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Hardware
Hardware Troubleshooting
Older Quad Core Q9400 Freezing During Video Loads
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<blockquote data-quote="AtlBo" data-source="post: 697936" data-attributes="member: 32547"><p>No, I mean both supports dual channel memory and is DDR3 based. I found one that will also support the quad core processor, which I want to study for awhile after using a core 2 duo for about 3 years back around 2009-2012. I always wanted to get my hands on a core 2 quad PC and see what it could do.</p><p></p><p>I'd also like to overclock this processor, which I read can be done to a fair degree. Obviously, the current board won't be the best for that.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a good idea. Don't have anything handy, except a 500w Rosewill in another computer. Not sure I want to go down that road, because I don't think it's quite as good of a PSU as the 300w one in there, but it does supply more power, so I might try it at some point. It could be the processor is just not getting enough power or the RAM etc. when the system gets stressed. Been meaning to get my hands on a couple of high quality/price PSUs. When I get an opportunity, I plan to do this.</p><p></p><p>One other thing. I'ts not like the PC has to be running at 80% or the processor for the freezes to happen (they are hard freezes too...no mouse/keyboard just a still image). It can happen with the browser running video but minizimed, even for only an hour that way perhaps. Also, the PC can go for3 or 4 days streaming video 24/7 on fullscreen (I am a severe test hog, so I run tests like this sometimes).</p><p></p><p>I had a problem like this that turned out to be a gadget I was running but I can't recall what it was. Think it was an element of the HWiNFO gadget that I had enabled. Seems it would show disk activity but wrecked RAM usage. That problem was different however in that it only drove RAM usage way up very quickly until the PC froze. Looks like it stored data for a graph in RAM but never cleared any as the graph updated in the gadget. I still use the HWiNFO gadget now, but without that element and with no issues. Maybe I will try to go without that for awhile to see what happens.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a good idea. I will try indivdual sticks when I find time. Don't think I'll go as far as MemTesting the RAM at this point, but I may do that later.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I was thinking of seeing if I could pick up a good price on a used board, so options are limited for boards that will support this Q9400 processor. I really want to see what I can do with it after several years of wanting to get my hands on one. Don't think I'll find anything affordable that will also work with DDR4, but I have seen some DDR3 boards out there. There are even some new ones, so maybe I can find a deal on one of those.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Hit the nail on the head here. I am concerned that I will end up dropping another $100 to get to the bottom of this. That's why I really wanted to isolate the issue. I just don't feel like throwing money at it honestly.</p><p></p><p>Interesting aside. There are numerous (1000s) of reports of instability with these processors, especially the Q9400. No idea why, but I kind of suspect that it was always on the high end of what the boards could handle for those who were having the issues. Here is one thread at MS Answers...940 replies I guess a third or so of those a problem:</p><p></p><p><a href="https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/random-freezes-with-windows-7-64-bit/85cad5d1-dace-415d-9b06-5c609209e232?ref=driverlayer.com&page=38&auth=1" target="_blank">Random freezes with windows 7 - 64 bit</a></p><p></p><p>Well, there is so much to try here, so I hoped one of you guys might have something concrete lodged someplace in the recesses of your experience. Really appreciate the effort, and this great condenses my starting point for going forward. Think I was frozen like a deer in the headlights after seeing how many things there are to try, especially the clock manipulations threw me. Haven't overclocked before.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I have a boot cd that uses minixp. Seems to work fine in that mode. I use this to run chkdsk if there is ever as serious issue as it makes this facility available. Saved me good a couple of times.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Agreed, unless maybe it's singly (only) power to the CPU that is flaky. I have tried resetting things, and, ironically this has helped with boot issues the PC had before where the BIOS would not finish loading. For my life, I have no idea why reconnecting drives helped with that, except to say that it probably didn't have anything to do with that directly. Anyway, no boot problems recently.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>100% I agree here too. I have run 720p on a PC with a 1250 Passmark score core 2 duo at around 20-25 frames (60-80% cpu), while this processor sucks down 60-80% to get 30 frames at 720p. I feel like it should be able to handle 60 frames no problem but that completely chokes the processor. On the other hand, the core 2 duo PC had the same DDR 2 800MHz RAM and also 4 GB but supported dual channel memory. The Passmark is 3300+ for this processor or about 2.4 times faster, and the graphics card is also 2.5x more capable than what was in the core 2 duo PC. It shouldn't have to work 60-80% (sometimes up to 90% or higher) for 720p video at 30 frames.</p><p></p><p>On the hard drive, I am using the Sata 3.0 drive (IDE is the backup drive), so don't think that could be part of the issue. That's another thing about this board btw. It accepts both SATA and IDE drives (has a connection for both). The SATA connectors are SATA 2 (3.0 GB/s), so that shouldn't be a system hang up. Main drive is also SATA 2 which is the same as the aforementioned core 2 duo PC.</p><p></p><p>So this board came out after SATA 2. Kind of makes me feel like saying shame on BioStar for the two slots only running in a single channel. Also, support for only 4 GB on a board manufactured at that time is a little bit unusual. If anyone is just plain interested, here are the tech specs of the board:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=307#specification" target="_blank">GF7050V-M7 Ver. 6.x INTEL Socket motherboard gaming-Biostar</a></p><p></p><p>I really appreciate all the help. Head was spinning with huge number of possibilities, and I feel like I can start with some simple things when I get some time. Luckily the PC seems to be running fine and very productively other than the video issues and high processor usage during video playback. So anyway thanks again to all. I will try to remember to post back if/when anything new happens with this system.