Solved Windows crashes on startup only when powering on system

[MelancholyRose]

You mentioned something buzzing, which is never good. It could be your PSU, DVD, or some fan hanging.

It doesn't seem to buzz too much now, but I noticed when looking inside that one of the case's fans was spinning close to its molex power cord. I pulled it away. I think that might have been what the buzzing was.

Go into Bios and reset to factory setting, except what you need for your RAID array.

Everything was at factory settings, default voltages and all, I mean. The only thing I changed, and this was yesterday, was the voltages for the RAM, since they somehow got too high. Should I reset everything anyway?

If you got your RAM as 2 4GB kits, you may have mixed the stick up and the matched ones are separated. It would seem that some RAM or a slot is bad.

That could be. When my motherboard stopped functioning, I tried putting my RAM into his machine to test if they failed. Hopefully I didn't, but I could have mixed one of my sticks in with his. It may be the RAM slot, but since I still get the Windows logo auto-restarting even with one stick in the first slot, I thought of trying to just leave a stick in the suspected bad slot. Would it do any harm to use the other two slots instead of the first two? Right now I'm using A1 and B1. I could test the other two and see if it is the slot or not. It could just be the OS having problems now, at this point, for all I know, since the BSODs seemed to have calmed down, and now Windows just hangs up/freezes without crashes.

However, I had no idea you could have "mismatched" sticks, even when the two packs are identical. That's a new thing for me to learn. It's possible that I might have done that, since I was ignorant of that fact.

With sooo many different bug check errors this is quite confusing. Note that I have no RAID experience and I won't try to speak to those issues. But, on my gigabyte board to use RAID I would have to use specific SATA headers.

Believe me, I know, there could be any number of things wrong with this machine. I knew the BSODs weren't much of a help anymore since they seemed so random, and didn't really tell anything. I knew I had to start taking the thing apart to really know what was wrong with it. Yes, on the Asus mobo RAID is in specific SATA ports, and I have the HDDs in the appropriate SATA ports for RAID.

 

[essenbe]

Try this. Go into bios and load optimized defaults. Then change the ram voltage to 1.5, then set your sata controllers to raid like you have them. Reboot and post screenshots of CPUz again. Trust me. No phenomII CPU can run ram at 1600 without several tweeks. The highest the chip will run on default settings is 1333 with timings of 9-9-9-24. Some setting is out of whack in bios to have the ram running at that speed. And also set your boot order.

 

[pooch]

When you have tried essenbe's BIOS treatment, I think that you should try the startup repair or even a new install. If these do not fix the problem I think we can safely say it is the MB or the RAM at fault and we can then concentrate on finding out which.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Try this. Go into bios and load optimized defaults. Then change the ram voltage to 1.5, then set your sata controllers to raid like you have them. Reboot and post screenshots of CPUz again. Trust me. No phenomII CPU can run ram at 1600 without several tweeks. The highest the chip will run on default settings is 1333 with timings of 9-9-9-24. Some setting is out of whack in bios to have the ram running at that speed. And also set your boot order

I admit that I'm pretty curious myself about how that happened, since I never adjusted anything. I was sort of busy today so I didn't get a chance to work on the computer, that and I was asked to take a "break" because I was working on it all day yesterday and was pretty aggressive about not stopping until it was fixed, lol.

When you have tried essenbe's BIOS treatment, I think that you should try the startup repair or even a new install. If these do not fix the problem I think we can safely say it is the MB or the RAM at fault and we can then concentrate on finding out which.

I'll do this as well, probably all of it tomorrow while I've got time to myself.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Also, does the graphical glitch with that one RAM stick in mean it's no good? I'm leaning toward "yes" since I've never seen that happen with RAM before, and it's the only stick that does it when in a slot, either the first or second. I just need to know if I should RMA it while I'm still waiting on my motherboard replacement as well.

 

[essenbe]

You will need to explain to G Skill tech support that the computer will not boot with that stick of ram in. I would also suggest that you rma the kit, both sticks. The reason Britton30 asked you about mixing the sticks from the 2 kits is because G Skill tests a kit together, in order to make sure the 2 sticks work together. So, if you can RMA both sticks as a kit, so you will get a kit returned that has been tested to work as a pair.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Oh, I see, gotcha. Okay, I'll remember that.

