Troubleshooting word-association game

[Stretch]

Ever since I built my new computer I've been getting really weird problems. Rather than bore you with a plea for help, let's play a game. I'm going to name a problem, and you, helpful reader, are going to say the first word or phrase that pops into your head when you hear that problem. This should represent your first instinct on where the problem originates. Examples include "motherboard!" or "drivers!" Thanks for your help, Internet people!

 

First, some things you should know:

 

• i7 930 -- overclocked to 3.2 GHz. Temps well below 70°. Case temps below 35°. Lots of these problems were verified even before I tried the OC.
  
• Gigabyte UD3R -- a capacitor fell out of it once before I installed it. I successfully snapped it back in and the computer booted fine.
  
• Win7 x64 and Win XP Pro.
  
• Radeon 5870 -- Also O/Ced, done using their automatic O/C software. Temps look normal.
  
• 6GB 2000MHZ RAM
  
• SSD boot and magnetic applications drives
  

 

Now, onto the problems!

 

1. Flickering black screen during POST. Occasionally, from POST to just before the login screen is displayed, the screen is black, periodically flickering on to display a distorted image, then returning to black. The flicker is regular, about every 1.5 seconds or so. This can happen randomly but seems to always happen when rebooting from XP to Win7.
   
2. Spins on shutdown, ultimately reboots. Been a while since the computer successfully shut down. Usually it spins on the "Shutting down..." screen for hours (if I left it), then ultimately reboots with a message "Your computer recovered from an unexpected shutdown"
   
3. Unexpected reboots during startup. Occasionally reboots during startup, during the Loading Windows screen before the login. After reboot, will default to Startup Repair, which hasn't worked in a while. Startup Repair loads Windows but immediately reboots. One or two reboots later and I can usually get to the login screen.
   
4. Leaves some USB devices unpowered on boot. Does not always power on every USB device after booting. I can fix this by simply unplugging and re-plugging all of my USB devices once the computer is done booting.
   
5. Keyboard occasionally unusable during POST. Anyone's guess as to whether the USB keyboard will be usable during POST. Sometimes it powers on for POST, sometimes it doesn't. Unplugging it from my HUB and plugging it directly into the front panel makes it always work during POST.
   

Edited October 1, 2010 by Stretch

[159th_Viper]

First instinct - roll back the overclocks and troubleshoot at default values.

[PeterP]

... and after a stable reboot post your dxdiag txt. (start>run> "dxdiag" )

This is generates a fingerprint of your system with lots of driver information that enables the Internet people to help you out in a much more specific way.

 

:)

Edited October 1, 2010 by PeterP

[Stretch]

You got it! DxDiag: http://gist.github.com/608190

[topdog]

Motherboard

RAM

Graphics

 

(items in order of suspected faulty location, assuming that no overclocking is in play and mobo settings/bios are at defaults, as that would definitely be the first item to be culled to ensure you've got a real problem to look at)

 

Suspected cause: Static discharge damage or DOA; maybe that capacitor isn't the only dry solder or the only component that has fallen out..

 

Typically I resolve(d) such problems with process of elimination hardware swapping; either using bits from an old machine, or plugging bits of the suspected hardware into an old machine where they're compatible (e.g. graphics card is a good candidate for that usually), until the fault is isolated.

 

This was an extremely simple and also cheap procedure to do when I had a friendly rapport with a local independent PC shop, as I'd be able to try some swapping of the RAM and graphics etc. from a running PC on display to find it. Sometimes that was my only route to testing the fault with the MB or RAM if my current personal collection of 'spare parts' doesn't yield a compatible combo to try out.

 

Last thought.. you 'snapped' the capacitor back into place? No re-soldering? So it may not have a permanent or good/strong bond with the circuit, I wonder what vibrations inside the case would do to cause fluctuations in the bond it has, even if using SSDs cuts down on some of that.

[viper3two]

Return to stock settings. Motherboard is first guess.

[636_Castle]

Agreed that all 5 sound like a bad overclock. It'd help if you also completed your hardware list with the following:

 

-Power supply brand and model.

-RAM configuration. (3x2, 2x2...etc).

-Cooling system for the overclocked parts.

 

 

Please also disable your overclock, and then define the state of your BIOS settings, such as:

 

Turboboost

QPI

CPU base clock/fsb speed

CPU Multiplier

Load line calibration

C1E/Enhanced Halt State

SpeedStep/EIST

Spread Spectrums

Voltages

 

Also can you confirm you've run a Prime95 torture test using small FFTs for at least 1 hour without any failures?

[636_Castle]

Also I'm not sure what you meant by "popping" a capacitor back on. They're soldered to your motherboard.