Z70Va (ATI x700) + Everest = Freeze?

I've been having a problem with my new Z70Va (ChemBook 2370Va) freezing, but I think I found a solution and wanted to verify it here. If I'm correct, this may be helpful to others with similar freezes.

At first it seemed to freeze at random times. The screen would be frozen, though the touchpad could still move the cursor. After 4 button clicks, it would give a short beep and then no more cursor movement. Ctrl-Alt-Delete wouldn't do anything, and I'd have to turn off the power (via the Power Button). Later I was able to reproduce the problem by unplugging the AC power or plugging it in. The freeze seemed to happen every time I changed the power source.

I tried Safe Mode, and everything worked fine. I tried uninstalling the Video Drivers and everything worked fine (though the screen looked stretched). I tried changing from the standard ATI drivers to the Catalyst drivers, and the freeze still occurred. I tried disabling the Startup Items via MSConfig and running no other programs, and everything worked fine. Finally, I found that the problem only seemed to occur when Everest was running or had run since the last reboot.

While poking around these forums and the rest of the web, I found that Everest did something (probably to the SMBus and/or I2C Control) to allow SpeedFan to see the GPU temperature sensor. And, whatever Everest does, it stays in effect even when it's not running.

I also found a thread on DriverHeaven.net which talks about the ATI Tool Tray Freezing. The person who writes the driver said that disabling the I2C control (which deals with the temperature sensor) on the GPU seemed to solve that freeze. The relevant info is about halfway down the page.

Then I learned of a patched version of SpeedFan that doesn't need Everest. I tried that and it found all the sensors and my system didn't freeze.

So, all of this leads me to believe that there's some problem between the video drivers and Everest. Whether Everest messes up the SMBus/I2C or the ATI driver is buggy or even if there's a hardware problem, I don't know. But, I do know that my system has not frozen since I stopped running Everest.

So, does anyone have any feedback? Does this make sense? Am I missing something?

Would anyone be willing to test it on their system? You'd need to run Everest Home Edition and then change your power source (unplug or plug in) and see if you get a freeze. I'm also running Power4Gear, but I don't think that matters. Also, I'm running XP Pro, but my guess is that XP Home would exhibit the same behavior. Once you've done that test (or even before), try changing the power without Everest running (make sure you reboot if you've been running it). What happens? Mine doesn't freeze.

Finally, it seems that some gamers are having similar freezes. Are you running Everest? If you stop running it and then reboot, do you still get freezes?

I think it's likely that it's a software problem. But, I'd be grateful for anyone who'd be willing to test this just in case I have a unique hardware problem!

 

I don't know dude, I haven't read of anyone having problems with Everest. I know that I've used it and switched power sources with no problems whatsoever. Also, have tried uninstalling P4G? I can't help but think that it may be at least part of the problem...

 

Thanks for the reply. I disabled P4G and the freeze still occurs. Do you think I need to totally uninstall it?

Do you have the ATI x700 GPU? If the GPU is different, you may not have the same situation.

 

No freezing here...

Hmm...

 

Coriolis -- Thanks for trying. Can you try it while the "Computer/Sensor" window is active in Everest? I think it may need to be displaying the temp's for the freeze to occur. Mine doesn't freeze on any other window that I've tried.

 

Works fine - no freezing.

 

mine crashed. Dude, I think you may have discovered the reason mine was crashing (both z70va). When I got this second one in, i thought it was just the ATI drivers (i was using the asus ones instead of omega and ati tools which kept crashing), but when i started up everest and did the power thing, it did the same thing (mouse movemnt and 4 clicks later... the beep and then frozen death). It's strange that Coriolis doesn't have this problem.

Anyway, I guess I can now try other drivers.

 

Humm...

Mines only crashed once since I received it, and that was from running FF11, Photoshop, Image Ready, Azereus, FireFox, Premiere and Alcohol 120% making an image at once. I tried to log off ff11 since it was laggy, and then it stopped working

I'm using the Omega drivers, and using Everest Home if that helps..

