Solved BSOD during Macrium Image creation

[TVeblen]

Waiting for an error to occur is very tedious. I like to run a program like Prime95 to see if I can speed up the process of getting to the error, if there is one. The nice thing about running a program like this is that you can 'push the button', go to bed, and check it in the morning.

You replaced RAM and a Video card, correct?
If you find no joy in tweaking the RAM settings then you may need to address the video card. But I never go in two directions at once. You can never know which fix solved it. I'd run through all the RAM tests first.

 

[Golden]

Oh....good point TVeblen. I forgot to ask whether its worth running Memtest86+ again for 6 passes. I'll need a good 18hrs to get through 6 tests, so I might leave that overnight. I've read about Prime95 here before, in a tutorial I think, and may give that a go.

Yes...thats correct, the RAM and video card were replaced. I agree....one avenue of attack is easier to manage. Since the dmp file pointed to RAM, I'll stick with that unless something else comes to light.

These last few days the system has been quite good....no BSOD at all after having turned off "Turbo" and gone back to "Standard" setting.

Thanks,
Golden

 

[TVeblen]

Turning off Turbo may have been all you needed to do. The problem with running additional tests is that if the system was good (no more bluescreens), and then you change settings and it blues again, how do you know if it is the old problem or a new one?

I think it is best to try one thing, run it that way for a good long time. If the BS comes back then reset that test and start a new one.

GIMPS Home

 

[Dave76]

You can wait a day or two and see if you get anymore BSoDs, though I agree with TVeblen to find out if it's stable run Prime95.

When Prime95 opens, from the 'options tab' > 'Torture Test' > select 'Custom' and change the RAM setting to 16000 MB (16GB).
Be sure to monitor CPU core temps when it starts, Your max CPU core temp is 77.7°C.
Intel® Core™ i7-860 Processor

Look at the Tcase temp in the Intel link, then add 5°C to the case temp, that is the max core temp recommended by Intel.
If it goes over that, then stop the test.

Correct me if I'm wrong, you mentioned you have installed a stock Intel CPU cooler, if that is correct then 40°C is in the range for your CPU.
Checking the thermal paste, as Britton30 mentioned, is still a good idea.

Turning off the 'Turbo' may have solved the crashes, as mentioned by TVeblen.
If Prime95 passes 2-3 hours (the length of testing needed varies greatly from person to person) I would say it's good.

If it passes the prime95 test, set the qpi/vtt voltage back to the original setting of 1.10v and run the prime95 test again, if it passes then leave it there.
The goal is to get a stable system at the lowest possible voltages, less voltage = less heat, heat is bad. This is a basic for overclocking but also applies to any system settings.

Let us know how it's going.

 

[Golden]

Champion. Thanks lads. I'll get that setup and going tommorow afternoon and report back.

Dave : yes, thats correct, I had to remove the Noctua and use the stock Intel cooler (fan) that came with the CPU - I'll open up the case and look for thermal paste leakage tommorrow.

This is how I will run it:

Max CPU temp before stopping test 77.7 (72.7 + 5)
Monitor CPU temp using HWInfo64

View attachment 181908

Does this look sound?

Regards,
Golden

 

[Dave76]

Spot on.

Let us know how it is going.

 

[Golden]

Cheers......I'll get that running tommorow.

 

[Golden]

OK. Had a bit of a drama with keeping my CPU temperature < 77.7 for anything more than 2 or 3 minutes. I had been wanting to try a closed water cooling system, so installed the Corsair H60.....its definately done the trick as I now have temps:

View attachment 182201

Using a custom torture test. I'll keep you posted once I've run this for an hour.

Regards,
Golden

 

[Golden]

OK. First hour of torture test completed OK. All workers passed, but I got 2 workers that stopped with the following message:

[Nov 4 22:49] Worker starting
[Nov 4 22:49] Setting affinity to run worker on logical CPU #5
[Nov 4 22:49] Beginning a continuous self-test to check your computer.
[Nov 4 22:49] Please read stress.txt.  Choose Test/Stop to end this test.
[Nov 4 22:49] Cannot initialize FFT code, errcode=1005
[Nov 4 22:49] Unable to allocate memory.  One possible cause is the operating system's swap area is too small.
[Nov 4 22:49] Torture Test completed 0 tests in 0 minutes - 0 errors, 0 warnings.
[Nov 4 22:49] Worker stopped.

Is this an issue? Since I use a 60GB SSD as the system drive, I wanted to conserve space so my pagefile is set to 500MB. Should I step qpi/vtt voltage back to 1.100v and re-run the torture test again?

These are the max volatge and temperature readings recorded during the test.

View attachment 182211

Regards,
Golden

 

[Dave76]

That is a fail due to memory.

Set your page file to 4GB, it probably won't use that much but will help in some instances. Crash dumps and stress testing for a couple.
Your system will run better, an SSD is the best place to put you page file, the faster access time the better performance.

Then run Prime95 again, if it has a similar failure you can stop the test.
If it fails again we can try some settings adjustments, it usually helps to set the frequency and first four timings to manual.
We can look into that if need be.

Leave the QPI/vvt at 1.190v and the DRAM at 1.50v for now, next step will be bumping the DRAM to 1.56v.

 

[Golden]

Pagefile changed to 4092MB

Re-ran torture test for an hour and all workers passed without errors.

CPU max temps nice and stable at:
Core0 57
Core1 52
Core2 54
Core3 54

I guess its DRAM up to 1.56v now?

Regards,
Golden

 

[Britton30]

I had the same error about the swap file being too small on one core. I let it continue and it started.

Temps look good Colin, new thermal paste job?

 

[Golden]

Temps look good Colin, new thermal paste job?

New cooler mate.....Corsair H60 water colling kit. It comes with pre-installed film of thermal paste which makes it much easier.

 

[Britton30]

Cool (pun intended) Colin. I've wondered it the Corsair H coolers are any good.

 

[Dave76]

If you passed the torture test, run your system at these setting for a while and see if you get a crash.
You might run memtest86+ again and see if it throws any errors.

If it passed the Prime95 torture test, it might be stable now.

Let us know if you get anymore crashes.

 

[Britton30]

Appologies for jumping in your thread Colin.

Dave do those settings in Prime95 stressing the CPU or mostly RAM?

 

[Golden]

Thanks Dave.

Last night I increased DRAM = 1.560v, and also turned on the "Turbo" RAM performance mode, and then ran the torture test for 2 hours - all workers passed without errors.

Should I step DRAM back down again to 1.500v?

Regards,
Golden

 

[Dave76]

Appologies for jumping in your thread Colin.

Dave do those settings in Prime95 stressing the CPU or mostly RAM?

It tests both in the 'Torture Test', the other tests are mostly for testing the CPU but some RAM is used there also.

Thanks Dave.

Last night I increased DRAM = 1.560v, and also turned on the "Turbo" RAM performance mode, and then ran the torture test for 2 hours - all workers passed without errors.

Should I step DRAM back down again to 1.500v?

Regards,
Golden

Yes.

Keep notes on the settings and results, for future reference.

 

[Britton30]

Appologies for jumping in your thread Colin.

Dave do those settings in Prime95 stressing the CPU or mostly RAM?

It tests both in the 'Torture Test', the other tests are mostly for testing the CPU but some RAM is used there also.

Thanks!

Keep notes on the settings and results, for future reference.

Important, making mental notes (in my case) is like using disappearing ink.

 

[Dave76]

Know the feeling


And, your welcome.