NON-BSOD Win 7 lockup problem - anyone else?

Thanks folks...

Bill2 said:

Try this MS hotfix.

Thanks! I forwarded that to ADK Support for their thoughts, and they suggest giving it a try: "...it does update the ACPI which overclocking can have issues with". Not sure how relevant that is, since I see this symptom in o/c and stock timing... still...

BIOS and all drivers have been checked and re-checked for latest versions. I'll check out the P6T page, though at first glance it looks like a slightly different problem. I'll also check out Blackviper - maybe there's some discussion there on why 'superior' Win7's memory footprint is 5-6 times bigger than XP. Thanks!!

chev65 said:

How much time did the Op spend researching and or adjusting the memory settings and the bios voltage settings in order to get his non plug and play Asus P6T enthusiast board stable? I highly suggest you start there. :)

This is a mobo selected by ADK and optimized by them for overclocked DAW operation. The configuration is standard for them, so I can't speak directly to how much time they've spent characterizing the board.

That said, while troubleshooting this problem over the last month, ADK Tech Support and I have tried a number of timing and voltage settings and none has had any verifiable effect on the lockup symptom - it has occurred with both stock and o/c settings.

As shipped, the BIOS was apparently flaky for o/c, but an upgrade to the latest BIOS appears to have resolved that issue. That change had no effect on the lockup symptom, which occurred both before and after the BIOS update with both o/c and stock timings.


U0

I had this /exact/ same problem. The key is that the HD light comes on and stays on during the event.

Is that correct in your situation?

If so then yes the problem is related to the HD or SATA drivers. Windows is trying to get something of the HD but has stalled. One by one as various parts of the system also need data from the HD they stall too producing an entire system stall after a few seconds/minutes. (Nouse is ususally the last thing to stop working)

In my particular case it was because I was using an SSD and the Native Command Queing feature of the sata drinver was causing the drive/driver to go FUBAR.

I disabled the NCQ option on the sata port properties for my SSD drive and it fixed it. But also updating to the latest Intel matrix storage drivers (if using an intel chipset based MB) or to the motherboard manufacturers latest storage drivers may fix it as well.

NCQ is mainly a rotating drive feature, allowing the drive to stack up multiple requests for data, then return data in an order that most favors moving the head the least amount of distance. It actually sped up my SSD a little but but had the odd effect of making the Windows Experience Index program refuse to rate the HD after that :/ (Like I was "cheating" or something? )

fseal said:

I had this /exact/ same problem. The key is that the HD light comes on and stays on during the event. Is that correct in your situation?

No. Normally the HDD activity light blinks on once each second. That activity stops when a lockup occurs, and the HDD light is off.

Well HD light off lessens the chance that this is same the problem, but you could try disabling the NCQ option "for fun". If it doesn't work turn it back on... :)

Otherwise it would most likely still be some hardware driver. Some resource that the entire system depends on and will block on if it goes out to lunch. After the storage driver update. I'd remove any piece of non essential hardware, like remove everything from any USB port (minut mouse and KB). Disable the sound card, maybe even the network card. See if anything like that stops it...

Thanks. If the symptom starts occurring frequently enough, I'll give that a try. As it is, I only see it every few days, on average, so it's difficult and very time-consuming to 'test' any changes; hard to know how long to wait before assuming things are 'fine'.

At least now I have a list of things to try if I do see it again.

cheers!

U0

Something new I found on this, in case anyone's interested.

U0

UserZero said:

Thanks folks...

Bill2 said:

Try this MS hotfix.

Thanks! I forwarded that to ADK Support for their thoughts, and they suggest giving it a try: "...it does update the ACPI which overclocking can have issues with". Not sure how relevant that is, since I see this symptom in o/c and stock timing... still...

BIOS and all drivers have been checked and re-checked for latest versions. I'll check out the P6T page, though at first glance it looks like a slightly different problem. I'll also check out Blackviper - maybe there's some discussion there on why 'superior' Win7's memory footprint is 5-6 times bigger than XP. Thanks!!

chev65 said:

How much time did the Op spend researching and or adjusting the memory settings and the bios voltage settings in order to get his non plug and play Asus P6T enthusiast board stable? I highly suggest you start there. :)

This is a mobo selected by ADK and optimized by them for overclocked DAW operation. The configuration is standard for them, so I can't speak directly to how much time they've spent characterizing the board.

That said, while troubleshooting this problem over the last month, ADK Tech Support and I have tried a number of timing and voltage settings and none has had any verifiable effect on the lockup symptom - it has occurred with both stock and o/c settings.

As shipped, the BIOS was apparently flaky for o/c, but an upgrade to the latest BIOS appears to have resolved that issue. That change had no effect on the lockup symptom, which occurred both before and after the BIOS update with both o/c and stock timings.


U0

Regardless of what ADK may have tried these types of random freezing problems are usually caused by incorrect values set in the bios or simply bad hardware. I've dusted off those so called techs so many times I've lost count, so no offence but I don't trust any of them to do the job correctly. I'd have to look at your bios settings in order to make the correct adjustments.