 

what omega drivers? the ones built on catalyst 5.9? and have you tried ati tools?

 

I'm using 5.8(Haven't had time to upgrade it) and ATI Tools kinda works, when its in the tray, left clicking it whille get me a error popup but right clicking it gives me options..

 

oh, okay, well these problems are with 5.9. apperently the maker (ray?) made changes for 5.9 and put all the i2c code into the kernal (whatever the heck that means, haha) which caused problems. I also had problems with everest... i didn't know it, but after running it, the adapter thing, as well as adjusting powerplay will cause the crash. Anyway, i'm now using Omega (based on catalyst 5.9) but without installing ati tools, and speedfan 4.27 beta 10 and everything works like a charm. It's totaly stable, i get 2600-2620 3dmarks (completely stock, no overclocking) and unreal 2004 runs great (1680x1050 full everything and it's perfectly smooth under all conditions... haven't had a single hick up, so it must be doing pretty high frame rates). Best of all, it seems that in addition to the speedboost, these drivers run my GPU cooler... I dunno, cuz I was hittting 86 deg C with the older slower asus drivers, and now i hit a peak of 80 deg C, but it had a mean of 67 deg C! So it's pretty sweet. COuld also be the level.

Anyway, i'm a happy camper.. I would like to increase the memory speed for syncronous operation so run it at DD700, exactly twice the core, since it is Samsung DDR700 and it's underclocked to 600.

oh and thanks again for the observation eutychus, although i had stopped using everest since the new beta of speedfan, i thought it was just cuz i was using stock ati drivers, but you made my transision to the latest mobile catalyst drivers sooner.

Edit: yeah, this driver definitly runs cooler! Roughly 10 degrees cooler (for instance, right now, with fan at 28% (inaudible), it's at 52 deg C and keeps dropping!).

 

Man, flaxx... kind of OT, but where do you find all this money to buy Asus notebooks?!
You had an M3Np... then a Z71v... and now a fully loaded Z70Va!
If I had all that money, I'd buy a V6v or W3v off the get-go and be happy for the rest of my life... lol.

 

hahaha... dude, you forget one major thing... I SELL MY LAPTOPS. And I'm a major sniper for good deals... i don't really wanna broadcast my methods (it's funner to make you guess, but it's nothing illegal or anything) but I get incredible deals and then sell for more. For instance, my m3np that i got last year cost me $1230 after taxes. Sold that and got my which z71v cost me about $1400 after tax (as it turns out, it cost me only around $150 extra, but remember i had to pay taxes and i was a bit hasty with getting 1gb or ddr2)... i put it on ebay and it sold for $1720 ish total (of course ebay killed me with fees and paypal too, plus shipping.. but in end i got like around $1600) and all that paid for this z70va with 2gigs of ram. I also got my 100gb seagate drive from seagate courtesy for the inconvenience of my 40gb drive failing 3 times and stuff like that. I haven't calculated it all out so i don't know if i made some money on the side or if it cost me a bit more, but this z70va fulled decked out was basically a trade up

So yeah, haha... i'm a bit of a bussiness man. I do also work while i study, but never dip into those funds for computers... i spend it on other stuff (like now it's starting to go to tuition since scholarship ran out but i also travel all over). Haha, okay i'm gonna stop now.

But today i hung out with a friend of mine... the user scottschaffter in here and he has a z70v. I kinda anoyed him, cuz i pointed out that his screen has the lines too. He never noticed it before. It's SOOOOO FINE, you can't see it. But they're there. I seriously would never have seen it on my computer but the last one had a bad screen so i knew what to look for in this. He wasn't impressed. But the screen is still increcibly nice, just not perfect. The lines are hard to see and far less anoying than sparkles of z71v (which didn't bother me half as much as the people complaining about it did). Anyway, i was suppose to write a quick review... i'm saving it for the weekend... got too bogged down with school work.

