how far your Geil can go. I usually try to stay about 5% unless the RAM is clocked for higher speeds. So with PC3200 i would go over 210MHz on an over clock.

I doubt it was the fact that you had them running in dual channel if they are matched pairs running on the 875 northbridge.

There is always that damn 9800 Pro. I had sooo many problems with that card, i dont know how i fixed them but there were quite a few driver updates involved. And then it all went out the window with my PERFECT 6600GT.

But my only advice is not to run them in dual channel. The performance increase is not as much as everyone seems to think it is.

EDIT: WOW YOU SAID SMARTPOWER......
Umm that might be your problem. I blew out one of those 350w PSUs on my 2.8E. TruePower is definitely the way to go with antec. Also if you want to upgrade PSUs aspire makes a really nice 500w one complete with LEDs for 52.49 (that includes shipping) on newegg.
 
Well, the 350 is only a year old, so I wouldn't imagine its going bad. I only have 1 HDD and one CD burner, along with the basics. So it should be well within its range. I have always thought my 9800 might have issues, since i keep getting driver errors no matter what version I use. But how would that explain the random restarts, and all of my programs shutting down, and my game getting memory errors?
 
Well i think the game memory errors might be GRAM issues. If im not mistaken textures run in the GRAM, so if that bugs out then the game dies. it might also be an agp voltage issue.

I dunno, im just not all there right now, ill post again after i get a cup of coffee and wake my happy butt up.
 
Well, I passed the speedfan SMART test. Is it bad to hate that my computer is passing every test? :confused:
 
Pop another PWS in there even if you have to borrow it, 5 wil get you 10..............
 
I'd have to vote for the hard drive takin a dump............had the exact same symptom more than once......and it was the hard drive in all three cases......and they passed the mfg diagnostic...ran a low level format........and they died.
 
Well, I tried the 3rd set of DIMM's running in DC mode for my RAM. My pc has been running(mostly idle with a bit of net surfing and gaming) for about 9 straight hours now. Im hoping it stays this way. If not, I'll just look at a new HDD. I can just make a ghost image of my drive and transfer it to the new one cant I? Since it would be the actual hardware thats corrupt and not the file system.
 
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