Folding Client Crashed my System

A forum just for SPCR's folding team... by request.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
Cams
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 448
Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 1:54 am
Location: Isle of Arran
Contact:

Folding Client Crashed my System

Post by Cams » Fri Sep 12, 2003 6:58 am

I tried to sign up yesterday, downloaded the folding client and set it to go. Then my system died followed by a restart. The client display wouldn't work, and the CPU started getting real hot and I uninstalled the client after that.

My system is a P4 2.0 with 512 RDRAM.

Anyone else had similar trouble?

aphonos
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 954
Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2003 1:28 pm
Location: Tennessee, USA

Post by aphonos » Fri Sep 12, 2003 8:26 am

F@H runs the CPU at nearly 100%. Looks like the F@H pushed your system into a thermal range that caused the reboot/loss-of-stability.

What kind of system temps were you at both before and after the attempt to run F@H? Sounds like you may not have sufficient cooling in your case or for your CPU...but that's just an initial guess. Would need more info to state that conclusively.

Cams
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 448
Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 1:54 am
Location: Isle of Arran
Contact:

Post by Cams » Fri Sep 12, 2003 9:07 am

The CPU was running at around 41ºC prior to running F&H, but yeah, you may be right about the cooling. I have a Zalman with the 92mm fan in silent mode which is fine for day-to-day stuff, but there are no intake/exhaust fans in there so air flow's probably not sufficient for intensive CPU work. I'm building up a new case and fans at the moment, so I'll give it another try when I'm up and running.

Thanks for the input.

Evo
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2003 8:51 am

Post by Evo » Fri Sep 12, 2003 9:57 am

I have a P4 3.06GHZ and I'm also running F@H. I have a Zalman 7000 ALCU and a modded Enlight PSU and no case fans. My CPU idles around 42 degrees, I have absolutely no problems if I run the Zalman at silent mode. (I run my PC 24/7)

-Check your Vcore, maybe you should lower it, or set it higher
-Maybe you have a problem with your memory timings or
-maybe your mainboard has a wrong setting for the max temperature of your CPU, and thus rebooting your system.
-Maybe you have a PSU problem?

If that doesn't help I'd suggest to run the PC with the case open, until you can use your new case.

Cams
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 448
Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2003 1:54 am
Location: Isle of Arran
Contact:

Post by Cams » Fri Sep 12, 2003 10:45 am

Evo wrote:-Check your Vcore, maybe you should lower it, or set it higher
-Maybe you have a problem with your memory timings or
-maybe your mainboard has a wrong setting for the max temperature of your CPU, and thus rebooting your system.
-Maybe you have a PSU problem?
Oh dear, sounds like it could be more serious than I thought. I'm not sure what memory timings or Vcore mean, and now I've uninstalled F&H, CPU temp is back to 42ºC. Seeing as the problem only occurred when I was running F&H, the simple solution seems to be to NOT run F&H, so I'll leave it for now until I get the new case up and running.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cams

lenny
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 1642
Joined: Wed May 28, 2003 10:50 am
Location: Somewhere out there

Post by lenny » Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:35 am

For a quick check on whether heating is the problem, run F@H with the case open and a large fan blowing into the case. If it's stable that way, then CPU overheating is the obvious suspect.

Other possibilities might be flaky power supply, bad memory, in addition to all other suggestions here. There are many utilities you can use to isolate the problem if you so desire. MemTest86 is my favorite for testing memory. It boots from floppy or CD and does not run Windows, so you isolate a lot of driver / OS / graphics card issues. For power supply, the only thing I can suggest is to do a swap with a known good unit.

It's better to fix the problem if possible, since you never know when your system might become unstable and crash.

Evo
Posts: 17
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2003 8:51 am

Post by Evo » Fri Sep 12, 2003 12:49 pm

Cams wrote:
Evo wrote:-Check your Vcore, maybe you should lower it, or set it higher
-Maybe you have a problem with your memory timings or
-maybe your mainboard has a wrong setting for the max temperature of your CPU, and thus rebooting your system.
-Maybe you have a PSU problem?
Oh dear, sounds like it could be more serious than I thought. I'm not sure what memory timings or Vcore mean, and now I've uninstalled F&H, CPU temp is back to 42ºC. Seeing as the problem only occurred when I was running F&H, the simple solution seems to be to NOT run F&H, so I'll leave it for now until I get the new case up and running.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cams

I thought maybe you changed the memory timings and Vcore, but if you don't know what they are, you wouldn't have changed them. Vcore is the current voltage of the CPU. If it's set to low your system might reboot if the CPU is under full load. (the CPU hasn't enough energy in that case) Maybe your mainboard has set it to low, or your PSU is faulty. I think you can check it with motherboard monitor 5.
I had some trouble with the Vcore also, because the CPU was undervolted. When I started F@H the system would crash, sometimes right away, or sometimes after half an hour.
The Vcore should be between 1.47 and 1.53 volts. If it's lower you can change that in the bios.
If that doesn't help you should check your memory like Lenny said with MemTest and if that doesn't help I think it's your power supply.

You should fix your problem, you don't want your PC to become unstable and crash and lose all your data.

Post Reply