Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

[CescoAiel]

So, another one with stability issues on a 970 Pro3 R2.0...

First my gear:

• No-name case (3 case fans 1xF, 2xR, topmounted PSU)
• AsRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 (Bios v1.70, which isn't even on the AsRock site?!)
• AMD FX-6300 (3500MHz)
• 2x 4G Corsair CMV4GX3M1A1333C9 memory
  (Yeah, I know it is only DDR3-1333/667MHz, not willing to invest more right now until I know what the culprit is!)
• Asus GeForce GTX650 Ti (1G)
• CoolerMaster RS460-PSAP-13

Relevant settings (at least as far as I can think of):

• UEFI defaults
• ASUS GPU Tweak on 'Saver' (ie underclocked defaults)
• AMD OverDrive on default (just for added monitoring, at least right now)
• AMD IES (powersaver) running
  (But the problem existed before I installed this)

The system just randomly freezes (sometimes with black screen, sometimes with a static image of the last state) or hard-restarts, even when doing NOTHING at all... Last night I went to bed while it was on, just running Outlook, Thunderbird and the Shroud of the Avatar launcher (which acts as a P2P node for updates). Also have Open Hardware Monitor and CoreTemp running most of the time to keep an eye on things, and nothing weird is showing up temp-wise.

I have a powermeter inserted now, and the max powerdraw measured was 253W. Last night the top was 213W, but it still froze (on black screen)

It is now running prime05 with the small FFTs, just to test only processor, not RAM. All 6 CPU cores hammered at 100%, temp stable at 55C. (The board temperatures read 64C and 37C right now, so nothing extreme there. (Oh, I put an extra fan on the northbridge, just to be safe)

Any suggestions appreciated!

[- wardog -]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

[*]AsRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 (Bios v1.70, which isn't even on the AsRock site?!)

This board wasn't mistakenly flashed with 1.70 from the 970 Pro3 NON-R2.0 board was it?

I'm not even sure it could be done. I am sure I wouldn't try doing it.

Problem is, as it's unstable now, don't flash the bios. Not until it's stable.

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

I don't think that happened... I never flashed any BIOS on this board, it was like this when I purchased it!

When I reboot again, I'll go in and see whether I can find anything else about the BIOS! The hardware browser in the UEFI GUI seems to be identifying all components correctly, but I did not check whether I could find anything else about the BIOS!

It's been running for 2 hours now on the In-Place large FFTs test on Prime95... Temperature of the CPU has crawled up to 57/58C, MoBo sensors are at 66C and 38C...
No glitches at all so far!

(PS: I forgot to mention earlier: I already replaced the original (2x2G) RAM sticks with the Corsairs, tried both slot-configurations for dual-channel, and swapped out a Radeon 7750 with the GTX650Ti, just to rule those out. Could still be an issue with the slowness of the RAM, of course...)

I think I'll abort and do the blend test now, to include RAM usage in the test mix...

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

UPDATE: Prime95 still running 6.5 hours later... Temperatures still the same: 57/58C-67C-38C, still running at 100%, no faults, 45% memory in use...

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

I just can't put my finger on it... It's been doing prime95 for most of the day without a hitch, and now I am playing a relatively light game (the pre-alpha release of Shroud of the Avatar), and it crapped out on me, but only once...

Unfortunately I got absorbed in the gameplay, so I forgot to regularly check RAM use, but the last time I checked, it was at 35%, and CPU wasn't particularly stressed out either!

The only things that got a relatively higher workout were the gfx card and possibly the network (it *is* an on-line game, after all), but again, I did not pay any specific attention to the LAN stats...

(Is anyone aware of network issues with this board?)

Next step will be to download 3Dmark and see whether that kills it... ;)
(But any suggestions for troubleshooting are still very much appreciated!!!)

[- wardog -]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

I just can't put my finger on it...

The only things that got a relatively higher workout were the gfx card and possibly the network (it *is* an on-line game, after all), but again, I did not pay any specific attention to the LAN stats...

Highly doubt networking is to blame. Through all this here that's been mentioned and tried I'd now turn towards graphics(heat, drivers) related, or also consider running chkdsk on the hard drive.

[themaster1]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

Install cpuid hw monitor and report the temps when you play a game

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

Install cpuid hw monitor and report the temps when you play a game

Just compared the results from cpuid HW monitor with that of coretemp and openhardwaremonitor, and those are identical, so you can assume the abovementioned temperatures are correct... ;)
(Pre-alpha window for SotA is closed again now, until the next testcycle, so I cannot play this specific game until then... The pains of testing pre-alpha games... <G>)

(GPU temp didnt exceed 61C BTW)

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

This board wasn't mistakenly flashed with 1.70 from the 970 Pro3 NON-R2.0 board was it?

I'm not even sure it could be done. I am sure I wouldn't try doing it.

Problem is, as it's unstable now, don't flash the bios. Not until it's stable.

So I did the reboot, and found it was indeed showing 970 Pro3 (no R2.0). Based on your remark above, I reopened the computercase and examined the MoBo markings... Turns out I have a 970 Pro3 (no R2.0)! The box, support CD and manual are all 970 Pro3 R2.0, except for the actual board itself!

So I'll review the info for that board, and decide what to do next based on that...

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

Just ran through 3Dmark twice, no problems, max GPU temp 60C

Installing PC Mark now for another testrun...

[- wardog -]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

What speed do you have the memory running at? 1333, or have you bumped it to 1600?

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

What speed do you have the memory running at? 1333, or have you bumped it to 1600?

Everything is running at UEFI defaults, so no overclocking on CPU, GPU or memory...

I'm not behind the machine now, but I just noticed it has been down since approx 20 minutes ago (got a remote ping monitor on it)... Going to check whether the screen is blank or not...

Update:
It apparently went in to Sleep state (S1), judging by the blinking of the powerled, but once it is in sleep, it won't wake up anymore, even though the BIOS is set up to wake on USB keypresses...
Turned off powersaving for now. (I turned off IES, or whatever it is called and manually chose a profile that doesn't sleep the system at all...)

[CescoAiel]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

Update: Still running this morning, PC mark finished successfully, however Windows7 now thinks - for some vague reason - that it needs to be activated again due to system changes... (But I didn't change any hardware since the last activation! *SIGH* Gotta play on the phone again - as on-line no longer works - later today, I guess! Gotta love Microsoft! )

Gonna test memory some more later today, when I am back from the training...

[CescoAiel]

[parsec]

Re: Asrock 970 Pro 3 R2.0 + FX-6300 + Corsair 2x4G + GTX650Ti just freezes or restarts.i

What are you using for your OS drive, I don't think you posted that information?

The Windows activation thing is strange, but could be related to problems with the OS drive... Normally the mobo would need to be changed to cause an activation.

Seems you tested the CPU, RAM, and video cards to the high heavens, and they are fine. That leaves (besides the OS drive) a low power/idle state issue. But you disabled IES. What Windows Power Plan are you using, not that it usually causes problems like yours.