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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 1:29pm

Angry Bluescreen Bluescreen Bluescreen Bluescreen Bluescreen

Well, I'm having fun with this PC so far. Windows doesn't like installing, Windows doesn't like starting, Windows doesn't like running.

Windows seems to randomly bluescreen when I am using the machine, either without an error at all (useful, just the "An error has occured and your machine has been shut down to prevent damage" well, gee wiz, thanks, telling me WHAT AND WHY would be nice) or if I am playing Horizons (although it has done it one or two times with this error outside of the game, it's more frequent in it) "KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR". So the machine is pretty much unusable at the moment as it just keeps bluescreening constantly.

Before anyone asks, it did it on a semi-fresh install and it does it on this new install. I've run Memtest for half a day and got zero errors, drive check comes back with no issues or problems and I am using the latest drivers for everything (6.70 nForce, 81.98 GeForce, latest Audigy).

Machine is:
Windows XP SP2
Athlon64 X2 3800+ (2x 2000Mhz, 2x 512k cache)
Asus A8N-E (nForce4 Ultra)
512MB Kingston and 512MB TwinMoss (both 400Mhz)
nVidia GeForce 7800GT
Maxtor 6Y160M0 160GB SATA drive (single partition, non-RAID, slot 1)
Sound Blaster Audigy

Does anyone know what the hell could be causing this because I swear I'm about to lose it and I've had no time lately to do anything I need to do because this POS wont work and I can't start anything because chances are it will suddenly just bluescreen.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 1:58pm
One line I didn't notice in the bluescreen that lacks AN_ERROR_MESSAGE is that it says "A process or thread critical to the computer has shutdown or terminated unexpectedly" now I don't know if that message is standard as before this POS I didn't used to see bluescreens, but I thought it was worth ammending.
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 3:36pm
If it's not the RAM then it must be either the PSU or the mobo. What brand PSU are you using?
__________________
CPU: Opteron 165 OCed to 2.7GHz (300x9)
Motherboard: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
Video Card: eVGA 7600 GT OCed		RAM: 2GB OCZ Performance Gold PC3200
Hard Drive: Maxtor MaxLine III 300GB
Cooling: DangerDen TDX + DD Maze4 + PA160 (radiator)		Case: Antec SX1040BII
PSU: SeaSonic S12-500 500W
Audio: Audigy 2 ZS		Mouse: Logitech G7 SE
Optical drives:
Monitors: Sceptre X20G-Naga III + Dell P992
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 3:56pm
Sounds like a BIOS setting or settings is not being liked very much....

Are you using bios defaults or have you tweaked this and that ?
__________________ Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
Sempron 2400+
Sapphire X800 Pro 256meg
1 gig OCZ Dual Channel
2X WD800 SATA RAID 0
-------------------------
A supporter of www.3percentfight.org
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 5:07pm
Default Bios settings (and tried changing a few just incase). PSU is a brand new Antec Truepower ATX2.01 450w.

Christs sake, can't any of my PCs just work >.<

Next time I'm just going to buy a Dell or something.
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Leonardo
Buzzwinkle the Moose FTW
Leonardo
14,843 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 5:18pm
If it's not the RAM then it must be either the PSU or the mobo. What brand PSU are you using?
PSU would have been my first troubleshooting step. Your PSU should be good, given the brand and model. Have monitored voltage output?

Memory would have been second step. You've checked that too I see. BIOS too. Hmmm. Let us know what voltage monitoring reports. Maybe your PSU is not up to normal Antec quality.
__________________ HEATWARE 208/0/0

1. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4, Q6600/G0 3.2GHz, Seasonic M12D 850 PSU, 4GB OCZ DDR2 800, 2 X EVGA 9800GX2, TR Ultra120E; 2. Gigabyte EP45-UPD3, Q6600/G0 3.2GHz, BFG EX 1000 PSU, 4GB G.Skill DDR2 800, ECS 9800GX2, EVGA 9800GX2, Prolimatech Megahalems; 3. Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4, Q6600/G0 3.2GHz, Cooler Master RS-850-EMBA PSU, 4GB G.Skill DDR2 800, 2 X EVGA 9800GX2, Prolimatech Megahalems; 4. Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4, Q6600/G0 3.2GHz, Cooler Master RS-850-EMBA PSU, 4GB Patriot DDR2 800, PNY 9800GX2, EVGA 9800GX2, Prolimatech Megahalems
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 5:26pm
Well that time I managed to start the PC, clicked Mozilla to see if there had been any more posts on here and... bluescreen.

It doesn't give me an error message OR what was/caused the termination, it just says "An error has occured. A thread or process critical to the system was shut down or terminated unexpectedly" and thats it. ARGH.

How exactly can I monitor voltages other than just sitting there watching them?

Also it worked perfectly under Linux, no issues at all, but Windows... not a chance.
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 5:48pm
Quoting Enverex
Also it worked perfectly under Linux, no issues at all, but Windows... not a chance.

