Weird restart problem bf3...

[danmitch1]

Hi guys, Im back with a weird problem(very annoying to say the least) on my modified XPS 700 http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/cpus-motherboards/48646-xps-700-a.html .....

Here are some specs for you..



<TABLE border=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Operating System new – server roles</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>System Model</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>Windows 7 Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 1 (build 7601)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States)
Installed: 1/28/2012 11:17:36 AM

</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>Dell Inc. Dell DXG061
System Service Tag: 15009C1 (support for this PC)
Chassis Serial Number: 15009C1
Enclosure Type: Tower

</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Processor <SUP>a</SUP></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Main Circuit Board <SUP>b</SUP></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>2.67 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
4096 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>Board: Dell Inc. 0YF432 A02
Serial Number: ..CN137406BB00DQ.
Bus Clock: 1066 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. 1.4.1 05/07/2007

</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>new USB Storage Use in past 30 Days<SMALL> (mouse over last used for details)</SMALL></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>new Hosted Virtual Machines<SMALL> (mouse over name for details)</SMALL></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left><TABLE id=UsbStorageTable border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><THEAD><TR vAlign=top><TH style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0.5em" noWrap align=left></TH><TH style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0.5em" noWrap align=left>Last Used</TH></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0.5em">Seagate FA GoFlex Desk -- drive 1, s/n NA0KN0P8, rev 0155</TD><TD style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0.5em" noWrap>3/17/2012 11:47:50 AM</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>None discovered</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Drives new – drive encryption</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Memory Modules <SUP>c,d</SUP></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top rowSpan=5 width="48%" align=left>2250.25 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
2162.08 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device [Optical drive]
HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDRH10N SCSI CdRom Device [Optical drive]
TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H553A SCSI CdRom Device [Optical drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

Seagate FA GoFlex Desk USB Device [Hard drive] (2000.40 GB) -- drive 1, s/n NA0KN0P8
WDC WD25 00JS-75NCB3 SCSI Disk Device (250.00 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WCANKA223755, SMART Status: Healthy

</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>8190 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM_1' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM_3' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM_2' has 2048 MB
Slot 'DIMM_4' has 2048 MB

</TD></TR><TR><!--TD width=48%>&nbsp</TD--><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Local Drive Volumes new – volume encryption</TD></TR><TR><!--TD width=48%>&nbsp</TD--><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD width="45%"></TD><TD width="15%"></TD><TD width="20%"></TD><TD width="5%"></TD><TD width="15%"></TD></TR><TR><TD>c: (NTFS on drive 0) *</TD><TD align=right>249.85 GB</TD><TD align=right>167.52 GB free</TD><TD></TD><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD>g: (NTFS on drive 1)</TD><TD align=right>2000.40 GB</TD><TD align=right>1994.56 GB free</TD><TD></TD><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


<CENTER><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TR><TD>* Operating System is installed on c:</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></TD></TR><TR><!--TD width=48%>&nbsp</TD--><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Network Drives</TD></TR><TR><!--TD width=48%>&nbsp</TD--><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>None discovered</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Users <SMALL>(mouse over user name for details)</SMALL></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Printers</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD align=left>local user accounts</TD><TD>last logon</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>

DAN</TD><TD align=left>3/17/2012 11:48:10 AM</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left>(admin)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>

UpdatusUser</TD><TD align=left>3/17/2012 11:50:18 AM</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2 align=left>local system accounts</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>

Administrator</TD><TD align=left>11/20/2010 10:47:20 PM</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left>(admin)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>

Guest</TD><TD align=left>never</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>

HomeGroupUser$</TD><TD align=left>never</TD><TD vAlign=top align=left></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<CENTER>

Marks a disabled account;

Marks a locked account </CENTER></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Microsoft Shared Fax Driver</TD><TD>on SHRFAX:</TD></TR><TR><TD>Microsoft XPS Document Writer</TD><TD>on XPSPort:</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Controllers</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Display</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>Standard floppy disk controller
ATA Channel 0 [Controller]
ATA Channel 1 [Controller]
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti [Display adapter]
SHARP HDMI [Monitor] (37.0"vis)

</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Bus Adapters</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Multimedia</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller (3x)
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller

</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>High Definition Audio Device
NVIDIA High Definition Audio (4x)

</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Virus Protection <SMALL>[Back to Top]</SMALL></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Group Policies</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2012</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>None discovered</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Communications new – connection speed & status</TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD bgColor=#efefef width="48%" align=center>Other Devices</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD width="15%"></TD><TD width="35%"></TD><TD width="50%"></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD colSpan=3>↑ Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Controller</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD align=center>primary </TD><TD>Auto IP Address: </TD><TD>192.168.2.2 / 24</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD></TD><TD>Gateway: </TD><TD>192.168.2.1</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD></TD><TD>Dhcp Server: </TD><TD>192.168.2.1</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD></TD><TD>Physical Address: </TD><TD>00:19:B9:0A:F0:F9</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD></TD><TD>Connection Speed: </TD><TD>100 Mbps</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD colSpan=3>Microsoft ISATAP Adapter</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD colSpan=3>Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD colSpan=3></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD colSpan=2>Networking Dns Server: </TD><TD>192.168.2.1</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD><TD width="4%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="48%" align=left>Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller
USB Input Device
HID Keyboard Device
Microsoft USB Basic Optical Mouse v2.0 (IntelliPoint)
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub (2x)
Generic volume shadow copy

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>So the pc runs really smooth and fast .
I use 3dstudio max 12 and do full screen renders (1920x1080) of very complex scenes , Some renders ive done are 3 to 4 hours 100% cpu load with no trouble.
Ive even done some Iray renders 3 hours using 100% gpu load with no trouble.

