PC shuts down or reboots spontaneously (MSI Eclipse SLI)

[Smoke]

Starting a new thread to avoid totally hijacking another thread talking about almost the same symptoms here.

My original post:

I get this same situation.. except the event viewer doesnt state anything.

The system is not bluescreening.. it just hardware powers down and reboots.

I get the same message as the original poster as well, it is very annoying as it often happens in the middle of doing something.

I wonder if it could be thermal related to the high IOH temps on the board (often 80-85C, but not sure what happens to them in the middle of playing a game)? Is there any way to log the temperatures to a file so I can check what they were at the time of the crash?

I get this issue whether I change the default bios settings or not. Ive got a 920 on my eclipse board, my CPU temps are below 30C under load. System temp is about 27C.

What can I do?

The following replies:

That's way too high, even for 100% load.  Reinstall the heatsink.

It is? I found another thread on this forum where it was mentioned that intel and msi said the IOH runs hot and to expect temps up to 100C. How do I go about changing the manufacturers heatsink on a board? Ive never done that before and cant find any procedural help thru google...

Ive been able to replicate the issue by running ram up to high usage. When I get above 98% ram allocation, I spontaneously reboot. So It could be a ram issue as well. Of would that be something possible IOH related as well?

smoke,

Can you list out your full system spec and PSU spec?

System Spec:
Core i7 920 w/ TRUE 120
MSI eclipse SLI (bios 1.4)
6x 1gb corsair 1866mhz rated ram sticks (TR3X3G1866C9DF)
1500w thermaltake psu
galaxy gtx295 in the primary x16 pci-e slot
MSI eclipse soundcard in the 1st pci-e x1 slot
4x 1tb samsung 'UJ' hdd (raid 5)
O/S (= old winxp 32 bit until I get hold of a 64 bit os) running on 128gb PQI SSD
lg bluray burner

All the drives are sata2 and running on the ICHIOR ports.

For bios settings Ive got the optimised defaults with spread spectrum off and turbo boost on. Once its table then I will OC, but for now its not stable at the baseline yet.

Temp info:

IOH temps are as I said, around 80 at startup but rise to at least 87 under load, but not really much further that Ive seen.

CPU temps are very low with the dual-fan TRUE 120 heatsink. I havet seen it go above 35C with a reasonably heavy processing load. Usually sits about 0-2C above ambient at most when idle.

System temps get to about 40 under load, or around 27-35 under regular usage, but Im not quite sure what thats measuring the temp of on the board.

The issue is very frustrating but somewhat intermittent - I can go two days without a crash but then get several in a row. I wasnt previously paying attention to my usage at the time tho so I dont remember what I was doing when it crashed that I wasnt doing when it was fine. I have been able to replicate the crash/reboot/shutdown symptom by running multiple memory intensive apps and loading the ram up to just on the 2.99gb mark (the most winxp 32 bit will 'see') and it goes down. No blue screen though.. its a hardware issue not software I am pretty sure.

[edit] Updated the ram part number to be correct.

 

[RavenMaster]

32# HU16E the OP and i are talking about the MSI Eclipse NOT the Pro. The Eclipse hates dram x5 and uncore x10 and causes random crashes. In every BIOS i've tested this has happened on the Eclipse. I still have to revert to 4x Dram and 8x uncore. If i want 1333mhz i have to overclock the CPU clock to 166x22 to get the dram to be 1332mhz approx.

 

[Aaron]

32# HU16E the OP and i are talking about the MSI Eclipse NOT the Pro. The Eclipse hates dram x5 and uncore x10 and causes random crashes. In every BIOS i've tested this has happened on the Eclipse. I still have to revert to 4x Dram and 8x uncore. If i want 1333mhz i have to overclock the CPU clock to 166x22 to get the dram to be 1332mhz approx.

Report the problem to MSI technical support and they'll whip a beta up for you.

 

[HU16E]

@ Ravenmaster. Thanks for that clarification. I'm aware the OP has an Eclipse. Your post #29 just stated i7's. Other users may interprit your reply as applying to 'all' i7 X58 mainboards. Intel's i7 CPU's Integrated Memory Controller 'only' natively supports 800/1066. It's the mainboard manufacturer that takes it from there. It looks like Smoke has his RAM running ok at 1333 now. Updated bios versions may address increased RAM compatibilty, but it may be more of an issue of the brand of RAM, & it's internal configuration, & timings, or just some individual board that just doesn't want to run them at 1333.

 

[Smoke]

I was going to post here after Id run the board another weekend solid (data analysis software) but I may as well now just let you guys now that since bios 1.5B3 the board has run rock solid no matter what Ive thrown at it.

Contrary to Raven's findings, I never had any serious issue with the ram running at 1333mhz at any multiplier. I just couldnt get it to go above the 1333 JDEC. I admit, I havent tried it again yet either, but its running stable at JDEC1333 right now. The old issue occurred regardless of how much i underclocked the cpu and/or ram.

I cant say yet that the beta bios helps me overclock - I havent tested that yet - but its made everything work better than before at MSI's 'optimal' bios settings settings.

Raven - I would seriously agree with AaronYuri -> talk to MSI, give them your exact specifications, your symptoms as best as you can tell, your temperatures, and any other info you can think of.. and they will no doubt be able to help. Are you using Beta 1.5B3 yet?

Re: reply #40, how did you get the multiplier to 22? Are you using a i7 965? Because Ive only got the 920, and the difference could be causing you trouble I dont have or vice versa. Could be the eclipse likes the 920 more than the 965? {disclaimer} I dont know if this is the case or not tho.

 

[HU16E]

That's great news Smoke on your success, & the followup posts. RM has an i7 940 which is unlocked to 22, & 23 limited. The 965 Extreme I believe starts at 24, & is unlocked to somewhere around up to 29+ or so. The new D0 975 is supposed to be even better?

 

[RavenMaster]

I've tried using 3x 2GB Corsair ram @ 1333mhz and tried using 3x 2GB G.Skill 1600mhz ram (also @ 1333mhz). Both makes of RAM gave me random crashes in games and guaranteed crashes when using 3DMarkvantage. Tried using optimized defaults with every version of BIOS from 1.0 to my current beta BIOS 1.61  and each time 1333mhz has given me crashes/BSODS. Maybe my Core i7 940 is just outright incompatible with 5x DRAM and 10x Uncore setting. It would certainly seem that way. Even Intel's own website states that the memory controller was built for 800/1066mhz not 1333. It's a real shame coz it means ur not getting the best out ur RAM when u have to run it at 4x DRAM and 8x Uncore bclk 133x22 for 1066mhz 

But like i say, i can achieve 1336mhz when i set the bclk to 167x22 with 4x DRAM and 8x Uncore. Only trouble is, that overclocks the CPU  which in turn shortens its lifespan

 

[Smoke]

Id like to correct myself here... and update the situation.

Ive just had the box go down - same symptoms - except this time the box didnt want to reboot AT ALL. the DLED2 got to CPU, DRAm, then CPU again.. then turn off.

Only after rebooting it several times did it restart - and tell me the bios overclock was stuffed.. but its running a totally "optimal settings' configuration!

Sure ok, its a beta bios but still... ugh.. not again!

And my ram is not running at 1333 like I though. Apologies Raven. Its running at a mere 1066. I misread the memory details and mixed up two values before.

this REALLY annoys me. Im going to have to get this info to MSI... see if they know anything or have an even newer version of the bios or something....