Author Topic: Skuzzy, CPU question (Read 585 times)

whels · « **on:** January 31, 2005, 07:59:18 PM »

can a CPU have a bad part in it, but still function ok for the most part and only give you a problem in certain operations?

or is it just either Good (works) or bad(dont work)?

ive got a lockup problem in AH and another game i play.

today not 1 lock up in AH, yesterday i had 2 or 3. my other game
will lock up but only in certain situations.
list of things ive tried:
different ram
new sound card
new bios for MB
old and new drivers, even beta for video card

im down to 3 things it could be. MB its self, bad CPU, or
a bad video card/cards.

i doubt its temp related, since i dont break 44c loaded on cpu
or 60c on video cards.

Whels

wombatt · « **Reply #1 on:** February 01, 2005, 12:22:48 AM »

Sorry to butt in but maybe it's software related?
Have you tried reinstalling those other games?

whels · « **Reply #2 on:** February 01, 2005, 06:31:33 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by wombatt
Sorry to butt in but maybe it's software related?
Have you tried reinstalling those other games?

yep even have done clean install of OS.

whels

Schutt · « **Reply #3 on:** February 01, 2005, 07:02:08 AM »

Have you tried another power supply?

What bios do you have on your motherboard?

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #4 on:** February 01, 2005, 07:54:07 AM »

You didn't even mention which mobo/cpu and ram you use.

Motherboards are the single biggest factor in all stability problems IMO. Sometimes they just won't work properly and the fault can be anywhere starting from a bad solder to a VIA chipset (rimshot please.)

It is highly unlikely that your CPU would cause problems only on certain applications. It is more likely that your ram, motherboard or displaycard are guilty there.

If your CPU would be faulty it would either not run at all or fail consistently whenever under load.

whels · « **Reply #5 on:** February 01, 2005, 09:24:53 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Siaf__csf
You didn't even mention which mobo/cpu and ram you use.

Motherboards are the single biggest factor in all stability problems IMO. Sometimes they just won't work properly and the fault can be anywhere starting from a bad solder to a VIA chipset (rimshot please.)

It is highly unlikely that your CPU would cause problems only on certain applications. It is more likely that your ram, motherboard or displaycard are guilty there.

If your CPU would be faulty it would either not run at all or fail consistently whenever under load.

umm siaf, my sig has my system in it hehe.

Asus A8n deluxe (Nforce4 SLI) original bios was 1002, now
flashed to 1003, no change.

CPU is a AMD64 3200+

Ram Crucial PC3200 2 512s

Power supply is Enermax 430 )plenty for my setup i think, new bought it for the new MB since it required a 24 pin.

ive changed, upgraded, reinstalled everything but
CPU, MB and Video cards

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #6 on:** February 01, 2005, 03:56:25 PM »

Heh I didn't notice your signature at all for some reason.

And I just realized why.. The sig doesn't show on this reply window.

Anyway have you tried with a single displaycard? SLI is still new tech so it might crap out on early models.

You have watercooling, do you overclock? First thing with instability, drop the clocks to standard and retest. Same goes for any SLI setup, instability -> Kill the SLI and test each card separately for errors.

It's possible that the SLI is causing the crash even with perfectly working hardware. Nobody said it's 100% compatible with all software.

whels · « **Reply #7 on:** February 01, 2005, 05:58:56 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Siaf__csf
Heh I didn't notice your signature at all for some reason.

And I just realized why.. The sig doesn't show on this reply window.

Anyway have you tried with a single displaycard? SLI is still new tech so it might crap out on early models.

You have watercooling, do you overclock? First thing with instability, drop the clocks to standard and retest. Same goes for any SLI setup, instability -> Kill the SLI and test each card separately for errors.

It's possible that the SLI is causing the crash even with perfectly working hardware. Nobody said it's 100% compatible with all software.

i do OC but its done it before i OCed also.
due to my phyical limitations i have a helper when i do computer
changes hardware wise. havent been able to do the singe vid card swaps yet.

i really think its either the CPU or the MB, leaning more to the CPU for 1 reason.
in 1 game i get MCEs (machine check exception), 99% of time from what ive read its a CPU fault when they happen or the bios
micro code related to the CPU. ive changed the bios still same thing.

AH locks up randomly. 1 time i might be in tower, other a plane, other gv, has happened on different maps. and sometimes i can go couple days and have none. been 2 days since last 1. its a hard lock, needs reset to get out.

whels

Skuzzy · « **Reply #8 on:** February 01, 2005, 06:08:52 PM »

Whels, sorry for the delay.

Everything I can gather says the issue might be the 6600's. There has been an unusual number of complaints and problems with the 6600 boards.

They are basically damaged 6800 chips. Chips with some DOA trnsistors which cause them to fail as 6800 chips. This is not unusual. Complex chips like the 6800's or ATI's X800 chips always have fallout where there is a portion of the silicone damaged, whether through the process or the physical medium.

I would suspect the 6600's, due to the very high number of complaints about failures with these boards.

Here is what I would do. Remove one of the 6600's. If it stabilizes, then you may have one bad 6600, or you could be seeing some issues with the implementation of SLI.

Also note, I think you are pushing a 430W power supply with that configuration.