Everyone will come here and tell you about overheating, voltaiges, drivers and clocks. In fact its rarely a cause.

Most often, it's simply faulty graphic card.  If BSOD is occuring infrequently in games, at random times, (sometimes during load, sometimes when idle -- sometimes twice in 10 minutes, sometimes once each 2-3 days), it is very probable that its damaged HW and if you're within warrancy you'll get a new one as a replacement.

Drivers / overheating / voltaiges BSODs are usually happening in much more predictable pattern. After awhile you can usually diagnose the exact situation that trigger them.

If the card is faulty, the crashes are quite random.

And last thing to note.

Damaged memory stick is almost always recognized at the computer startup with a bios beep. (or at least after each BSOD) Additionally BSOD caused by faulty memory are frequently causing extremly long spikes in games. If you get BSOD evet during a situation when you have high FPS with no spikes then I would bet my finger that it's damaged gpu.

Originally posted by Thillian

And last thing to note.

Damaged memory stick is almost always recognized at the computer startup with a bios beep. (or at least after each BSOD) Additionally BSOD caused by faulty memory are frequently causing extremly long spikes in games. If you get BSOD evet during a situation when you have high FPS with no spikes then I would bet my finger that it's damaged gpu.

Hey man!! You're answer is MAYBE the best so far. Listen now. It's not the Graphics card because I have had 2 of these 4870. Old one had the same bsod problem and I got new because it's cooler broke. Now I have new and still bsods.

But ALWAYS when I have launched my pc it has "beeped" 2 or 3 times instead of one, which I have never liked but I have thought it's normal. Maybe it isn't?! Should I take some of my RAM sticks away? I have 4x1gb sticks.

EDIT: I get BSODs even when high FPS but the game and sound freezes like 5seconds before BSOD. But could I have 2 damaged gpus twice?

MSI bios beeps once for every USB slot used at the startup. How many beeps do you hear and how many USB slots do you use?

Originally posted by Jazqa

Originally posted by Thillian

And last thing to note.

Damaged memory stick is almost always recognized at the computer startup with a bios beep. (or at least after each BSOD) Additionally BSOD caused by faulty memory are frequently causing extremly long spikes in games. If you get BSOD evet during a situation when you have high FPS with no spikes then I would bet my finger that it's damaged gpu.

 

Hey man!! You're answer is MAYBE the best so far. Listen now. It's not the Graphics card because I have had 2 of these 4870. Old one had the same bsod problem and I got new because it's cooler broke. Now I have new and still bsods.

But ALWAYS when I have launched my pc it has "beeped" 2 or 3 times instead of one, which I have never liked but I have thought it's normal. Maybe it isn't?! Should I take some of my RAM sticks away? I have 4x1gb sticks.

 

EDIT: I get BSODs even when high FPS but the game and sound freezes like 5seconds before BSOD. But could I have 2 damaged gpus twice?

POST will recognize damaged RAM, not undervolted RAM.

Damaged GPUs generally come with a lot of other stuff - veritcal/horizontal tearing, random freezing (without BSODs), bad color reproduction, significant overheating, etc.. Yes, BSODs can be a symptom of a bad GPU, but as you've tried it out with two different cards, I doubt it's the GPU.

Your computer beeping is a GOOD thing at POST. If you had read your manual, you'd know that beeping three times (or two times - it depends on the motherboard) means that the POST passed and everthing is OK. Generally if it beeps once, it means there's a problem (an oldies solution for when there weren't POST LEDs - which you should have; they all turn green after statup).

The possibility of having two damaged video cards is slim, but not entirely impossible (bad GPUs come in batches, if you bought two from the same batch, it could happen) - but it's very, very rare. Your sound freezing isn't so much a symptom as a biproduct.

Test your RAM with MemTest86+. Let it go for 4 hours. Check your IRQ channels and make sure nothing is causing havoc on the same channel.

If both look fine, then you can start thinking about damaged hardware. Motherboard and RAM are your most likely culprits if you do start thinking about damaged hardware and it's a fresh install of Windows.

Originally posted by Thillian

MSI bios beeps once for every USB slot used at the startup. How many beeps do you hear and how many USB slots do you use?

If I remember right  I hear 3beeps but I use 5usb slots though I have to reboot to correct this. And my downloads finishes in 40minutes so I'll reboot then okay?

Originally posted by Thillian

MSI bios beeps once for every USB slot used at the startup. How many beeps do you hear and how many USB slots do you use?

I'm sorry, you're either not explaining yourself fully or you're not aware that you're completely incorrect.

