GPU3 F@H Instant Unstable Machine. Any way to fix? (more details inside)

[N64link]

I just bought a used/open box Geforce GT430, only for F@H. The card,CPU,&RAM are at stock clocks for this system (not rig in sig). I have run memtestg80 for 500 passes at 990MB (most that can be tested because XP uses some Vram) and it had errors by the end of the test. I have tried the last 3 official drivers, no betas, and have even used MSI Afterburn to down clock everything as low as possible just to try and get 1% of a WU done, still instant "unstable machine". I know that game stable is not F@H stable, but I've run furmark for an hour @ 1080P, 8AA, burn-in, extreme burn-in, & post FX. No artifacting and highest temp was 64C on the core.

Would a Bios flash with a higher voltage have a chance of making the card stable? And as a last resort, could baking the card fix it?

System Information.
OS: Windows XP(32-bit) SP3
CPU:Intel Pentium e2220 (SKT:775LGA) @2.2GHz
MOBO:Gigabyte p43-es3g
RAM:1X1GB Crucial Ballistix DDR 1066 @DDR 800
PSU:RAIDMAX RX-530SS (530W)
GPU:PNY GT430 (stock or less clocks)

Any other advice is welcome but Just know, I can't Return or RMA the card. Bought on the forums. And otherwise, he card works really well. Good video playback, and picture quality, haven't installed any 3d games to test, since this was just supposed to Fold.

EDIT: I just saw a little bit of distorted colors in a few web pages. This happened with the 3870 that was in this system before. Possible slot problem? (board only has one PCI-E x16 slot)

[dblind1]

*Removed first paragraph because I cannot read that N64link had 'been there, done that'*

If your temps are fine, your drivers are up to date, and it is the only card in the system, it could be a power supply. I have never tried Raidmax power supplies, but some PS's are cheaply built and say 530 watts (but only do that if your house is running at 125 VAC and you have you head turned left and are peddling). It could also be the board, but that is a little harder to change out to verify that is the problem, although you could move it to another machine and give it a 24 hr folding test. Usually Gigabyte boards a fairly reliable so I would probably try another PS first.

As for bios flash and/or higher voltage, it could give you more stability. It would be a gamble since it isn't stable at stock. I would try to check it in another system before I risked bricking it. I would probably also try that before baking it. Since it doesn't have distortion normally, I would say baking it would probably not work. But I have brought a dead hard drive back to life by freezing it (2 different times) so you never know.

Best O Luck!

*Added 3/29/12*
I will also say that some video cards just aren't build with enough quality to run at 100% load. I had a friend that bought a 9800GT and it ran games with no issues, but he only got about 10% of the WUs to actually complete so he just gave up altogether on folding on it.

@Maniac - thanks for letting me know that sleep deprivation and forum posting don't mix well!

[Maniac]

dblind1 he already tried half your suggestions, make sure to read the post


I'm a bit confused N64Link... you say the card fails memtestg80?


As to your possible problem with the slot, try it in another PC.

[DriveEuro]

What drivers are you on?
285.62 are the last drivers that work properly when your monitor goes to sleep.

[N64link]

Okay, I'm a bit tired after an odd day at my first public auction. (a school service center that helps almost all the school districts in the county) I got about 20-30 older PCs for $12.50, I don't know anything except that they have everything but HDD, and I still have to get those at 8AM. So I'm sorry, in advance, If I don't make any sense right now.

Okay, I will install the card in my main rig on Monday so I can rule out PSU or MoBo. I really didn't want to, because I'm lazy but I must figure this out.

Maniac: Yes, the card failed memtestG80 some time after the 60th iteration. I ran it as I was going to bed and 60 was the last I saw before I woke up. At the end of the test, it had 4932 errors after 500 passes.

DriveEuro: I tired, 296.10, 295.73, and 285.58. After three drivers with the exact same result of "unstable_machine," i figured it was a hardware problem. Oh, I forgot that I had read a bit about WUs that don't like certain systems or are bad. I deleted the work, queue, etc files a lot. I honestly lost count of how many different WUs I saw but I think it was around 10 different WUs in the 40+ times I tried to get a WU I could process.

EDIT: I really appreciate the suggestions, guys. I'm tired and at my mental limit with this system. I just want to thank you as much as I can. And hopefully I'll be able to fix this and give more to the cause.

[Maniac]

Which version of the client are you using?

[N64link]

Version 6.41r2.

>Auction pc rant. So far, 12 of those PCs boot up and work in BIOS. I have no extra HDD so I can't really test full functionality. I hope I can get enough scrap money for the basic cases, if anybody on the forms dose not want any of them

Additional Comment:

GR.. I haven't had time to switch the GPU yet. And I tried running SMP on the system, EUE. I upped CPU voltage, EUE. I DLed OOCT and it fails on either core, seems random, after 1.5min. I down clocked the CPU to 1.6GHz (200X6) and it fail occt after 3 minutes. I'm going to try and find another PSU, since my main rig did that when I still had a 939 system and my PSU in sig fixed it. Again, I'm very grateful for all of the help in this thread but I might not be able to get to this for a few days. Since I think the only PSU I have that might run this rig in in my main rig and it's kind of a PITA to remove, due to my case moding.

[Maniac]

Could be the ram too? Did you run memtest?

[PatonB]

You need to test the card in another knowen working computer.
But failing memtest is a good sign the cards not fully healthy.

As to your vauction pcs... Just use an ubuntu livecd, or knoppix as i think its a smaller foot print.

[N64link]

I actually have run memtest86 on this machine with the same stick of RAM, two weeks ago. It passed 20 full passes with no errors.

On the subject on linux, is there a 32 bit ubuntu that I could put on a USB?I think all of these board have USB, if they can boot from usb, I don't know. (I just don't have any other write-able media on me and have to worry about paying back an auto repair lone before I can spend money on anything but food.) I've got a 64bit ubuntu on a 10GB IDE drive but that doesn't work on these old Pentiums.

On a happy note, I've made my money back and then some on the auction PCs. A new coworker bought five of them for $20 just to play around with.

[PatonB]

yup, thee is a 32bit ubuntu, unforftunately the systems need to be new enough to boot to usb.

You only need 1 cd disk.