Which hardware is failing?

H

hmorphone

n00b
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
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11
About 1 1/2 years ago I built my rig. For around a year life was good :cool: . Then my original DFI Ultra D's chipset fan started to die. When I got an Evercool VC-RE to replace it I decided to do the SLI mod while I was at it and apparently I borked the board :eek: - it never posted again after that despite long CMOS clears, excet. excet.. A DFI rep stated that I shouldn't RMA the board as I voided the warranty just by putting the Evercool on the board (instead of sending it to them when the original chipset fan started to die.)

So, being tired of chipset fans, I got an Asus A8N-SLI Premium. It worked well at first (other than discovering that it was a terrible overclocker.) Then the primary PCI-E slot died. Fixed that by using PCI-E slot 2. Guess the SLI feature came in handy after all ;) . Then it developed cold boot issues, I would have to hit reset after I booted it in the morning to get it thru the post and into XP. Then it quit altogether :( . I RMA'd it to Newegg which was an experience in itself. The RMA process itself went well, but when I got the replacement it was an OEM white box special. I had sent all the original retail goodies back with the bad board. When I complained Newegg quickly sent me a retail box sans mobo with the goodies in it. While it wasn't the same board, I'm still not entirely sure it was a brand new mobo.

In the meantime I bought a new Ultra D to get my system back up and to try some mild OC'ing (which I had never gotten around to with my first Ultra D.) Upon installing it life was good again for months :) . Then I began getting one or two instances of my computer completely shutting down for no apparent reason while I was doing nothing more stressful than web browsing. This happened several more times at shorter intervals and at least once I noted an alarmingly high CPU temp :eek: (when I happened to maximize the mobo monitoring program DFI supplies.) It never popped up/alarmed until I maximized it that time(s) and I put it off as a glitch as it showed good temps after I rebooted. The Panaflo I'm using on my XP-90 seems to be okay as well. Then it developed cold boot problems and after that halted during posting and refused to boot at all, with a couple of non consistent windows error messages, then it quit even posting. The DFI diagnostic LEDs seem to show all 4 lit and then it drops down to two lit, which I believe means that the vid card and ram are okay but it's halting at the processor.

I've got a new 3200+ venice on the way, as the best I can figure is that maybe the XP-90's fan stopped long enough on several occasions for heat damage to occur with the CPU, but I just don't know. I tried installing the replacement A8N-SLI Premium mobo that I had on hand after the RMA (and had never used yet.) I can get it to post with my old CPU but it always errors out/freezes/crashes at some point during posting before trying to load the OS. I also tried one ram stick at a time in the Asus, didn't help.

I could really use some help guys (sorry 'bout the length.)

I'm concerned about how things will go when the new CPU arrives:confused: .
 
Here's the thing, people really do want to help you.... they do, i promise...

However, when ones web browser is done rendering a web page, and there in front of them is a mass of text so dense and unformatted that it would make Attila the hun turn back in fear they aren't gonna read it lol... Maybe im just cranky this morning

Here's what I would do, find what the DFI lights mean and work from there, try best to isolate out all of your equipment (indeed, post your FULL specs.) Do you have the DFI mobo powered up fully? many people skip the plug under the cpu.... thats a start
 
My apologys about the readability, I've just edited it in an attempt to make it a little better. If I go by the DFI led lights, when they settle down it seems to indicate the CPU. I did have all 3 of the power connectors hooked up to the board.

Specs:
Athlon 64 3000+ s939
XP-90 w/Panaflo
DFI Lanparty Ultra D / Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Fortron Blue Storm 500w
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 512(X2)
ATI X1900GT
Seagate 80gig SATA / Lite-on DVD burner
Coolermaster Cavalier 3
Creative SB Audigy 2
 
Let's see... I had the 24 pin, the 4 pin, and the one that uses the floppy connector all hooked to the board. I can't see where the fourth one is in the pic ?
 
hmorphone said:
Let's see... I had the 24 pin, the 4 pin, and the one that uses the floppy connector all hooked to the board. I can't see where the fourth one is in the pic ?
Click to expand...


setti_6.jpg
 
Ah hah! I may not have had the molex in the lower right connected. I'm not sure if that totally explains the rigs behavior, but it certainly might solve the problem. Thanks!
 
I reinstalled the Ultra D, made sure all 4 power connections were in place, and attempted to boot. Pretty much the same symptoms. No post, 3 out of the 4 diagnostic lights light up, and then it drops back to only one lit. I'm ruling out the mobo as the problem at this point. I still don't believe it's the ram or the psu, though it is possible. I don't have a spare psu with decent watts or any extra ddr laying around anyway. Unless anybody has a suggestion, I guess it's time to wait for the new A64 3200+ to arrive from the egg on tuesday.
 
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