Worrying problem with new machine

[NoXion]

I've recently had a new computer bought for me as a gift, and everything is fine except that it seems if I push its performance, it locks up completely and starts rapidly beeping, forcing me to switch it off at the mains. This has only happened twice, and the first time it happened I was scared to death that I had permanently fucked it completely, but the only consequence, upon booting up again, seems to be that black and white "Windows was not shut down properly" menu.

Incident 1 happened after I was playing around with Celestia and set it to show the orbits of every body before zooming in on an object with lots of orbiting bodies. Incident 2 happened when I forgot I still had Google Earth running and I started up Celestia, with the actual crash happening pretty soon after.

Does anyone have a clue what is going on?

The machine in question is THIS running Windows 7 Home Premium with THIS as the graphics card.

[Stark]

Call tech support. You have a warranty for a reason.

[Dominus Atheos]

Call tech support. You have a warranty for a reason.

I doubt he has warranty. It looks like Overclockers.co.uk just put together some off the shelf components.

Edit: It looks like he has a 28 day warranty, then after that it's just support through the manufacturer for each individual part.

[Stark]

Ha. I didn't check the link, I figured he'd bought an actual computer. Oh well. He'll proabbly have to work out which part failed.

[Baka^Ni]

Service Package
- Full 12 Month collect and return warranty
- Each specification is assembled from handpicked components for compatibility and stability
- Telephone, web note and forum technical support

Phone them up and if they can't sort it there, then get them to cross ship you a new one.

[Zac Naloen]

Do you lose the display as well? I've had rapid beeping when a dodgy graphics card was put in my machine.

If not losing the display my money is on one of your memory chips being shite.

Either way call overclockers support, their technical support team are pretty decent from my experiences.

[NoXion]

The display freezes up, but doesn't disappear.

I think tech support is my best bet at the moment.

[Vendetta]

I doubt he has warranty. It looks like Overclockers.co.uk just put together some off the shelf components.

Doesn't matter. If they put the components together and sell them as a combined product (which they do), they have to offer a one year minimum warranty on that product by law. This applies to all electronic goods, and it's two years in the rest of Europe.

[The Kernel]

Your CPU is running 1GHz out of spec, I would try backing down the BCLK and core voltage to stock levels and see what that does. Factory overclocking may be "guaranteed" but it's still the most likely culprit here.

[NoXion]

Would it be helpful to view the event logs for any clues?

Your CPU is running 1GHz out of spec, I would try backing down the BCLK and core voltage to stock levels and see what that does. Factory overclocking may be "guaranteed" but it's still the most likely culprit here.

How would I go about finding out the stock values for those settings?

[The Kernel]

Would it be helpful to view the event logs for any clues?

No just scale back the damn clocks of the machine. Stock voltage, stock BCLK. Then run Prime95 Torture Test for a few hours and see what happens.

Jesus, what is so complicated to understand here? Your machine is running out-of-spec, I don't care what your vendor shipped it at it's still a heavily overclocked machine and that is the most likely cause of your problems.

[The Kernel]

How would I go about finding out the stock values for those settings?

Stock values are as follows.

BCLK: 133MHz
Voltage: 1.2V
RAM: 1600MHz

Go into the BIOS and set the values to the above. Then run CPU-Z to make sure that you did it properly and run the Prime95 torture test for a few hours (24 to be safe) to make sure everything is working properly.

[NoXion]

OK, so I changed the settings exactly as The Kernel suggested, and while downloading the tools it did it again, yet nothing more demanding than Firefox was running.

[NoXion]

Addendum: HERE are the results of the CPU-Z validation. In case the link is non-functional, I have C+Ped the results:

Intel Core i7 950
Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (Build 7600)

CPU Arch : 1 CPU - 4 Cores - 8 Threads
CPU PSN : Intel Core i7 CPU 950 @ 3.07GHz
CPU EXT : MMX, SSE (1, 2, 3, 3S, 4.1, 4.2), EM64T, VT-x
CPUID : 6.A.5 / Extended : 6.1A
CPU Cache : L1 : 4 x 32 / 4 x 32 KB - L2 : 4 x 256 KB
CPU Cache : L3 : 8192 KB
Core : Bloomfield (45 nm) / Stepping : D0
Freq : 1603.59 MHz (133.63 * 12)

MB Brand : Asus
MB Model : P6X58D-E
NB : Intel X58 rev 13
SB : Intel 82801JR (ICH10R) rev 00