BTW, did any of you know that the z70v/a/va (and maybe the m6) is NOT BLACK?! I thought it was black like my m3np.... they're grey! Haha, i thought i was getting some overseas rip off or something when i frist got mine... so i looked at the pictures again, and low and behold they were grey.... i tell ya, a perfect example of objective white balancing. AuroraS is your m6 grey too?

oh and dude, why a w3v or v6v with an x600 when i can have this beautiful x700... play ut2004 at FULL EVERYTHING at 1680x1050 perfectly smooth. I love this screen, i love this look, i love this power, i love this :asus:

 

My M6Ne appears dark grey/black-ish... I believe Justin said that the newer Z70V/A/Va is slightly lighter than the older M6 series.
I'm quite pleased with my M6... aesthetically. What I'm NOT so pleased about is the loose hinges... **** that screen wobble . Oh well...

By the way, the V6Va comes with a Radeon X700...I'm sure people will be raving over that!

Sorry for hijacking this thread, guys...

 

well the v6va, yes... but god knows how long one would have to wait for that. besides it's an ensemble, so unless i wanted to void the warranty, there's no way it'll be as powerful as this machine (somehow i don't forsee asus putting a 2.26ghz p-m with 2gb of ram and 100gb 5400rpm hard drive into an enseble designed for joe average... (although anyone getting an asus is better than average, haha :asus: ). I should be a PR for asus, lol. ANd no hinge problem here. what that an issue when u first got it?

 

It wasn't a huge issue when I got it...but it progressively became worse. To make things even worse, the screen flickers sometimes when I change the position of the screen.

Maybe there's something loose in there that I should tighten...but I'm hesitant to open it up.

 

hmm.. yeah, sounds like the hinge screw(s) were not tight when you got it and it has probably progressed into losening your cable or wearing your cable. Do you still have warranty on it? That's another reason I love the barebones... I have all the "void if seal broken" stickers which I put on when I sell it, but in the meantime, I can take my machine apart for servicing and/or upgrading without voiding any warranty. I've never had any problems like that with any of my Asus notebooks, thankfully. It's probably an easy enough problem to fix. But you want to fix stuff like that right away otherwise you cause additional stress resulting in damaged cabling or buckled and broken hindges (or at the very least cracking the chassis). haha, scared yet? Just wanted to let you know, cuz i saw this happen to an old OLD laptop (486 dx 33) of my dad's.

 

Yeah I know what you mean... I was meaning to find some spare time to open it up and take a look, but I've never done that before... so I'd rely heavily on the assembly manual.

I think all I have to do is go in there and perhaps tighten some screws... but I can't be too sure. If I gather the guts to do it this weekend, I'll tell you how it goes.

My warranty ended about a month ago... darn, eh? LOL. Oh well... the only scary part in my opinion is the keyboard clip/latch part. Those things look fragile... or seem like it, at least.

 

Thanks for your help. I've gone another day without any freezes, so this seems to confirm that the problem is between Everest and the ATI drivers.

By the way, I'm using the Catalyst 5.10 drivers directly from ATI. The Catalyst Control Center tray tool actually works (the original ATI Tray Tool didn't). So, I'll probably stick with this since I don't need Everest.

 

Eutychus, don't use the Control Center from Ati, use the Control Panel instead...it does the same job as the Catalyst Control Center and it doesn't use up nearly as much system resources in the process.

All it is, is a prettier version of the Control Panel. If Ati ever gets rid of the Control Panel totally, replaced by the Catalyst Control Center, I will personally drive over to their headquarters in thornhill? or brampton? and bomb them~!

Cheers,
Mike I probably set off a billion internet keyword alarms at the CIA

 

Good point. Thanks for the suggestion. Removing the tray tool does save some space.

By the way, I've switched to the latest "standard" ATI driver from the Asus support web site. It runs just as fast, and doesn't include the CCC. The only thing I'm not totally thrilled with is that it enables hypermemory, which I'm not sure I need. Maybe someone (Omega?) will include an option to turn off the hypermemory and we can test which works better under which conditions.