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AtlBo, post: 697936, member: 32547"] No, I mean both supports dual channel memory and is DDR3 based. I found one that will also support the quad core processor, which I want to study for awhile after using a core 2 duo for about 3 years back around 2009-2012. I always wanted to get my hands on a core 2 quad PC and see what it could do. I'd also like to overclock this processor, which I read can be done to a fair degree. Obviously, the current board won't be the best for that. This is a good idea. Don't have anything handy, except a 500w Rosewill in another computer. Not sure I want to go down that road, because I don't think it's quite as good of a PSU as the 300w one in there, but it does supply more power, so I might try it at some point. It could be the processor is just not getting enough power or the RAM etc. when the system gets stressed. Been meaning to get my hands on a couple of high quality/price PSUs. When I get an opportunity, I plan to do this. One other thing. I'ts not like the PC has to be running at 80% or the processor for the freezes to happen (they are hard freezes too...no mouse/keyboard just a still image). It can happen with the browser running video but minizimed, even for only an hour that way perhaps. Also, the PC can go for3 or 4 days streaming video 24/7 on fullscreen (I am a severe test hog, so I run tests like this sometimes). I had a problem like this that turned out to be a gadget I was running but I can't recall what it was. Think it was an element of the HWiNFO gadget that I had enabled. Seems it would show disk activity but wrecked RAM usage. That problem was different however in that it only drove RAM usage way up very quickly until the PC froze. Looks like it stored data for a graph in RAM but never cleared any as the graph updated in the gadget. I still use the HWiNFO gadget now, but without that element and with no issues. Maybe I will try to go without that for awhile to see what happens. This is a good idea. I will try indivdual sticks when I find time. Don't think I'll go as far as MemTesting the RAM at this point, but I may do that later. I was thinking of seeing if I could pick up a good price on a used board, so options are limited for boards that will support this Q9400 processor. I really want to see what I can do with it after several years of wanting to get my hands on one. Don't think I'll find anything affordable that will also work with DDR4, but I have seen some DDR3 boards out there. There are even some new ones, so maybe I can find a deal on one of those. Hit the nail on the head here. I am concerned that I will end up dropping another $100 to get to the bottom of this. That's why I really wanted to isolate the issue. I just don't feel like throwing money at it honestly. Interesting aside. There are numerous (1000s) of reports of instability with these processors, especially the Q9400. No idea why, but I kind of suspect that it was always on the high end of what the boards could handle for those who were having the issues. Here is one thread at MS Answers...940 replies I guess a third or so of those a problem: [URL='https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/random-freezes-with-windows-7-64-bit/85cad5d1-dace-415d-9b06-5c609209e232?ref=driverlayer.com&page=38&auth=1']Random freezes with windows 7 - 64 bit[/URL] Well, there is so much to try here, so I hoped one of you guys might have something concrete lodged someplace in the recesses of your experience. Really appreciate the effort, and this great condenses my starting point for going forward. Think I was frozen like a deer in the headlights after seeing how many things there are to try, especially the clock manipulations threw me. Haven't overclocked before. I have a boot cd that uses minixp. Seems to work fine in that mode. I use this to run chkdsk if there is ever as serious issue as it makes this facility available. Saved me good a couple of times. Agreed, unless maybe it's singly (only) power to the CPU that is flaky. I have tried resetting things, and, ironically this has helped with boot issues the PC had before where the BIOS would not finish loading. For my life, I have no idea why reconnecting drives helped with that, except to say that it probably didn't have anything to do with that directly. Anyway, no boot problems recently. 100% I agree here too. I have run 720p on a PC with a 1250 Passmark score core 2 duo at around 20-25 frames (60-80% cpu), while this processor sucks down 60-80% to get 30 frames at 720p. I feel like it should be able to handle 60 frames no problem but that completely chokes the processor. On the other hand, the core 2 duo PC had the same DDR 2 800MHz RAM and also 4 GB but supported dual channel memory. The Passmark is 3300+ for this processor or about 2.4 times faster, and the graphics card is also 2.5x more capable than what was in the core 2 duo PC. It shouldn't have to work 60-80% (sometimes up to 90% or higher) for 720p video at 30 frames. On the hard drive, I am using the Sata 3.0 drive (IDE is the backup drive), so don't think that could be part of the issue. That's another thing about this board btw. It accepts both SATA and IDE drives (has a connection for both). The SATA connectors are SATA 2 (3.0 GB/s), so that shouldn't be a system hang up. Main drive is also SATA 2 which is the same as the aforementioned core 2 duo PC. So this board came out after SATA 2. Kind of makes me feel like saying shame on BioStar for the two slots only running in a single channel. Also, support for only 4 GB on a board manufactured at that time is a little bit unusual. If anyone is just plain interested, here are the tech specs of the board: [URL='http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=307#specification']GF7050V-M7 Ver. 6.x INTEL Socket motherboard gaming-Biostar[/URL] I really appreciate all the help. Head was spinning with huge number of possibilities, and I feel like I can start with some simple things when I get some time. Luckily the PC seems to be running fine and very productively other than the video issues and high processor usage during video playback. So anyway thanks again to all. I will try to remember to post back if/when anything new happens with this system. [/QUOTE]
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