Solved Windows crashes on startup only when powering on system

[hazel89]

please come and try to help me! my post is entitled 'please help me' the matter is urgent!

 

[pooch]

In RAID mode the data is spread over both drives that is why it shows up as a single drive. If your PSU was bad it would be more likely to crash with just one power lead to both drives. with separate cables you are using two power rails which should be easier on the PSU.
I think it may be possible that the RAM is underpowered I need to chase this up and I will get back to you.

 

[MelancholyRose]

That is a normal screen when you startup after a BSOD. You may want to start with this tutorial memtest86 test memory. It is a tedious process tracking down what the problems are. I am sure you have been to Asus website and updated all drivers and gone to AMD and update the drivers for the GPU card. Start with the memory, then test the hard drives with the diagnostic tool from the manufacturers website.

All of the drivers are up to date, I've ran Memtest, and I've tested the HDDs. All is well, according to the computer. If all is not well, the computer isn't telling me. Well, okay, it's telling me, but it isn't telling me ENOUGH.

I do find it strange that you built 2 identical machines and they are both unstable. You do get bad parts occasionally but 2 at the same time is strange. At this point the machine is not stable enough to run prime95 (CPU test). The only thing I can suggest is to start checking components 1 at a time, and also go back through the machine and make sure all wiring is securely connected, there are no frayed wires, and all connections are properly connected. There does seem to be something about the CD/DVD player. Correct me if I am wrong, but you have at least booted with it disconnected. If that continues I would suggest another Cd/DVD player. It is the cheapest component in the machine. It at least makes me think it is a contributer to the problem. Keep us advised of your progress.

Well, I actually, honestly believe my system, before the motherboard shorted out, had problems for different reasons. Some of my drivers were outdated at the time, including my RAID, chipset, and graphics. However, the fact that my own RAM doesn't work in his machine is unsettling and disturbing. If I have to RMA two sets of RAM, I'm probably going to rage out. I've already been waiting over a month for my new motherboard.

I've checked all of the connections and there isn't anything wrong with them. The wires are fine and the connections are secure. Right now I do have the optical drive unplugged while I have the single RAM stick in and the computer is running top notch at the moment. I was able to boot and the system never crashed. What I plan to do is start the computer up a few more times with the single RAM stick and the optical drive unplugged. If it continues to be stable, I'm plugging the optical drive back in to the PSU. If it continues to be stable, I'll try again to boot from the other stick that the system crashed with, and if it crashes again, with or without the optical drive plugged in, I'll have to assume it's the stick of RAM that was in the second DIMM slot.

Right now, software isn't telling me a goddamn thing, and it hasn't been for months. I have to rely on the OS responding to the hardware moving around.

 

[MelancholyRose]

In RAID mode the data is spread over both drives that is why it shows up as a single drive. If your PSU was bad it would be more likely to crash with just one power lead to both drives. with separate cables you are using two power rails which should be easier on the PSU.
I think it may be possible that the RAM is underpowered I need to chase this up and I will get back to you.

Let me know if you need pictures of my BIOS. I'm still new to voltage settings and power settings in BIOS, and I never tweaked it due to my ignorance of it.

 

[pooch]

In RAID mode the data is spread over both drives that is why it shows up as a single drive. If your PSU was bad it would be more likely to crash with just one power lead to both drives. with separate cables you are using two power rails which should be easier on the PSU.
I think it may be possible that the RAM is underpowered I need to chase this up and I will get back to you.

Let me know if you need pictures of my BIOS. I'm still new to voltage settings and power settings in BIOS, and I never tweaked it due to my ignorance of it.

Can you give me the RAM details?

 

[essenbe]

Look at the stick of ram you are running and tell me what the voltage, timings and frequency are. Also if you could, post a screenshot with CPUz, of the Memory tab, spd tab and cpu tab. Go into bios and make sure dram voltage is set exactly what it says on the stick of ram. Bios will automatically at default set your timings at 9-9-9-24. Lets see if the voltage could be at least part of the problem.

