OC FAIL! Fix my computer for +internets

[Lowk]

I recently upgraded my computer with a new sound card and 4GBs of ram. Everything ran fine for just over a week but now at random my system crashes, upon reboot i get the error "OC FAIL". Which for those that didn't know like me stands for "OverClocking Failure". I didn't modify anything about my computer but installing new parts, so i am confused as to why this is happening. On top of all this, sometimes after one of these crashes my system fails to boot at all, which i am assuming here is some sort of fail safe because the system thinks its being over clocked. It takes a few hours of the computer being off before it will make it all the way to windows upon a reboot.

I have tried a few things to try and remedy the problem, but I'm not the most knowledgeable person about the internal workings of computers. Also,for some reason, the things i did try i could have been doing wrong. I have read here more than a few times installing ram and sound cards was relatively easy, so i attempted to do it myself.

DETAILED suggestions/instructions as to what to do would be appreciated. I am sure there is information i unknowingly left out, so let me know what you all need to know.

+ internets will be delivered

[Voyce]

Chances are you don't have your RAM timings set properly, link the RAM you installed. Download CPU-Z and check the actual timings the RAM is being defaulted to.

[Tuco]

1. Reseat the RAM.
2. Go into BOIS and set settings to factory defaults.
3. Try Voyce's advice.

[Erumaron]

Originally Posted by Tuco

1. Reseat the RAM.
2. Go into BOIS and set settings to factory defaults.
3. Try Voyce's advice.

This with a CMOS reset before #2. If you bought your motherboard separate the manual will mention how to move the jumper to do it...if not it's probably going to take knowing more about your computer to walk you through it.

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Voyce

Chances are you don't have your RAM timings set properly, link the RAM you installed. Download CPU-Z and check the actual timings the RAM is being defaulted to.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

CPU-Z

DRAM frequency - 266.0MHz
FSB:DRM - 3:4
CAS# Latency (CL) - 4.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# Delay (tRCD) - 4 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) - 4 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) - 12 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) - 16 clocks

Originally Posted by Tuco

1. Reseat the RAM.

By reseat the RAM, i am assuming here you mean to take it out and put it back in?

Originally Posted by Tuco

2. Go into BOIS and set settings to factory defaults.

I have two options in the bios, one is to set things for "fail/safe defaults", and the other is to set them to "Optimized defaults". Optimized defaults seem like the option you are referring to, am i correct?

Originally Posted by Erumaron

This with a CMOS reset before #2. If you bought your motherboard separate the manual will mention how to move the jumper to do it...if not it's probably going to take knowing more about your computer to walk you through it.

My tower was put together by a family fried, so i only have the driver disks and no manuals. The computer is a couple years old i was only upgrading it. Anything that goes wrong with it, i tend to fix myself. I'm not quite "where is the any key on my keyboard" knowledgeable, i can usually trouble shoot most problems i have with the help of google. Is what i would be doing to reset the CMOS particularly complex?

[Twobit Whore]

That RAM is rated at 5-5-5 timings but you have it at 4-4-4.

You may need to manually set it to 5-5-5 in the BIOS.

[Voyce]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

That RAM is rated at 5-5-5 timings but you have it at 4-4-4.

You may need to manually set it to 5-5-5 in the BIOS.

Ding, ding, ding! Also you may need to tweak your Front Side Bus DRAM ratio.

Hopefully your BIOS supports it.

[Gauss]

Edit: I'll leave the below FYI but the above sounds more reasonable. Basically, your computer assumes some things about your RAM that the RAM is physically not able to do. Your RAM requires more FSB clock cycles to look around inside itself and find the data (for example) than what your computer is giving it to accomplish that task so the results may sometimes be unpredictable and that would lead to crashes. It may have worked for awhile because the 5-5-5 specification is "safe", i.e. it's the smallest timing for guaranteed operation, but with use the performance of hardware will degrade and therefore you're only seeing errors after the initial period of 100% performance.

Is what i would be doing to reset the CMOS particularly complex?

