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4850 - computer won't post anymore

T

TAXMANCOMETH

Weaksauce
Joined
May 28, 2008
Messages
83
Confession time - I ranted here a couple days ago about heat killing my 1st 4850 card, to the objections of most of the [H] crowd. Anyway, I decided to give the 4850 a 2nd try, and got a new one today. It booted into XP safe mode, once, then froze after about a minute. Next boot, it froze during the post. Now it won't post at all, and the red lights on the back of the card just stay on (tried putting the old card back and it does the exact same thing). ...I'm pretty sure it wasn't heat this time... ;) I called Visiontek and they seem to think I got another bad card, but I'm not so sure. Me thinks I have other issues. I don't have any other spare parts that will fit this computer, so I can't easily troubleshoot it.

~in detail~

PC is ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE w/ opteron 165 and 4gb ram, about 2 years old. Doubled ram to 4gb about a month ago. That worked. Changed graphics card to new Asus 4850. Worked for a couple of weeks and then started freezing, w/ problems growing more frequent. Wouldn't post unless I waited a bit to reboot. Seemed to be heat related, but I was able to increase the fan speed, etc., to ensure that heat was no longer an issue. Wouldn't run XP or VISTA 64 for more than a minute w/out hard freezing, and would even freeze during post. Assumed vga card was cooked. RMA'd card for Visiontek 4850. Installed, and booted into XP safe mode. Froze w/in 1 minute. Tried to reboot, hung during post. Will no longer post at all.

When powered on, the fans spin and the one light on the mobo comes on, and the 4850 fan spins up, but no post. Hooked a speaker up to mobo but don't hear any beeps either. The two red diagnostic lights on back of 4850 come on and stay on. They used to turn off immediately. Tried switching back to old 4850, but same thing. Tried switching 6-pin PCI-E connector w/ no luck. Tried going back to 2gb ram, ...nothing.

PSU - Antec Truepower 550. Used voltmeter to test 6-pin connector and 4-pin molex, and both read 12v.

Does it seem like a psu, mobo, cpu, ram, or did I just get really unlucky and get 2 bad video cards?

Thanks!
 
I hate to say it as you already said you have no other parts, but see if you can bum any old PCIE card to give it a shot. I have a similar lack of testing capability, at least on PCIE, you can see my post about ati2dvag.dll BSOD-ing on my 4850. I may switch back to my x850 until the new drivers come out, hoping that will be sufficient for now. Either that or have to get a new board.
 
Sounds like your truepower is going out. PSU testers are pretty useless or anything other than seeing if there is power getting to the connecter, so I wouldn't invest too much into that.
 
Looks like I'll be running down to the Microcenter today to grab a PSU and maybe a graphics card too. Too soon to say for sure, but don't you just love it when you upgrade one component and another decides to promptly fail? Murphy lives.
 
Do the cards tell you that you need to plug them in when you turn them on unplugged? might try the cards in someone elses computer if you can.
 
I have the same mobo with a FX60 and my asus 4850 works fine. I got a Fortron Bluestorm PSU though..
 
Ok - I pulled everything from the mobo except the vid card. Switched ram around, tried just 1 or 2 sticks. Reseated CPU. Tried a new 750 Corsair PSU and a new 9800GTX. No dice. I think it's the mobo. No huge surprise - this is the 2nd A8N-SLI - the 1st one got RMA'd a while back after it practically caught fire, which only verifies my point from a previous post - "HEAT KILLS ELECTRONICS". lol. +1 if you caught that.

Parts for a new pc arrive tomorrow. I'll RMA this mobo later and have 2 computers. :)
 
I will pour some beer out for a dead comrade. I used to run that board and it was a beast of its time.
 
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