I have an MSI P6N SLi-Platinum. It has 3-4 used at startup (card reader, keyboard, mouse, network adapter) and it beeps twice. The two beeps let me know it passed POST. If I hear three beeps, it means it's just a restart and not a cold-boot and everything is OK.

The beeps are BEEP CODES, not counting how many USB devices are used. Every motherboard manufacturer has different meanings for the # of beeps (and whether they're long/short) that can be interpreted with the motherboard's manual.

Plus, any recent motherboard also has diagnostic LEDs either on the board or as a separate add-on. If there was something oing on with POST, the OP should look at the LEDs and use the manual to interpret them (they're actually a modern replacement for the BEEP CODES, but the BEEP CODES are still in just because it's good to have backups).

And the sound does not exactly freeze. My english is bad and I don't know right word to explain it. It repeats itself like "tatatatatata" and sound annyoing. And then BEEEEEP and bsod and pc restarts.

I will try the MemTest later. My dvd drive is broken atm too :D but I have another, I just need to find it.

Originally posted by Jazqa

Originally posted by Thillian

MSI bios beeps once for every USB slot used at the startup. How many beeps do you hear and how many USB slots do you use?

 

If I remember right  I hear 3beeps but I use 5usb slots though I have to reboot to correct this. And my downloads finishes in 40minutes so I'll reboot then okay?

3 beeps are max I think for MSI. I don't know for sure you should check out bios beep codes for MSI. Nevertheless if you have 5 slots used then the beeps are just fine.

I would probably lose a finger then, if you tried 2 cards and had the same results then it is highly improbable that its faulty gpu. There are so many things that can go wrong but keep in mind that overheating and voltaiges are not very common either. You should rather bring it to the store if you don't want to waste your time with tests like memtest, 3dmark or various cpu software tests. If you want to go this way, then after GPU second most common cause for random BSOD is faulty memory stick.

---

Originally posted by Thillian
And last thing to note.
Damaged memory stick is almost always recognized at the computer startup with a bios beep. (or at least after each BSOD) Additionally BSOD caused by faulty memory are frequently causing extremly long spikes in games. If you get BSOD evet during a situation when you have high FPS with no spikes then I would bet my finger that it's damaged gpu.

---

That's not really true, all POST checks with memory is whether it registers, it doesn't test to see if the memory is actually storing the proper information without corrupting it. You need to run memtest86+ for 1 or 2 passes to see if it really works.

My buddy's PC recently had a bad memory stick that only became noticed once we installed Vista on the PC since it has higher demands on memory than XP, so his games started BSOD'ing but there were no other anomalies because only the games would reach the memory regions that were corrupting. It's not something the BIOS will detect with that quick scan it does at the start.

I seriously doubt it's a damaged GPU if this is his second one, there are other options he should check before trying a 3rd GPU. Memtest, bios update then PSU would be my order.

Originally posted by Egamst3k

Originally posted by Thillian

MSI bios beeps once for every USB slot used at the startup. How many beeps do you hear and how many USB slots do you use?

 

I'm sorry, you're either not explaining yourself fully or you're not aware that you're completely incorrect.

 

 

I am very sure that most of the MSI are beeping once for every USB slot used up to three times. At least they used to when I worked with them.

Originally posted by noquarter

 

---

Originally posted by Thillian
And last thing to note.
Damaged memory stick is almost always recognized at the computer startup with a bios beep. (or at least after each BSOD) Additionally BSOD caused by faulty memory are frequently causing extremly long spikes in games. If you get BSOD evet during a situation when you have high FPS with no spikes then I would bet my finger that it's damaged gpu.

---

 

That's not really true, all POST checks with memory is whether it registers, it doesn't test to see if the memory is actually storing the proper information without corrupting it. You need to run memtest86+ for 1 or 2 passes to see if it really works.

My buddy's PC recently had a bad memory stick that only became noticed once we installed Vista on the PC since it has higher demands on memory than XP, so his games started BSOD'ing but there were no other anomalies because only the games would reach the memory regions that were corrupting. It's not something the BIOS will detect with that quick scan it does at the start.

 

Yes, that's why I said if its not recognized at startup, it's almost always then recognized right after BSOD reset when the memory is dumped. Indeed, It might happen it's not and it resets unnoticed, but it is very rare.

Beep codes are dependent on who made the BIOS software, AMI in this case - 2 beeps or 3 beeps are both memory errors.

Originally posted by Jazqa

And the sound does not exactly freeze. My english is bad and I don't know right word to explain it. It repeats itself like "tatatatatata" and sound annyoing. And then BEEEEEP and bsod and pc restarts.

I will try the MemTest later. My dvd drive is broken atm too :D but I have another, I just need to find it.

