Overclocked w/o realizing it

canusa53

Baseband Member
Messages
31
Location
Canada via the States
Hey,
A bit of assist and input, please. Am not real well versed in the technical jargon so K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Simon) with any responses would be appreciated. I wish I could say my issues are simple and pointed but I have to lay out some background, I believe, so as to get an accurate response.

System Specs

Mother board - ASUS P9X79 Pro
Processor - Intel Core i7 3820 Quad
Cooling - Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo heatsink
Power - Corsair Pro HX750W
Vid card - EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Memory - Corsair 1600C9 Vengeance (CMZ16GX3M4A)
[FONT=&quot]HD's – Intel 520 Series 120 GB SSD[/FONT]
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB
Windows, core programs, and WarThunder (closed beta test of MMO)
loaded on Intel; all other material on Seagate



Here's the deal,

Built this unit last March/April. First build. Built for photography, video, media center, gaming (this was not such a priority at first but has become more so now). Had a few issues at first but got them hammered out with the exception of one: hard hang/freeze. Whole unit would freeze, nothing. Had to power off. Tried a variety of remedies from sources online and friends. Would occur at anytime under many circumstances though video was involved somewhat often. Sometimes frequently, 3-5 times a day, to only occasionally (3-0 times week). I do not recall what happened but it seemed to become less frequent and I let it ride for a bit (got tired of troubleshooting too). Had let the gaming idea rest too but then tried to log on one day and the machine would hang immediately. Okay, back to troubleshooting.


Finally came across a post regarding the issue hard hangs and someone mentioned dropping (I think descending numbers in this case is dropping) the frequency to 1333 on the DRAM. Of course mine is 1600. Well, lo and behold, the hangs stopped and all has been well in that aspect since. I got back into the MMO with a new launcher and version. I became much more interested and began to play/test a good deal. However several weeks passed and one day the machine would not shut down. It would go as far as the Windows shut down splash screen and hang. Had to power off with the switch (hold until it shut off). Doing a bit of digging I ran across something that mentions this action is related to overclocking. Plus the screen to reset mentions overclocking. Don't know much about overclocking but I guess I am learning now. Did not intend to do this. However, if I go back into the BIOS and only reset the DRAM frequency (don't have to shift it to 1600 or back to 1333) the unit will shut down reliably for a time but then will hang at shut down eventually. Certainly does not hang as frequently as it did prior to the overclocking tweak.

To the more current situation and the reason for this post.

Today I notice my chassis fans were not running. Found they start with the boot but shut down once Windows is fully loaded. After doing a bit of investigating and tinkering I find they will kick back on when I access ASUS FanXpert and set the fans to a user setting. Under a standard setting they work also. I have to change the choice of setting and then "apply". However, I power off and the same thing happens: no fans when Windows fully boots and I have to to the Xpert to restart them. I tested this with the DRAM set at 1600 and 1333. Either way.

I sense these issues are related (the hanging/tweaks/fans) in that from what I have discerned tweaking (overclocking) affects the motherboard and can lead to certain failures or shortened lifespan of the MB.

A long story but I own it. Thanks for reading it and any input you may give.

L aka canusa53




 
Depending on where your fans are connected they will either run full blast 24/7 or power off when your system is cool enough.

Your RAM is suppose to be at 1600mhz, aka 800mhz by sensor readings (800x2=1600) If you can not run at 1600, you have defective ram or improperly setup ram.

I've never had a bad overclock stop window from shutting down.. It usually cause windows to shut down. It's quite possible you have a hung program, due to bad ram, that won't let you shut down.

You really need to becareful as you "tweak" as you can easily fry the mobo and cpu, and not noting what you tweaked, does't help you either.
 
The hanging could be multiple things or a multitude of things. (One out of a bunch, or a bunch at once).

It can either be settings in the bios aren't set correctly.
Temps are getting too high.
Video drivers crashing.
Faulty RAM or motherboard.

Try taking all of your RAM out except one stick and go in the bios and set the settings exactly to RAM specifications (voltage and all). Then make sure your CPU is clocked properly and try Intelburntest. Check your temps while doing this. If the temps get too hot you need to reseat your heatsink with new paste. If it crashes it could be temps or bad RAM stick. Try this with each stick of RAM to see if problems persist.

Also, is this a fresh install? If you simply used the new hardware with an old install of Windows it could cause these problems as well.

Are you running the latest version of WHQL Nvidia drivers? If so, I would try the beta drivers as WHQL drivers are causing idle clock issues with pre-overclocked cards. More noteably in 560ti cards.

Last but not least if everything checks out your motherboard could be bad OR you could have a virus.
 
A reply

To patonb- My fans had been on reliably since the build but noticed their non function last eve. How long this had gone on I have no idea. Having tried so many different methods to stop the hangs I was at my wits end so I plunged in and dropped the frequency. I knew I was taking a chance. Ram had been tested with MemTest, one of the many avenues to troubleshoot the hangs. However your mention (and a bit of a hunch on my part) of a hung program (plus the fact the fans died when Windows booted) got me to thinking. In my troubleshooting earlier this year I ran across a few grumbling geeks complaining of ASUS's peripheral software, i.e. ASUS Suite II and associated monitoring tools. Tonight I uninstalled the software and, so far, the fans are back and running continually as they have in the past. Your caution as to tweaking is noted, and, like I say, I knew messing with the MB was taking a risk. However the constant hangs quit. I did do one "tweak" as I left off the MB tonight as I noticed there is a choice to engage "optimal defaults" upon leaving the BIOS. So..........so far, all is cool. Hell, for all I know, it has been this peripheral program that has been causing the hangs, both the original hangs and the shut down hangs. We'll see............

To PP McGuire- I had tried all of what you mention in the spring to remedy the hard hangs, got frustrated and left if off for a while, like I mention in my original post. I only changed the BIOS setting recently and the hangs stopped. And yes, all was fresh and, in fact, I re-installed everything last spring.

In any event, thank you both! I hope you have have happy computing in the days to come and I will keep an eye on what may pop up here.
 
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