Guys and gals,
I'm having some major issues with my HTPC. I haven't seen a single BSOD, but I get random restarts about once per use. These don't seem to be related to any specific software or application, and they appear truly random. Some days it restarts within the first few minutes. Other days it takes hours. Last thursday it restarted with 10 minutes left of a Lost episode recording. I lost the whole recording because of the restart - this is getting REALLY agrivating!
I have the following:
CPU: Intel E2160 (SLA3H, L2 Stepping)
Cooler: Scythe Nina Mini (fanless)
MB: Asus P5E-VM HDMI (with 0505 BIOS, but same problems with 0301 BIOS)
RAM: Geil PC6400 (PN: GX22GB6400UDCA=)
Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.10 320GB (PN: ST3320620AS)
Optical: Samsung SATA DVD-RW (PN: SH-S203N)
VGA: GeForce 6800GS PCIe
Case: Antec NSK2400
PSU: Stock Antec 380W
Case fans: 2 Yate Loon D12SL-12 both hardwired @ 5V
I had a mild overclock originally, but went back to stock clocks when I realized overclocking wasn't necessary for my applications. I get restarts with default BIOS settings. I get restarts with the BIOS settings I want (disabled LAN, diabled IDE, disabled fan monitors).
I've gone through about 1.5 hours of Memtest without error.
One thing I keep forgetting to do is check my event logs. This I will do later tonight.
Anyone have any other troubleshooting suggestions?
Thanks,
J
restart issues with Asus P5E-VM HDMI
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
What kind of restart is it? Is it an instant blackscreen restart or does it have a blue flash then a restart?
Go into your system preferences and make sure it doesn't auto-reboot after a STOP error. If you are seeing a blue flash, then it is bluescreening but you aren't seeing the error.
If it is bluescreening, make note of the error codes and the provided information, and post them up here.
If it just reboots randomly with no bluescreen, it could be a power supply issue. Double check all your connections to be safe.
Also take note that your 800MHz ram runs at 1.9-2.3V where the default BIOS setting on your P5E-VM is 1.8V. Though theoretically the ram should run fine at 1.8V (as DDR2-4200 or DDR2-5300), that's usually not the case. I had a machine that would not boot/post/respond at all with OCZ Platinum 2.2V ram unless the voltage was set correctly.
So:
1. Make sure that the system doesn't auto-restart after bluescreens
2. Write down all the info from any bluescreens and post here
3. Check your ram. Either boost the voltage to the proper levels, or (better) try running your system with 1x1Gb of standard, 1.8V DDR2-5300 RAM.
Go into your system preferences and make sure it doesn't auto-reboot after a STOP error. If you are seeing a blue flash, then it is bluescreening but you aren't seeing the error.
If it is bluescreening, make note of the error codes and the provided information, and post them up here.
If it just reboots randomly with no bluescreen, it could be a power supply issue. Double check all your connections to be safe.
Also take note that your 800MHz ram runs at 1.9-2.3V where the default BIOS setting on your P5E-VM is 1.8V. Though theoretically the ram should run fine at 1.8V (as DDR2-4200 or DDR2-5300), that's usually not the case. I had a machine that would not boot/post/respond at all with OCZ Platinum 2.2V ram unless the voltage was set correctly.
So:
1. Make sure that the system doesn't auto-restart after bluescreens
2. Write down all the info from any bluescreens and post here
3. Check your ram. Either boost the voltage to the proper levels, or (better) try running your system with 1x1Gb of standard, 1.8V DDR2-5300 RAM.
Thanks Mark314,
Re: RAM voltage, I should have mentioned that I've experienced restarts with anything between 1.8-2.0 volts. I have not tried a single stick, and I have not gone above 2.0V. But I'm seriously considering some Jedec-compliant 1.8V ram.
The restarting I'm seeing is an instant black screen restart. No blue flash / blue screen that I can see.
Half the time I get a post message "Overclocking failed - press F2 to set default BIOS or F1 to enter Setup". But I'm not overclocking! Others on other forums (HardForum) have written about the "overclocking failed..." message - some say it's fine (a minor "personality flaw" with this board), while others say it's definitely not OK and that something's wrongly configured in BIOS. I occasionally get this message from a cold boot too - not just after restarts.
Annoying.
Jay
Re: RAM voltage, I should have mentioned that I've experienced restarts with anything between 1.8-2.0 volts. I have not tried a single stick, and I have not gone above 2.0V. But I'm seriously considering some Jedec-compliant 1.8V ram.
The restarting I'm seeing is an instant black screen restart. No blue flash / blue screen that I can see.
Half the time I get a post message "Overclocking failed - press F2 to set default BIOS or F1 to enter Setup". But I'm not overclocking! Others on other forums (HardForum) have written about the "overclocking failed..." message - some say it's fine (a minor "personality flaw" with this board), while others say it's definitely not OK and that something's wrongly configured in BIOS. I occasionally get this message from a cold boot too - not just after restarts.