Isn't that typical

I'm still thinking windows isn't liking a hardware setting somewhere...I mean you did say you've installed XP a few times with the same result during the install and after the install right ?
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 5:52pm
To be honest I think it's something to do with the Harddrive. That was the issue I had with the Windows boot CD not even starting and that is what the bluescreens that did ever give me errors refered to. I've also heard a few things about compatability issues with this motherboard and Maxtor drives (of which I have).

Arg, I don't have a spare drive and I can't afford another one.

I uninstalled the SATA driver and now it is using some sort of Windows default one. It didn't bluescreen this time but it semi froze. Sound has continued and when I hit CAD it bought up my desktop colour and the cursor works, but it seems like it's under 1000% load... or just not reading from the HD...
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 5:53pm
What BIOS version is on your A8N ?
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 6:08pm
If the A8N has issues with the hardrive you'd likely have trouble with linux as well...but here's a thought...are you able to change the mode of the drive in the bios from auto to large ?
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 6:57pm
Yes, but the drive is already identified (on the screen after the BIOS POST) as LBA.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 7:01pm
Ok, changed it to large and it wouldn't boot anymore, just sat at the screen you get after post.
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 7:13pm
Hmm...interesting

I'd really like to know what version of bios your using...my experience with that board led me to feel that bios 1006 had some issues.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 7:39pm
I was on 1008 when I got the board and upgraded to 1010... hmm, maybe that is when the problems started. I'm going to downgrade.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 7:46pm
Argh. The windows flash utility wont let you downgrade and it says you have to use the DOS program. ffs, I don't have a floppy drive. Someone needs to shoot these people.
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 8:04pm
You could always use a bootable cd....
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 8:19pm
The flash program that you download off the site is a Windows exe that will only write its image to a floppy disk.

Time to move out of 1990...
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 8:26pm
Readouts after stressing it a little and playing Deus Ex for a few minutes. One issue though, Deus Ex was running at about 400% speed... *sighs*

PHP Code:
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Total number of readouts: 540           CPU Speed: 2015 MHz              |
|Running from: 02/02/2006 19:56:34       until: 02/02/2006 20:26:17       |
+-----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Sensor                       | Current  | Low      | High     | Average  |
+-----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Case                         | 32° C    | 31° C    | 32° C    | 31° C    |
|CPU                          | 34° C    | 34° C    | 42° C    | 36° C    |
|Sensor 3                     | 30° C    | 29° C    | 38° C    | 31° C    |
|Core 0                       | 1.36 V   | 1.31 V   | 1.41 V   | 1.37 V   |
|Core 1                       | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   |
|+3.3                         | 3.31 V   | 3.28 V   | 3.33 V   | 3.31 V   |
|+5.00                        | 4.85 V   | 4.85 V   | 4.88 V   | 4.85 V   |
|+12.00                       | 12.56 V  | 12.36 V  | 12.56 V  | 12.52 V  |
|-12.00                       | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   |
|-5.00                        | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   | 0.00 V   |
|Fan 1                        | 3276 RPM | 3214 RPM | 3308 RPM | 3266 RPM |
|Fan 2                        | 0 RPM    | 0 RPM    | 0 RPM    | 0 RPM    |
|Fan 3                        | 6026 RPM | 6026 RPM | 6250 RPM | 6126 RPM |
+-----------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+ 
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 8:42pm
I left MBM running and recording at a 5 second interval to record what happens just as it crashes, but the log after if crashed was just a load of whitespace. Not much use.
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 10:48pm
Yea, you can't save logs when Windows is turning blue...

As for a bootable CD....you just burn what you need on it, forget about the windows executable version that wants to make a floppy

Since I'm just sitting here pickin my *** for the afternoon I made you an ISO of a bootable cd with the proper flash program and a couple bios bin files (1008 and the latest Asus beta) If you want to burn it and use it you can download it here.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 10:52pm
Windows didn't actually bluescreen that time, it just slowly froze up (first desktop, then other programs, then the active program).
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Leonardo
Buzzwinkle the Moose FTW
Leonardo
14,843 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 11:03pm
I should of mentioned this earlier: whenever I'm working up a new overclock or retrying an overclock with a new component, I know that the motherboard/DRAM/or video card has become voltage starved when the computer either restarts or the screen freezes. Have you experimented with boosting voltages in the BIOS? You could try bumping up CPU, DRAM, and video voltage and see if the problems disappear. Then back off voltages one component at a time until you replicate the problem. That would indicate which component needed more power.
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 11:20pm
One of my guys mentioned that you might wanna try the AMD 64 X2 drivers for windows XP located here as well.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
2 Feb 2006, 11:31pm
Already tried them, no change.

