DFI NF4U going south
Hello everyone,
my a64 rig in my sig below has been acting up lately. was rock stable for about a year and i was enjoying many a late night gaming session. has always been cranked up on the oc without any issues untill now. now it will randomly reboot after i make it into windows. never on the same thing though...sometimes it's when i open my computer, or other times it is when i try to install an update....no rhyme or reason it seems.
first thing i did was turn down the oc to try and make things stable. dropping to 250 htt from 312 worked ok for about a week..but then i get the same random instability. so of course i tried to run things stock, but stock is not stable at all! i get an infinite reboot loop of POST, reboot, POST, reboot. i have to oc to at least 225 htt if i want to get into windows. but then same issue of completely randoom reboots.
i have tested all components in another rig (dfi nf3u) and they all work just fine. the 2gb pc4000 passes 12 hour memtest @ 250mhz (3,4,4,8 - 1t). the opty 165 works just fine as does my x1900gt in looping 3d benchies. also have done stability testing with ORTHOS for 12+ hours. i have done hdd scans with no errors...even switched hdds and did a fresh install of winxp just in case windows was borked. tested psu with a multimeter and it is good too. even went so far as to buy a new UPS with AVR (boost and trim).
guess what....still getting random reboots for no apparent reason. i can't even replicate a reboot---meaning that it will reboot at different times for different things.
at this point all of my experience tells me that the mobo (dfi-nf4u) is dying a slow and painful death. anybody else finding out their their dfi-nf4u is slowly going tits-up? is a year about the expected lifespan of a heavily oc'ed rig? all of my other oc's where mild in comparison...but i thought these DFIs could take it...what gives?
my a64 rig in my sig below has been acting up lately. was rock stable for about a year and i was enjoying many a late night gaming session. has always been cranked up on the oc without any issues untill now. now it will randomly reboot after i make it into windows. never on the same thing though...sometimes it's when i open my computer, or other times it is when i try to install an update....no rhyme or reason it seems.
first thing i did was turn down the oc to try and make things stable. dropping to 250 htt from 312 worked ok for about a week..but then i get the same random instability. so of course i tried to run things stock, but stock is not stable at all! i get an infinite reboot loop of POST, reboot, POST, reboot. i have to oc to at least 225 htt if i want to get into windows. but then same issue of completely randoom reboots.
i have tested all components in another rig (dfi nf3u) and they all work just fine. the 2gb pc4000 passes 12 hour memtest @ 250mhz (3,4,4,8 - 1t). the opty 165 works just fine as does my x1900gt in looping 3d benchies. also have done stability testing with ORTHOS for 12+ hours. i have done hdd scans with no errors...even switched hdds and did a fresh install of winxp just in case windows was borked. tested psu with a multimeter and it is good too. even went so far as to buy a new UPS with AVR (boost and trim).
guess what....still getting random reboots for no apparent reason. i can't even replicate a reboot---meaning that it will reboot at different times for different things.
at this point all of my experience tells me that the mobo (dfi-nf4u) is dying a slow and painful death. anybody else finding out their their dfi-nf4u is slowly going tits-up? is a year about the expected lifespan of a heavily oc'ed rig? all of my other oc's where mild in comparison...but i thought these DFIs could take it...what gives?
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and s939 mobo selection is slim as of late. replace mobo or rebuild completely as a c2d rig...hmm, what to do?
trying to figure out if this is a DFI specific problem or a nf4 problem. somebody with an asus, gigabyte or abit s939 board that is still kicking....or has recently died? anybody want to talk about their s939 system?
thx!
i menioned above that i have a DFI nf3u-d that has been wonderfully stable. so i was thinking nf4 problem. maybe just bad QC @ DFI. i know they must have sold like a million nf4u-d's...
replaced dfi-nf4u with a vanilla msi nf4 and i am back in business! overclock is nice and stable @ 250htt. way lower than the dfi's 312htt but at least things are usable. i will miss having the old opty @ 2.8ghz though...
i definitely think the prolonged oc just wore down the motherboard. it was on 24/7 most of the time too. RIP dfi-nf4u...it was fun while it lasted!
that brings me to the question of what to do with a dead mobo besides recycle it? i feel like i should hang it on the wall or something...you know geek art.:)