New Build System Stability Issue...

[temjam99]

I have recently finished putting together a new rig consisting of the following;

i7 4790k
h110iGt AIO cooler
16gb corsair vengeance
256gb Crucial SSD (carried over from previous computer)
GTX 980 (Palit super Jetstream)
Phantom 530 case

After putting together these parts and transferring my old hard drive with windows on it from old computer to this one, I am having some trouble with system stability. Windows boots fine and I can sit around doing whatever on the desktop for as long as I want, but whenever I seem to stress the machine, the system freezes up and I have to hold the power button down to turn it off and on again. The strange thing is, under deliberate stress testing using Furmark, HeavyLoad and Cinebench, I cannot reproduce the crash. HOWEVER, whenever I boot up UNIGINE heaven or ANY game, the system freezes within a few seconds of the program beginning. For instance, Unigine loads and begins benchmarking but the framerate quickly drops to 0 and a second later my entire system freezes. Tried Battlefield 4 same thing, it loads up but the minute I actually 'deploy' it freezes and needs restarting. Same with Far Cry 4 etc etc.

I have checked temps and they rarely exceed anything out of the ordinary, CPU never goes above 55 with HeavyLoad running for 30 minutes due to H110i Cooler. GPU have never seen temps rise above 72 and at 72 the fans are barely kicking in.

I am not particularly a wizard when it comes to diagnosing pc issues and am used to just buying the parts, following the instructions and then playing games. I must mention I did briefly overclock the Gpu just to see what kind of headroom there was but then reset the GPU and all seemed fine. I have attached Screenshots of various INFO screens to assess

Is there any advice you could give to help me ascertain the problem here?

Many Thanks in advance

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

So you took the old hard drive, windows install and all and popped it into the new rig and are having stability issues? It's screaming for a fresh install of windows.

 

[rtwjunkie]

Since it happens with Unigine and games, you might try reinstalling your GPU drivers, as well as Direct x...and not just dx11, I would try dx9 as well before you reinstall windows, although that solution will likely fix everything.

EDIT: spelling corrections.

 

[temjam99]

I admit I had my doubts over porting windows directly with such a huge change in hardware, but I find it strange that most other functions in the computer work fine, and it is only really 3d applications that are gpu intensive that freeze the computer. I am re-installing gpu drivers and direct x right now per your suggestion and will report back as soon as done.

thanks

 

[rtwjunkie]

I admit I had my doubts over porting windows directly with such a huge change in hardware, but I find it strange that most other functions in the computer work fine, and it is only really 3d applications that are gpu intensive that freeze the computer. I am re-installing gpu drivers and direct x right now per your suggestion and will report back as soon as done.

thanks

Cool, I look forward to the results!

 

[peche]

Since it happens with Unigine and games, you might try reinstalling your GPU drivers, as well as Direct x...and not just dx11, I woild try dx9 as well before you reinstall windows, although that solution will limely fix everything.

No, Is better a new fresh install of Windows...

 

[rtwjunkie]

No, Is better a new fresh install of Windows...

I agree that is the best route, however there are a number of people on this forum who have the moving windows OS to a new PC down to a science, so I'm trying to account for the most glaring problem that might crop up, since he is likely to get their advice too.

But I hear you! A fresh install can't go wrong.

 

[temjam99]

Ok, I have re-installed basic Nvidia and chipset drivers but it has proved to be of no use. So......I decided it couldn't hurt to run Memtest 86 purely to see if it could be something wrong with the RAM. Its been running one hour and 30 mins and completed 2 passes and found 2 errors, would that be a problem? I've attached a photo below...

Would that be a likely cause?, the RAM is barely 2 days old after being purchased a few days ago....I've googled this and people are forgiving of one or two errors but that seems to be after they have left Memtest running for days, I've had two errors in under two hours?

