BSOD when I run Rosetta@home

Questions and Answers : Windows : BSOD when I run Rosetta@home

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Derek

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Message 75902 - Posted: 5 Aug 2013, 20:33:56 UTC

I have been getting BSOD's when I run Rosetta. I run ONLY Rosetta and no other memory intensive applications.

I can give some logs of the crash dump reports on request.

Last time it crashed it said something about a cache_error. I wouldn't know what that means. I have a 8-core AMD FX 8350 Processor that runs at 4000 Mhz. It says it has four cores, but eight logical processors in parentheses in my system info)

I have a decent HDD and 8GB of DDR3 Ram.
Do I need to upgrade to 16 to run it on full without any restrictions?

I've already made it only run on 50% of the processors at any given time. That's the maximum it runs at and still crashes. At 75% of the processors it crashes to blue screen at least 80% of the time, and on full it's a guaranteed BSOD.

Is it my machine? And if so, what do I need to do? I thought 8 GB was a lot of Ram. It's basically 1GB for each core. Course that's ignoring my GPU. I didn't think of that.

My GPU is an AMD HD 6670 Radeon. So.. from what I understand, mid-entry level. I try to always use the GPU when I crunch numbers because I read somewhere it can dramatically increase the processing power and help process work-units more efficiently and quicker.

Some help? Much appreciated.
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Message 75905 - Posted: 6 Aug 2013, 13:58:09 UTC

There have been some work units lately that use more memory than most. However, some of your symptoms sound like perhaps there are elements of your machine that are not entirely stable. Suggest you run intensive memory tests. Are you overclocking the machine? If so, try dialing it back a couple of notches.

Rosetta does not utilize available GPUs in the machine.
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Derek

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Message 75908 - Posted: 6 Aug 2013, 23:23:12 UTC - in response to Message 75905.  

There have been some work units lately that use more memory than most. However, some of your symptoms sound like perhaps there are elements of your machine that are not entirely stable. Suggest you run intensive memory tests. Are you overclocking the machine? If so, try dialing it back a couple of notches.

Rosetta does not utilize available GPUs in the machine.


No, I never overclock. I don't believe in it.
I also have one heck of a monster fan, so it's not a cooling issue. I also run speedfan occasionally if I ever worry about temp. and I know since the fan I've had zero temp issues.

I agree it sounds like a stability issue, but do you have any idea what it could be? It's not that 8 GB isn't enough ram though right?
I'm able to do 3d gaming no problem, things like BF2BC2 run great at ultra high graphics, and skyrim I can do on the second to highest setting with zero frame rate chug.

I'll run the memory tests and let you know, but please try to think about what it could be.
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Sid Celery

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Message 75909 - Posted: 7 Aug 2013, 5:26:55 UTC - in response to Message 75908.  

There have been some work units lately that use more memory than most. However, some of your symptoms sound like perhaps there are elements of your machine that are not entirely stable. Suggest you run intensive memory tests. Are you overclocking the machine? If so, try dialing it back a couple of notches.

Rosetta does not utilize available GPUs in the machine.

No, I never overclock. I don't believe in it.
I also have one heck of a monster fan, so it's not a cooling issue. I also run speedfan occasionally if I ever worry about temp. and I know since the fan I've had zero temp issues.

I agree it sounds like a stability issue, but do you have any idea what it could be? It's not that 8 GB isn't enough ram though right?
I'm able to do 3d gaming no problem, things like BF2BC2 run great at ultra high graphics, and skyrim I can do on the second to highest setting with zero frame rate chug.

I'll run the memory tests and let you know, but please try to think about what it could be.

I run quite a similarly spec'd machine - a bit lower - AMD FX8120 @3600MHz (overclocked from 3100MHz) 8-core 8Gb DDR3 Windows 7 - only difference is an NVidia GTX550Ti GPU (again slightly overclocked from 900 to 1000MHz) and I don't get the issues you're reporting, even running all processors pretty much 247

Not sure what to suggest. The only thing you haven't mentioned is your Boinc disk & memory settings and free space, plus whether you have a PSU appropriate to the rest of your setup. I imagine you do, but belt-and-braces...

