[Judas]

I've had this machine built for a little over 2 weeks, now initially when i installed everything (windows XP SP2 fully updated and latest drivers and latest OS), everything worked, no glitches aside from ONE uncalled for BSOD but no issues after, consistant 5 days of CPU burn in and memory testing and contant looping of various 3D applications and general usage with NO hitch.

However apon customer pickup, they got it home hooked it up, fire it up and were plagued with issues, even the USB mouse said that there was a problem with it, constant black screens with it oventually restarting all by itself. they brought it back, i hooked it all up, and have been running it for the passed week without a hitch until just now, I was busy doing a complete reinstall when i went to install AVG 7.5, it was doing an update over the net when suddenly when everything but the mouse froze for about 10 seconds, then suddenly the screen went black (the monitor didn't go into suspended mode though) about 30 seconds i was looking for HD activity, turned off and on the monitor, and nothing, it just sat there although occasionally it sounded like the HD was working grinding away. Suddenly the computer reboots, it posts, loads windows as if NO error had occured and everything seems to be fine and dandy.

odd?

That one thing i found strange, usually if there is an error where windows reboots suddenly, windows would start into safe mode after the 2nd crash at the very least or report that there had been at least some kind of a problem. But there doesn't seem to be ANY sign of it anywhere, i've checked the logs for information and they are all clear or errors.

I'm currently running 2x cpu-burn in's along with looping a 3DMark05 benchmark at the same time, i've been doing this steady for the last hour, i've also been running HD Benchmarks to see if maybe it's an HD problem, but i've ran through all the thorough diagnostics for it and they've all passed.

Anyways, at this point i'm having a hard time figure out what might be causing it, i thought at first, maybe a IGP issue, but then all the 3D things seem to pass, then i thought HD but those all pass, memory, pass, cpu, pass.... wtf? I've even swapped PSU to see if maybe that was the cause..... still didn't change anything.

Either way here's the specs:

AMD Sempron 3000+ 64bit AM2 CPU
Asus M2A-VM with latest official bios
2x512mb OCZ Value DDR2 PC5400
Pioneer DVR-112 DVD-RW-DL
Coolermaster ExtremePower PSU (500 watts)
Seagate 80gb SATA2 Hardrive
VGA Sony Triniton CRT Monitor
Logitech Keyboard
Logitech Optical Mouse

All plugged into a UPS by APC (so power shouldn't be the issue either)

anyone got any guesses? i've been googling it here and haven't found anyone with any definitive issue with the Asus M2A-VM motherboard at all.

[PangingJr]

exactly what problem the customer had ? and after they brought it back to you, have you found the same problem?
as i understand your writing, you didn't seem to find any problem, however, you did a complete reinstall anyway?
and then you found the first problem... what you did before the problem occurred? and has the same problem reoccured?
and what is the other problem you are having??

[Judas]

IT's taken nearly a week for the problem that the customer had before, to reaccur for me after a fresh install...

like i had mentioned.... the computer will just seem to fall asleep, alot of hardrive activity follows, then the system restarts with no error messages of any type.

i'm currently replacing the cables to see if there was a problem there... then i'll try replacing all the components if i must at the same time to see if that fixes it...

i'm starting to lean towards a motherboard problem.

[PangingJr]

it seemed like the Windows system somehow did managed to complete its shutdown process, and the next Windows startup had not failed, the F8 startup menu would not appear.
i don't know what to guess about that sudden exit and shutdown atm. anyway, how many time have yourself found the system did that?

[Judas]

To me, it's now done it twice in the last 2 weeks.. but the customer said it was happening within 15 minutes, sometimes later, sometimes sooner.

I was thinking the same thing, the long duration of a black screen, it's like someone hit the sleep/shutdown button, windows properly exits, and then reboots as if everything was well.

[PangingJr]

can't think of anything specific... until you give more info.

BTW, have you decided on your new motherboard to replace the MSI one yet?