Thanks again

 

[rtwjunkie]

Ok, I have re-installed basic Nvidia and chipset drivers but it has proved to be of no use. So......I decided it couldn't hurt to run Memtest 86 purely to see if it could be something wrong with the RAM. Its been running one hour and 30 mins and completed 2 passes and found 2 errors, would that be a problem? I've attached a photo below...

Would that be a likely cause?, the RAM is barely 2 days old after being purchased a few days ago....I've googled this and people are forgiving of one or two errors but that seems to be after they have left Memtest running for days, I've had two errors in under two hours?View attachment 62774

Thanks again

It's not good. I'm not forgiving of any errors. Try it with each RAM separately, so you can see which is the bad stick and RMA more than likely.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Run each module one at a time in the primary RAM slot and test again. If one has no errors and the other does, you may have a slightly defective module.

BTW are you running them at their tested speed and timings? Also, it probably is since it's Corsair Vengeance, but did you check if it was on the MB QVL?

And of course make sure the RAM is thoroughly seated with both tabs clicked all the way down.

 

[temjam99]

Hi, the Ram is;

LN62701 - 16GB (2x8GB) Corsair Scan 3XS DDR3 Vengeance Pro, Black, PC3-17066 (2133), Non-ECC Unbuffered, XMP + RED Clips Bundle.

I had a brief search for compatibility and saw other people said they were using same Ram and Motherboard and they seemed to be a very popular set of RAM. This is only my second build and I'm still learning things as I go along, and I kind of "winged it" the first time round and reckon I got lucky mashing the right pieces together in an AM3 build, but this time around things seem to be going a little differently, and this despite me taking the time to really try and set things up "by the book" using every instruction manual and youtube video available. My limited knowledge with regard to any of this originally lead me to think it must be a graphics issue (drivers or otherwise) considering it crashed whenever using Unigine for a moment or booting up any graphically intensive game, but this Memory thing is a little over my head and I'm now wondering whether I've done something altogether wrong in putting it together and ended up with more than one problem... Anyhow, i'm hoping it will be a worthy learning curve, just hopefully not one that costs me too much considering what I have just forked out for this system.

Regarding timings, I simply pressed the OC GENIE button on the motherboard and it said it was running at 2133mhz which is what it is advertised as being so didn't bother to further check. I will attempt what you have suggested but I am still waiting for memtest to complete its first full Test of 4 passes so I can see how many errors pop up, i'm now up to 3 errors with 2 of them exactly the same.

After it is done I will check in the bios for the timings.

Thanks Again.

 

[temjam99]

Just so that anyone that might be more knowledgeable than I am can see them, here are the results of the memory test after 3 passes. 4 errors in total, all in test 13. Anyone know anything about Test 13 specifics? Have now booted into windows returned every possible setting in Bios back to defaults (it had auto-overclocked cpu to 4.4ghz and RAM to 2133mhz[though I thought that is what the RAM is supposed to run at anyways?] )) I will run more memtests overnight and ring vendor tomorrow morning about RMA'ing them.

 

[Caring1]

So you took the old hard drive, windows install and all and popped it into the new rig and are having stability issues? It's screaming for a fresh install of windows.

That would only be an issue if the Motherboard was changed as well.

 

[stinger608]

Yep, there is issues with that set of ram man. RMA that ram and forward the memtest images along with the rma request.

 

[temjam99]

The motherboard was indeed changed, I neglected to add it to the list for some reason (sorry..) but I did mention that this was only my second build, with the first being an AMD build. I went from AM3+ ,8350. r9 290 ---- to ---- Z97 MSI gaming 7 + 4790k + gtx 980. It is not the largest leap up in performance ever but after going with AMD for my first build i had decided to see what all the fuss was about with Intel and NVidia and so chose them for the second build.

Having run the memtest now for a good 8 hours it only seems to fail on "Test 13 Hammer test" every time it completes a pass.

 

[temjam99]

Yes, ok, I shall do exactly that, thanks for the help. Hopefully thats the cause of the problems, though I think I will also take the other advice and do a fresh install of windows when the replacement RAM arrives just in case and if any problems arise I shall be back on here with them.

