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Need some help please

G

Group Zebra

n00b
Joined
Jan 8, 2006
Messages
37
I'll start from the beginning.

A friend of mine wanted to switch to an SFF system using his existing parts, only buying a new mobo and case. Everything worked fine prior to the switch. He bought an Asus P5E-VM HDMI. I set everything up for him and for the most part worked fine, sometimes refusing to post. He bought a new video card the next day, an 8800gt upgrading from a 7950gt and the system wouldn't post at all with the new card. Putting in the old card it would post occasionally. At my wits end we decided to exchange the mobo for a different one. Ended up with an Intel BOXDG35EC. With this board installed turning on the computer resulted in reaching the Intel splash screen, after this screen a black screen pops up with a few colored boxes on it(looks sort of like artifacting). We tried the 8800gt, the 7950gt, and the onboard video all with the same results. The current system specs are:

e4300
8800gt
Intel BOXDG35EC
500 watt Raidmax psu
500gb maxtor
2gb Ram

I've tried swapping ram, hdd, and psu, and it still does not work. If anyone could please help me out that would be great, thanks.
 
Your PSU cannot handle the load. In fact, it may destroy the build, so remove it as fast as possible (I am not kidding).
 
When you tested with onboard video, did you unplug the gfx card first?
If it then works, the problem is likely to be the gfx card or PSU.
Given that 2 graphics cards fail, it looks like the PSU is the culprit.

Also, when your PSU was new it was able to give 25A on the 12V rail, which is 300W max.
Over time as the PSU ages, the max power diminishes and as you are running about 250W at load and booting is stressful, its likely the PSU is being saturated.
As the PSU wears out, it is constantly supplying a larger % of its max ouput. The harder a PSU is pushed, the faster it wears out until it suddenly fails and/or the PC stops working.
Failure can be silent or can kill anything attached to it.
Its not a good idea to push a PSU to failure.
It is a pretty cheap PSU, so this isnt out of the ordinary. Many expensive PSU's go the same way but usually take longer.


Regardless of whether it ends up being the problem or not, you do need a quality PSU capable of handling the load better.
You need at minimum a modern quality 500W capable of supplying more current on 12V but its a good idea to have more headroom.
I recommend getting a quality 600W or a bit larger to cope with future upgrades.

ps overclocking makes PSU problems worse.
 
You should have RMA'd the P5E and got another one if you though it was bad. The Intel BOXDG35EC isn't even in the same league.

RAIDMAX: probably not heavy enough to even use as a doorstep.

Silverstone STEF50 SC. Nice short cables that are easy to hide.

Make sure your 4 pin Intel power connector is plugged into the mobo and when you get a decent power supply, make sure you plug in the PCI-Express power connector.
 
Kil4Thril said:
Your PSU cannot handle the load. In fact, it may destroy the build, so remove it as fast as possible (I am not kidding).
Click to expand...

Yeah that power supply must not be good I am guessing. I have a 500W Antec unit and it handles my build just fine:

Q9300 Core 2 Quad
Intel DG35EC
8GB DDR2-800
8800GTS (OC to 678/1944)
2 320GB hard drives, RAID0 through an Areca ARC-1200 controller
DVD-RW
3 fans, and the crossflow fan
Zalman CNPS8700NT

I have had 0 power related issues.
 
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