The drivers might say what model the motherboard is. If not, the CMOS reset is typically on the edges of the motherboard and written on the colored part in white text it will say something like "CMOS" and next to it will be a jumper occupying two pins in a 3 socket setup that looks like the picture below. What you do is the following:

1. Turn your PC entirely off (including the power supply switch in the back). Once you locate the CMOS jumper (like I said, typically occupies two of three pins in a very small set of posts)
2. Move the jumper from the pins it's currently at to the only other possible configuration.
3. Turn on the computer and let it boot up normally.
4. Completely shut down the computer again and place the CMOS jumper back in its original location

Sometimes what I presume is a jumper in this case is also a regular old switch. Just look for something that says like "CLR" or "CMOS" printed directly on the circuitboard.

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Voyce

Ding, ding, ding! Also you may need to tweak your Front Side Bus DRAM ratio.

Hopefully your BIOS supports it.

Is the CMOS reset still needed if the problem lays in how the RAM is configured?

The single option i have in the Bios is to change the frequency of the RAM. (i am pretty sure the following information is useless but) There are three choices for that option, " auto, 2.00, 2.66."

[Twobit Whore]

You should have a page of OC options in your BIOS. You may need to do a keypress combination to unlock it. I don't know what mobo you have so I can't tell you what it is, but generally you can google that easy.

[Erumaron]

Originally Posted by Lowk

The single option i have in the Bios is to change the frequency of the RAM.

Is the CMOS reset still needed if the problem lays in how the RAM is configured?

Can't really hurt. The only reason I threw it out there to begin with was that when computers flip out from timings being off (from trying to OC) you usually have to reset CMOS to get back to a good spot.

If the motherboard and RAM are still retarded together after that and you can't manually mess with timings...your best bet might be trying to dig up the exact motherboard make/model and hoping for a magic BIOS flash that updates all of your problems away.

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

You should have a page of OC options in your BIOS. You may need to do a keypress combination to unlock it. I don't know what mobo you have so I can't tell you what it is, but generally you can google that easy.

Maker - Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Model - 8I945GZME-RH

Originally Posted by Erumaron

Can't really hurt. The only reason I threw it out there to begin with was that when computers flip out from timings being off (from trying to OC) you usually have to reset CMOS to get back to a good spot.

If the motherboard and RAM are still retarded together after that and you can't manually mess with timings...your best bet might be trying to dig up the exact motherboard make/model and hoping for a magic BIOS flash that updates all of your problems away.

GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - BIOS - How to reflash Motherboard BIOS

I found a program to update the BIOS from the maker of my motherboard, it gives the impression that the update sometimes isnt smooth. What precaution if any should i be taking before hand?

[Twobit Whore]

That's an old board that apparently doesn't support overclocking and memory tweaks too well. No idea why it defaults your RAM to 4-4-4 though.. perhaps it's incompatible. Only option I can suggest if the reflash doesn't work is dropping the DRAM frequency to 233 or 200.

Actually the website says it only supports up to DDR2 533MHZ, so that would be the problem.

What CPU are you using in it?

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Twobit Whore

What CPU are you using in it?

Name - Intel Pentium D 915
Specification - Intel Pentium D CPU 2.80GHz



So, if i am understanding all this right, I have to drop down to my old ram because my motherboard isn't compatible with my new ram?

[Twobit Whore]

I think that's the likely case. Your board and CPU are pretty old and your RAM is fairly new. Ideally the board should detect the specs but for some reason it isn't. I would really try a flash update, but if your system is unstable and could crash during it you would brick it and need a new mobo.

The real problem is your timings. You are overclocking the memory beyond its defaults and it doesn't like it. Without a way to change it I don't know if it will work at all. You can try running everything at safe/auto and see if that adjusts it. Flashing may help detect it.. or it may just be incompatible with that board.

But if you have at least ~$200 to spend you could just go all out and upgrade the CPU/board.. which is REALLY what you should do. That Pentium D is ancient.