Help, Computers Gone Brain Dead!!

[Croak3]

Last nite my Gigabyte GA 965p DS3/e6300@ 3.4ghz went black. No smoke/funny smells, pops, nothing, just “bing” nothing on the screen. Weird in that, the system was still whirring away. Whole setup is only about 5 months old, running on an improvised test bed, light use, only really stressed awhile ago for O.C.ing and some video stuff.


OBSERVATIONS:

1) Fans on the board (noisy as ever) still fire up, hardrive spins up to.

2) The NB gets warm (usual state)

3) Graphics card, overclocked (but seldom under load) is warm…usual.

4) At time of crash cpu (e6300 @ 3.4 Ghz) was running at about 37c… just running Word and a browser.

5) Rig had been crappng out intermittently for the last few days, sometimes requiring more than one cold boot to get started again (not the first time).

6) Can not log on to it from network, it just doesn’t show up.

7) Computer will start from keyboard with just the password pumped in (programmed into bios (setup))

8) The display show nothing and does not appear to be receiving a signal (usually displays a little blinking “digital” logo between the time the rig fires up and post screen appears. Also swapped out the monitor…Nada.

9) have unplugged and re-plugged in all peripheral multiple times

10) Tried running it on one stick of memory at a time.

11) Swapping monitors does nothing


CONCLUSIONS, By observation number (above):

1) (fans etc.) Rules out problems with bulk of PSU funtions. At least some circuitry on board is working.

2) (NB) Would seem to indicate circuitry for NB (and I assume the same as the cpu) is powered up and doing something…thus not a PSU core circuitry lead problem.

3) (GPU) At a minimum its power up, but probably not receiving any signal to process and put out somthing out.

4) (Temp.)No weird smell, didn’t’ overheat and burn. Throughout its buggyness nothing been more than luke warm to “pretty” warm to touch)

5) (intermittent crapping out) Seems to suggest a loose or bad connection, but pulled and re-plugged in everything, given all a good jiggle to. Corrosion unlikely in that here in So. Cal we’ve had the driest year on record.

6) Problem is not the monitor, the thing is not posting or booting in any hidden way. Dead CPU !!?, Dead mobo !!?

7) Bios is not corrupted, doesn’t jive with the intermittent crap outs anyways. But…

8) Monitor, blank: swapped it out, not getting any signal at all (but the cards warm)

9) Bad connections unlikely the problem.

10) Memory, not likely the prob, it would be a miracle for both sticks to die simultaneously

11) Monitor swap, Again not likely the problem, both monitors work on other systems.



So, It start up from the keyboard (true the bios I guess), everything gets to normal warmth, fans whire away, etc, but Nothing on the screen & no access through the network. What could it be except a Mobo or CPU? and (ya it's overclocked, but it hasn't been pushed for quite awhile+ only 5 months old.

Would resetting the bios have any chance of helping (hesitant because it has a bunch of fine tuned O.C’d memorized and if it’s CPU&#8230 any possibillities besides the worse(cpu or mobo)?

Thanks for any advise

Croak

 

[JCNiest5]

Yeah, try resetting/clear the BIOS. If that doesn't help, it's either the mobo itself or CPU. Do you have another CPU to test? It could also be the PSU.

 

[michaLcoughliN]

as stated above clear cmos.

only question I have.

Was this overclock tested through Orthos/prime95 etc ?? that or how did you test the overclock.

Umm give us some more information such as , #'s

Voltages on cpu and ram. ummm etc etc.

Hopefully everything is fine dude.

 

[Croak3]

as stated above clear cmos.

only question I have.

Was this overclock tested through Orthos/prime95 etc ?? that or how did you test the overclock.

Umm give us some more information such as , #'s

Voltages on cpu and ram. ummm etc etc.

Hopefully everything is fine dude.

THanks bud,

I tweaked it quite a while ago (5months) and tuned it quite nicely (stable) with 2 threads of Prime 95 at a time, and core temp. It's run fine since. I do not recall all the #'s and I obviously can't look at them now.

That said, I know the mem was at 5-5-5-15 @ 2.2v., the only main-ish voltage you can tweak on the ds3 (not v-core) was down close to stock (!),It was running just a smidge under 3.4GHZ...stable overnight.