 

[Dave76]

Hello MelancholyRose, Haven't had time to read the entire thread but have been briefed by one of the members helping you. Will read through it later, if I ask for or request something you have already done just let me know.

The 1600 MHz frequency setting is causing your BSoDs and failure to boot.
Page 2-11 of your motherboard manual:

Due to the CPU spec., AMD AM3 100 and 200 series CPUs support up to DDR3 1066MHz. With ASUS design, this motherboard can support up to DDR3 1333MHz.

When overclocking, some AMD CPU models may not support DDR3 1600 or higher frequency DIMMs.

Your motherboard manual, Asus M4A89TD Pro USB3

Can you confirm this is your RAM?
[ Ripjaws ] F3-12800CL9S-2GBRL (2Gx1) / F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL (2Gx2) / F3-12800CL9Q-8GBRL (2Gx4)
It does list the Asus M4A89TD Pro motherboard in the Qualified Motherboard list, this is close enough to yours to indicate there should be no compatibility issues.

Some RAM and motherboards are a little harder to get running stable, best thing to do is adjust the settings first. If you start RMA'ing the RAM you may have the same issues.

There is a known issue with running RAM above 1333MHz on AMD CPUs, here is a link explaining the issues.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING AMD AM3 CPU's and RAM SPEEDS

Q&A for the topic VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING AMD AM3 CPU's & RAM....

This is affecting all motherboards and all types of RAM.

Check your BIOS version, if a newer one mentions improvement for RAM you may consider updating the BIOS.

First thing I would recommend to do is set all the RAM settings manually.
I would save the BIOS settings first the default and then the recommended settings below.
Most motherboards have the ability to save several BIOS settings, just name them so they can easily be identified.

*EDIT: First RAM settings.

The RAM should be in slots A1 & B1, the blue slots.

DRAM frequency: 1333MHz

First four timings:
8
8
8
25
Leave the rest on 'Auto'

Set Command rate to 2T, this will help with stability.

DRAM voltage: 1.50v
CPU/NB voltage: 1.20v

Save the settings to another name.

Re-boot with both RAM cards installed, if you get a good boot then run memtest86+ for a full 8 passes.
Each pass runs a different set of tests and each are important, as always you can stop the test if you get any errors.
This may take several hours to complete, best to run overnight.

Let us know the results.

Have you ran memtest86+ as per this tutorial?
RAM - Test with Memtest86+

If you have errors with the new settings, report here first, and we can proceed from there.
After I read the thread, it will be easier to decide the coarse of action.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Can you confirm this is your RAM?
[ Ripjaws ] F3-12800CL9S-2GBRL (2Gx1) / F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL (2Gx2) / F3-12800CL9Q-8GBRL (2Gx4)
It does list the Asus M4A89TD Pro motherboard in the Qualified Motherboard list, this is close enough to yours to indicate there should be no compatibility issues.

Yes, that is my RAM.

There is a known issue with running RAM above 1333MHz on AMD CPUs, here is a link explaining the issues.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING AMD AM3 CPU's and RAM SPEEDS

Q&A for the topic VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING AMD AM3 CPU's & RAM....

This is affecting all motherboards and all types of RAM.

I read the articles, and they helped inform me a lot, since I had no idea of these issues. I wish I had before I built these, because now I'm fearing that I might have damaged the memory on both of our machines because of this. He and I both had the latest BIOS and I think since he got the latest BIOS, he's had problems. I had no idea that all this time, the RAM was set to the wrong voltage and could cause this kind of damage to the CPU. I'm now beginning to believe that since our machines were identical, it wasn't my motherboard that failed; maybe it was my CPU.

My biggest concern now is that it's too late to save his machine. I'm worried that he may need a replacement CPU, and if it's damaged because of this odd issue with the BIOS, they may not replace it. Buying a new one would hurt our finances. Hell, buying two would even worse.

The reason I say that is

The 1600 MHz frequency setting is causing your BSoDs and failure to boot.

