Full System Failure

15 Months ago, I built an AMD based quad core system.

It was a:
Windows 7 32Bit Ultimate
Asus M4A785-M AM2+ Motherboard
AMD Phenom II X4 620
NVidia 7950 PCI-Xpress Video Card
2 gigs of ddr 800Mhz Patriot RAM
A Deluxe 680 watt power supply
80GB Hitachi Deskstar 7200 IDE Drive


8 Months after having it, I start to get an odd issue on startup, The Video would no longer recognize on reboot. I would check my connection everytime and finding no issue, turned it off, and when I would turn it back on, the system would recognize the video and start up normal.

So I went through everything I could, RAM, CPU, Faulty Wires.

In Replacing the CPU with an AMD Phenom X4 9750 it worked fine again. After 3 more months and I start getting the same issue. So I guess it can only be the thing I haven't tested, the board itself. After 2 Months of talking to a Technician at there HQ in California, who I sent my board to, I got it back with a clean bill of health.

Put the system back together, still had the same issue. Swapped out all the wires. And tested it, individually, with each stick of RAM, I found that it worked well with one stick but not the other. So I have been running it on 1 gb of RAM.

Now I wake up this morning and am getting the exact same problem again.

I am at an absolute loss as to what the issue could be. Other than something I obviously can't even begin to think of.

To note: I don't overclock, and after swapping out the CPU the first time I started to monitor my CPU Temps closely, they never rose above 31 Celsius, even when gaming as hard as I could.

Any suggestions will be taken seriously and tested out.

 

Steve,

This is the second PSU, of a different brand and an extra 230Watts over the first one I had in it.

And it sometimes wont even recognize the on-board video either. It is flaky. I have updated my bios, I have swapped out all swappable wires, and the only thing I haven't changed, as I don't have another, is the hard drive.

ASUS Stress tested it for 3 weeks at my request, and everything checked out fine with them.

And no, it's not fine every time, obviously, For a while it would start up no hitch, but for some reason, after a while, something seems to go wrong, I'm only posting here because I can't think of anything else to check.

 

That suggests RAM to me. On-board graphics depend on the system RAM. Have you swapped out the RAM completely or just checked the RAM modules you are running now? You mention a change from running two modules to one. You should try different RAM completely, but investigate what type it uses, check the Asus website or a RAM manufacturers website for if they are compatible (you can borrow some of the same type from another computer for testing).

The other area is the graphics card as Steve suggested. Try to find out the combination of RAM and/or graphics card that is not working with your motherboard.

Matt

 

I have only tested each piece of RAM, I have nothing else to swap it out with at the current time. I know the RAM is compatible though because my father and I built identical systems, and his runs perfectly.

 

How did you test it? RAM testing is more of a black science & the results may or may not give any indication. The only sure way is to replace the RAM or to run only with one module at a time to see if the problem dissapears.

Can't you switch RAM with him ? Just for testing ?

 

I have tested each stick of RAM seperately, the odd thing being, I can run with either stick for a few days, pull it, put the other in, run for a few days, and then repeat.

But both sticks only worked together for the first 8 months.



And I could, but we are a couple hundred miles apart, so that would tend to make things difficult. lol.

 

Well, a long shot - how about humidity ? Do you live in a place which has high humidity ?

 

I'm in Washington State and the house is kept at a balmy 68 degrees Farenheit.

 

At what RH ? Temp. is not a problem, high humidity is.

During rainy season, I have seen this kind of problem in computers here in India.

 

I am taking the RAM advice and checked my boards specs and ordered 4 gigs. Also picked up a terabyte drive.