PC Hardware → PC Ram testing software...

For that, see these links.
»www.sevenforums.com/tuto ··· ion.html
»winsupersite.com/article ··· a-128512

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Doing the clean reboot to see if it makes any difference..

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It didn't....

Yes, sorry I missed the XP O/S you had posted initially.

That leaves the very core (kernel) of XP or hardware.
As you do not have hardware to swap out it maybe a hard path to check which is causing the issue.

If you install Win 7 and it goes away, I'll be very surprised - stranger things have happened though.
Good luck sorting it out. Maybe someone can spare a power supply or graphics card near by to help the cause?

If you want to clean install the graphics drivers:
Uninstall in the add/remove programs
Look for all files in system32/drivers that are ATI nVidia and delete them, some may be recreated, but do not be concerned.
Uninstall the video card in device manager.
By now you should be looking at a low resolution desktop, 16 bit, not 32 bit.
Also run CCleaner and the registry tool in it.
Then reboot and install the new package.
However I'd leave out installing anything Catalyst Control Center nVidia Control Panel related for now - this is run off NET Framework and best to leave out while checking a clean install of drivers for the hardware. In fact you can usually select what to install in the package or find the download for just the drivers.

Does the bug still show then?

Just so we don't confuse anyone , EVGA GTX 670 is NVIDA
Procedure described is correct though , just switch NVIDA for AMD.-ATI .
Driver Cleaner should have done this , but it never hurts to check .

Thanks for picking that up. Cross posted from a similar topic in the help forum.

I know plenty of times drivers are not completely uninstalled due to being in use. Until you see that low res, 16-bit screen resolution, the drivers are still being used.

Mind is elsewhere today too which doesn't help CylonRed at all.

Couple of final thoughts .
Just to confirm , when it shuts down the power light on the motherboard is not on ? Not the one on the front panel but the green one on the board itself ?

If I remember correctly , a short on an AT style keyboard - mouse connector would cause a shutdown . Don't know if that still holds true on current generation boards , since most of the ones I work on seem to use USB . Any chance you have another keyboard available to try ?

Took a look at the manual for that motherboard , see what you mean by options up the wazoo .
Don't think it would do any good , but it looks like it would be easy to save the bios profile that you are using now , and then reset everything to default .

I have seen where a network cable plugged in on a computer that is off but the router is still on has caused issues starting the computer up. Unplugging the lead from the motherboard header and then starting the computer would fix it. So I have no doubts that a short off an old keyboard could cause problems on a computer too.

It's that hardware swap out that really will help answer this one from where we sit.

Just a couple of other thoughts of things you can try that does not cost anything. MrFixit1 mentions RAM and saving the profile of the bios and resetting the bios, most of the below items can or could cause power issues on the motherboard side I would think, but saving the current bios profile might be advised first:

1. RAM and trying 1 stick only as mentioned, have you tried the second batch of slots? I'm gathering you are running 2 x 2GB sticks of RAM?
2. Have you tried manually setting the RAM instead of having it set to AUTO. (ref - 3-14)
3. Have you tried turning off Secure Virtual Machine Mode (ref - 3.5.2, 3-16)
I've known my motherboard, an asus amd board too (earlier model), has to have this turned off unless there is virtual machines running - and gaming / over clocking was mentioned when I hung out at the ASUS forum, you would have thought they sorted that one out in later motherboards/chipsets.
4. Have you tried turning off C1E support? (ref - 3-16)
5. You have the latest bios? Microcode updates checked off ASUS support?
6. PCIPnP is set to no? (ref - 3.5.6, 3-20)
7. Suspend Mode is set to off? (ref -3.6.1, 3-21)
8. Disabling of Power On by hardware? (ref - 3.6.4, 3-22)
9. Tried with Quick Boot disabled? (ref - 3.7.2, 3-26)
10. Express Gate disabled? (ref - 3.8.2, 3-29)

Good luck.

I think it is the power supply.

Also, Windows XP on that hardware could be causing problems as XP was never designed for that level of power.

I could try my wife's keyboard (USB- I hate the thing)... The light on the motherboard stays on actually. Till I turn off the PSU and discharge the capacitors by hitting the front power switch.

I am about 95% sure of my answers:

1) I believe I have tried the other slots but not positive - I will have to recheck. I also need to test another set of ram that was in my wife's PC and I thought was going bad but that apparently was from a bad PSU.

2) Usually set to auto only - I should probably check to make sure the timings are the same using CPU-Z and the bios.

3) Never turned it on since I don't have an OS for it.

4) No idea... one of these days I need find something online that explains many of the settings in the BIOS that I don;t have a clue on...

5) may not be the absolute newest but I did upgrade the bios this year.

6) Pretty sure it is set to No.

7) I believe so.

8) Yes - all disabled.

9) Probably not.

10) I believe it is turned on though I am nto sure why...

OK if you have to discharge the caps to get the light to go out , the fact that is on does not really help. Was hoping that they were actively monitoring the power from the power supply directly
Still not sure if the power supply is initiating the shutdown ,either from a overload or a false trip , or if it is the motherboard doing it .
Could you confirm the make and model of the power supply ?

Can't believe I am saying this since I strongly dislike the GUI , but you can upgrade the OS to 8 for a lot less than 7, at least until the end of January . If you don't have a copy of 7 already it might be worth considering .

Price is not much of a matter for me - OEM Win7 Pro upgrade can be had for $130. Expensive but I like Win 7 more than Win8. Does Win 8 have XP mode as well? I have enough older software that runs far better on XP.... Going to be bad enough to learn and Apple Os as my ILs are getting my wife an iPad for Christmas - going around my ban of Apple products in my house...

