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Just built a new system but...

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by ima49311, Nov 16, 2005.

  1. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    apparently I got a mobo that doesnt like gaming. I picked up the Asrock Dual SATA2 for the AGP and PCIE slots cuz i wasnt sure i was gonna get a new card right away, but i did. anyway, im trying to play COD2 on this thing and it keeps freezing on me. Im in touch with activision support and they've basically come up with the conclusion thats in my mobo bottlenecking the system (ULI Chipset?!) and my Dual Core cpu.
    My new system is as follows: AMD64x2 4200+, 2 GB DDR, 2 200GB HD, x800GT 256MB DDR3, ASROCK Dual SATA2, 530Watt PS. Now, I would think this would be able to handle pretty much anything you could throw at it, unless that something is a game called COD2.
    Any ideas? Should i get another mobo? can anyone recommend one that good for under $100? Thanks for the help in advance!
     
  2. trgrpullr

    trgrpullr Regular member

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    See if you can PM "rugripper". He has that same motherboard and he LOVES it. You're right, with those specs you should be doing great. Rugripper says he has his system flying. I think he needed to get a hacked or beta Bios for the motherboard in order to tweak it.
    If you are playing and then it starts freezing up on you, you might want to look at your cooling. If it only happens when gaming, your graphics card might be overheating, if it overheats during CPU-intensive, but non-graphics intensive, work then your CPU cooling may be suspect. Open the side of your case, aim a house fan at your motherboard, and see if it still freezes up.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2005
  3. DemonDog

    DemonDog Regular member

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    The "freezing" thing is usually one of two things: (1) faulty RAM or RAM that's OC'ed beyond its limits, or (2) an INTERUPT conflict. If you create a signature, like mine, then people will be able to help you mucho better. While you listed some equipment, its often the things you don't list, like the sound card that's a problem.

    If you have a Creative sound card in your system, Creative ALWAYS causes conflicts with EVERY system, they and MS are the co-winners of the "Doesn't play well with others" award, in my book. Sound cards should always go in the BOTTOM slot of the motherboard. The new X-FI is horrible, and the Audigy 2ZS is bad about IRQ conflicts. Various programs will let you know what IRQ are being used by your system. I think Everest does, and I know others.

    And if it isn't an IRQ conflict then RAM is a likely candidate, try just running with one stick of RAM, if problem persist then switch out to the other stick. That will enable you to see if its a RAM problem, that's assuming you're not OC'ing. ???Are you???

    Also what are your TEMPERATURES? Gaming is the most stressful to a system, if your temps are rising too high then this will cause system crashes.

    The motherboard is NOT a "bottleneck" no matter what some moron at a game support company told you. The mobo might be defective, but the mobo has MORE than enough bandwidth to play any game.
     
  4. DemonDog

    DemonDog Regular member

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    Also just noticed that you are running DUAL core AMD. 99% of current games are written for single core, you likely need to SET PROCESSOR AFFINITY for your game to run correctly. That is you tell the computer to ONLY run the game on your primary core, core 0, I believe. Try this first.

    And if the folks at Activision didn't tell you this, then that shows that their support is worthless.
     
  5. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    Ok, i was researching about this affinity thing with dual-cores. How do i go about doing that? (setting my game to run off 1 core). Activision never mentioned it, but i read about it causing problems in games. But microsoft just released a hotfix that was supposed to fix that, which i got.

    Also, when i go about making my sig, i should include brands i assume.

    And No, i am not overclocking anything. I did check my temps (not while the game was running..how would i do that?) but while the computer was idle for over 4 hours it was around 39C give or take 1 or 2 C for the hard drives, and cpu. As far as my sound card goes... i havent gotten one (yet).. im using the sound from the mobo right now.. would that cause problems? ive got the sound quality in the game itself set to medium (22khz).

    Does this help any?
     
  6. DemonDog

    DemonDog Regular member

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    After you start the game, you minimize it, or hit ALT-TAB to get back to the desktop. Then you start TASK MANAGER, CTRL-ALT-DEL combo, then you find the game process and right click on it to set processor affinity.

    The same ALT-TAB thing can be done during the game to check temps. If you don't have a program which reports your motherboard, cpu and other temps there are several out there. Search for "motherboard monitor", you might have to track down on info file on your motherboard if one isn't in the database (check out forums for your motherboard).