GPU Type : Radeon HD 5770
GPU Clocks : Core 157 MHz / RAM 300 MHz
DirectX Version : 11.0

RAM : 6144 MB DDR3 Triple Channel
RAM Speed : 801.8 MHz (2:12) @ 9-9-9-24
Slot 1 : 2048MB (10700)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : Corsair
Slot 2 : 2048MB (10700)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : Corsair
Slot 3 : 2048MB (10700)
Slot 3 Manufacturer : Corsair

[The Kernel]

NoXion your CPU multiplier has dropped probably because of Speedstep, try loading the CPU using Prime95 and you should see the multiplier (and CPU frequency) rise to stock levels. If the multiplier and clock frequency don't rise, make sure the CPU multiplier is set to 23x inside your BIOS.

If you are still having random rebooting issues after your clocks have been returned to stock levels, I suggest you try the following:

1) Try updating the BIOS on your board. You can get an updated BIOS from Asus' website (you have a P6X58D-E) and it should support live BIOS updates through Windows. Asus should have instructions on the web on how to do this.

2) Update all of your drivers from the manufacturers website directly. This includes the following:

• Intel X58 Chipset Drivers (found at http://www.intel.com)
• Intel SATA Drivers (found at http://www.intel.com)
• ATI Graphics Drivers (found at http://www.ati.com)
• Sound card drivers (check Asus' website)

3) Check your CPU temperature immediately after a reboot by going into the BIOS and checking the temp. If it is above 80C you might have a problem with your heatsink being attached properly to your CPU.

[NoXion]

NoXion your CPU multiplier has dropped probably because of Speedstep, try loading the CPU using Prime95 and you should see the multiplier (and CPU frequency) rise to stock levels. If the multiplier and clock frequency don't rise, make sure the CPU multiplier is set to 23x inside your BIOS.

It appears that the multiplier is set to 23x in the BIOS, if I'm reading it right. Although CPU-Z still reports it as 12.

If you are still having random rebooting issues after your clocks have been returned to stock levels, I suggest you try the following:

1) Try updating the BIOS on your board. You can get an updated BIOS from Asus' website (you have a P6X58D-E) and it should support live BIOS updates through Windows. Asus should have instructions on the web on how to do this.

2) Update all of your drivers from the manufacturers website directly. This includes the following:

• Intel X58 Chipset Drivers (found at http://www.intel.com)
• Intel SATA Drivers (found at http://www.intel.com)
• ATI Graphics Drivers (found at http://www.ati.com)
• Sound card drivers (check Asus' website)

Will try this later.

3) Check your CPU temperature immediately after a reboot by going into the BIOS and checking the temp. If it is above 80C you might have a problem with your heatsink being attached properly to your CPU.

CPU temperature after reboot is 39C according to the BIOS. Even during the Prime95 test, none of the cores exceeded 70C (according to SpeedFan anyway) before the machine froze again (although this time without the beeping).

[Pu-239]

I'd still call up tech support for the warranty. They sold it to you overclocked, you shouldn't have to downclock it to keep it functioning properly.

[The Kernel]

It appears that the multiplier is set to 23x in the BIOS, if I'm reading it right. Although CPU-Z still reports it as 12.

Speedstep will drop the multiplier when the CPU is not loaded to conserve power. This is normal.

CPU temperature after reboot is 39C according to the BIOS. Even during the Prime95 test, none of the cores exceeded 70C (according to SpeedFan anyway) before the machine froze again (although this time without the beeping).

Your temps are fine.

Aside from the driver/BIOS updates, you've done basically all you can to diagnose the issue without pulling out parts and trying to find the culprit. It may be time to return it to the manufacturer for service.

[The Kernel]

I'd still call up tech support for the warranty. They sold it to you overclocked, you shouldn't have to downclock it to keep it functioning properly.

No you shouldn't but it's a useful way to determine what might be wrong. These "overclocker" companies are being irresponsible in selling such highly overclocked machines and expecting anywhere near factory stability.

[NoXion]

Update: In light of my inability to discover the source of the problem, I phoned up the company and they said they'd be perfectly willing to take it off my hands and fix the problem. They picked it up on Friday and I should be getting it back sometime during the week. Until then, I'm using this rather shitty laptop which I've borrowed off a friend. Oh well.

Thanks for the help everyone!