Previously stable overclock broken with windows update?

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Hmm..

My previous overclock, at 4 GHz, was completely stable. However last night my PC automatically did a Windows Update. This morning I woke up to a frozen screen, and when rebooting my overclock was completely unstable.

So I tried turning it down to 3.8, 3.6 and 3.4 in succession. Only 3.4 was stable.
So I boot in 3.4 and do a system restore to before the update. Booted back into 3.8, still unstable.

Checked all my temperatures. Northbridge 50°C, Southbridge 30°C, HDD 36°C, GPU 39°C, CPU 37°C.

Did a CMOS clear and re-did all my settings. Worked fine at 3.4, failed at 3.6.
Am running in 3.4 right now, but I would really like my 4.0 GHz back!

Any ideas?
 
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Which Windows? What was updated - core OS or something hardware-related?
Though if System Restore failed to restore to normal, sounds a bit like it's hardware-related that's failed. Try a fresh install of Windows on a spare HDD (take out the old one so it doesn't get messed up) and try o/cing on there to confirm. Could also try with 4GB RAM, 6GB is a bit odd for Core2Quad ;)

Software updates can do things like this occasionally though - for example, a bit different, but a recent NVIDIA update altered the fan profiles on the cards, resulting in a fair few cards overheating and dying.
 
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Forgot to mention - Windows 7 64 bit version. No idea what the update did exactly but it was listed as a "Critical update" or "Security update" or something.

I don't have any spare HDD I can test with atm, and I don't have a DVD drive so I can't install Windows in the first place.

Maybe the windows update messed up my hardware in a way that stayed even after the system restore? Also note it is perfectly stable within my BIOS or running memtest, lunix etc. just windows is completely unstable above 3.4.
 
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im having similar problems, but not entirely sure what the cause is. Just had my replacement board through, and at first im wondering if it was that, but since i saw this thread, i remembered when i fired it up, windows 7 32 had several system updates for me (didnt bother formatting cos it was the same board)d

but yeah, with the latest bios, with only two cores (see sig), even minor overclocks will make it crash in BF2 (ie, <3.6ghz) and its at insane voltages. thing is, folding@home was running fine for about an hour or so, so i thought is may be dodgy graphics drivers. i removed them, no success. ive now set everything back to as close to stock clocks as possible whilst keepeing the fsb at 240 (pretty much maxed out for my board :/ )

so i have no idea if it could be this update, or if ive just had a duff board sent back to me...

edit: temps seem more or less normal as well, so i dont think anything is overheating
 
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I've passed overnight prime95 tests on 3.4, 3.6, 3.8 and 4.0 GHz, several passes of memtest always worked fine, even if I had a slightly dodgy OC (before I found a stable one), it usually took ~2 hours to error out.

But now the system hangs, crashes, BSODs, programs go crazy, everything fails loading, prime95 errors after several seconds, so does memtest etc. if I go above 3.4 GHz.

3.4 works 100% fine still no error.

Even if the system was slightly unstable to begin with there's a huge difference between one calculation error per 30 hours and hanging crashing erroring after several seconds.
 
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There are plenty of reasons that you might not be getting the same clocks as you used to (chip degradation due to excess voltages, updated bios and blindly applied the same overclock without retesting, etc, etc). The windows update is coincidental.
 
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There are plenty of reasons that you might not be getting the same clocks as you used to (chip degradation due to excess voltages, updated bios and blindly applied the same overclock without retesting, etc, etc). The windows update is coincidental.

Hmm..

It just seems like an oddly big coincidence considering that my logs show the PC crashed just after the update finished.
 
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ok, currently running:
cpu (dual core) @ 3240 mhz, 1.5v stock 3200mhz
fsb 240mhz (previously known to be stable)
northbridge @ 2400mhz, 1.5v. stock 2000mhz (again, previously known to be stable. For some reason, the northbridge multi has never worked...)
ram @ 840 mhz, 2.1v stock 1333mhz
ht link @ 1920 mhz, whatever base voltage +210mv is. stock 2000mhz
IGP @700mhz, stock 700mhz

the system seems to run prime with no errors, but as soon as i open a game up, it will hang within 5 minutes, display blue squares on the screen (kinda like a giant neon chess board...) and reboot.

could it be the replacemnt board, or do i need to be slightly less lazy and reinstall 7? (i have tried removing and replacing ati drivers ... no difference)

edit: removed all the windows updates that installed when i replaced the board. still nothing. so i guess theres some hardware buggery going on somewhere...
 
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dont have an option to change sb voltage (always at 100hz anyhoo).
poss northbridge. if i crank up the voltage a bit and stress the IGP, temp hit 70.c ... ulp.
dont think its particlarly temp related though - its crashed under perfectly normal temps.
fsb seems stable upto 225mhz. maybe ive just got a particularly crappy overclocker as a replacement...
 
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