Windows 7 Random Lockups vs Perfect Vista x64 operation

[TommyboyCAN]

so I have been away for the weekend but here are the things I tried.

Totally switched memory between the 2 PC's I have here and the problem didn't follow the memory unfortunetly. So I took a little more drastic measures, disassembled the raid and did a full reinstall of Windows 7 (I always do full installs, upgrades scare me).

Things looked good, no freezes for about 40 hours till sometime last night.

Now I'm trying new video drivers (went back to catalyst 9.7), and will see if I freeze again. I haven't had the time to do a 24hour memtest, but I did run prime95 for about 20 hours (during the 40 hour uptime) with no faults.

So half of me thinks GPU, and the other half thinks maybe PSU. The only thing that gets me is how could it be hardware since Vista was a rock?

 

[TommyboyCAN]

Do you have the option to raise ICH voltage? I been told this is sometimes needed in a raid environment. Are you running the latest Intel Matrix Storage Manager software? Also run memtest+ for 24 hours atleast.

I don't have a direct option for this voltage, maybe one of the chipset voltages up there would cover it. I'll tweak it a bit.

 

[TommyboyCAN]

Now that I have all these extra HDs I've considered installing on one vista just to see if I'm still rock stable there under the same old conditions. Maybe something has happened over the course of upgrading, although I severly doubt it.

What was intersting I did see another ATI 4870 user complain about freezing so I wonder if it is video drivers, maybe some kind of memory leak there or something.

 

[chev65]

Now that I have all these extra HDs I've considered installing on one vista just to see if I'm still rock stable there under the same old conditions. Maybe something has happened over the course of upgrading, although I severly doubt it.

What was intersting I did see another ATI 4870 user complain about freezing so I wonder if it is video drivers, maybe some kind of memory leak there or something.

I would look into increasing the Northbridge voltage ICH? on your board. Everyone uses different names for the NB voltage but increasing it did fix a stablity problem when I moved from Vista to Win7.

 

[fseal]

If the harddrive light comes on solid during these lockup events, it may be a known issue with the storage drivers. Happens when under heavy load, or simply sitting idle, sometimes during boot, other times hours later.

You can try going to Intel or Asus web site and DL the latest matrix storage drivers for Windows 7. They may or may not apply to your motherboard, but if not the install gives a simple error message about the drivers not being suitable for this machine.

 

[TommyboyCAN]

I would look into increasing the Northbridge voltage ICH? on your board. Everyone uses different names for the NB voltage but increasing it did fix a stablity problem when I moved from Vista to Win7.

I'm pretty sure I asked this before but would a .2V bump be safe and probably sufficient?

 

[TommyboyCAN]

If the harddrive light comes on solid during these lockup events, it may be a known issue with the storage drivers. Happens when under heavy load, or simply sitting idle, sometimes during boot, other times hours later.

You can try going to Intel or Asus web site and DL the latest matrix storage drivers for Windows 7. They may or may not apply to your motherboard, but if not the install gives a simple error message about the drivers not being suitable for this machine.

I did that before when it was in RAID and still had problems. Right now I'm running in AHCI mode, I'm wondering if I should just turn that off and run in basic IDE mode?

 

[fseal]

Hmm, maybe.

For me I had to turn off Native Command Queing but that was a specific fix for a specific drive.

If the HD light is comeing on (somtimes 1-2 mintues after the initial lockup) maybe more research into storage issues will help.

 

[TommyboyCAN]

Out of curiousity what drive did you have problems with?

 

[fseal]

The Intel X-25M.

It is the only SSD I know of that actualy USES NCQ. It uses it to optimise numerous small writes.

Most if not all other SSDs simply ignore NCQ and don;t trigger the problem.

Unfortuantely the Vista and Windows 7 SATA driver (or something further up) has a known issue with NCQ and the Intel SSDs. What's reall dissapointing is that the issue has been known about for at least a year it looks like and MS did not get a fix in before the RTM build

Windows 7 is supposed to be optimized for SSD, suppporting TRIM etc... Still holfiding out hope that an automatic update is available by day of release that fixes this.

 

[TommyboyCAN]

So to keep up my testing I haven't changed anything and also haven't stalled for over 36+ hours which is a record.

If I freeze I'm going to look at making the following changes:
- Up NB voltage
- Change from AHCI to just IDE mode (disabling NCQ)

The last change I have made of significance is going from ATI Catalyst 9.8 drivers back to 9.7.

 

[TommyboyCAN]

Sooo.... I've gone to IDE mode, upped NB voltage and I still find my average uptime is around 24 hours before it freezes out.

I'm going to try swapping out my video card for now and then to maybe try swapping the PS.

 

[TommyboyCAN]

So swapped video card and the PC has lasted overnight for the first time in a while.

So lets say if this computer doesn't lock up.

What could be the problem:
1) ATI 4870 Drivers
2) ATI HDMI Drivers (realtek)
3) Power problem since the ATI 4870 uses significantly more power
4) Physical problem with the card?
5) something else.....

Anyone have any ideas?

The only thing that gets me leaning away from driver problems is that I would expect a BSOD or error on a driver problem, at least that is what I have seen in the past.

 

[TommyboyCAN]

I'm sure most are sick of this thread, but I have some news to report. So with this basic PCIXpress video card I haven't crashed in 48hrs which leads me to believe it is eiter because the 4870 is crashing (maybe overheating, though I doubt it) or maybe when the 4870 is in there it is causing power issues over time.

It does use 2 x PCIX power cables.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[TommyboyCAN]

UPDATE
So the new graphics card did fail last night!! So....I'm going to try a new PS, or maybe will just switch another PC, but man this is getting frustrating.

 

[fseal]

Well keep plugging at it. I know how you feel, I put up with random lockups for 6-8 weeks before finding my spcific cause. Was getting very frustrating. Since getting it fixed everything is ultra sweet. Good luck!

 

[zigzag3143]

Does that PC update windows automatically?

 

[TommyboyCAN]

Does that PC update windows automatically?

No but I keep it up to date manually.

 

[MaViL]

Hi.

I just registered cause i have such troubles too.
At how much MHz ur RAM is running?

Running my RAM @1066 keeps Vista & Win 7 at VPU - Recovers with BlueScreens
(atikmdiag.dll has stopped...) ...
cannt find anything to get it to work. WinXP all is no Problem :sarc:

Now im running RAM @800 and all is fine under Vista / 7 too...
Maybe its worth a try - lower MHz and increase VDimm a lil.


If anyone has just a little idea, tell me please

I've tried Voltages, GTL's, BIOS-Versions, different Driver.... no chance to get em working @1066!


GreeTings MaViL

 

[fseal]

I bought some 1066 "SLI" memory for this nvidia MB back in the day. ANd it ran at 1066 but the memory got SO FRAKING HOT it burned my fingers on the memory heatsink, that I clocked it back down to 800. And you know what? There was like zero performance dfference :/