I have a feeling it may have been my Audigy, I've taken it out and it seems ok at the moment, going to give it a while more...
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
3 Feb 2006, 12:07am
For reference sake what slot was your Audigy in ?
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
3 Feb 2006, 1:04am
Tried in the first and third PCI slots. I've taken the Audigy out and I'm using onboard. A few hours and no lockups/bluescreens. I think it's almost safe to say it was the Audigy...
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Leonardo
Buzzwinkle the Moose FTW
Leonardo
14,843 Posts
3 Feb 2006, 1:14am
If that's the case - flash back to 1999 and 2000. Back then Creative sound cards and Via chipsets for AMD systems were often creating havoc when deployed with each other.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
3 Feb 2006, 1:21am
Heh, and here was me saying I didn't want a Creative card for my next sound card because of all the driver issues and such and now it's even occuring with my dated Creative card. Grr. No Creative for me in the future.
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
3 Feb 2006, 5:49am
Stranger things have been known to happen...first nForce 4 and Audigy issue I've heard of
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Leonardo
Buzzwinkle the Moose FTW
Leonardo
14,843 Posts
3 Feb 2006, 6:11am
Creative's drivers have long history of doing their own thing. By yeah, I haven't heard of lately until now.
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jradmin
I work for a living!!!
jradmin
629 Posts
3 Feb 2006, 5:19pm
You CAN use the ASUS windows flashing utility. You have to go into its options and check the box next to "Downgrade Bios" (or something like that). Thats what I did to mine and it allowed me to downgrade from windows.
__________________ THE MANDALORIAN WARRIOR
AMD Athalon 64 4000+ San Diego (2.700)
Asus A8N SLI Premium MOBO
2GB OCZ Platinum
2x EVGA 7800GTX (510/1320 until they fix the 7900GT's)
Audigy 2 7.1
Cooler Master Aerogate II
Silverstone 550w PSU (38A, prefect SLI PSU)
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
4 Feb 2006, 12:15am
Hmm, there were no options when I used it before. Just the - Download new BIOS, Download from internet, flash from file, save to file. Hell, the download options didn't even work, they said there was no usable files on the server!
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Leonardo
Buzzwinkle the Moose FTW
Leonardo
14,843 Posts
4 Feb 2006, 4:46am
There should be an option to use the software to manually flash the BIOS of your choice. I'm sure you've got the same software as my Asus board. You go to the Asus site, select the BIOS you want, open the flashing software, and select the options to navigate to the BIOS file you've stored in a folder.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
4 Feb 2006, 9:52am
Yes, there is, then it checks the BIOS file and tells me that it WONT flash the BIOS because the version I am trying to flash with is older than the version installed and that I have to go to the Asus site, download the DOS AWDFLASH program and flash it from DOS.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
5 Feb 2006, 8:31pm
ARGH ****ING JESUS CHRIST

It's done it twice in the last few hours again now so it seems it wasn't the Audigy, it just happened to be a coincidence that it decided to stop doing it for a while when I took it out. The error code it gives (DWORD Hex at the bottom of the screen is just 0X000000F4) but I'm really running out of options. I'm tempted just to sell the whole lot and not bother with a PC anymore because I really am at the end of my leash. I wasn't in a good state of mind in the first place and this is just the end of it now.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
5 Feb 2006, 8:58pm
One thing that keeps cropping up is things being possibly a Hardware issue. I've also heard people going on about issues with Maxtor drives and this motherboard, like here for example http://hardware.mcse.ms/archive69-2005-4-175000.html .

Problem is there isn't anything technically wrong with the drive so I can't send it back, I don't have a spare drive and none of the other machines have drives near this size (and the one that does doesn't have SATA).

I'm going to go mad.
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Enverex
~-+-~
Enverex
5,852 Posts
7 Feb 2006, 10:59am
Heh, not entirely sure why I bother posting problems here, I always end up fixing them myself.

Anyway, I forgot that while trying to get SATA working and installing XP initially, I flashed the BIOS to version 1010 and it seems that is when it all started and went wrong. I reflashed back down to 1008 (after much effort due to the retarded ASUS program that wont let you flash back down forcing you to flash from DOS with a program that they make stupidly hard to find on their site) but yeah, been ok for over a day now.
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sdgcan
Icrontic Technician
sdgcan
57 Posts
9 Feb 2006, 9:04pm
Quoting Enverex
Heh, not entirely sure why I bother posting problems here, I always end up fixing them myself.
Thats not a very nice thing to say ! I made and posted on my webspace an iso for a bootable cd with the proper flash app and some bios files, 1008 and a beta

I reflashed back down to 1008 (after much effort due to the retarded ASUS program that wont let you flash back down forcing you to flash from DOS with a program that they make stupidly hard to find on their site) but yeah, been ok for over a day now.

Imagine that...glad it's working out for you
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spinsta
New to the neighborhood
spinsta
1 Posts
2 Mar 2006, 1:22pm
Hey Enverex!
It seems we got the samea problem...I randomly get the friggin blue scree...but i haven't found the solution yet.
my system in overview:
asus a8n sli premium
3 X Maxtor DM10 160 GB in RAID 5
2 X 1024 GeIL DDR
...
I have neither upgraded nor downgraded my bios.
I think the problem might be caused be the hard drives.
Do you have any idea how I could solve this?
thanks,
spinsta



Quoting Enverex
Heh, not entirely sure why I bother posting problems here, I always end up fixing them myself.

Anyway, I forgot that while trying to get SATA working and installing XP initially, I flashed the BIOS to version 1010 and it seems that is when it all started and went wrong. I reflashed back down to 1008 (after much effort due to the retarded ASUS program that wont let you flash back down forcing you to flash from DOS with a program that they make stupidly hard to find on their site) but yeah, been ok for over a day now.
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