Demon-haunted computer (also, self-sighting)

[Hyndis]

The funny thing about the cats is either they're not very photogenic, or they just have incredible timing, able to blink exactly when the picture is taken.

Still, they're cute.


Also the case originally came with a clear acrylic front panel. You can see the hinges there, but I removed the panel because it was just so pointless. There's a bit of airflow through the front, and it also blocked access to the power/reset buttons, and having to continually open and close the panel was a big pain.

[otakuneko]

Kitties!

I'd be embarassed to show pics of my setup. Not only is it messy but my computers are so uninteresting. Beige (or nekkid ) boxes all. Except for the one black sheep.

*flees from the pun police

[Geek King]

Also the case originally came with a clear acrylic front panel. You can see the hinges there, but I removed the panel because it was just so pointless. There's a bit of airflow through the front, and it also blocked access to the power/reset buttons, and having to continually open and close the panel was a big pain.

I did the same. Mine never fit quite right, and kept jumping off the hinges, so I let it roam free. I left it open all the time anyway, so I'm not missing anything anyway. I think my printer's sitting on it right now.

[Hyndis]

Its back.

For the first week the computer worked absolutely flawlessly.

This past week, things have been sucking. I'm getting weird random errors, such as bluescreen memory dump errors, though the computer reboots a split second later so I'm not able to see what the screen actually says.

Also I'm getting weird, random crashes in all sorts of programs. And I can't run bittorrent on the computer. Almost every packet ends up failing the hash check, whereas running the exact same client program and the exact same torrent on my other machine gives me 0% failed packets.

[otakuneko]

Round up the usual suspects: PSU, Memory, Hard drive.



If it's any consolation my latest machine has been a PITA too. Refused to boot with just a PCI video card (even though you could set the bios to PCI! It was a temp thing, I was waitin on my PCIe one to arrive from newegg), had bad memory, and is too much for my UPS! I had to shutdown all my machines and swap the UPS units around to put the bigger one on it.

Also, the first fan I bought for it, the AM2+ bracket was broken. Had to take it back and get another one.

[Hyndis]

The CPU, RAM, and mobo are all completely new. The HD is old, but its been checked and scanned in all sorts of different ways with no errors detected.

The RAM passed testing, and the mobo is probably fine since all of the peripherals functions just fine.

At this point I'm thinking it might be the CPU.

I'm not quite sure how to test and verify that the CPU is indeed fubar, and I'm on something of a time limit for it due to the 30 day return policy.

[Geek King]

Check heat levels. That kind of randomness is can also be the CPU heating up. Maybe add an exterior fan blowing into the case.

RAM issues would also be a good thing to check. Maybe run a memchecker that hits all the connections on the RAM. That will tell you if you're getting errors there.

[Hyndis]

I ran memcheck, no errors there.

The CPU is running slightly hot however. Its still within safety limits for that particular CPU, but its running warmer than I like. Today I was going to go pick up a beefier cooling system and I'll get some more thermal grease and reapply.

However, I also noticed a weird issue with the voltage, but I'm not sure if its just an error with the sensors. With the previous mobo the voltage levels were all fine, but with this mobo, the voltage levels are significantly off, such as the 12V rail being 16V and such like that. Just to be on the safe side I'll also grab a new power supply, probably 700W. My current is 600W, and more wattage is always a helpful thing.

[otakuneko]

Don't forget to watch the amps on the psu when you go shopping. Make sure the new one provides as much or more as the old one.

[Hyndis]

Halp! My voltages are still wrong.

+3.3 = 3.34
+5 = 4.87
+12 = 0.70
-12 = -16.80
-5 = -8.48
+5 = 5.08

From using the SpeedFan utility, which also tracks temperature. Alas only the CPU fan is directly attached to the mobo, all the chasis fans are attached directly to the PSU so the mobo doesn't know what they're doing, but a simple visual check confirms they're all spinning away happily.

Some of the temperatures:

CPU: 58C
Video card: 62C
hard drives: 33C
Mobo temp: about 42C

CPU is still running a bit hot, but its using the fan that came with the CPU package, so I'm not sure whats up there. Its still within safety limits, but its still too warm for my tastes. Video cards always run hot, but still, its a bit toasty. These numbers are with the side of the case off, by the way, so full air circulation is going on.


I replaced the PSU with a 650W unit, up from my previous 600W. The older unit had suffered a short which I thought would have been the source of the problem, but apparently its not.

I have no idea whats up. I reseated the CPU and reapplied thermal grease to it, but it'll take a while for any instabilities to manifest.

Any suggestions?




Edit: Also, some of the wonky readings could be due to rails not in use. For instance, one of the temperature sensors on the mobo is apparently reading -4C, which is impossible. Its probably a somewhat poorly calibrated sensor that isn't in use, thus the wonky number. Might also be true for the +12V rail...but then what does the -12V rail feed into? Gotta have a circuit to power things, though I am a n00b electrician. I'll fiddle around with the machine some more to see if I accidentially fixed the issue, or if its still there. At first I was quite worried about the voltage, since it could burn out expensive components, but as I replaced the power supply and the brand new power supply is giving me about the same readings as the previous one (they're a bit lower, more in line with the expected value, but still way off), I don't think its the PSU itself.

[Hyndis]

GAH!



Previous numbers were taken at idle. To test the CPU in action (100% both cores), I started up BOINC, a distributed number crunching client, and the numbers made me cry.

You can see that temp3 and temp are probably unused sensors, recording 0C though the margin of error makes it fluxuate. However, temp1 and temp2 worry me. Core0 and Core1, the CPU sensors, also scare me. Core is the video card, its running idle, or only enough horsepower for the computer to sit at the desktop.

[Broomjockey]

yeah. sounds like your cooling's not right. Also, you do know that leaving the side off your case often worsens your system's ability to cool, since the airflow pattern's thrown way out of whack. It's designed to pull air in the front (or where ever your case is designed to), then over the components, then out the back. By leaving the side off, the air getting sucked in can just go out the side, and the air flowing over the components isn't moving as quickly.

ETA: What I mean to say is, give it another shot with the side of the case on, in case your case (going for the record of the use of the word case in a single sentence) is a case that needs the side of the case on for the case's airflow pattern to be properly established, just in case.

[Hyndis]

I scrapped the default Intel heat sink, installed my own, and now running at full load the CPU cores are only 53C...and its a warm day.

Also, got the voltages to behave.

The 12V rail is 12.16V, the 5V rail is 4.89, and such.


I'll stress test the machine for a while, but I dropped the heat levels by 30C, which should be a massive improvement.

[lordlundar]

*sees numbers*

It certainly explains a lot. You were redlining with your system.

[DataJager]

sounds like a faulty mobo to me. Most likely the southbridge chipset to be specific. Start off just replacing that and see how it goes.

I second this. I think you should consider trying to buy a mobo that supports the RAM you have or DDR2 since DDR3 is expensive, and DDR2 will be very cheap about now. If you're only going to keep the computer/motherboard for 3 years like most people, this will be fine. Otherwise consider high end options like a Quad Core Processor and DDR3. Your Video Card and other components should be fine in any motherboard.

I have noticed some weird issues with SP3 ignoring keyboards or having keyboard conflicts, both USB and PS2.

I personally prefer Intel processors right now, since AMD went soft. However, I do not like Intels "Across the front side bus" approach to Quad cores. For this reason (and because my wallet likes it) I run an E8400 3.0GHZ 6MB L2 Cache Processor.

*After reading the rest of the topic*

Yeah, cooling. Tom's Hardware is probably the best place to find which coolers are good. Water Cooling is overrated.

HeavyLoad is a fun program for stress testing.