I got battlefield 3 , played the entire single player game 1080p and high graphics setting , very smooth no lag no trouble at all .

Then I (of course) try playing multiplayer with high graphics and lower res of 1600x900 . Played for about a week on and off with no lag or any hiccups.
Then one day out of the blue mid game my pc restarts its self ... no freezing or bsod or anything just pure restart back to windows . I didnt think too much of it figuring it was just an isolated incident. I played again after and no restarts. A few days later it happends again . So then I took off the auto restart to see if i could get a stop error bsod and nothing .
Ive been checking my temps with real temp and all temps are normal .
I ran memory tests and cpu stress tests along with kombuster msi for hours and all tests passed .Ran dell pc diag, all tests passed..

I tried a whole bunch of "fixes" for bf3 i found online , tuning off rac task , putting the graphics card in charge of physx, reinstalling punkbuster , turning off cloud storage, lower graphics lower res ect..
The restarts seem to be random since some times I can play all night without any trouble all different maps different player counts then I play the next day and the pc will restart 10min into game . Then I was able to play for 5 days in a row no trouble..Played co op for 4 hours no trouble, then the next day it restarts 30min in..
completely random ....

Yesterday I played for 40min then my gf turned on the tv in the living room and it happend again , the pc is on the same breaker as the tv so i thought maybe I over loaded it but the breaker doesnt pop off .I played later that night when the tv was off and was able to play for 2 hours no trouble . So today for the hell of it i took the tv off the pcs breaker and played for about 30min and then AGAIN! restarts (was on a roll too just killed like 6 tanks in a row and having a blast! )

After days of searching google for my answer the best thing I could come up with is
either my PSU is on the fritz or there is a some sort of power problem in my appartment creating random power losses .

Really weird though, Like i mentioned earlier , im able to render at full loads no problem for hours ,played single player and co op no prob...
So why would it be a hardware problem ? I dont have any other trouble with the pc and dont really want to blow 200$ on a new psu or even a UPS to find out that bf3 is just buggy and just needs a fix of some sort.
I also just blew almost 500$ on my cpu ram gpu as you can see in this thread http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/cpus-motherboards/48646-xps-700-a.html ...figuring I could get a couple of more years out of this pc before i build a new one.
My friend has crysis 2 and is willing to lend it to me but I think it will run without any trouble considering the bf3 single player did .Why would multiplayer screw things up?

Im really close to dishing out some cash for a new PSU though.. I did a wattage test and found that I would need minimum 650watts , I saw some cheap ones but im unsure really what I should get IF I really do deside to spend more .What would you guys recommend I get ? Im not even sure what kind of connections I need since I didnt build the pc ... Dell put in a 1000watt when I got it thats all I know....

I dont know what to do ... Give up on bf3 or keep trying to get it working ...its so fun though ... whoa is me....

Thanks for reading my long ranty post ....

Dan.




</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[danmitch1]

Hey , just loaded crysis 2 last night .Played for 2.5 hours on 1080p hardcore graphics setting with no trouble . Played again this morning for 2 hours with the trouble ....
Is this really a hardware issue or is it a software issue with bf3?

 

[3.0charlie]

Be very careful if you change the PSU, since Dell sometimes has proprietary connectors to their board.

As far as your issue, have you tested the ram? Use Memtest, and launch a few of them using 1000Mb for each until all the ram is tested.
Not one single error is acceptable.

MemTest: RAM reliability tester for Windows

 

[danmitch1]

Hey, I did run a few memory tests , the one built into windows and some other one cant remember which but the tests passed without errors. Illl try the one you posted for the hell of it .
Thanks for the reply !
Dan.

 

[Perineum]

Check your motherboard for blown or swollen caps.

 

[KaptCrunch]

Check your motherboard for blown or swollen caps.

+1 for 775 MB era

 

[danmitch1]

K im running 4 copies of memtest at 2000mb each (for 8gb) which I understand is the right way ?

Ive read about swollen blown capacitors, ill check now .

+1 for 775 MB era

??????


Thanks ,

Dan .

 

[danmitch1]

Just checked the mobo , and cant seem to find any swollen capacitors . Pretty sure i check them all..

 

[3.0charlie]

The Kapt was refering to the fact that 775-era boards we known for swollen caps.

Can we have a pic of your case? Since Memtest seems fine, and there are no swollen caps - the only other issue I could think of would NB overheat. Is the chip oc'ed?

 

[KaptCrunch]

yes 3.0 is correct other is

Yesterday I played for 40min then my gf turned on the tv in the living room and it happend again , the pc is on the same breaker as the tv so i thought maybe I over loaded it but the breaker doesnt pop off .I played later that night when the tv was off and was able to play for 2 hours no trouble . So today for the hell of it i took the tv off the pcs breaker and played for about 30min and then AGAIN! restarts (was on a roll too just killed like 6 tanks in a row and having a blast! )

maybe brownout issues with power suppling PC

got use of a UPS to support my theory