As stated in an earlier thread about 3 weeks ago I finally got around to upgrading my system with parts that I had lying around for some time. Namely these parts consist of an ASUS Maximus Formula (X38) motherboard, a Core2 Duo E8400 CPU and 4GB (4x 1GB) ECC DDR2 800MHz memory. Until yesterday everything ran very smoothly although as stated in said earlier thread I was a bit worried about the core temperatures hovering around 43C idle and maxing at around 65C under full load. I've since learned that these values aren't that bad, especially considering that my Zalman CNPS8700 cooler runs at its lowest setting with approx. 1100 RPM. Sunday night I managed to installed a recent version of ASUS' AI Suite. I had tried this earlier with the versions coming on the installation DVD, but without any success. Same for PC Probe II. After seeing the, in my eyes, gimmicky nature of AI Suite I uninstalled the software. Very soon after while playing a bit of CZ my system spontaneously rebooted. I've had several subsequent reboots since then, though no BSoDs. One of the reboots occurred moments after starting an OCCT test; a test I had previously run on several occasions for hours without any problems. Another reboot occurred at the moment when Windows initializes the desktop. I'm suspecting that maybe the EPU feature somehow comes into play. Could it be that after uninstalling the AI Suite software that it has become stuck at a setting where too little power is directed to the CPU? I've done my best to purge all remnants of the software from Windows (XP), by the way. I should perhaps mention that the rest of my hardware consists of my ageing Lian-Li PC61 case, a Corsair HX520W PSU, a Gainward 7950GT graphics card, a SoundBlaster Audigy sound card, a WD Black 1TB HDD, a BenQ DW1640 DVD writer and a Lite-On CD writer. All of this hardware was carried over from my old system, where I've never had any issues with either part. On a side note: why does it take about 25 seconds from the time I switch my system on until it starts POSTing? Same for rebooting. I've seen something similar on a mate's AMD-based system, which uses a Gigabyte board, so I'm assuming it isn't a fault of some sort. As always, thanks in advance for any input!
No, not yet. Easy to try, since the board has an external button for this (AFAIK). Thanks for the suggestion, by the way.
Time for a little update. Was prepared to do all sorts of troubleshooting this afternoon kicking off with another round of OCCT. To my surprise OCCT ran the Linpack test for the full default hour without any issues whatsoever. If anything this makes me even a bit more anxious. On the up side I continue to be amazed at the rock-solid output of my Corsair HX520W. 3.3V and 12V were at an unwavering 3.31V and 12.21V, respectively. I might as well have looked at a screenshot. 5V and VCore were at 4.94V and 1.18V with every rare drops to 4.92V and equally rare jumps to 1.19V, respectively. I don't think I could ask for more from a 3 year old PSU. Oh, and I was staring at the screen the whole time, dreading that spontaneous and seemingly inevitable reboot. In the mean time feel free to still come with your input...
2nd update (for those who care or don't ): Cleared CMOS and ran MemTest86 for 5.5 hours (4 complete passes). That's all I had time for yesterday.