Only change I've made of late, since the origional tune was swaping out some Gskill mem (to RMA, it failed memtest) for patriot extreme, (which iknow likes alot more main V.(the non vcore type)) but ran just fine with same bios settings (albeit not stressed much).

Other than that, the ambient temps have gone up around here in the sunny south, but, coretemp was still reading 40c tops around the time it started getting flakey and nothing was particularly hot to the touch.

Thanks a ton for you reply. look forward to any follow up.

Croak

 

[Kangg]

Fans spinning does NOT rule out the PSU as the culprit.
Take the rig down to basics.

Only CPU Video card and memory. unhook everything else. First thing I would try is another video card. Then another PSU. By taking it down to the bare minimum needed to post you eliminate the problem fairly quickly.

No video? check monitor and video card. Still no video after checking that? swap PSU out with a known good one. If thats a no go your'e usually looking at motherboard, maybe memory and rarely even the CPU.

 

[Jalidi]

If all else totally and truly fails, I recommend taking it to a nearby tech shop or some other small computer store with its own service department. It'll be like $20 and, if there's anything wrong, they'll find it. I read through your description. I agree with the previous poster, you need to swap out that video card. Maybe it just blew up. The techs can do it for you, they've got tons of swapping hardware lying around, and it'll at least tell you what the problem was so you can get around to fixing this with the least amount of money spent.

 

[Jay_2]

what about beep codes?

Do you have the PC speaker plugged in?

I really think this is the CPU.

 

[Croak3]

Fans spinning does NOT rule out the PSU as the culprit.
Take the rig down to basics.

Only CPU Video card and memory. unhook everything else. First thing I would try is another video card. .

Ruled graphics "loop" out cause I tested the monitor on another rig AND the rig in question never shows up on my little network like it did..kinda lika chicken runing around with it's head cut off

Then another PSU. By taking it down to the bare minimum needed to post you eliminate the problem fairly quickly.

More than just the fans fire up, GPU gets warm, NB gets warm, drives spin up etc, etc.

If thats a no go your'e usually looking at motherboard, maybe memory and rarely even the CPU.

For a number reason and feedback I've got, 95% sure it's the mobo.

thanks Croak

 

[Croak3]

If all else totally and truly fails, I recommend taking it to a nearby tech shop or some other small computer store with its own service department. .... Maybe it just blew up. The techs can do it for you, they've got tons of swapping hardware lying around, and it'll at least tell you what the problem was....

Thanks, I disgree withe graphic card/ monitor loop as a problem in that A) the monitor works on other rigs and B) If the card was bad, I'd think the system would still post and boot...albeit invisibly. In which case it would show up on my network...it dosn't.

From alot off other feed back I've pretty much narrowed it down to the mobo or CPU. As for your tech shop Idea, I think that's what I'm going to have to do,
my local shop kinda sucks though...not 20 bucks for sure).

I did however get a responce from a guy on another forum; same board, same version, same problem. He RMA'd the mobo and...it was the bios. THe thing that's not so great isthat they repaired it, can't imagine how long that will take.

Thanx, Croak

 

[Croak3]

what about beep codes?

Do you have the PC speaker plugged in?

I really think this is the CPU.

THanks for th reply, no I don't have the little speaker hooked up. I can dig one up, Would gigabyte have a reference to whatever beep code I have?

Croak

 

[CoW]8(0)]

Can't really rule out anything, the graphics card could be causing a BSOD before Windows tries to setup a network. And if you have a login, I don't think Windows even begins setting up the network until you log in.

If you have another machine to test out each component on, I think that would be your best indicator.

 

[Jay_2]

post the beep code and I can tell you what your problem is.

 

[futuredenied]

same thing happenned to me 4 times... all the while replace psu-exchanged video card-battery out then back in. i now have 2 ds3 a 1.0 and a 3.3.... all the while it was corrupted ram. ballistix 6400. rma twice...waiting on my third set. but now i'm runnin a650sli-ds4 and am much happier.. i can leave the ram at 800 and clock away now if only my e6420 and my ram rma would show up i can have some real fun good luck with the problem..btw i was sure it was the mb twice and have recently posted the first board and have a newegg rma'ed 3.3 just sitting here.

 

[vanilla_guerilla]

sounds like low voltage on the 4/8 pin +12v line to mainboard. swap out psu.