His system is still failing to boot properly after I changed the voltage down to 1.5v instead of 1.6 where it was at. The BSODs stopped chain spamming now, but the Windows logon screen still hangs and freezes. Unless damaged RAM can cause damage to the OS and can be fixed via startup repair, but I'm actually thinking that may not be the case. I'm crossing my fingers, but I think his system might be damaged now, and I think that's the reason why my machine failed, too. In short, this is terribly bad news.

Have you ran memtest86+ as per this tutorial?

I ran Memtest on each individual stick one at a time, several passes with no errors, I think about 6 each. I haven't done a full 6 passes with both sticks at once. I could try that, too.

I do have the RAM in A1 and B1.

That's all I know for now. Thanks for the info so far and I'll keep you posted if I change anything further, likely tomorrow.

 

[Dave76]

I have been editing my post above.

Try the settings recommended.

Hopefully there is no permanent damage to any components.
Testing the above settings, and with further settings and tests, we can determine is any components are damaged.

There is a reasonable chance, not definite, that your components are ok and the settings can be adjusted to get a stable system.

Let's take it a step at a time and see what the results are.

Let us know the results.

 

[essenbe]

MelancholyRose, don't be overly concerned about your equipment right now. Dave76 is excellent with this. He helped me when I was going through the same thing you are going through. AMD boards can be very finicky about ram. Sometimes you just need the right settings to get them to run stable. Dave is very good at that.

Just tomorrow, after you have set everything to default like we talked about earlier, use the settings Dave gave you and see how that goes.

 

[essenbe]

MelancholyRose, good morning. Let us know when you get started. When you set bios to default, use Dave76's settings listed in post # 128. you will see a whole list of settings, don't worry about them, just the settings Dave listed, they are usually the first 4 settings. In case it confuses you this is what they will probably be listed as and the settings.
CAS# latency 8
RAS# to CAS# 8
RAS# precharge 8
tRAS 8
TRC 25
CR 2T

You will also want to set dram voltage at 1.5 and CPU NB at 1.2
Set your sata controller to raid and set the boot order then save and exit.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Loading Defaults is "Load Setup Defaults" correct? It's on the exit menu underneath the save options. Is that what I want to do first?

 

[essenbe]

That would probably work, it is usually called optimized defaults. If you have optimized defaults use it otherwise use the one you have. Most MB it is F9. It should tell you in bios.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Okay, I managed to reset defaults and now I'm putting in the RAM info, only I have some questions:

I found CAS #
RAS to CAS #
and RAS # PRE

But what is tRAS?
Is TRC Row Cycle Time, and is CR Command Rate?

The fourth one down for me is ACT Time, that's the one I set to 25 unless you say differently.

 

[essenbe]

It is usually the firsr 4 settings that you will change to 8. CR is command rate set it at 2T. If you have the option to set dram frequency, set it at 1333. If you have the option of FSB/Dram ratio set it to auto/default whichever option you have.
Set dram voltage to 1.5 and CPU NB to 1.2. CPU NB is different than NB. Set sata controllers to raid and boot order to however you prefer. I always set CD/DVD 1st and HDD #2. Save and exit.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Well, what I'm confused about is the fourth one down doesn't give "8" as an option, but it does give 25.

So right now I set it to
8
8
8
25

before they were
9
9
9
28

Is 28 the right thing to change to 25? I'm assuming that it is, since I think that's what Dave said.

 

[MelancholyRose]

My CPU/NB voltage says CPU/NB Offset Voltage. I tried changing that to 1.2 but the numbers turned red. I was really confused, since this is the only CPU/NB option I see that I can change.

The column says this
CPU and NB voltage mode: Offset
CPU Offset Voltage: 1.392
CPU/NB Offset Voltage: 1.100

There's an option to change CPU/NB voltage mode to manual, should I do that? I don't really know what "offset" is supposed to do.

 

[essenbe]

MelancholyRose, hold on I hope we have help on the way. I would be guessing.

 

[MelancholyRose]

Never mind, I set it to "manual" and I could adjust the voltage. Only now it's yellow >.> Hope I don't break anything here.

Okay, maybe I should wait for help before I do anything else. I don't want to make the problem worse, here.