    And I'd trust MS to fix something, just as far as I trust them to plug windows security problems, which is NOT AT ALL. Their fix might make it better, but I'm sure won't fix all problems. Game programmers have always taken "unauthorized" shortcuts in programming, so game programs are notoriously badly behaved, though they're better than they were 10 years ago.

    And the temperature difference between idle and full out on a dual core is at least 10c or so, depending on cooling. Anything under 50c is great, 50-60 is pushing the limit and over 60 is bad news. So that could be the problem, you need to find out what your temps are after an hour of gaming.
     
  7. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    hey man,,, i appreciate the help.. i'll check out the temps and set the affinity.. should i be checkin temps running on 1 core, 2 cores, or both.. i think what you are saying is that my system may be freezing becuz the temps of running on 2 cores is getting too hot. Is that right? anyway, im gonna try the affinity thing and hopefully that'll solve my probs.. thanks again.

     
  8. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    well, i think it might be my temps.. my computer crapped out at a point, and on reboot i went to bios and it told me my cpu was 56C.. by the time i took this i guess it cooled down a bit.. but these were my temps after booting back up... what do you think?

    http://img494.imageshack.us/img494/1903/temps0md.jpg
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2005
  9. DemonDog

    DemonDog Regular member

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    There's a good chance that your problem is temperature related, I'm assuming that you're using the stock heatsink and fan???

    If so I'd upgrade my cooling. After I installed my ThermalRight XP-90 and 92mm Panaflo HO fan my temps dropped by 10-12c under load, my load temps are a chilly 38c and that's with a 25% OC. I got it at heatsinkfactory.com mainly because they had both the heatsink and the fan, the Panaflo fans are quiet and powerful. Also get some Artic 5 Silver thermal compound (the smallest tube). The other thing about the XP-90 heatsink is that it overhangs my RAM and cools it as well.

    Also you can arrange your cables inside your case to expedite airflow and/or add more or more powerful case fans.

    To check and see if temps are causing your problem leave the sides off the case and aim a fan if you have one blowing into the case. Lots of folks leave the side off and have the case on the floor and aim a floor fan into the case. Then try to play your game again, if it doesn't crap out on you then its cooling related.
     
  10. rugripper

    rugripper Guest

    hey ima,didnt know so many people knew me...lol

    the freezing is that agp 3.0 driver that you downloaded from asrock.that driver bottlenecks the whole mobo up.take that driver out,go to uli electronics and download the 2.1 intergrated driver.that will fix that problem.theres one more problem:DO NOT OVERCLOCK THIS MOBO.this mobo got so hot in the north and south bridge, it fried this mobo quick...lol...everything else is fine thank god.i have a rma now,so the board flew for a month...lol....sounds like some of my parties, when i was younger...lol....btw:i got this asus AN842-SLI DELUXE coming today.let me see if i can get this baby to blow up....lol....peace

    also there is a site called ocw.com,this site is real good for that mobo.just dont overclock....danger,,,danger,,,will robinson....lol

    oh and that board will eat call of duty 2 for lunch,on the last campain...have to start all over again....weep,weep,weep.got another hd going to put in raid0.i got the need for speed,hope i dont blow up this mobo ,has a nitrious oxcide oc that shoots this into the cpu,damn,thats all i can say....i had this asrock flying 135 fps in hl2 on a agp 6800gt,now i have the evga 7800 gtx ko ac3 blinding fast,not in sli yet...lol...and for the hell of it put your affinity back to default,it might run faster now.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 18, 2005
  11. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    well, i set the affinity and it still crapped out on me.. so im leaning towards temps being the culprit. anyway, i have a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119047 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB case that is basically i giant mesh box, so i wouldnt think airflow would be a problem. But i dont really know about that stuff. I have 2 fans going that came with the case: 1 120 in the back, 1 80 in the front. Then the standard stock CPUHeatsink and fan that came with the cpu. no thermal paste. i was told i wouldnt need any if i used the stock heatsink/fan. i guess i'll try opening up the case and pointing a fan at it this weekend. see if that helps any. any other ideas?