Aside from that it's a matter of what your tests reveal as to what clues there may be. In principle there ought not to be a problem from what you've said.
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Derek

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Message 75912 - Posted: 8 Aug 2013, 8:15:18 UTC

So I ran the memory tests, both the 3rd party software "Mem test" and also the windows memory diagnostic and none of them came up with any problems. It kills me I have to run Rosetta@home at 25% capacity right now.

So, the power supply I have is the one that came with the machine. I can't imagine why it would be the issue since usually it's a BSOD. The only thing I can think of is the following:

Before I got this big honkin fan installed, (seriously, you could run this thing in the Sahara at full capacity and it wouldn't have an issue.) I'd have the computer shut down. I didn't realize it at the time, but both my thermal paste and the fan I had were insufficient for the 100% cpu capacity I was running. The thermal paste was all cracked and the fan just wasn't up to task. So I bought this after market fan and got new thermal paste on, it hasn't had over heating issues since.

Could the shut downs have damaged the motherboard? I don't think I had these issues before, but then I was running Docking@home and that's less intensive on resources.

Second, Could all the blue screens have damaged it?

Third, how would I tell?
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Message 75921 - Posted: 9 Aug 2013, 10:45:58 UTC - in response to Message 75912.  

So I ran the memory tests, both the 3rd party software "Mem test" and also the windows memory diagnostic and none of them came up with any problems. It kills me I have to run Rosetta@home at 25% capacity right now.

So, the power supply I have is the one that came with the machine. I can't imagine why it would be the issue since usually it's a BSOD. The only thing I can think of is the following:

Before I got this big honkin fan installed, (seriously, you could run this thing in the Sahara at full capacity and it wouldn't have an issue.) I'd have the computer shut down. I didn't realize it at the time, but both my thermal paste and the fan I had were insufficient for the 100% cpu capacity I was running. The thermal paste was all cracked and the fan just wasn't up to task. So I bought this after market fan and got new thermal paste on, it hasn't had over heating issues since.

Could the shut downs have damaged the motherboard? I don't think I had these issues before, but then I was running Docking@home and that's less intensive on resources.

Second, Could all the blue screens have damaged it?

Third, how would I tell?

I'll be honest here - I'm not competent to tell. And even if I was, at a distance I'm not sure it's possible to tell either.

From your original question, you don't need to upgrade your RAM and there's no issue with your processor, OS or video card. From your later questions, the shutdowns and BSODs wouldn't have damaged your physical MB (I think) but the causes of those two things might have.

You say you had previous heat-related issues. It is possible other components on the MB have been affected. I had that issue on a previous machine running Rosetta such that when I wanted to upgrade the CPU it became inadvisable due to extensive pot damage (heat affected) so I went for a complete new MB.

On another old XP machine that'd had some BSOD issues pretty much from new the issue came down to the original PSU failing and a replacement solved everything. Sometimes stock PSUs are low quality and barely cover the original spec to keep the cost down. Note that simply installing an uprated CPU fan makes extra demands on the PSU.

Maybe it's worth having a look at this PSU calculator http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/ to give you a hint.

But these are anecdotes and guesses from a distance. If you can find a reliable, experienced local workshop, advise them of your issues and ask them to take a look you may get more joy. Something's clearly not quite right and Rosetta is particularly unforgiving of even the tiniest shortcoming.

Apart from that, I'm out of ideas. Good luck.
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Message 75925 - Posted: 10 Aug 2013, 0:58:17 UTC

Any chance you can swap out memory with equivalent?? Or remove some and try running a commensurate percentage of available CPUs, and see if it is stable. So if you remove half of the memory, and try running on half of the CPUs, it might be stable. And if that is the result, it implies the removed memory is faulting. Conversely, if it still faults, it implies the memory remaining is faulting, especially if you then try the other and it is stable.
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Questions and Answers : Windows : BSOD when I run Rosetta@home



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