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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
Location: under the starry night sky
Posts: 1106
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:30 am Post Subject: Stability Issues
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As a couple of you may have noted from chatting in-game, my computer is suffering from sporadic, unpredictable full-system reboots. I'm in the process of troubleshooting my computer and hopefully eliminating the problem, but I figured I'd let you guys know that I may end up being absent for (hopefully) brief periods of time. With any luck it'll be something I can isolate and fix, but in the worse-case scenario my MoBo or RAM may be on the verge of completely frying.
I won't be able to immediately replace it either, as they no longer make boards that support my archaic components (HDD, GPU, CPU, RAM). More money than I can spare for now.
Anyway, thought I'd just give you all a heads up.
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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Ozany
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:12 pm
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Theoroshia
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:49 pm
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Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 8:33 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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I hate installing new motherboards. Hopefully it is something more simple than that. |
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 3:51 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Well the memory seems fine after a 9 hour test; 18 passes with no errors, and my cpu isn't overheating. If I replace the mobo, everything else *has* to get replaced, which is the problem. I don't expect I'd settle for a new system for less than 900'ish minimum, which I don't have laying around at the moment  . Ech, monitor too.
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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SSX-Wedge
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:32 pm
Location: Duluth, Minnesota USA
Posts: 123
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:12 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Are you running any sort of Overclock?
YOu could also ask some of the guys over at Overclock.net |
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Isileth
Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 4:45 pm
Location: UK
Posts: 573
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:10 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Even if you haven't oced it you can go to worse sites for help.
Although you can be sure someone will suggest you pop it in the oven.
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And the little bunny went hop hop hop all the way home. |
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posts: 1106
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 7:21 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Not OC'd, or that would've been the first thing I looked at. Pretty sure it's my MoBo, as I went to start it today and got a BIOS checksum error... Yup, it's gone. I can't even access the BIOS. I'll try to drop in from time to time on school computers, but otherwise I'm w/out a machine until I arrange for a replacement. Get some HoS kills for me while I'm gone, eh?
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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Mechanus
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:16 pm
Posts: 275
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Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:40 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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What sort of a board do you use?
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posts: 1106
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Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:23 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Rumors of my computer's death may have been premature. I'm investigating a possible keyboard conflict. Yeah, keyboard. I cleared my CMOS by unplugging my comp for a few hours, and that seems to have reset the BIOS. No reboots since swapping back to my original keyboard. BIOS checksum was likely caused by the frequent reboots... We shall see.
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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SSX-Wedge
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:32 pm
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:21 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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I have heard of some Asus boards having problems with USB Keyboards |
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:34 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Well, not the keyboard (PS/2) - I've still had a few random reboots but at least it's still usable for the most part. Off to try something else.
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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Mechanus
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:16 pm
Posts: 275
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 2:49 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Have you tried checking your PSU and make sure it's not on its way out? I know that a bad PSU can cause all sorts of grief without ever truly showing that it is the issue.
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 3:42 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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If you can point me to a method to check a PSU other than visually inspecting it, I'm all ears :] (something that doesn't cost the same as a new motherboard or PSU, preferably). It is in my list of suspects though, toward the top. Anyone have any floppy disks laying around? 
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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Mechanus
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:16 pm
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 5:26 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Do you have a spare PSU lying around? That would be the easiest way to test. Take out the current, replace with a spare. See if the problems continue. Not much else to do unless you have a voltage tester that you can attach to a rail and see if it spikes/dips.
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Ozany
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2010 7:19 am Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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No to the spare (at least one that would support my gfx & cpu w/out causing damage), or volt meters, unfortunately.
As for the link, hadn't seen that before, looks like it may have some potential. May have to get one this week and try it, though it doesn't look like it tests for anything more than just whether or not there is juice flowing.
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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SL33PY
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 7:25 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 1:39 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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I recently threw away an old amd 754 MoBo, never used... I hope that's not what you were looking for |
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Ozany
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:12 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 10:02 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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If you figure out what it is, post it in here, as there are enough of us that have dealt with computer issues in the past, we may have the parts you need to get back online til you can afford an upgrade :P
Ozany
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:53 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Not the slightest clue. Sent you a PM.
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:46 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Back up and running again. Have a few glitches with new components, but they're fixable at least. Thanks for the support, all.
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Aldayne T'Falkre in EVE |
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Mechanus
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:16 pm
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:02 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Figure out what was causing you the problem? Or did you just go through a series of possibles, replace what you could, and things are working again?
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Ozany
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Stracius
Joined: Wed Nov 17, 2004 4:02 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:07 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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Mechanus wrote: Or did you just go through a series of possibles, replace what you could, and things are working again?
Pretty much that, yeah. I should probably clarify that it was not a reboot so much as it was a power loss, or a crash - like pulling the plug or flipping the switch on the PSU, and then it would automatically start the boot process. Occurance was completely random, with one exception I'll describe in a bit. It would crash while sitting on my desktop with no programs running, while launching a web browser, while playing EVE or other games, or even during the boot-up/windows loading screen after it had just crashed -  cruel, I know. I could almost garantee 1 crash within 15-20 minutes of initially starting up my computer. After that it was anyone's guess.
My RAM tested fine, and I highly doubt that my video card would cause the power loss. Freeze up or bluescreen, yes; trip the power to the mainboard and reset... eh, unlikely. The only reason why I might suspect it, though, is that when I cranked the graphics up on a star wars game I was playing, the computer reset right as soon as I closed the gfx settings window and went back to the title screen (with panoramic starship fight scenes occurring in the background... ZZZZZZPP!). That's the only time i've ever been able to get a duplicatable power loss. The game ran just fine once I turned the settings to minimum gfx detail (which took a few resets due to requiring a very speedy navigation of the game settings menu ).
So that leaves the MoBo and PSU as the main possible culprits, both of which I replaced. New MoBo doesn't support an AGP gfx card so that got replaced too... And some more RAM while I was at it.
I'm limited to 1 IDE slot with 2 IDE HDDs and 2 IDE Optical drives so I'm playing musical drives until I can figure out why my MoBo isn't detecting a cheap seagate SATA drive I picked up too. Not going to be happy if I got a DoA, but at least everything else is working finally 
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Ozany
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 4:12 pm
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Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:43 pm Post Subject: Re: Stability Issues
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I hate to say it, but it sounds like it may have been your graphics card or psu. From what you described above:
1. Your graphics card may have aged to the point of dragging down your PSU output voltage such that it caused your comp to shutdown on protection of low operating voltage.
2. Your PSU was aged to the point that it was causing low voltage dips (or brown outs) when the higher power needs of the graphics card entering a higher graphics setting.
Either way, the new PSU, graphics and MoBo should work out for you. Sorry to hear about all the remaining issues with your drives. I am sure you'll work it out. BTW, you can still get an IDE adapter PCI card I think, might settle your issues. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1070704&CatId=508 For example.
Oz
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