Bluescreens - is it the overclock?

[c-hri-s]

Since I got my system a couple of weeks ago it's been running okay with a few occasional bluescreens. It will complete 3DMark benchmarks with no issue, however it's always bluescreened after only 20 seconds or so of running IntelBurnTest ("A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval"). The same thing happens with Prime95, but you need to leave it a couple of minutes.

It turns out it also seems to do it when I get it a bit busy, running a few applications at once.

Could it be caused by the (PCS) overclock?

These are the settings given to me:

• AI Overclock Tuner: manual
• BLCK Freq: 100.00
• Turbo Ratio: enabled (all cores)
• By All Cores: 46
• Internal PLL OverVoltage: enabled
• Mem Freq: 1600MHz
• EPU Power Saving: disabled
• Load-Line Calibration: high
• VRM Freq: auto
• Phase Control: extreme [although this was actually set to Standard when I received the PC]
• Duty Contorl: extreme
• CPU Current Capability: 110%
• CPU OverVoltage: manual mode
• CPU Manual Voltage: 1.40V
• DRAM Voltage: 1.650V
• VCCSA Voltage: 1.1250V
• VCCIO Voltage: 1.150V
• CPU PLL Voltage: 1.81250V
• PCH Voltage: auto
• CPU Spread Spectrum: disabled
• CPU Ratio: auto
• Intel Adaptive Thermal Monitor: enabled
• Intel Virtualization: disabled
• Intel SpeedStep: enabled
• Turbo Mode: enabled
• AMD Turbo Core Technology: disabled

Setting Phase control to Standard or Extreme doesn't seem to make any difference to the stability.

Is it easy to 'unoverclock' the system to see if that's the cause of the instability? Or does anyone else have any suggestions?

I bought it without an OS, but have installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1, all patched up.

Thanks

 

[JakAttack]

Try using XMP mode and dropping your CPU voltage down to 1.35V. 1.40V is good for hefty overclocks but 1.35V is more stable.

 

[c-hri-s]

Changed to XMP mode and dropped the CPU voltage to 1.350

It bluescreened when booting with 'the system encountered an unrecoverable hardware error' 0x00000124

Pushing the CPU voltage back up to 1.400 allowed the system to boot.

It still bluescreens with IntelBurnTest, but now with a 'the system encountered an unrecoverable hardware error'

 

[JakAttack]

Try it without XMP, but with 1.35V again and see if this gives the same results.

 

[c-hri-s]

Flipped it back from XMP to Manual, and verified the settings were as in the first post.

Changed CPU voltage to 1.350 and it still bluescreened when booting with 'the system encountered an unrecoverable hardware error' message.

Raising the CPU voltage to 1.400 again got me back to where we began; it boots okay but bluescreens if you run prime95/intelburntest.

 

[Buzz]

Have you tried resetting the Bios to default failsafe settings?
Is Raid enabled in the Bios? If not using Raid Disable it in Bios
All Drivers updated?

 

[c-hri-s]

Have you tried resetting the Bios to default failsafe settings?

No .. the PC boots fine but fails under load. I'm assuming the OC need tweaking rather than anything completely drastic?

Is Raid enabled in the Bios? If not using Raid Disable it in Bios

It is, but I'm using it (my 2x2TB drives are configured in RAID-1)

All Drivers updated?

Yep, everything up to date. No unknown devices in device manager. All chipset etc. drivers up to date

 

[vanthus]

I wouldn't reset the BIOS,with your setup that would probably cause more problems.

 

[c-hri-s]

I just tried the following settings:

By All Cores: 40
CPU Manual Voltage: 1.35V

A couple of minutes running IntelBurnTest didn't result in a bluescreen which seems like progress .. but obviously the clock maxes out at 4000MHz rather than the 4.8 I was hoping I'd get for my overclocked money.

 

[c-hri-s]

Turned it up to 44/1.35 and it still seems stable (and completes the IntelBurnTest on High) ... maybe I ended up with a finicky processor.

 

[Rakk]

A couple of minutes running IntelBurnTest didn't result in a bluescreen which seems like progress .. but obviously the clock maxes out at 4000MHz rather than the 4.8 I was hoping I'd get for my overclocked money.

Well, 4.8 is the max that PCS will overclock for that particular type of chip, but obviously not all of them will be able to stay stable at that speed
Glad you seem to have got it sorted though