Hardware diagnosing question...

[Tekkerson]

I have a new build that I got last Thursday in the mail. I assembled all the parts and installed Windows 7, it would boot up fine then it would BSOD on me every now and then.

I thought it was the RAM, at first. I find it a lot more common for that to be the culprit for the random BSOD issue.

I ran Memtest86+ twice and it came out clean. I was puzzled for a second.

I bought an SSD drive for this build and I've seen reviews in general that some SSD drives can be faulty, that was my second thought of why it was happening.

I put in an HDD and it ran fine... For a while. Now it won't even turn on at all.

Now, before all this happened I had run a Prime95/Furmark CPU/GPU stress test, lasted for hours fine.

I recall something odd happening with one of the stress tests with the CPU (I ran several). On one of those tests I clicked "stop" on prime95 and as soon as I clicked OK the whole computer froze. Not sure if it has anything to do with what I'm about to say next.

The bottom line is that I'm not sure what to RMA next. The motherboard or CPU? I know that the computer won't turn on if the CPU is faulty... what do you guys think?

Specs:

Processor: Phenom II X6 1090T

Mobo: ASUS M4N75TD AM3 NVIDIA nForce 750a

RAM: Kingston HyperX 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) KHX2000C9AD3K3/3GX

PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W

GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1371-TR GeForce GTX 460

SSD: OCZ Solid 2 Series OCZSSD2-2SLD120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II

[the big dill]

The bottom line is that I'm not sure what to RMA next. The motherboard or CPU? I know that the computer won't turn on if the CPU is faulty... what do you guys think?

Well, fault could be at anything actually. My best guess is motherboard at this point.

Can you list your specs? specifically power supply, as that could have been an issue.

Do you have a speaker on your motherboard?

The best thing to do is try parts on other computer, Except PSU, you don't want to risk anything with that.

For now, give it a rest, and try to power it on in maybe 30 minutes with only MINIMUM connected (1 ram stick, no HDD SSD or ODD, no fans, no graphics card), meaning the power supply will only give power to the motherboard (24 pin and 8 pin)

The freezing most likely signifies hard drive issues from my experience. Otherwise the crashing could be memory, and not it being faulty but rather undervolted, check to make sure the motherboard is giving the right voltage to the ram that meets the rams required voltage, my 790i undervolted my ram and that cause lots of crashing.

[Tekkerson]

Well like I said, when I could at the time I tested the RAM. And it passed the test twice on Memtest86+ (latest version).

I have a power supply tester and the PSU tested ok on the voltages.

HDD/SSD are fine, it was known working HDD from another computer. Plus I used the SSD on another computer for a day and it never crashed. It's not the storage either.

I do have a speaker for the motherboard but it's detachable and I haven't put it on. Thanks for this tip, I will try to see if the speaker gives any beep errors tomorrow when I have time.

[Tekkerson]

Update:

I put on the speaker but now it actually turns on again. Except it keeps crashing every now and then, giving me inconsistent results. Right now what I can make it do is have Prime95 open and every time I do a blend test it crashes immediately.

What could this possibly mean? Is it pointing to a processor problem or motherboard?

Then again, even if I'm not running Prime95 it will crash in the middle of loading windows sometimes or just opening my web browser.

What do you guys think it is?

[MR_Candyman]

It could be ANYTHING. I actually had the same problem with the build I just did for my girl, and you know what it was? A pci slot USB 2.0 card that plugs into the empty spots on the motherboard. I had even used this previously working just fine. For some reason it won't work without crashing in her computer. So, as I said, it could be anything. You will have to remove or swap one device at a time and test the results

[jnelsoninjax]

Are you getting BSOD's? If so, you can use either Whocrashed or Nirsoft's Bluescreen viewer to check what is causing the errors.

[Tekkerson]

Sometimes I get BSOD's sometimes I don't and the computer completely freezes.

The only thing that's attached to the motherboard is the video card, cpu, 1 stick of RAM (which memtest86+ tested good), and a keyboard (not even a mouse).

I'm thinking of RMAing my motherboard... any other suggestions?

[MR_Candyman]

update bios, reset bios to defaults

[Phenom II]

Yup ^^^

Update your BIOS - Its a new build with new hardware, chances are the mainboard doesnt have the supporting BIOS shipped needed for the rest of the hardware

RAM Timings also, voltages, clock speeds etc

[MR_Candyman]

I believe that motherboard has a ram checker button. With the computer off push and hold that button until it boots up to the bios screen. This will set default value for the ram. Do this after resetting the bios and/or updating bios

[speedstr3789]

you are looking at the wrong part being faulty

[Tekkerson]

you are looking at the wrong part being faulty

Then what do you suggest, wise one?

Anyway the only things that are plugged into the motherboard are the GPU,CPU,1 stick of RAM and a keyboard. (Not even a mouse is plugged in).The motherboard's RAM checker says the ram is ok (makes sense considering Memtest86+ also told me the RAM was fine.)

I have already updated the BIOS and resetted to default settings more than once.

[howarang15]

Have you tried powering ur pc after taking it out of the case as motherboard could be shorting with the case, this happened to a friend on mine.

[the big dill]

Check to make sure that the ram voltage the mobo is giving it is meeting recommended ram voltage specs. :)

[DonKing]

Is it plugged in?

[Tekkerson]

Update: It was the motherboard.

I've never had a motherboard do that to me.

Motherboards usually WORK or the DON'T WORK at all. Never halfway in between.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions.

I'm just glad I made the right call, even though it was tricky. :)

[+PeterUK MVC]

Have you removed the 4 pin cap on the 8 pin and connected it from your PSU with an 8 pin connector?

[bjoswald]

Glad you figured it out, but next time, please post the error code.