 

[essenbe]

Also, in bios tell me what the setting for CPU NB is.

 

[MelancholyRose]

I haven't gone into BIOS yet, but I figured I'd update before I do all of that.

I tried booting the system five times with the single stick of RAM. It booted cleanly four times. On the fifth, it crashed to a Fatal System Error. This was with the optical drive still unplugged.

Whatever the problem is, apparently it has to do a lot with RAM. I had a little bit of trouble booting after it crashed, even with the one stick.

I'll go to the BIOS and have a look.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Also, in bios tell me what the setting for CPU NB is.

I'm sorry, what is NB? North Bridge?

 

[pooch]

Yes

 

[MelancholyRose]

Here are the screenshots you asked for.

 

[essenbe]

Don't ask what the difference, but NB and CPU NB are different. If you don't have that particular setting never mind for right now.

 

[MelancholyRose]

CPU/NB offset voltage: 1.100
NB voltage: 1.093

DRAM voltage was up to 1.643, and the sticks say 1.5v.

SATA ports with RAID HDDs are set to RAID and not AHCI. Should they be set to AHCI? I didn't know there was much of a difference, and I figured if they were RAID drives, they should be set as RAID. If that's not what they should be set at, I'll change them. If it doesn't matter, I'll leave it.

I've had a couple problems starting the system up from restarts now, too.

 

[essenbe]

Set the dram voltage to 1.5

 

[MelancholyRose]

Set the dram voltage to 1.5

Okay, I did. I can only hope that it helps. I'm going to try shutting down and powering on a few times. I'll post again whether or not the system stabilized.

 

[pooch]

CPU/NB offset voltage: 1.100
NB voltage: 1.093

DRAM voltage was up to 1.643, and the sticks say 1.5v.

SATA ports with RAID HDDs are set to RAID and not AHCI. Should they be set to AHCI? I didn't know there was much of a difference, and I figured if they were RAID drives, they should be set as RAID. If that's not what they should be set at, I'll change them. If it doesn't matter, I'll leave it.

I've had a couple problems starting the system up from restarts now, too.

They should be set to RAID

 

[MelancholyRose]

After setting the voltage, I had 4 successful boot-ups after powering on. The fifth time, the Windows logo froze and the system auto-rebooted. It started fine after that, though. I don't know how stable it'll be. I'm going to attempt putting the second RAM stick in and I'm going to see if it crashes or not.

I still don't consider this solved, but at least the blue screens seemed to have gone away for now. I'll have to see what happens with the other RAM stick in.

When I get a hold of the Windows disc, which is at another location, I'm going to try running startup repair and maybe that will help, too.

 

[pooch]

After setting the voltage, I had 4 successful boot-ups after powering on. The fifth time, the Windows logo froze and the system auto-rebooted. It started fine after that, though. I don't know how stable it'll be. I'm going to attempt putting the second RAM stick in and I'm going to see if it crashes or not.

I still don't consider this solved, but at least the blue screens seemed to have gone away for now. I'll have to see what happens with the other RAM stick in.

When I get a hold of the Windows disc, which is at another location, I'm going to try running startup repair and maybe that will help, too.

I agree but we seem to be a step in the right direction,

 

[MelancholyRose]

Well, I tried it with both sticks and instant crash. I'm thinking of trying each of my two sticks in the DIMM slot one by one, and I'll have to see if it helps anything.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Tried putting one of my sticks in, and it auto-rebooted Windows at the startup logo again, but once again, it started fine after that the second time it tried.

So I'm going to assume that that particular stick is okay, since the same thing happened with only one stick. I'm going to test my other stick of RAM in his machine, too, just in case that stick is bad, too, so I can RMA both bad sticks instead of RMA one while I still have one other bad one that I need to send.

So, I may have stopped the BSODs, but Windows is still acting up on startup, but hopefully that's something that a startup repair can mend. I'm still going to work on this, but I need a break right now. I've been working on this since 8 a.m. and it's 2:20 now.