BSOD Mystery

[Pablo 54]

OK mystery here. My F@H box consists of the following:
(2) 470’s
Q9550 – NOT OCed
ASUS P5Q PRO Turbo
4 GB of Corsair xms2 DHX (5-5-5-18 @ 1.80V) 6400
Corsair 850 PSU

Here is the mystery part: My system BSOD’s every 3 hours, almost to the minute, regardless of how far along the folding is going for the 470’s and the Q9550.

• Here is what I have done with no effect:
• Tested all parts on an old 680i with the exception of the q9550, all good.
• Removed, two sticks of the memory leaving only 2 slots populated. Took off a side panel and directed a fan at the system.
• Reinstalled the video drivers.
• Reinstalled F@H.

At first I thought it was heat but, after 24 hours with the side panel off, I did not record any temps over 70c.
At a loss. The system should be pumping out 35,000 +/- 5,000 PPD but I am averaging half that. The system does re-boot itself after each BSOD though.

Any thoughts?

[ryandigweed]

You didn't mention your OS anywhere. Is it a windows Xp based system? Then it could be driver related.

Windows 7 rarely gives BSOD's with drivers.

Try running a program like "whocrashedit" to find out more details on the BSOD


It could also be a power issue since your hardware seems to be a power hog.

[werty316]

+1 on giving WhoCrashedIt a try.

Did you happen to notice what the BSOD code is when it happens?

[Aoshi]

Did this suddenly start happening? Install anything new? I know it might be a pain but try leaving your comp in safe mode for 3 hours and see if it still crashes. And are you monitoring your processes and CPU activity in task manager? See what might be taking up memory? Just throwing out ideas. BSODs practically tell you nothing of what went wrong.

[Pablo 54]

Oops. Vista64. The only change to the system came after I updated the video driver. My PPD dropped about 30% but slowly came back up. Going to try the WhoCrashedIt tomorrow. I had the error code written down but can't find it. I will check again in the AM.

Thanks for all the help.

[ryandigweed]

Oops. Vista64. The only change to the system came after I updated the video driver. My PPD dropped about 30% but slowly came back up. Going to try the WhoCrashedIt tomorrow. I had the error code written down but can't find it. I will check again in the AM.

Thanks for all the help.

Youre folding on a VISTA pc ?!?!?!? Scratch everything, we've found your problem :-p

:-p I pity that quadcore ... Brutal

[Pablo 54]

I’m cheap. Plus, I don’t have a spare W7 to use. What kind of PPD difference would I be looking at changing?

[brokenwave]

it's called "resourceful" not cheap

[slugbug]

Anytime I had a bsod from folding it was usually heat related. Cranking up the GPU fan speed always solved the problem.

[ryandigweed]

I was checking a couple of YouTube videos earlier and came accross some video in which they were making fun of the BSoDs on vista.


By the way I'm not so experienced with folding. Mainly because I had a piece of crap system before and I still have a piece of crap network line, but can anyone fold on Linux ??

[CDsDontBurn]

Do this:

Click Start > Right click on Computer > Advanced System Settings > Click "Settings" under the "Startup and Recovery" option > Ensure "Automatically Restart" DOES NOT have a check mark > Click "OK" > Restart

The next time you get a BSOD, your system will not automatically restart and you will be able to identify what the cause of the BSOD is by obtaining the failed file and / or BSOD code.

[Pablo 54]

Thanks for everything. I used WhoCrashedIt (how I had never heard of this program boggles my mind) and quickly found out it was my network drivers from Atheros. Delete/update drivers Friday morning. Going to let the system run for 48 hours and check it out. Numbers are still 1/2 of what they should be though. With some help from brokenwave, I think I should be back up around 35,000. If not, I might sell the parts and get a cheap z68 and roll with an i7.

Thanks again!

Forgot to add, it is an IRQ issue with the Atheros drivers. Delete/reinstall probably did nothing. I have not had to deal with an IRQ issue since Win98SE.

[Pablo 54]

Anytime I had a bsod from folding it was usually heat related. Cranking up the GPU fan speed always solved the problem.

That was usually the norm for me as well but interestingly its the network drivers. Never had an issue with them when the system was my main machine.

[Pablo 54]

By the way I'm not so experienced with folding. Mainly because I had a piece of crap system before and I still have a piece of crap network line, but can anyone fold on Linux ??

Tried it several years ago. My problem stemmed from a lack of driver support so I abandoned it. From some of the other forums I have read, it does not seem like it has gotten much easier to maintain a consistent f@h box.

[ryandigweed]

You're most welcome mate! I Hope your rig is stable now. Update here if it's stable.