Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build!

Author Message
muzicman82

  • Total Posts : 91
  • Joined: 7/26/2007
  • Status: offline
Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Friday, July 27, 2012 11:21 PM (permalink)
Hi all,
 
I started this built wayyy too long ago for a friend and unfortunately, it's been forever and things just never worked right. Fortunately, this system was low priority but I really need to get it working, stable, and off my plate. This SHOULD have been an easy, no-brainer. 
 
Here's the specs, as ordered way back on March 2010.
 
EVGA E758-A1 Motherboard
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield CPU
OCZ Gold 6GB (OCZ3G1600LV6GK)
EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+
Cooler Master Silent Pro M600 RS-600-AMBA-D3 PSU
Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2 128GB
Windows 7 SP1 x64
 
Since the build, I would install the OS and some software very cleanly. Everything would test out great. I'd give it to the owner and they would report back within a week that it keeps BSoDing, with various different errors. Sometimes it would happen while on the web, other times when using Adobe Premiere Elements.
 
The first time I got it back, I ran Memtest86+ for a week before it found any kind of errors. I RMA'd the RAM and OCZ got me all new chips. I clean installed the OS again, returned to the owner and same thing... more BSoDs. I pulled two of the RAM chips, operating on only 1, but that didn't seem to stop the crashing. I ran Prime95 on the CPU for over a day with no freezes, crashes, etc.
 
Long story short, the machine has sat idle for over 6 months while I try different things. The last stint was another clean install with all updated drivers, new cables, etc. Handed it off to the owner in December and had it back in my possession in March. 
 
Can someone recommend some other methods of stress testing this thing to pinpoint what the hell is going on? 
 
The BIOS is all on default settings. There is no overclocking involved. All proper PSU connections to the motherboard and graphics card are hooked up.
 
I'm using the stock CPU cooler which should be fine for this system.
 
Thanks!
 
 
#1
    shaxx78

    • Total Posts : 80
    • Joined: 3/1/2009
    • Status: offline
    Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 5:57 AM (permalink)
    Possibility that the board or one of the components hooked up is bad or going out. I had a card reader going out a few months ago and it was causing a lot of problems. especially with booting and lock ups.
     
    #2
      muzicman82

      • Total Posts : 91
      • Joined: 7/26/2007
      • Status: offline
      Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 8:05 AM (permalink)
      Yeah, well the unfortunate part about building your own is every component manufacturer wants to blame it on some other manufacturer, and not help unless you can pinpoint the problem. I just converted a couple Blu-rays to MP4 which used all 8 cores for a good hour at 100%, plus uses CUDA for the encode. No problems.
       
      #3
        Nightlite

        • Total Posts : 259
        • Joined: 7/3/2012
        • Status: offline
        • Ribbons: 3
        Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 8:38 AM (permalink)
        Problem at one location, stable at another. Would look at some possible environmental problems. eg: overloaded circuit, bad ground.
         
        #4
          muzicman82

          • Total Posts : 91
          • Joined: 7/26/2007
          • Status: offline
          Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 8:44 AM (permalink)
          Good point, but after I get the system back, I do get BSoDs. It seems like the clean install gets worse over time.. much worse. No programs are being installed or uninstalled. Given that BSoDs generally show hardware/driver issues, I don't know why the clean installs are stable for a while at first. I've never found Windows 7 to corrupt itself to the point of BSoDs either.
           
          #5
            Crusheddream

            • Total Posts : 2039
            • Joined: 11/6/2009
            • Location: Central NY
            • Status: offline
            • Ribbons: 12
            Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 8:51 AM (permalink)
            Need a couple things from you:  List of BSODs.
            Is the SSDs firmware up to date? 
            I ask because it could be the drive itself.  clean install takes up roughly 20gb or less depending.  Im thinking once its used and more programs are added theres bad cells or something corrupting the OS the controller on the SSD could be bad. 
             
            Anyway post the list of the BSOD codes you are getting.  Lets see if we cant narrow the issue down.
             

             
            #6
              muzicman82

              • Total Posts : 91
              • Joined: 7/26/2007
              • Status: offline
              Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 8:57 AM (permalink)
              Thanks for the help all. I've been stable on this new clean install. Will continue to use and report back. If I don't find anything, I made an Acronis image of the previous install to go back which will surely crash. 
               
              #7
                shadrack

                • Total Posts : 40
                • Joined: 8/25/2009
                • Status: offline
                Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 4:02 PM (permalink)
                I had this same exact board and ram and also had similar issues.  Running Prime95 wouldn't spit out any errors but after a few minutes of LinX I would get a BSOD or it would hard freeze or just restart.   Sometimes It would freeze on Windows loading screen.  Tried every voltage/timing  setting known to man......
                 
                I fixed it by lowering ram speed from 1600mhz to 1333mhz, better yet go to 1067mhz and see if that fixes it.   The OCZ gold set has very bad reviews on Newegg, I'm not sure why they ventured into ram.. Should of just stuck with SSD's..  I even had one of their power supply's that died within a year of purchase.  I'd order something different if you need to run at 1600mhz.
                 
                Just make sure DRAM voltage@1.65 and timings are @8-8-8-24 tRFC at 88
                 
                #8
                  muzicman82

                  • Total Posts : 91
                  • Joined: 7/26/2007
                  • Status: offline
                  Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Saturday, July 28, 2012 4:05 PM (permalink)
                  Thanks for the info. Getting different RAM is definitely an inexpensive option. I think I got this RAM because it had good reviews at the time, AND it is on the supported chip list.
                   
                  #9
                    muzicman82

                    • Total Posts : 91
                    • Joined: 7/26/2007
                    • Status: offline
                    Re:Help with unstable (no-OC) X58 build! Monday, August 06, 2012 8:43 PM (permalink)
                    This is the only one I found on Newegg.. should I try this and ditch the OCZ?
                     
                    I do want to run at 1600 Mhz, unless I'm not supposed to? I'm not overclocking. 
                     
                    Any other suggestions?
                     
                    #10

                      Jump to:

                      Current active users

                      There are 0 members and 1 guests.

                      Icon Legend and Permission

                      • New Messages
                      • No New Messages
                      • Hot Topic w/ New Messages
                      • Hot Topic w/o New Messages
                      • Locked w/ New Messages
                      • Locked w/o New Messages
                      • Read Message
                      • Post New Thread
                      • Reply to message
                      • Post New Poll
                      • Submit Vote
                      • Post reward post
                      • Delete my own posts
                      • Delete my own threads
                      • Rate post

                      2000-2013 ASPPlayground.NET Forum Version 3.8