ive just built a new computer (hardware below) and im getting constant crashes. The computer is not shutting down, but freezing instead. I restart by pressing the button on the front of my case, and it says Windows has encountered a serious error in a device. It freezes no matter what im doing, listening to music, browsing the net, or playing a game. Sometimes it will freeze right away, other times it will take a while then freeze unexpectedly. I am running Windows XP Home OEM. Ive already checked ATI's site and they dont have any help with this. Does anyone know what is happening?

Wow, um its pretty late right now so i can really think of the error you are getting. It sounds familiar to me though.

First you said you just built this computer and installed xp home?? What else did you do?? cause, to me if it installed fine and after installing some programs or drivers this started to happen then backtrack on your software installs.

All of that hardware looks compatible. If you really want to try to find out if its hardware take everything out execpt for (bare min) one cd, hd, floppy drive and your agp card (obiviously leave your mobo cpu and ram in there) boot it up and see if you get errors. If no errors then you know its one of the pieces you took out.

also, it probably would help a little more if you could find out more information on this error and then also a little more discriptive on when it first happened, what you did to your system before that and a couple specific events that cause the error.

ok, well first i installed all the parts and it booted up to the bios. I went through that by just setting the multipliers right so it recognized 2.4 ghz. Next i put in the Windows CD and it automatically started to install. Once it was done i entered Windows and everything was fine. I connected to the Internet, installed 3DMark2001SE and ran that fine, Jedi Knight II, and Dungeon Siege. Overall I was impressed by the performance of the CPU and 9700. A few days later as i was playing Dungeon Siege, it froze. I figured this was just a normal crash from something so i started the system up again. I installed BF1942 and Road to Rome and played that for about 5 minutes before it froze again. This was getting odd. So i turned off the computer using the front power button and let it sit overnight. The next day i went online and it froze. Restarted, played some mp3s and it froze. Now it freezes constantly. In fact, it froze while i was writing this a few minutes ago, so i had to start over. I reinstalled all drivers and no help there. I pulled out the sound card and there was no change.

We are running pretty similiar systems Mecha, I used to get freezes when I had my 350w PSU and the 400w antec fixed that...

I am thinking that your overclocking/tweaking even though you dont know you are, check your multiplyer and bus and set them manually to 18x133MHz (Stock Clock 2400MHz) also try setting ram to CAS2.5 to see if it alleviates the freezes.

I didn't know you were overclocking. I bet thats your problem. One of the signs that your system is pushed to far is when you get crashes like that.

Just like TekXoID said set your system to all default values and then run everything. If you still get crashes you get some bad hardware (maybe do to the overclock). But i bet its just pushed to hard

I got random crashes like that before when i first started overclocking but you just bring the system back until you don't crash and thats how far you can go.

EDIT:: one of the things i have learned here is that when you overclock you overclock everything like your sound card, vid card, hard drives etc. and that can cause the device errors that you were talking about.

well, ive brought everything down to normal clocks (133Mhz x 18 = 2390 mhz). So far there hasnt been any crashes, but ill let you know. If I did happen to overstress a device, how would i know which one it is so i can replace it?

Well i'm not sure how you would, but I think a program called sisandra soft or something very close to that tests each device on your system. I don't know if thats going to tell you if a device is functioning up to its max (which is what i think you want to know right?) or if its just working.

but now if your still insterested in overclocking just increase by the smallest amount you can. See you get random crashes, then if not increase some more.

good luck

Then that was the problem mecha, you are lucky if you didnt get data curruption and have to format. 2.4A's and 2.4B's do not overclock well unless you have a retail CPU w/C1 core stepping which can get you to 3.3Ghz with good cooling, the 2.4C's overclock very well...

I can get upto 3GHz stable...but I don't like overclocking, 2.4GHz is fast enough already, I just overclocked to see how high I could go eheheheh

well, i hope nothing drastic happened. im a little scared i think i might have done something bad...it took me a while to save up for this computer and i dont want it to go to waste. I OC'd the CPU to 2.82 Ghz before it wouldnt run. Then i got nervous and lowered it to 2.7. Something tells me the part that isnt working correctly is the video card. I sure hope not, that thing cost me 300 bucks (which i dont have to spare). well, i guess this is a lesson in overclocking....ill post somethin if i got an update..but until then i guess im SOL

You are simply limited to a crap overclock because most Intel 2.4GHz CPU's are not prime for overclocking, just stick to stock-clocks and enjoy the speed and stability, hell 2.4GHz is PLENTY of speed already...

ok, well ive ran into another problem, when i start it up, all i hear is a fast beeping sound, and the screen stays black. any idea as to what this is?

no idea. Beeping could mean many different things and its dependant on the board, look into your mobo's manual faq for what that means. But i bet it isn't good.

If the screen stays black it could mean that the vid card is messed up but you said it cost you 300 so i bet it was a nice card. Can you post your entire system so we know what you have?? That would also help because people with similar hardware can help out too.


I don't know if you've called tech support about any of this but if you have or are going too word of advice, don't ever mention overclock. If they ask you about it or a question that concerns it play dumb and tell them you don't know what or where it is.

oh sorry, my system is in my sig. The video card is a Radeon 9700 Pro. So I call and if i dont mention overclocking theyll help me?

I didn't even look at your sig, sorry.

I'm not saying that they'll help you. Please understand that. But just don't ever mention that to them or they'll tell you to f yourself (well no they won't but you get the idea).

It just that i screwed up my system from overclocking and called the manufactorer and got every piece rma'd. The bios on my mobo was corrupt and eventually got a new one, then the memory dimm roasted a piece of my ram. so i called and that mobo (soyo kt333) rma twice. I got the xp2400 rma through newegg and said that it didn't work, they sent me a nice new green one. I called corsair to get my ram replaced when a gold connector broke off and fried it when i started the computer(same incident as with mobo). Called gainware and told them that the ti4600 didn't perform to par rma'd it.

You could have similar luck unless they can tell that you where overclocking or did something else to damage it that they should cover.

If you think that a part isn't performing to par and you have a warrenty, o you have to have a warrenty, then you can call and say its defective or something. they'll run you through loops but if it still doesn't work then they will rma it for you.

haha so basically you just called each company to replace your parts? or were your parts actually not functioning? which company do you think i should contact first about the problem

I had a legit problem with my mobo the first time, then the second i don't know how but something cause a gold pin on the ram to come lose and then the ram and the dimm socket got fried. so i called soyo said it was their fault and demanded a new board. Then i called corsair and with their lifetime warrenty they replaced it no questions asked.

Then i had suspected the vid card not performing up to par so i rma'd that and the same with the processor. I probably should have done the sound card cause i can't get certain things to work on it (like the digi out and true 5.1 surrond, o well different thread).

ha, i forgot to answer some of your questions.

So since you are getting this weird beeping and if you can't figure out what it means then call you mobo manufacturer and ask them what happened. Just don't let them know at all that you overclocked at all.

If you get that rma'd you can wait for it to come back and then test your system or you can try your luck with ATI. But since their tech support can't troubleshoot your computer cause it won't come on then i don't know??

definatly find out what those beeps are first and it might be something trival.

ok, got the system to start up (im on it right now), soyo told me that i needed to reset some JP5 jumper, so I did that and everything worked fine. I didnt mention the overclocking though, they asked me if i made any changes to the clock speed multiplier and i gave them a "whats that?" I am still expecting a crash to come soon, but at least i got the system to boot.