[Judas]

Not yet.


btw, i just finished installing a fresh copy of vista home premium on this machine, so far no issues, however, i'm noticing some actually BETTER performance overall with this setup now....


I think it may have something to do with windows XP Pro's updates, this isn't the first time i've ran into weird glitches with XP PRO, usually a reinstall will fix the issues as sometimes the updates apparently didn't install correctly possibly.

We REALLY need SP3 so i can slipstream and start fresh again.

[Judas]

ok.... i think i'm thoroughly confused enough now.

Get this,

I install windows XP Pro SP2, install ONLY the realtek LAN driver and let windows install all the nessary updates.

Then i was working on going to download the ati sb and catalyst drivers for the machine and suddenly the internet isn't working.

Go to do a repair and nothing, disable it and and just as i hit enable, instantly the computer reboots.

However, running windows vista on the machine for the last while without a hitch/glitch or single issue to be seen. I'm cropping this up to either bad XP support of somesort and good vista support?

And i mean i can only use the ASUS supplied realkte lan driver.. so my options are limited there..

I'm in a rough spot, not sure what i should do now.

[Majoram]

Hi,

I am having the same issue with the same motherboard. My testing was not as thorough as yours but I suspected either the video or LAN drivers.

The problem seems to only happen with heavy internet usage although it is still a bit random.

As first I thought it was something I installed and I did a fresh install but it is still happening and now I have a new problem with the video driver. At first the screen goes black and then it comes back and there is VPU Recover message.

I don't know if this is a new problem or just the same issue.
With the initial issue though, the system never recovers. The screen just remains black. Mine does not reboot though like yours. I also check event viewer and found nothing.

Have you found any solution?

[Majoram]

Just a suggestion, but have you tried downloading the driver from the RealTek site instead of Asus?

Here is the RTL8111B driver:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...&GetDown=false

Let me know if that works.

[Judas]

Actually i haven't even been able to solve the problem.. and i had ran into completely odd issues.. i actually got to the point that i couldn't complete the install of windows at all.. so i'm copping this up for a bad board....

[Fl0w]

I had the same problem on a computer I made for a company. Under Windows 2000 Professional, the system crashed randomly and the TFT screen shows a "No Signal" message. Impossible to shut down the computer by simply pressing power button. Finally I found that when I downloaded programs the computer crashed. I've added a Linksys PCI 10/100 network card and disabled the integrated network card. Now I don't have any problem. So please Asus, release new network card drivers or a new bios

[Judas]

The LAN is definitely responcible for these issues.

[Fl0w]

yes I posted this message juste because it seems that you didn't mention it

[Judas]

it'sbeen awhile


If the LAN issue isn't fixable, an alternative board will be used..

[Fl0w]

Well, it seems that the problem is still here. The PC is crashing randomly, sometimes when after a moment without using it, the user move the mouse. Sometimes in using web browser or the hotel software used by the user. I really don't understand. Is it possible to have a complete incompatibility with Windows 2000/XP?

[reparent]

I also have problem with random crashes with the Asus M2A-VM motherboard even with a clean install of windows XP and with SP3. (My other systems run just fine so its not a windows issue)

Please take a look at Help - Asus M2A-VM Freezing - TechSpot OpenBoards for some discussion about the same issues. This seems pretty obvious that it is a board problem..

[Judas]

i solved the problem when i completely replaced the motherboard..... replaced it with the exact same model/revision/brand.....

i beleive there is a number of them that have a flawed lan adapter or something on them.

[RIV@NVX]

I had the same board, and had similar issues, however only under Linux. Under WinXP it was mostly working. Didn't use LAN at all.

Don't know about you, but in my case northbridge was overheating. That cooling is not enough for AMD 690G. I fixed it by replacing the heatsink on the northbridge, and had not any problems since.

Also, AHCI is screwed up on ATI SB600. That is one more thing that I don't like with this board.

[Judas]

yeah the AHCI is messed up indeed...

but i didn't have the heating issue on the northbridge.