[Billy305]

Hello all. I have read this forums before and have found a lot of useful information but this is my first post. Long story:

I have been running windows vista ultimate for the last year with virtually no problems. I was running it on a e6600 duo core. I decided to try Windows 7 so I got a 64 bit copy and decided to upgrade my processor at the same time. After that upgrade here are my current specs.

eVGA 680i SLI mobo
Intel q9400 2.66 quad core cpu @ 1333
4 gigs SLI ready DDR ram
eVGA 8800gtx GPU
corsair 650 watt PSU
300 gig sata HD which I install windows on
and a 1 TB hard drive I store all of my pictures/ media on.
(I use a usb audio amp with a dac for my sound)

The new CPU came in so I backed up all of my stuff to the big hard drive and installed it in the mobo. I booted up the computer and did a fresh install of windows 7. The install went fine and I had a blue screen or two within the first 24 hours but it would also run fine some times as well. After about a week they got more frequent. I updated my bios per instuctions on eVGA's site, let windows install all of the system updates, installed the newest drivers for my video card. None of that seemed to help too much. After gettting quite a few blue screens I borrowed my friends copy of 7 and decided to do another fresh isntall of 7. That is where my computer is at the moment. I just did the clean install and there are no additional programs installed that did not come with 7 ultimate 64 bit or running.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why they happen. Last week on the first install I was able to use it for three days straight with out a single hitch and today it seems like I can't keep it running for more than 5 minutes.

I have removed the second large hard drive to try and eliminate that as the problem. I have 4 different sticks of memory around my room and I have tried different ones solo with no success. From both 7 installs they seem to just happend randomly. Some times right after the "starting windows" it crashes, some times when its idle, some times after I have been surfing or just typing a document.

I have not written them all down but I have seem many different file names in the blue screen such as "Desktop manager has stopped working and will need to restart" as well as another windows program that did the same thing but I forgot the name. Some times this results in a blue screen shortly after and sometimes It will just restart and be fine for a while.
usbaudio.sys
win32k.sys
fileinfo.sys ect.

It will blue screen in safe mode as well but just as randomly. Some times I can be in safe mode for a while and some times it crashes almost right away.

Also sometimes random programs or services will stop responding.
I willbe watching a video on WMP and it will stop responding or the same with internet explorers. I also get similar errors such as :

When I was running vista I had almost no problems and had not seen a blue screen in a looong time. This all started after the CPU + OS change. I am trying to locate a copy of vista to see if 7 may be the problem but I cant find it at the moment.

Based on this information where should I start? Thanks and any help is GREATLY apppreciated.

[Frank4d]

I would look in the C:\Windows\Minidump folder for the crash dump logs with names like xxxxxx-xxxxx-xx.dmp (x = numbers). Zip 5-6 recent ones and attach here as a zip or rar file. We can run a debug utility to see what is causing the blue screens.

[crjdriver]

Did you check that your mb supports that cpu??? This is a quote from the evga site regarding your mb

Yorkfield Core 2 Quad processors are not supported on the 6 series motherboards.

Here is the link. Click on the 6 series boards for the cpu support.
http://www.evga.com/support/motherboard/

Next FWIW when you build an intel system, you use a quality board that uses an intel chipset. When you use a board with a third party chipset ie nvidia, sis, or via, you are asking for problems [which you have found]

[Billy305]

I have attached a bunch of dumps just in case.... I never saw that link you just showed me regarding my mother board. Is my processor a Yorkfield? When I bought it on new egg I didn't see anything that said that either.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115131

But I will take your word for it. I had heard great things about my mother board over 2 years ago when I build my system and thats why I got it. I see that the 7 series of my board does however support this processor. Since until now I have had almost no problems with eVGA I might consider getting the 780i SLI. If I was not to get that board what other ones would you suggest? Do you all think that this is going to be my primary problem with my machine after that response? When I bought that processor I just looked at the specs would I thought my mother board matched.... If it was unsupported I thought it just wouldnt work at all but it has worked some times.

I still have my e6600 sitting in my closet but obviously can not return the q9400. Should I just drop the e6600 back in for now and order a new mother board? I want to wait for everyone's replies before I go ahead and buy something else but this looks like it could be a problem. anxiously awaiting your replies! Thanks

[Billy305]

Oh and above did you mean to buy a motherboard whos manufacturer is Intel??

When I get home from work im going to install my e6600 back in and do a fresh install of 7 64 bit and see if it will run stable. If thats the case I'll assume it was the compatability issue.

If this is the case can you recommend a board for me to buy that will support my hardware? I would like to buy it off new egg if possible because I have always had great service from them. Thanks again.

[crjdriver]

Yes, your cpu is a yorkfield. No, I do not mean you must buy an intel mb. I said a quality board using an intel chipset. There are many quality mfg; asus, gigabyte, foxconn, etc.

Do I think you should buy a seven series board? See my post above. When you use a third party chipset, you are asking for problems.

[Billy305]

Thank you for your response. I would like to order a board tonight and always have a hard time deciding. I am familiar with Asus but not so much with the other brands.

What do you think of this board?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131600

And if not what other of these boards would you suggest.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...name=LGA%20775

The only thing I really would like/need to have onboard is the network card.
I do not need a board with great over clocking capabilities but it would be nice. Whenever I find a board and I see a certain amount of negative comments I start to talk myself out of it. Any suggestions? And again thanks for your response.

[crjdriver]

The asus board is fine however this gigabyte board will work also AND it is only $85 after MIR. It also has the dual hardware bios which comes in handy if you have a bios problem.

[crjdriver]

BTW I do not put much faith in "Reviews" on newegg. They are very often written by people who have little or no understanding of hardware.

[Billy305]

Thanks for all of the help so far I really appreciate it. Just two more questions... Have you had good experiences with GIGABYTE? I haven't really heard of them but at the same time I haven't really had to buy computer parts in a while.

Also I know my CPU runs at 1333 fsb but I'm not sure if my ram is 1333 as well or 800.
(Memory Standard DDR3 2200(O.C)/1333) on the Gigabyte board
If it doesnt run at 1333 will I have to replace the ram or can it just run at the slower speed?

[crjdriver]

I am typing this on a gigabyte board right now. It is an amd board overclocked from the standard 3.0gig to 3.4gig and it is rock stable.

The ram is not going to matter if it is not 1333. Modern boards are capable of running the ram at a different speed than the fsb without problems.

Years ago, running the ram at a different speed than the fsb often caused errors however now no problem at all. You might see a slight improvement by going to the faster ram however IMO not enough to justify the cost.

[Billy305]

UPDATE. I went to Tiger Direct (5 minutes from my house thankfully) and picked up a gigabyte EP43-UD3L Mainboard. I hooked everything up and reinstalled windows. My system has been on and 100% stable now for 24 hours. I appears that this has fixed my problem so it must have been an incompatible CPU issue. When removing my mother board I damaged the SATA connection on my 320gb hard drive so I replaced that at the same time with a new 500gig sata HD. I doubt that my old hard drive was the problem but I just felt it was worth mentioning.

I will report back if I have any more problems but It appears I am in the clear now. Thank you very much for your help. I would live to give back to the forum.

[crjdriver]

Good to hear it is fixed. I have broken a few sata connectors on drives; I just fix them with JB Weld. Works great.