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[Coldfinger67]

i recently had a friend rebuild my PC with some upgrades. The machine is currently configured with:

Intel Pentium D 930 CPU @ 3 ghz (upgraded item)
Microstar MB Model PM8M3-V (VH) (upgraded item)
1 gb pc3200 ddr400 RAM (upgraded item)
600 watt OCZ Tech ATX PSU (added post rebuild)
XFX GeForce 6800 (AGP) with driver 91.47 (added post rebuild)
Sound Blaster Live 5.1
US Robotics 3095 Modem
3.5" floppy
120 & 30 g WD HDDs
52x CD-Rom (Read only)
CD-DVD (R/W)
OS – Windows XP – SP2 (new install with rebuild)

Original build in August had Nvidia GeForce 5500 with driver 84.21
And 400 watt ATX generic

Since the rebuild, I am getting random WinXP reboots, particularly during game play (Max Payne 2 / Hitman Blood Money) but have also happened during websearches and viewing videos on media player.

I have unchecked the auto reboot in Administrative tools but the machine reboots anyway without any BSOD.

All of the stop error codes are exactly the same:

Bugcheck 0x0000009c Parameters 0x00000000 – 0xf7937050 – 0xb2000000 – 0x1040080f

System reboots started with a week or so of the rebuild – PSU and video card upgraded
All other peripherial drivers updated to latest versions
Award BIOS flashed on build – ver 4.3

Sound card and modem were removed with no change in reboot pattern

Gig stick checked with latest version of memtest 86 with 18+ separate passes over more than 9 hours. Stick physically removed, contacts cleaned and slots blown out with compressed air and actually reseated in second slot but no change in reboot pattern. WD Diagnostics show nothing with main HDD. According to BIOS CPU temp, fan speed and system temp are all well within standard parameters and well below any critical number (e.g. CPU temp hangs around 45 and has gone as high as 50 degrees c.

As build is still under warranty, do not want to attempt any changes to DRAM settings or attempts to overclock the system.

I have been hoping that someone can look at the stop error code and the attached zip file showing the minidumps from 9/18 and give me some idea where to look since RAM seems to be okay.

Person who built the machine will have to remove MB, CPU and RAM and take to distributor for bench testing before they will consider replacements but I am trying to cut down the bench time if I can help provide some info on possible causes. Bench time affects my wife's business which is reliant on internet and email.

CCleaner and Norton used to clean up system with no appreciable changes in reboot pattern.

Any new thoughts or ideas are welcome. Thanks for any assistance.

[bigal]

Can you go back to the original videocard for a short time? Since you installed the new videocard and PSU, it's possibly due to one of those. I would have suspected either the modem or soundcard, but you already tried removing them.

I'm sure you already checked the device manager in system properties. I hope there are no configuration items noted there.

[Coldfinger67]

The reboots were happening prior to the install of the new video card and PSU. One of the reasons I upgraded both was a concern that one of them was underpowered for what I was trying to do - gaming.

So going back I do not think will cause any changes to what is happening. I did replace the RAM stick with one I had out of the former machine (512) but all that accomplished was for the stop errors to come quicker and more frequently. So I put the one gig stick back in.

Someone read the minidumps and passed this info to me:

All the dumps have a bugcheck of 9C: Machine_Check_Exception, this is a hardware problem.
One is caused by mnmdd.sys - Frame buffer simulator (?).
Two are caused by intelppm.sys - Is this the processor driver?
And one is caused by ntkrnlmp.exe with a process of MDM.exe - this seems to be an IE debugger.

Does this tell you anything???

[Gez]

ITS SP2! while this sucks... ive had several computers that will do this kind of thing when i upgrade them to SP2. Try uninstalling SP2 (easily done from the controll pannel - add/remove programs), it will not harm your computer to do so and can easily be reinstalled. Try it, its worked for me.

[bigal]

I doubt it's SP2. Gez is right that you can try uninstalling it to find out though. I suspect a memory problem. Maybe you're running the CAS setting too low. If you have cheap memory then it won't run a CAS of 2 or even 2.5. Try a CAS setting of 3.0 for your Pentium IV machine.

[Gez]

I know it sounds dumb bigal, but for some reason SP2 hate me... every computer i have tryed installing SP2 on i get problems of biblical proportions. Random restarts with memory dumps, errors that pop up every 2 seconds, ect. Ive never had a SP2 install go well, and i usualy end up not using it and just installing aditional firewalls and security programs.

[Archo]

Personally I'd blame memory. If it's not the stick then it's probably on to mobo.

I would have went for the PSU first (the root cause of every issue I have ever had) but you said that has been replaced.

What I would suggest (yes, I know it's a pain) is to replace the mobo.

Also, considering that you said replacing memory had an impact on the issue (even if it was negative) that at least makes a solid link to the cause.