Is this an OC problem, or something else?

[Gig-O-Ram]

Lately, when I first turn my system on, it goes through the usual boot process and all that, but when I get to the windows desktop, some of the final booting looks like it's having a problem. Some of the desktop icons aren't there right away, or will disappear and then the screen goes blank for a couple seconds, after which I get a blue screen with a lot of white text on it that I can't really read because it goes by too quickly. Then the system totally reboots, and I'm good to go after that.

Is my overclock something that could cause this? Is my HDD and/or windows having an issue? This has happened the last three times or so that I've powered on my rig.

[polobunny]

Could be it. It could be something else.
Lower your overclock and see. ;D

[Quakindude]

This has happened to me with agressive Ram timings. Run Memtest86 and see if you get errors back at your current O/C. If you do, you've corrupted some boot.ini files and will need to:

1. Relax your memory timings and
2. Reinstall Windows or do a Console repair.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Quakindude

This has happened to me with agressive Ram timings. Run Memtest86 and see if you get errors back at your current O/C. If you do, you've corrupted some boot.ini files and will need to:

1. Relax your memory timings and
2. Reinstall Windows or do a Console repair.

If it does this only once, I highly doubt he corrupted anything. ;D

[Quakindude]

Originally Posted by polobunny

If it does this only once, I highly doubt he corrupted anything. ;D

I see your quote and raise you with

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

This has happened the last three times or so that I've powered on my rig.

Heh.

[gvblake22]

HAHA, nice ^^^^

Anyway, I say take polobunny's advice and drop everything down to stock and see if the problem persists. That way you can start narrowing down where the problem may lay.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by Quakindude

I see your quote and raise you with




Heh.

I see yours and double with

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

Then the system totally reboots, and I'm good to go after that.

Put it down, I got the best hand. :P

[Gig-O-Ram]

Originally Posted by Quakindude

This has happened to me with agressive Ram timings. Run Memtest86 and see if you get errors back at your current O/C. If you do, you've corrupted some boot.ini files and will need to:

1. Relax your memory timings and
2. Reinstall Windows or do a Console repair.

Well, I've always left my RAM timings alone, with or without the overclock. Some people have suggested loosening the timings - which run pretty tight by default (2-3-3-5-7) - to get better performance, or to overclock the RAM. I don't know why, but I don't really feel all that comfortable with OC'ing the memory. As it is right now, my HTT is set on 10x270 with a 150 memory divider and my memory speed (200Mhz stock) is slightly underclocked @197.2Mhz as a result.

If I keep the current cpu overclock, what would be good timings to shoot for if I loosen the timings? Also, I'm a bit confused...what is a Console repair, exactly?

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

Well, I've always left my RAM timings alone, with or without the overclock. Some people have suggested loosening the timings - which run pretty tight by default (2-3-3-5-7) - to get better performance, or to overclock the RAM. I don't know why, but I don't really feel all that comfortable with OC'ing the memory. As it is right now, my HTT is set on 10x270 with a 150 memory divider and my memory speed (200Mhz stock) is slightly underclocked @197.2Mhz as a result.

Well, seeing as you have DDR-400 RAM with those stock timings, it is pretty unlikely you will be able to hit 270Mhz with it, even if you loosened the timings and increased the voltage. The best way to find out what your RAM can do is to drop down to a 9x CPU multi, put the HTT frequency back to 200mhz, set the RAM divider to 1:1, and set the LDT multi to 3x. From there, you can increase the HTT frequency by 5-10 MHz at a time (with stock RAM timings) and test for stability with Memtest86+ every time you change something. Once Memtest fails, then you have two options:

1. Drop back down to you previously stable settings and be happy with what you can get out of your RAM at stock settings
2. Tweak memory timings or voltage to try and make it stable

Once you think you have found the maximum speed of your RAM without feeding it insane voltage, then you can go back to overclocking your processor with your newly found memory headroom

Originally Posted by Gig-O-Ram

If I keep the current cpu overclock, what would be good timings to shoot for if I loosen the timings? Also, I'm a bit confused...what is a Console repair, exactly?

It is an option when you boot from the WindowsXP disk where you can go into what is called the "Recovery Console" to try and repair an install of Windows.

[Panda Man]

I'm sad to see that noone has suggest that it may be a software problem.

A good registry clean might fix this up.

Panda's guide to maintaining your comp!