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View Full Version : X2/64 4800+ freezing problem solved

newman
05-06-2006, 12:12 PM
I'm starting this thread to possibly help anyone with the same problem as I had. For the late arrivals, my 4800+ system was freezing up all the time. I use the MSI Neo4 Fi motherboard, and have 2 DIMMs of RAM, 1 Gb each. Rest of the config is made up of 1 Leadtek 7900 GT, 72 Gb Raptor and a Hitachi Deskstar 250 Gb. All this powered by an Enermax 500W PSU. Well in the end I decided to take her to the shop where I bought the CPU, mobo and RAM. There they did two things: moved 1 stick of RAM to a different slot to enable dual channel mode, and unplugged the Hitachi's HDD. After this the system has worked fine, so it was really down to two things: either it was the HDD or the RAM. As the system was working properly at this point, I called them and said I'm coming to pick her up, as letting them do more tests would mean leaving it there during the weekend. So I took her home, tried working on just the Raptor and everything worked fine. Then I plugged in the second HDD and all worked properly as well. Only difference is, I used a separate power cable to connect to the Hitachi's HDD this time - as the other hard drive is the 10,000 rpm Raptor which, I assume, sucks a lot of juice... (My PSU has modular power cables, you can attach as many as you need) But I still think it was the RAM, the x2 series of processors really need the RAM to be in dual channel mode. The confusion happened because I installed the RAM sticks in the same-coloured slots (there are two green and two purple ones) - that would be slots 1 and 3, while on this motherboard, they need to be in slots 1 and 2 to work in dual channel mode. There really can't be any confusion after you install them correctly, as they report being in dual mode on startup. I actually feel pretty stupid now - I could have played with RAM stick locations myself... but in the end I'm just glad everything works fine. So, if you have the same problem, there's a good chance it' something with your RAM.. at least that's what the technician back at the shop told me. I also ran memtest now, and it passed without a single error. Intalled max, it renders like crazy. Runs oblivion in 1600x1200 :) No crashing so far. Hope this helps a bit.
imashination
05-07-2006, 10:43 AM
Dual channel mode has no effect on stability, it is in no way a requirement for X2 cpus.
newman
05-07-2006, 03:32 PM
At any rate, the system was freezing up before, and now it's not...
lots
05-08-2006, 09:29 PM
Most likely its cuz you had the HD's hooked up on the same line. In passed experience, simply changing the way power is hooked up in a system improves stability a surprising amount.

Generally I try to put everything on its own line so it doesnt share anything. Also I try to keep power hungry devices off lines that power more vital devices. For example, each HD is generally on its own power line (if the PSU has enough) I then separate the fans (and spread them across different lines) from the drive's power. ANd lastly I put CDROMs on the same line, but separate from everything else. I've found piling devices up on just one line generally causes system instability.
newman
05-09-2006, 06:49 AM
Most likely its cuz you had the HD's hooked up on the same line. In passed experience, simply changing the way power is hooked up in a system improves stability a surprising amount.

Generally I try to put everything on its own line so it doesnt share anything. Also I try to keep power hungry devices off lines that power more vital devices. For example, each HD is generally on its own power line (if the PSU has enough) I then separate the fans (and spread them across different lines) from the drive's power. ANd lastly I put CDROMs on the same line, but separate from everything else. I've found piling devices up on just one line generally causes system instability.

Well that's exactly what I did now. When I was assembling the system, I was so excited and eager to get it running that I never stopped to think that maybe having a raptor and another drive on the same power cable isn't the brightest idea in the world :) At any rate, I have an Enermax Liberty 500W PSU to which you can attach up to 6 "normal" and two PCI-E power cables... so when I was plugging the second harddrive in again, I just added another power cable for it.. that raptor sounds like it's consuming a lot of juice. BTW It's probably the loudest drive I've had so far.. but I still think it' worth it. Windows start really fast...
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