[ttoonnyy1]

Hey guys, I'm having issues with a computer I recently built with parts suggested by and bought from MSY. I knew which CPU and GPU I wanted, and they suggested the rest based on my input as I'm not too great with all the compatibility stuff.. I know how a computer goes together, that's about it.



Gigabyte Z77-D3H
Intel i7-3770k
HIS Radeon HD7850
32GB DDR3 G-Skill RAM
600 Watt PSU
4 fans.

Windows 7 Pro x64

It worked perfectly at first, but then I ran a feature that came on a disk with the motherboard and I'm afraid it's destroyed either my CPU or Motherboard..
Anyway, I have Aspergers so I'll write a lot if I don't shorten it to an analysis or list/robot talk so for the sake of an easy assessment of my trials and errors for anyone who would be able to help me, here's everything so far with some relevant information along the way:


Accidentally ran EasyTune6's "AutoTune" function. It started over-clocking itself going up and up to around 4300mhz after 5 minutes.
BSOD.
Rebooted, showed BIOS error as it had previously mentioned would happen and reassured me that it was normal.
Ok, back into the system. It automatically re-opens the auto-tune and continues.
After 30 seconds, another BSOD, reboot, but no BIOS error this time.
Into system, autotuning reopens again, I close it. Another BSOD.
Since then, I get BSODs whenever the computer exerts itself.
I've tested this by Rendering in Autodesk Maya, which should work on any machine without causing a BSOD no questions asked.

Think of rendering as a stress test, just using all the juice available towards a lengthy process. It uses the CPU, but not the GPU as far as I'm aware.
It's standard in the CGI industry for computers to do this for days if not weeks non-stop.
My computer would now give me a BSOD after 2 minutes of rendering.

Tested rendering a different Maya scene from an older project just to make sure it's not that.. had to ramp up the render settings to make it a long enough render to prove it, and the problem still persists.

Same exact copy of Maya used on other machines has not had this issue over the past year, nor have I ever heard of anyone having this problem due to this software, which is used primarily for the CGI in most feature films, definitely not a random small time piece of software that could be the issue.
It's quite safe to say that modern games or benchmarking software would also get a BSOD, my CPU should be able to go flat out.


CPU reached roughly 75 degrees rendering, 28-35 idle.
Reapplying heat sync made that roughly 70 max, 23-32 idle.
It would not cut off while heat was still rising, but level out there after about 30 seconds.. after a few minutes it would give me a BSOD.

Restored BIOS to defaults.

No change.

Uninstalled EasyTune
Reset CMOS.

Could render for 40 minutes sometimes, 5 minutes other times, such was 50/50.. but still BSOD.

Tested with some old DDR2 RAM which definitely works on my other much older machine which can render the same thing (though slower) without any issues.

BSODs got more frequent (but still never while idle, just while rendering larger more intense scenes, couldn't render a single frame if it took more than 2 minutes (some frames can take up to an hour or longer to render)

Installed clean system on a clean drive, no software or drivers except Maya to test it.

Problem persists.


If you have any idea what's wrong with my computer, I'd really appreciate the input!
Do you know if it's either my Motherboard or Processor, and how should I go about claiming whichever it is on the warranty?
I am completely broke from buying this thing and can't afford another compatible CPU to test it with or any technical support in a shop or anything.. I'm completely broke, not eligible for financial support from this country's government, and need this computer to work to earn more money, so specialist help is quite out of the question, your advice here is pretty much my last resort. If I can't fix this I'm screwed.

Thanks for your time,
Tony

[black-wolf]

What is the model # and manufacturer of your power supply?

Also, using this will help us http://static.techguy.org/download/SysInfo.exe

[Tanis]

Agree with black-wolf, what si the exact make, model etc of the PSU, that could be a problem.

Also, exactly which BIOS version do you have installed on the motherboard? The manufacturers website lists several BIOS versions for the board and you need version F12 (dated 26th Apr 2012) or later to correctly support that CPU. An older BIOS version could easily cause instability.

CPU Support List for the board: http://uk.gigabyte.com/support-downl....aspx?pid=4140

[ttoonnyy1]

Thanks for the replies guys, here's the results from SysInfo.exe

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770K CPU @ 3.50GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 8
RAM: 32730 Mb
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series, -2048 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 57138 MB, Free - 38692 MB; D: Total - 1907726 MB, Free - 312374 MB; F: Total - 152624 MB, Free - 55568 MB;
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., Z77-D3H
Antivirus: None

Also the PSU's box just says it's a Litepower Thermaltake, and the just receipt says "Thermaltake LitePower 600Watt PSU", and I can't figure out which one it is in the Device Manager..
I can't find anything on the net about how to get more detail than that.
On the note of power consumption, I also have a 2 port USB 3.0 hub PCI-E card adaptor.. though I'm taking that out since I realized the MoBo has some built in USB 3 ports and my old machine doesn't.


Also my BIOS version was F8, now updated via the @BIOS auto-update utility is the latest version F14..

The problem is still here though..

I had the idea that maybe I'm running out of RAM and the pagefile.sys is getting too big for that little SSD so I moved it over to a larger HDD and disabled Hibernation so there's like 40gb free on C. That was a longshot though, I don't think my memory was actually running out anyway or MemTurbo would have previously gone to the red in my first installation.