But - when thru the BIOS and found some interesting things....

The BIOS sees different ram timings for the 2 sticks even though they are the same brand/make and bought at the same time. I bought 4 sticks of the same brand/make for our 2 PCs - maybe the ram between my wife's PC and I got mixed but in theory - they should have the same timings.

The timings - on auto are as follows:
9-9-924-5-33-10-4 and
8-2-5-42-110-0

Suspend mode can't be disables - only Auto, S1 and S3.

PCIE Spread Spectrum is disabled.

I do have the newest BIOS.

C1E was disabled.

Disabled quick boot and Express Gate as well.

None of that helped - shut off in less time than the first MP match on MW3...

I also tried to set the ram timings on the faster one to the slower and I can't do it. I don't have the choices for 9-9-9.

I have only bought 3 PSUs inthe past 5 years. The FSP that went bad on my wife's PC, the Corsair I replaced the FSP with and the Thermaltake Toughpower W0128RU 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply.

The one in my PC is the Thermaltake...

There is no XP Mode for Windows 8.

Did not think so...

I noticed you stated that you had updated the bios in an earlier post . Did you do so because of this issue or did this issue start after you updated ?
The manual for the power supply is not totally clear on how it resets from a short or over-current condition . Over-voltage you have to recycle the AC , but they make it sound as though you can reset a short with just the start switch on the computer .

What are the memory timings in your wife's PC?
Pull the stick from yours that is different from her settings and try again .Or swap the positions in yours and see if the timings follow the sticks . If they follow , And the markings on the sticks are the same , you may have found the problem
If they do not follow , you may have a bad BIOS flash , a bad slot , or a bad board

Am assuming the keyboard didn't help any.

Might be worth re-flashing the Bios with a freshly downloaded copy . In this case you want to use one of the boot flash methods , and NOT flash from windows .

You maybe on to something there.

Something in those RAM timings just doesn't look right.I know this box I'm typing on, if set to auto gives 667, but set to manual I can get the 800 default of the sticks - those numbers just don't look right.

Do you have the specific specs/branding for the G-Skill sticks?

If the keyboard didn't help, I'd certainly look at what causes the timing to be so weird and a bad flash might be the cause - but swapping out the sticks and motherboard slots and recording the timing across all off them in a table, done to 1 at a time to see if you do get mixed readings, until you can pick which specifically is the culprit, channel on the board or stick of ram, or other.

Timings do not change - even if I add both sticks to the second set of ram slots. The second dimm is always the different timing. Even if I use A1 and B1 - if I switch the ram itself between the slots - the different timing does not follow.

I added my wife's 2 sticks (her machine has different ram since I thought hers was going bad). I m now running memtest on her 2 sticks to see if her ram really was bad.

I updated the bios on my wife's machine when I thought it might help her issues. Since we have the exact same motherboard I wanted to keep then in sync and i wanted the added CPU support as well.

I never, ever flash from Windows - well - once by accident on the previous machine. It went well but I was pissed...

NewEgg has all of my order history.. On the ram (on the sticker on the ram) the timings are 9-9-9-24:
»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 20231193

»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 20231193

In the reviews at Newegg, Skate Zilla says,I see Norwegian brought this up but I'm not seeing this possibility having been exhausted, yet.

Not sure what those timings are - the list of timings in the bios as for mare than just 9-9-9-24 and as noted before - I can't add in the third 9 as it is not an option... Unless I am not looking in the right place in the bios.

So far the sticks of ram the wife had in her PC is not showing any errors....

First note:
That ram is not on the QVL of RAM at ASUS. See image. Yet at the G-Skill site for the RAM is says it is???
»www.gskill.com/products. ··· index=88

Try selecting [2T] then selecting the timing. See how you go then try [1T] if it doesn't work.
Use this as a guide to check you are setting the right figures.
»www.hardwaresecrets.com/ ··· ngs/26/2

They are set to 12 max, and 30 maximum, so 9-9-9-24 should be easily set up.

I know you tried, but to me you may have just mis-understood the settings.

What messes me up is the 8 settings in the bios and the 4 settings in the ram - what settings get entered and where and what should the other 4 settings be?

There always seem to be differences between the sites. I have not worried about it unless I plan to overclock....

EDIT:
I did misread the ram timings - what I took as slot one and 2 were actually different timings.... Dram 1 Information had the TCL, TRCD, and TRP settings - 9-9-9-24 can be set in these (there were 4 other settings. The main info as read by the SPD was 9-9-9-24 and that would be correct. Dram 2 information has TRWTTO, TWRRD and 6 more settings (this was the section I could not set 9-9-9-24 thinking it was for the second slot).

Using CPU-Z I verified the timings for 666 mem frequency ....

I think I am going to go out and get a PSU - probably from MicroCenter sometime this weekend. Might also grab a copy of Win 7 as well - they have Win 7 Pro for $130 (OEM upgrade).

Have to see what they have in Sharonville, Ohio in stock...

Ah, that makes sense now. I was going to say, sometimes one or more of the secondary timings can be different between slots, to account for differences in trace lengths.

While I will not say it is a verdict yet - got a new PSU (Corsair professional 850 watt) and so far - so good. Even turned up some of the settings in both MW3 and Black Ops and no shutdown.

I do desperately need a new case though -the Antec 900 is not cutting it.

You will give Gordo74 a glow if it is, especially if there were bets and odds. »Re: PC Ram testing software...