Devices disappearing when using video intensive applications with KT7-R system

Jason · Nov 1, 2003

When playing 3D games or running benchmarks, sometimes my USB bus disappears and all USB devices with it. Sometimes my NIC disappears also. The typical scenario is that I am playing a 3D game when, all of a sudden, my USB mouse stops working and, rarer, the network disappears. The only way to get the devices back is to reboot the system which I have to do by hard booting the machine because it hangs at system shut down. Sys specs are:

KT7-R MBD
XP2100+ B core OC'ed to 2GHz
Vcore set to 1.65v
384MB of PC133 SDRAM (Mushkin CAS2) running, FSB @100MHz, memory @133Mhz

TIA.

dr_hardware · Nov 1, 2003

"Jason" wrote:

When playing 3D games or running benchmarks, sometimes my USB bus disappears and all USB devices with it. Sometimes my NIC disappears also. The typical scenario is that I am playing a 3D game when, all of a sudden, my USB mouse stops working and, rarer, the network disappears. The only way to get the devices back is to reboot the system which I have to do by hard booting the machine because it hangs at system shut down. Sys specs are:

KT7-R MBD
XP2100+ B core OC'ed to 2GHz
Vcore set to 1.65v
384MB of PC133 SDRAM (Mushkin CAS2) running, FSB @100MHz, memory @133Mhz

TIA.
--
Jason

You may have a memory problem. Try checking your memory with this:
http://www.memtest86.com/

Also, try it with the the CPU not overclocked if the memory is alright with the CPU and memory at the same speed. It may have something to do with the overclcok.

Jason · Nov 1, 2003

You may have a memory problem. Try checking your memory with this: http://www.memtest86.com/

Also, try it with the the CPU not overclocked if the memory is alright with the CPU and memory at the same speed. It may have something to do with the overclcok.

I'll give it a try. Thanks.

Elouan Le Bretton · Nov 1, 2003

Same thing happens to me: mouse and keyboard suddenly stop, and rarely my audio headset... I've found that plug off and back the USB port in was efficient as things worked normal until next time... and I don't have any overclocking settings nor memory problems as I've run this mem86 test already... I think it's the board who isn't good with USB... for exemple I can't presss F8 for advanced windows start-up options when I use USB keyboard....

"Jason" a ï¿½crit dans le message de

You may have a memory problem. Try checking your memory with this: http://www.memtest86.com/

Also, try it with the the CPU not overclocked if the memory is alright with the CPU and memory at the same speed. It may have something to do with the overclcok.

I'll give it a try. Thanks.

--
...

Skid · Nov 2, 2003

Another consideration is that the USB ports on some boards don't put out a low of power. Load them too high and they fall over. In stress situations like gaming, a marginal port may fail.

Try disconnecting non-essential USB devices, or better yet invest in a powered USB hub.

"Elouan Le Bretton" wrote:

Same thing happens to me: mouse and keyboard suddenly stop, and rarely my audio headset... I've found that plug off and back the USB port in was efficient as things worked normal until next time... and I don't have any overclocking settings nor memory problems as I've run this mem86 test already... I think it's the board who isn't good with

USB...

for exemple I can't presss F8 for advanced windows start-up options when I use USB keyboard....

"Jason" a ï¿½crit dans le message de

You may have a memory problem. Try checking your memory with this:
http://www.memtest86.com/

Also, try it with the the CPU not overclocked if the memory is alright
with
the CPU and memory at the same speed. It may have something to do with the
overclcok.

I'll give it a try. Thanks.

--
Jason

Jason · Nov 2, 2003

"Skid" wrote:

Another consideration is that the USB ports on some boards don't put out a low of power. Load them too high and they fall over. In stress situations like gaming, a marginal port may fail.

Try disconnecting non-essential USB devices, or better yet invest in a powered USB hub.

The only USB device connected is the Logitech optical mouse. I had not thought of using a powered USB hub. Sounds like it is worth a try. Could the failure of the USB port on the board cause sort of a cascading power failure where it takes down the NIC next? The NIC is a PCI card - not on the board - so it seems strange to me that only the one device would fail instead of all of the PCI devices.

Jason

Skid · Nov 3, 2003

"Jason" wrote:

The only USB device connected is the Logitech optical mouse. I had not thought of using a powered USB hub. Sounds like it is worth a try. Could the failure of the USB port on the board cause sort of a cascading power failure where it takes down the NIC next? The NIC is a PCI card - not on the board - so it seems strange to me that only the one device would fail instead of all of the PCI devices.

Jason

If your power supply is on the edge of being overloaded, it can indeed take down one device at a time, especially if the power supply from the wall socket fluctuates a little.

Once upon a time I had problems with spontaneous reboots and freezes. They disappeared when I installed a good UPS that smoothed out the dips and surges in my creaky old home's power lines.

Then I started getting weird symptoms that included the occasional failure of the floppy drive to recognize discs and occasional failure of the SCSI card to ID the scanner and removeable. A beefier power supply fixed that.

The explanation was that the psu was operating near max load, and when called on to do more it couldn't quite keep up. The shortfall was minor enough that it didn't shut down the system, but it starved out one component at a time.

Jason Richardson · Nov 3, 2003

The explanation was that the psu was operating near max load, and when called on to do more it couldn't quite keep up. The shortfall was minor enough that it didn't shut down the system, but it starved out one component at a time.

Cool. That's the most logical explanation that I have heard. I've got an AMD approved 300w PS but it's two years old and it's driving two HDD's, two optical drives, an OC'ed CPU, sound card, video card, and NIC. Maybe time to try a 400w PS. Any recommendations for a nice quiet one?

Thanks,

Jason

Skid · Nov 3, 2003

I'm using an Antec TruPower 380S, and it's a good compromise on power and quiet.

"Jason Richardson" wrote:

The explanation was that the psu was operating near max load, and when called on to do more it couldn't quite keep up. The shortfall was minor enough that it didn't shut down the system, but it starved out one component at a time.

Cool. That's the most logical explanation that I have heard. I've got an AMD approved 300w PS but it's two years old and it's driving two HDD's, two optical drives, an OC'ed CPU, sound card, video card, and NIC. Maybe time to try a 400w PS. Any recommendations for a nice quiet one?

Thanks,

Jason