    Rug, im not using the agp slot at all.. im running a pcie card. so would that agp driver still be causing any problems? do you have any exact links to where i can get those drivers you were talking about? i cant seem to find them.. probably staring me right in the face too. also, im not overclocking anything.. frankly im afraid to mess with any of that stuff. im just trying to get this thing to run right by itself.. i dont need to PUSH its already seemingly low limits already.

    btw
    you mean this as a good thing or bad??

    thanks for all the help.. i appreciate it alot..

    btw2, that ocw.com site didnt work either.. thanks
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2005
  12. rugripper

    rugripper Guest

    go to ulielectronics.com the chipsets on that mobo are 1695 uli,look under drivers.they have them all.also you have to download the processor driver amd 64 here:

    http://www.amd.com/de-de/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html

    that might be making it hot,the cool and quit is set wrong

    try to update all drivers,this mobo does not like wrong drivers.had to take them all out.install bios update 1.30,then if running sata or sata 2,have to update the right sata driver,update the vga card next and then sound card,usb,etc.this card you have,ati, should eat cod2.my mobo had all kind of probs till i did all that.after new bios did freash install of windows cause that win wont run right after flashing new bios either.when i finally programed it right.i was flying in games like cod2,fear,quake4,etc too many too list...lol...hope this helps you....peace

    flashing bios:make a win me boot disk on a floppy,add the asrflash and the bios.stick in floppy drive,restart.hit f11 on restart screen,boot to floppy,it will restart and load floppy.when you see this: A:/ add [just like this] ASRFLASH 939DM21.30,press space bar in between the H and the 9.then press enter.then it will ask you if you want to do this,press y for yes.then it will flash.do not do anything till the flash is done and it tells you flash is completed and installed.then pull floppy out and restart.then add windows and drivers and it should run like a champ with that cpu.

    flashing your bios is in the manual and also plastered all over the asrock site where the bios downloads are.the site web add. is below

    1.asrock.com......bios 1.30,and sata drivers you can get from uli or asrock
    2.ulielectronics.com......drivers usb,ethernet,etc,2.1 intergrated drivers
    3.ocw.com......read help forums dedicated to this asrock mobo and others
    4.amd.com.....for your amd cpu cool and quit drivers
    5.update sound and video cards very important
    hope this helps peace

    alot to building a pc!!!,i found out quick...lol...thx everybody...great site for learning the ropes,just try not to hang yourself...lol....peace
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 18, 2005
  13. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    rug,
    ok, just out of curiousity.. i have a couple more questions..

    first, i already flashed my bios with what was on Asrock.com but it was 1.4 (not the 1.3 you are talking about).. is 1.3 better for me? or did you not know about 1.4?

    second, are you saying i CANT flash my bios without reinstalling windows? cuz i just flashed it and then restarted before. everything SEEMED to work, but then again, i AM still having problems. so i probably couldnt just update my Uli drivers either huh?

    third, are you saying i should get my usb, lan, etc drivers from ULI and NOT asrock? that seems wierd to me.

    fourth, i still cant find an ocw.com.. is that ocworkbench.com?

    finally, you are saying i should get
    AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (exe) 1.2.2.2 -
    and
    AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor Cool'n'Quiet Software for Windows ME and Windows 2000, Version 1.0.8.1
    from amd.com? shouldnt i be getting the x2 drivers? the page you sent was for reg athlon 64s...

    i already got the duals on my current system, just wanted to check..

    also, do you know anything about the microsoft hotfix for dualcore support? i got that too, which was supposed to fix the probs, guess not..

    thanks again for the help rug.. this is saving my ass for sure
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2005
  14. rugripper

    rugripper Guest

    i would do a fresh install of windows after you flash back to 1.30.that fixed so much.i had stutter in game movies,games would have to be in low to run and then it still wont run right.asrock told me to always do a fresh install after changing the bios,it will always run better.worked for me.you dont have to though.also this integrated driver has the etnernet,usb,agp,and 2 others i think.its not just one,you`ll see.the x2 are 2xamd 64 processors,so you have 2 4200 amd 64 bit processors,i have 1 3700 64 bit processor,ok?nice man,i wanted that cpu but wanted to spend money on other stuff.so download both of them.the one makes the volts lower in cool and quit,running to high plus more compatible and the other makes cpu compatible with xp,sorry i was busy all day.yea man overclock workbench sorry.look under asrock,there is a million threads about different things.after you change bios and do win if you want.on desktop,install the amd drivers[2 of them],then your graphics,sound and ethernet,etc.if you are doing sata do that before graphics and change in bios...i hope this helps you man,it was a lot of work get that board stable.then it was pulling 135 fps in the hf2 benchmark on the game.it just flew.make sure you update win xp too at microthieves ok?...peace....im rebuilding this pig so i will be down for a while
     
