I am getting rather frustrated with my brand new system. Here are the specs. MSI P7N Diamond SILVERSTONE ST85F 850W ATX OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) XFX GX260NADFF GeForce GTX 260 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz PLEXTOR 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model PX-850SA Windows Vista Ultimate The system reboots as soon as I log into Windows. It does not BSOD. I have turned off the automatic restart on failure. I can log in to the box in safe mode. It stays up for 10 to 15 minutes before it reboots opposed to the almost instant after putting in my password in normal mode. I have tried replacing drivers. Windows did pick up everything and show running OK from the device manager before I installed drivers from the manufacturer. All my bios settings are default. I have tried going in and disabling all the extras on the board to see if there were any issues. Windows shows nothing in the event viewer, other than it restarted unexpectedly. I thought it might be a heat issue but even if the system just fired up I can't log in to windows normally and safe mode still lasts only 15 minutes or so. Thinking it may be heat I put a large box fan blowing on it. That kept the temps lower but it still reboots. I only know that kept the temps down because I can go into bios and see the temp. I can also stay in bios as long as I like with no reboot. I have not updated the bios as MSI has a utility that they say must be used and I can't do it in safe mode. I ran the vista memory test and it passed. I have tried several different hard drives all do the same thing. It even happens in XP. I have worked on computers over 10 years and I have never had such an issue with a system. I hope someone can help.
I haven't been able to update the bios as the MSI utility won't run in safe mode and the instructions on the page say do not use a boot disc to flash the bios. MSI says to only use their utility. Which is just ridiculous. I tried one other thing this morning and I can now boot into windows but it reboots after a few minutes. I upped my memory voltage to 2.2 and the timing to 5-5-5-18. These are the specs on the memory. So windows still reboots but it lasts a little longer before it does.
what speed is the memory running at? You have really accurately pinpointed the problem if the reboot takes longer now, good work! Some thoughts: - What you could try is running at extreme latency (7-7-7-21 or so) and see what happens. - Also DDR2-800 might do the trick (that's assuming you are running 1066 or 1150 at the moment). - Try booting with one stick of RAM. - Try using the 10 minutes or so you have now before reboot to perform the BIOS update with the MSI utility. Good luck mate, these problems can really get frustrating after a while, but it sounds like you are almost there. Worst case scenario is that your mobo/ram combination is not stable. You could RMA the ram, or try to sell it and swap it for another brand that does work.
I can't recall what it is set to. I will check once I can get to the box again. At work right now. I will try the latency as soon as I get home. I am running at 1066. I forgot to mention I pulled one of the sticks in my previous troubleshooting. I don't know if I have quite long enough to update the bios but I will try. Thanks for your help.
I tried adjusting the timing but no luck. I don't have any other DDR2 to test with i may just buy some and return it if I don't need it. Unless someone has another suggestion.
its worth it trying some new ram (maybe borrow from some1 you know?). keep in mind thouhg that it might also be the mobo that's b0rked, so it may not solve your problem...
have you tried memtest? Do this with each stick individually for a couple of passes, then if they come up clean, do it with both. if that fails you have a memory addressing problem, which is most likely a dead mobo. edit: i see you have done the vista memory test; i would still do memtest anyway, vista can't be that great at testing memory!
I found some instructions on MSI's site for flashing the bios with a boot disk. I am going to attempt that. MSI says it may be a memory addressing issue, as someone here previously stated. Hopefully that takes care of it. I am also going to make a memtest disk and run it through as well. I love these forums because of people like you all. thanks for all the help.
Well I have successfully upgraded the bios and ran memtest. Memtest ran through 7 times and found no errors. The bios update was successfull. The system stayed on a little longer and then rebooted again. I noticed it did this at the same time windows updates started. I disabled windows updates and it stayed on until I tried to go online. After I logged back in this time I left it for about 20 minutes and it stayed up. I then thought it was related to the ethernet drivers. I downloaded drivers on another system loaded them to usb and installed. After it rebooted from the install I opened IE and it crashed. When it came back up I just logged in and it rebooted right away. Could this be a heat issue?
Well I just tried different memory as mine seemed to be the issue. Unfortunately it is still restarting. I wish I had more cash to try other parts but I am now tapped out. It really sucks to have a bad ass rig and not be able to use it. If I can't figure anything out in the next week. I am going to start selling parts. Here is the new memory I bought. Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. Thank you
I think you've either got a very bad windows install, or some bad hardware. To rule out hardware try a boot from a linux live CD. If you can boot into linux and it doesn't re-start then you know it's likely to be software. If linux does the same it's hardware or bios. Could be any one of your components from the PSU onwards
as far as i can tell, there's two suspects left: your PSU and your mobo. Both are a right PITA to replace, especially just for a test. The good news is that both parts should still be under warranty. What i'd do is take the computer to a local PC shop (the small kind, and no franchises!), and explain your problem. Pay them a 20 to fit a new PSU and test, then fit a new mobo and test. After that, you will know which part to send for RMA. They might even do it for free (or cheaper) if you promise to buy a replacement part from them. That way you can start using the PC right away and get most of your money back by selling the part that comes back from RMA.
PSU I can test myself. I got plenty of extras. Mobo will be a pain but I can find a way to test. The local shops in my area are horrid and will probably charge me around 100. I'll see what i can do. Thanks all
I think I found my issue. If I take out my card and put in an old pci video card and I am running with ubuntu live cd I can stay up indefinitely. Now I just have to figure out if it is my hd ,graphics, or vista, install. I am going to try a fresh install of vista and see how it goes.
it cannot be windows. Windows is the same sucky package for everyone. That leaves a few suspects: PSU, GPU, mobo. The PSU is still a suspect because the old card draws conciderably less power then the new one. The GPU (or drivers) could obviously be at fault, however on a clean install drivers should not act up... The mobo's PCIe subsystem could be b0rked. Still a lot of testing to be done, but at least you narrowed it down
