niceguyrichy

i had a tidy of my system, rebuilt it the other night
Bad Company 2 BSOD's after 5 mins every time.

gfx are newish, HDD's are new, other than that it's all tried & tested stuff. specs:

E6300 @stock (2.8ghz)
MSi P35 Neo2
GTX 470 SuperClock
Corsair XMS2Pro

i suspected overheating gfx, seeing as how it's the newest (to me) bit, but ran furmark for hours, stable at 85°c
i transferred my Steam folder last night, played DiRT2 maxed out for an hour, no problems.
I installed my x-fi & disabled the onboard HD sound, cos i read something somewhere, but that seemed to make it worse, so now its just running onboard sounds.
I'm thinking clashing somethings, < but i dont know what the something is
it's a new build, and BFBC2 was pretty much the first thing i put on (after antivirus etc..), didnt even have Steam until i put it on to test other games after BC2 was already BSODing.

so..... need idea's on what to try next please, cos i confuddled

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BlueMak

It's usually a driver issue. Disable/remove the x-fi and uninstall its software. Remove software for the onboard sound and for the graphics.
Make sure you have installed the mainboard's drivers.
Install the graphics drivers.
install the onboard sound drivers (make sure it is activated in BIOS), OR make sure the onboard sound is disabled in BIOS after you uninstall the drivers for it and then install the X-fi. (though I recommend not installing Xfi for a while)

Between each small step, make sure you reboot.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

niceguyrichy

well i've changed / upgraded / downgraded drivers every which way and how, and it's still happening.

new question; despite the fact that all the sensor progs tell me my cpu doesn't get above 40° even under heavy load, is it possible that they're mis-representing the true core heat and it's this that's causing issues ?

i ask cos (as i bitched about in Randomness) there was a certain amount of faff involved in getting that damn cooler to clip properly, so it may not have the thermal compound properly applied by the time i got it on, so would that be an issue that would result in the symptoms described ?
(even though the sensor progs all say its fine....)

btw, anyone wants to throw a 'tl;dr' in here, that's just fine, i do have a tendency to go on a bit..

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BlueMak

Sure it is possible, everything is possible. The thermal paste might not be in the right place or enough, or too much. The sensors might be malfunctioning or the software that reads them.

I still think it is more than likely a driver issue though.
If you tried what I suggested as I suggested them and in all cases it still BSOD, then I guess it might be a case of a dying hardware. In that case, try the easy to detect, like the RAM dimms.

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The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others(Bertrand Russell)"You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil,You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." - Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis
This is slavery, not to speak one's thought. [Euripides-The Phoenician Women (c.411-409 B.C.)] http://www.macedonia.info/FALLACIESANDFACTS.htm Sic semper tyrannis.

adamosmaki

try using the motherboard sound card instead the x-fi and see where that goes

Dyre Straits

Seconded!

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niceguyrichy

tried every combination of soundcard, still same deal.

rebuilt it a couple days ago, played with soundcards / gfx drivers still getting the same issue.
played DiRT & DiRT2 tonight on max settings, but just local games, and not a problem.
thinking maybe there could be a conflict with network adapter... (< why not, i've tried everything else)

gonna get hold of a pci network card (for some reason i dont have one handy..) see if that sorts it..

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Dyre Straits

Have you tried downclocking the video card yet? It just might be the default overclock causing problems on this particular game.

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niceguyrichy

i did yeah, took it right down to 575, game locked 2 mins in.

i still think it's a driver issue too, i can take the soundcard completely out of the picture, but i want rid of the realtek LAN drivers too, just to be on the safe side..

Edit: bad CPU core
and between vet bills and a broken down car, I'm reduced to using a single core P4 I think I bought off fleabay for a pound

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Dyre Straits

OUCH! I certainly do feel your pain. Hope you can get things sorted out sooner rather than later.

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niceguyrichy

cheers mate.
right now i'm patching BF2 (< that'll work with a single core, right), CS:S still plays fine too, as does RailWorks2, so it's not all bad

really don't have any money though, so unless i can find someone with a C2D or a Q who needs a top spec micro atx case & is willing to trade, i'm suck for a while

edit: christ i'd forgotten what a PITA BF2 is to get running properly on win7
edit2: 5 hours, and 3GB of extra downloads (< on my neighbours net connection. shh.. ) and we're finally there. working BF2, that runs on Win7 and actually see's servers
now if only my internet was working i'd be laughing

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blibbax

I recently lost a Intel CPU (see my blog!) and Intel sent me a new one within a few days. Phone up their warranty process. You just send the broken CPU, with a description of the fault, and they send a new one. It doesn't even matter if your CPU is out of warranty, they didn't need proof of purchase or original packaging.

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niceguyrichy

Serious ?
Is it the number on this page I call ?

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blibbax

I guess.

I got a number off Ebuyer, the retailer that originally sold me the CPU (3.5 years ago).

I initially tried to get in touch with Intel via email support, but that was long winded, slow and tedious. Their phone service worked much better.

Once your warranty replacement request is accepted, Intel give you a DHL account number. You can then ring DHL and explain your situation. They're uber helpful sort you out with a pickup within a few hours, and of course Intel pay for both the pickup and the delivery. Don't package the CPU, as the DHL man will need to inspect it, and will bring his own packaging. Just put it in it's original retail box (if you still have it, something similar if not) and enclose a note with your Intel warranty request reference number, and a brief explanation of your situation.

I have to say I was really impressed that Intel had such a strong support mechanism in place for a CPU that was £50 over three years ago.

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