Actually, let me recommend one more thing for you: Prime95.

Here's a How-To guide: http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html

Download Prime95 and then follow the guide. Let it run for 4 hours.

It didn't occur to me earlier, but it could very well be that your CPU is undervolted. That would cause very random crashes as soon as it's put under moderate to full load.

So, to sum up:

Run Prime95+ for about 4 hours while monitoring the Temperature (via CoreTemp or SpeedFan). If that comes up with errrors and the CPU isn't overheating (which means that it stays below 70 degrees Celsius), up your CPU voltage one tick at at ime until it doesn't come back with errors. (Check online for the safe range for your CPU's voltage!).

Run MemTest86+. If that comes back with errors, up your RAM voltage (if you have DDR2 RAM, you don't want more than 2.2v MAX! If you have DDR 3, check online for the safe range!).

Update your BIOS.

Update your Drivers.

If you've done all that (yes, it will take a while) and it still BSODs, then you might just be looking at some bad hardware.

Originally posted by noquarter

Beep codes are dependent on who made the BIOS software, AMI in this case - 2 beeps or 3 beeps are both memory errors.

Wait, so you're saying that I have memory error? I tried to search something about the beep codes and I found this. Search for "Beep Codes"

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/sup_tshoot.asp

and I'm afraid that I have 1long 2short beeps. I'm pretty sure. But I confirm this after 20minutes when my RoM has downloaded.

Originally posted by Thillian

 

I am very sure that most of the MSI are beeping once for every USB slot used up to three times. At least they used to when I worked with them.

No, they're not. The beeps are BEEP CODES.

They have nothing to do with how many USB slots you're using at startup.

They are purely diagnostic and serve a very, very specific purpose.

Beeps at POST can only be interpreted with the manual (or at least the BIOS maker/version), and are not the same for all motherboards or BIOSes.

Originally posted by Jazqa

Originally posted by noquarter

Beep codes are dependent on who made the BIOS software, AMI in this case - 2 beeps or 3 beeps are both memory errors.

 

Wait, so you're saying that I have memory error? I tried to search something about the beep codes and I found this. Search for "Beep Codes"

http://www.msicomputer.com/support/sup_tshoot.asp

and I'm afraid that I have 1long 2short beeps. I'm pretty sure. But I confirm this after 20minutes when my RoM has downloaded.

If you're positive that it's 1 long and 2 short, then those beeps signify a RAM error. Try taking out your RAM sticks and putting only one in at a time until you find the bad one.

That would be the easy way of doing it.

If you're not sure or all of your RAM does the same thing, then use MemTest86+ to find the bad one.

If MemTest86+ generates errors for all of them, it's probably your voltage.

Again, also run Prime95+ to make sure your CPU is processing everything correctly.

If you can run Crysis fine, but then it starts dying on other games (or dies no matter what game you're playing), I am leaning towards your CPU or RAM being undervolted (or both).

Originally posted by Egamst3k

Originally posted by Thillian

 

I am very sure that most of the MSI are beeping once for every USB slot used up to three times. At least they used to when I worked with them.

 

No, they're not. The beeps are BEEP CODES.

They have nothing to do with how many USB slots you're using at startup.

They are purely diagnostic and serve a very, very specific purpose.

Beeps at POST can only be interpreted with the manual (or at least the BIOS maker/version), and are not the same for all motherboards or BIOSes.

 

That is obvious, but I said, MSI post bios beeps vary -- it is based on the number of USB slots used. Please, if you have MSI at home, try to plug or unplug USB devices and see how does it affect the number of beeps you get. If you don't, please feel free to google it out and/or check official forums on the msi website.

Originally posted by Thillian

Originally posted by Egamst3k

Originally posted by Thillian

 

I am very sure that most of the MSI are beeping once for every USB slot used up to three times. At least they used to when I worked with them.

 

No, they're not. The beeps are BEEP CODES.

They have nothing to do with how many USB slots you're using at startup.

They are purely diagnostic and serve a very, very specific purpose.

Beeps at POST can only be interpreted with the manual (or at least the BIOS maker/version), and are not the same for all motherboards or BIOSes.

 

 

That is obvious, but I said, MSI post bios beeps vary -- it is based on the number of USB slots used. Please, if you have MSI at home, try to plug or unplug USB devices and see how does it affect the number of beeps you get. If you don't, please feel free to google it out and/or check official forums on the msi website.

Guys guess what. I rebooted and it beeped: 3short ... 2short = 5 and I have 5usb slots used.

Though the 3first shorts sounded different to 2last shorts. and they had little break between them.

In most cases, long beep means video issue...