  15. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    i just noticed something.. i opened up the case tonight, while it was transcoding (running at a steady 43C).. the back 120mm fan isnt working.. im assuming that is causing ALOT of the heating problems.. unless it just turns on sparatically.. so im gonna watch that thing.. but i think im gonna take your advice and do a reinstall.. and i know the x2 are 2 amds but my question was the page you sent me to was for single amd 64s, but there is a separate page completely for x2s..i wasnt sure if you didnt know this or if you were specifically sending me to the single amd cpu page.. thanks for the help tho.. im gonna take your suggestions after replacing that fan if it doesnt kick on..
     
  16. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    what should my cpu volts be at? im running pcwizard and right now im transcoding some dvds, and it fluctuates between 1.36 to 1.32 from time to time.. does this mean im not getting good voltage or something?
     
  17. rugripper

    rugripper Guest

    im sorry sent you the wrong page,but you saw what i was talking about.did you patch the cool and quit?also the back case fan draws all the air out of case,not a good thing.if you have a regular plug on fan,plug it in and see if it stays on.that might be one of your overheating problems,mine stays on all the time,never shuts down.did you find everything else?is it running alot better now?this mobo is a little primadonna but when you whip its arse it runs great.dont overclock it unless you replace the thermal paste with artic silver and get fans for the north and south bridge.i couldnt be bothered.went out an bought the new asus A8N32-DELUXE sli.this board is slammin.got alot of work in putting this baby in.tring to stay online to help you out.....peace


    the cool and quit as i red was getting to much voltage and not running right because of that.so you had to patch.took me like 3 days of research to fix this stuff.i was going crazy like you...lol
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 18, 2005
  18. rugripper

    rugripper Guest

    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 18, 2005
  19. ima49311

    ima49311 Regular member

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    well, i guess is WAS the overheating afterall.. i opened up the case and placed a fan pointing directly into the case. .i ended up playing for about 3 hours straight after that.. not even a hiccup! altho i DID still set the affinity for the game (do i still need to do that?).. i think maybe i just need better fans in there.. can you recommend anything? thats not gonna require me selling my first born.. i noticed there is a "black exhaust port" type thing on the side of the case that i took off.. can that be replaced with another fan? my temps when i was running the game tonight stayed at about 46C and then idle back down to 35C with the case open.. are those still high? will they go down with better fans ya think? im gonna check the thermal pad tomorrow and make sure it is on there right.

    also, i did have another question about updating with the ULI drivers.. do you think i should still update those drivers as well.. like i said i already updated this computer with those amd drivers a couple days ago.. but i havent done anything with the ULI.. do i have to uninstall anything? or are they like other drivers where they will just write over the old ones..

    oh and should i still flash BACK to 1.3 bios still?? since its working now, id hate to screw it up.. but who knows if it really IS working fully, ya know?

    and about the Cool N Quiet? should that be diasbled with the patch i got from AMD? ive been reading ALOT of posts about people disabling that, but is that with or without the patch.. this gets so damn confusing.. im glad i found someone willing to help me out.. i really appreciate the help your giving me here.. sorry for so many questions, but you seem to know the most about this stuff..i owe you for real

     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2005
  20. rugripper

    rugripper Guest

    mines running and its working fine.some people get over excited...lol...if it aint broke dont fix it.....lol...yea man,knew it was those fans.dont do anything its working the way it should.i just got a benchmard on 3dmark for 8500 with this 3700+ and the 7800 gtx and that asrock board.hows cod2?....im in the last campain,the game rocks,it is so crazy and hard,alot of fun.....glad to hear your fans were bad and nothing else.how old is that case?if it new,look on newegg.com for the fans,look at the airflow and decibles.the higher the airflow the better the fan.the lower the decibles the quiter it will be.sound dosent bother me.i just jam out the 5.1 klipsch ultras i got and i dont hear a thing...lol...peace...dont worry about anything but your fans.i thought that at first ,but you were saying it wasnt ,so i wasnt sure.glad it worked out...got to game,right?btw eating call of duty for lunch,is a great thing....lol
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 18, 2005

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