Annoying.
Jay
Well what with the price of RAM, I would suggest seeing if you can get it stable on a JEDEC 1.8V standard 1Gb stick. Because that would be the easiest to rule out.
Did you check the event log?
I have had overclocking failed messages on Asus boards too (P5K and P5B Deluxe)... I think that message pops whenever there is a failed boot due to improper BIOS settings (or so the board thinks).
Unless you find something in the event log, I would clear the CMOS and put in a fresh stick of 1.8V ram. Set the BIOS to all defaults, perhaps force the ram to 1.8V DDR2-5300.
Run memtest overnight to check for errors - which would indicate either that your fresh ram is bad, or perhaps your mobo memory controller is bad.
If memtest is stable, boot the machine up and use it as an HTPC. Try to make it restart.
Did you check the event log?
I have had overclocking failed messages on Asus boards too (P5K and P5B Deluxe)... I think that message pops whenever there is a failed boot due to improper BIOS settings (or so the board thinks).
Unless you find something in the event log, I would clear the CMOS and put in a fresh stick of 1.8V ram. Set the BIOS to all defaults, perhaps force the ram to 1.8V DDR2-5300.
Run memtest overnight to check for errors - which would indicate either that your fresh ram is bad, or perhaps your mobo memory controller is bad.
If memtest is stable, boot the machine up and use it as an HTPC. Try to make it restart.
Ok.
As soon as I got home from work I ran memtest+ (ver 1.70) for about 3.5 hours with Vram set to "auto" - no errors. I stopped to record Lost. Afterward I bumped Vram to 2.0V and ram memtest overnight - again, zero errors. This was with both 1GB sticks installed.
My event log was pretty clean. The only error was about the PS/2 keyboard & mouse driver (i8042prt) failing to load at boot, which I took care of with a smal registry edit. This was failing at every startup. But since it's a startup error, I'm not sure it could be the cause of all my restarts.
So... I'm not sure where to go from here. Do you think I should still purchase some 1.8v jedec-compliant ram? Even though mine tested OK overnight?
Jay
As soon as I got home from work I ran memtest+ (ver 1.70) for about 3.5 hours with Vram set to "auto" - no errors. I stopped to record Lost. Afterward I bumped Vram to 2.0V and ram memtest overnight - again, zero errors. This was with both 1GB sticks installed.
My event log was pretty clean. The only error was about the PS/2 keyboard & mouse driver (i8042prt) failing to load at boot, which I took care of with a smal registry edit. This was failing at every startup. But since it's a startup error, I'm not sure it could be the cause of all my restarts.
So... I'm not sure where to go from here. Do you think I should still purchase some 1.8v jedec-compliant ram? Even though mine tested OK overnight?
Jay
I would check the Geil ram, there should be a sticker on them listing the timings and voltage. Set the voltage and timings manually in the BIOS, then run Memtest overnight and use it normally. If it doesn't crash, then it's fixed 
... if it does crash, buy 1gb of cheap, quality JEDEC ram (Mushkin, Kingston, etc) and run it at defaults. See if that continues to give errors.
... if it does crash, buy 1gb of cheap, quality JEDEC ram (Mushkin, Kingston, etc) and run it at defaults. See if that continues to give errors.Right - that's what I did in the above post. Overnight (8:07 hrs) without error. At this point, I don't think it's a ram issue. I don't think it's a Windows issue (clean event log, no blue screens). It's not a cabling issue and not a heat issue. Because the Antec PSU has a 3-year warranty, I'm going to begin the warranty exchange process. On the upside, maybe they'll send me back the new 80+ version of this PSU that comes in the current NSK2400.mark314 wrote:Set the voltage and timings manually in the BIOS, then run Memtest overnight...
I have this same board with the same cpu, and with cheap valueram; Kingston KVR533D2N4K2/2G, 2048 MB, DDR2, PC4200, 533 MHz, 2 x
and a big ninja, passive.
the E2160 is oc'd from 9x200 to 9x250, and undervolted to 1.225V iirc.
so at least the cpu and mobo run fine with eachother.
Temps in a P182B are 35C max when encoding xvid.
and a big ninja, passive.
the E2160 is oc'd from 9x200 to 9x250, and undervolted to 1.225V iirc.
so at least the cpu and mobo run fine with eachother.
Temps in a P182B are 35C max when encoding xvid.
Yeah, this cpu has been supported since the 2nd official bios release.ACook wrote:so at least the cpu and mobo run fine with eachother.
I watched the Brewers/Cardinals games yesterday afternoon, and did a little other mousing around - the htpc was on for roughly 5 hours. No restarts yesterday or the day efore. The only major system change has been the elimination of i8072prt driver loading at Windows startup. That's it. I find it very hard to believe that was causing the restarts, but who knows!
Jay