Need Help - Random Re-Boot

[misterlarry]

It started about two weeks ago. I had left my computer for a couple of minutes and while I was still in the room, it re-booted. Found that my bios settings were not quite the same. So I set everything to stock except for my ram voltage settings because of the Crucial Ballistix that I'm using. The PC8500 isn't actually supported by my mobo, so I've been running it at 800 mhz and 5-5-5-18. I'm thinking that this may be a weak spot.

Even after setting the rig to stock speeds, the re-booting became more frequent. I tried memtest4win and immediately had errors. I removed two of the dimms and that seemed to help for about a day, and then it re-booted again. So I switched dimms and that was good for about a day before it started doing it again. Now I haven't found any errors with memtest4win, although I haven't run any tests more than a few minutes (100% ram tested).

It seems to happens most when I try accessing the internet thru Foxmail or Explorer, and also when the computer comes out of suspend mode. It quickly flashes a BSOD and re-boots. The BSOD is too fast to make out anything, but it looks like possibly a memory address.

Temps and voltages have been normal. I've tried just about every diagnostic program and none of them show any problems.

So right now I'm thinking about ordering 8Gb of Mushkin HP2-6400 or EM2-6400. I'm hoping its not the mobo or something more serious. Any ideas?

Thanks everyone!

[Ogdin]

I'd disable suspend mode and run memtest for atleast a few hours,over night would be better.

[Jack Rabbit]

What rev of Ballistix do you have? The new ones are crap.

The stop code and information on the BSOD should be in the event log. If not, you can turn up the logging settings in "System Properties" or disable the automatic restart on crash so you can read it.

[misterlarry]

It just happened again, except this time I got a black screen that said "bios recovery" which took about 30 seconds to complete. This is the first time that this has happened. Am I risking further damage by running my rig?

[misterlarry]

So anyways, I set windows so it wouldn't restart on errors and found the infamous "IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" bsod. I've stuck all my ram back in and have the bios set to stock settings except for Vdimm. We'll see what happens. Hopefully it's just a driver conflict, although I haven't been able to pin point it yet. Thanks for the info. Will keep you all informed.

[Jack Rabbit]

Did you actually do any driver updates around when this started to happen? This is a kernel mode error so most normal software is not going to be able to cause this*. Software that could would be anti-virus or something that installs a system service. Did you put make any changes in those areas?

I would not rule out a problem with your mainboard. Maybe the self diagnostics fixed it for you.

[3.0charlie]

You're running 4x1Gb? Have you raised the Vmch? Having 4 sticks puts a lot of stress on the NB.

[misterlarry]

Had another reboot as soon as I tried to access 32 bit explorer, except had two different errors this time. 1st was "SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION" and 2nd was "PFN_LIST_CORRUPT". At the time, the only voltage that I had pumped up was Vdimm at +0.4v for an effective voltage of 2.16v to 2.18v.

Now I have raised Vdimm to +0.5v for an effective voltage of 2.24v to 2.26v and have raised the Vmch by +0.1v. We'll see what happens.

[3.0charlie]

SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION is related to ATI drivers. Check this out.
PFN_LIST_CORRUPT is related to bad ram. Download and run Memtest (MemTest: RAM reliability tester for Windows) to check your Ram, one stick at a time.

[misterlarry]

Ran Memtest86+ off of CD today for several complete passes without any errors. Then ran Everest on "stress everything mode" and again no errors. I've narrowed down when this all started happening, and it was June 11th. I checked thru everything and the only thing that was installed or updated even close to that date was a Windows update on the morning of the 11th.

The following are the Windows updates that were installed:

KB951698, KB950760, KB950762, KB951376

Just wondering if anyone else has had anything wonky happen after installing these updates? Anyways, I've uninstalled them for now just to see if I get any stability back.