Thanks again.

 

[Caring1]

Did you install the chipset drivers for the new Motherboard?
Run the Memtest one stick of Ram at a time or the results will be useless.
That way you will find the faulty unit.

 

[temjam99]

Yep installed the chipset drivers as soon as booted into windows for the first time. OK am testing each stick separately now.

 

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

The motherboard was indeed changed, I neglected to add it to the list for some reason (sorry..) but I did mention that this was only my second build, with the first being an AMD build. I went from AM3+ ,8350. r9 290 ---- to ---- Z97 MSI gaming 7 + 4790k + gtx 980. It is not the largest leap up in performance ever but after going with AMD for my first build i had decided to see what all the fuss was about with Intel and NVidia and so chose them for the second build.

Having run the memtest now for a good 8 hours it only seems to fail on "Test 13 Hammer test" every time it completes a pass.

@Caring1 He pulled the drive from an Amd based rig and dropped it into an Intel based rig.

OP check your memory good but don't be surprised if you have to do a fresh install of windows too. Intel to intel and Amd to Amd you might be able to get away with but Amd to Intel, your asking for trouble.

 

[Caring1]

@Caring1 He pulled the drive from an Amd based rig and dropped it into an Intel based rig.

Thanks, I read his post to me, 20 minutes before you decided to tell me again.

 

[temjam99]

Just to update anyone reading, I contacted my supplier and they said RMA will be fine but asked me to run some more diagnostics first to ensure exactly what the problem is.

Interestingly, the Memtest continued to reveal errors (repeatable and in the same test) overnight. However, when only using one stick of RAM at a time, no matter which stick it was, these errors disappear entirely and are not reproducible which is troubling because the supplier indicated they would be testing the RAM themselves one stick at a time.....I have informed them of this and am awaiting to hear their reply. Does anyone think it could be an issue with another part of the computer? I have tried inserting each stick into each seperate socket and again, as long as they are singular they are fine, but as soon as both sticks are in the computer I get an error in TEST 13 HAMMER TEST every time in what looks to be the exact same place. I'm now completely confused but wondered again if anyone had heard of anything like this happening before?

Thanks again

 

[eidairaman1]

Yep, there is issues with that set of ram man. RMA that ram and forward the memtest images along with the rma request.

I know my rig is different however it is a Sabertooth Series board, And when i researched mine vengeance ram and my board are a no go.

I didnt see your boards specs.

Id go Gskill

 

[rtwjunkie]

That sounds to me like a memory CONTROLLER problem. The IMC is on the cpu itself ever since Sandy Bridge.

Can you override the XMP settings and run them at 1600 instead of 2133? Are they 1.5v or low-voltage1.35v or so? Then do Memtest again, and see if it makes a difference.

finally, is there another set of RAM you can also put in to try and replicate the problem?

EDIT: @eidairaman1 may be right...they may be incompatible with the board. In counter to his G-skill, if that is the case, then I suggest Mushkin. I rarely find them on anybody's compatibility list, yet I have not found a motherboard yet that wouldn't take them and run well with them.

 

[temjam99]

Thing is, the motherboard didn't auto-detect the xmp memory and frequency anyways until I pressed the XMP button and reset, at which point memory was clocked at its advertised speed of 2133mhz, up until I did that it had been running at 1333mhz anyways and had still been turning up errors until I followed the vendors advice and turned XMP on, but still getting errors, again only on TEST 13. I'll see about getting another stick of RAM or two in the next couple of days, ironically I've just sold a 16gb set which i likely could have used but meh. The vendor has replied and informed me to test the CPU with its stock cooler (not the h110iGT that is currently attached) and just motherboard and RAM attached to PSU with no other things attached. Didn't say why but I will try it when I'm back home.

 

[rtwjunkie]

OK, that's good to know. It would definately be good to know if the problem exists with different set of memory. If it does, it's very likely not your memory.