What's that about the PSU possibly being the problem? Could it have been damaged by EasyTune6?
The computer was perfectly fine until that automatic overclocking thing =/

Thanks for your help guys!

Summary:
Thermaltake LitePower 600Watt PSU
Updated BIOS from F8 to F14, Reinstalled Windows, Installed all Drivers
Problem persists.

[nakabaka]

I just tried easytune 6 and am having the same issues on my latest motherboard. Did the message pop up asking for permission to make changes on yours too before you even opened it once it was installed? I don't know if that's an inappropriate question but I thought it was really weird that it did that on mine.

[black-wolf]

What's that about the PSU possibly being the problem? Could it have been damaged by EasyTune6?
The computer was perfectly fine until that automatic overclocking thing =/

Over clocking definitely can damage or mess things up. Did you run easytune before or after you updated the bios? If after try resetting the bios to defaults or flash it.

The PSU is marginal, but should work. Thermaltake makes real crappy PSU's. Here are the specs http://www.thermaltake.com/products-...?id=C_00001775
The 7800 series needs 24 amps on the 12v rail, yours has 25amps and may not deliver it. At some point you should get a good PSU like Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling.

You have found your immediate problem if you overclocked and it was running OK before you did.

[ttoonnyy1]

nakabaka, please don't risk EasyTune on my behalf, did it break your computer too? >.<
Yeah I think it gave a message in the system about that, not 100%.. it definitely gave me a message like that in BIOS on the first reset it caused after the first BSOD.


black-wolf, EasyTune was the start of the issues, after it's over-clocking is when the problem started. Everything I tried is after everything involving EasyTune except that I only uninstalled it after resetting the BIOS the first time, however I did go on to reset CMOS and flash the BIOS after that.

Thanks for the research into the PSU, I will definitely upgrade as soon as it's feasible, and get cooling, but I'm so broke right now I just need to fix the computer to continue earning money.
I have $25 to my name and TPG and the bank think I owe them $35 between them because I called a mobile on the landline for 2:34, meaning that my balance I already paid for on the landline has to be re-filled with more money apparently.. (so basically I have to pay for it once if I don't use it, twice if I do) for which they charged to my empty bank account half way through my billing period without warning and then both the bank and TPG are charging me another $10 each for the unscheduled theft bouncing.. deleted Basically I'm being financially raped. I'll get another $10 charge for going overdrawn as a result which will send me overdrawn again and result in another $10 charge which has been happening for the past 2 months on a weekly basis deleted . If it weren't for the missus covering the rent..

But basically I need to know what the problem is with my computer, it was definitely caused by the over-clocking, but I need to figure out now if it's the Motherboard or the CPU that I need to claim on the warranty =/
Is there any way to do this other than purchasing a new CPU?

Thanks for your time, it's much appreciated! =)

Cheers,
Tony

.................by moderator

[black-wolf]

Run memtest86 http://www.memtest.org/download/4.20...+-4.20.iso.zip create a bootable disk (ISO) and run memtest for at least 4 passes, overnight would be even better.
If you need software to burn an ISO Imageburn works well and is easy to use http://www.digital-digest.com/softwa...0&ssid=0&did=1

[ttoonnyy1]

Thanks man, I'm running that test overnight then just to make sure. I'll post the results in the morning; does it check more than just RAM though? I know my RAM is fine as i tested with some working DDR2 RAM from my old machine and still had the issue. Still worth making absolutely sure though! Also thanks for the link to ImgBurn, been looking for a good new burner since Alcohol doesnt work on Win 7 and Astroburn seems to need reinstalling after every reboot if I wanna use it lol.
I'll put the results of memtest up tomorrow.

Cheers dude!

[black-wolf]

That only tests RAM. We'll do some other testing after it finishes.

[ttoonnyy1]

Thanks man, I'm not sure what I'm looking here actually.. it seems to have gotten stuck at a point? The Pass % at the top was at 3% when I left it, it seemed to be going well.. I left it after 5 minutes.
But I had tested the computer with working RAM from another computer and had the same issue.. could it be that both this RAM is broken and the other RAM was incompatible in a way that made it crash the exact same way?? O.o
And even then could it be that I still have further hardware issues?

Here's the results:


Should I now do this test with the individual sticks of RAM perhaps?

Thanks for your time man, it means a lot!

[black-wolf]

Go into your bios and and see if there is a setting to load or reset defaults.

[tootle]

ttooney1, you havent tested your memory properly, please remove all but 1 module of ram start your pc and as soon as the intial screen upon powering on dissapears press reset on your pc the del to enter bios setup.

[black-wolf]

Originally Posted by tootle

ttooney1, you havent tested your memory properly, please remove all but 1 module of ram start your pc and as soon as the intial screen upon powering on dissapears press reset on your pc the del to enter bios setup.

There is nothing wrong with the way he tested his memory other than the test could have been run longer.
Also the delete key won't get you into the bios on an Intel based system it is F8.

[tootle]

I have an intel system and delete works for me I guarantee you he didnt test the memory at all.