All sorts of problems

[imported_Seraph]

Having so many problems i dont know where to begin
Ok, here are the specs

Athlon FX-53
Asus a8N-SLI (duh)
2x512 mb OCZ pc3700 el
2x XFX 6600GT's in SLI
2x 36gig raptors raided
180g WD slave

Im pretty sure that is everything thats relevant to the scenario.
1. OK. To start, on powerup this system sometimes does, nothing. I will have to restart by holding down the power button over and over again (sometimes reset works but rarely) and eventually the monitor will actually turn on and even then sometimes i get hung up right before windows is about to load I have no idea what is causing this problem or how to fix it any ideas are welcome

2. I am having problems shutting down. sometimes the system shuts down properly but when it does actually shut down it is agonizingly slow...when it doesnt shut down the little box saying windows is shutting down disappears and then my mouse pointer still works and i have nothing but that aqua screen and a mouse pointer again no idea

3. Video issues I was running all of my games absolutely fine for a day or two and then suddenly, without toying with the drivers or bios or ANYTHING i have artifacts all over every texture in every game again no idea

I have tried damn near every bios revision official and beta and these problems persist with the 1003.005 or w/e they are the startup issues appear to have gone away but the shut down problem will NOT go away same with the video it is really ugly and i have tried updating and rolling back the video drivers nothing works anyone that has any ideas with any of this please help me out this is so much money to spend to have it not work :/

 

[joelslaw]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...1690&enterthread=y
tried this yet?

also, what is the ram set to in your bios? especially the "max memclock" setting.

don't give up! sometimes the system needs, and with a price tag like the one on yours, deserves a little TLC.

 

[hundesau]

sounds to me like u have done something wrong when building the system together, maybe the connectors arent placed properly or mainboard has contact to the case, the startup problems are not a software problem imo.

 

[FastEddie]

What powersupply are you using? What are the amp ratings on all the rails?

What forceware drivers are you using. What os, what sp's?

 

[Blazer]

go ahead tell us how you spent the bucks to get that sys,then tell how you arived at the conclusion that a elcheapo power supply would be just fine,besides a PSU doesnt do anything really,it just takes up space right !

you WILL need a NAMEBRAND PSU 600watts or over,OR be prepared for PSU failure and possibly loose some major PC componets = VERY COSTLY

 

[hundesau]

600Watt, rofl. hope ur still kiding with that. 420Watt is already enugh. 600...lol, nice one.

 

[Insomniak]

400W is plenty for most people - with heavy SLI and lots of HDDs, 500W is enough. 600W really isn't needed by anyone right now.

But yes, I agree, this seems to be the power supply. Got a stronger one laying around that you can try?

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: blazer
go ahead tell us how you spent the bucks to get that sys,then tell how you arived at the conclusion that a elcheapo power supply would be just fine,besides a PSU doesnt do anything really,it just takes up space right !

i was thinking basically the same thing

 

[century child]

Originally posted by: blazer
go ahead tell us how you spent the bucks to get that sys,then tell how you arived at the conclusion that a elcheapo power supply would be just fine,besides a PSU doesnt do anything really,it just takes up space right !

you WILL need a NAMEBRAND PSU 600watts or over,OR be prepared for PSU failure and possibly loose some major PC componets = VERY COSTLY

I have to agree that statement is going overboard. Besides, when buying a PSU you should not even be as concerned with watts as you should with amps. You can buy a cheap 600 Watt supply that doesn't hold a candle to a quality 350.

 

[FastEddie]

What century child said. The overall watts mean nothing, it's what the psu will give in amps on each rail--the 12v rail being the most important in this case.

 

[friedrice]

Sounds like 1 of 3 things.
1. Not enough watts in your power supply, or a bad one
2. Overheating. Likely with 2 graphics cards and a fast proc
3. Messed up drivers (prolly your video drivers) or cards (damage from over heating? since the problem took 2 days?)

 

[superbooga]

Try or wait for some more BIOS revisions. With 1003.005 I had the same problems, with .006 fixed all these problems.

 

[superbooga]

Another thing, there should be a sticky saying: Whoever blames the PSU is a genius. Obviously all the world's problem stem from the PSU. If we all had better PSUs, then perhaps the earthquake and tsunami would not have occured. The devastation caused by the two were undoubtely the result of crappy PSU's being sold in that region.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: superbooga
Another thing, there should be a sticky saying: Don't blame everything on the PSU. Next time you see someone who comes into a troubleshooting post and asks about the PSU, the warning signals in the brain should flash: "Don't listen to this dude, he doesn't know what he/she's talking about".

...said the guy with 59 posts.

I would like to know what brand and model the power supply is, too. Also, two other things:

1) presumably you have all three power plugs hooked up? Primary 24-pin, secondary ATX12V four-pin, and tertiary EZ-Plug. Pic: http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/m...I_DELUXE_POWER_RQs.gif

2) if the WD PATA drive is on an ATA cable by itself, jumper it for Single Drive by removing the jumper cap from the pins and leaving it off.


Bonus item: make sure your RAM is getting the voltage it wants. For your RAM, that means 2.8 volts, according to the specs. Go into the BIOS and set it manually.

 

[Blazer]

use this power supply calc and see where you fall for recommended amps/watts it is a good ideal to use a supply that will allow room for expansion/overclocking as with most hardware PSUs are rated at a operational temp point,when PSUs are subjected to stress,temps rise and the unit can become unstable,SO a overated PSU will NOT have to work as hard to maintain stability. = end user very happy

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: superbooga
Another thing, there should be a sticky saying: Don't blame everything on the PSU. Next time you see someone who comes into a troubleshooting post and asks about the PSU, the warning signals in the brain should flash: "Don't listen to this dude, he doesn't know what he/she's talking about".

Guess what, this guy with ACTUAL (OMG!) A8N-SLI Deluxe experience told him to check his PSU. Know why? Because the problems he is describing are commonly a symptom of a bad PSU! Given such knowledge, it really couldn't hurt to check that component and make sure it's working properly, now could it? POST problems, which is what he's describing, are almost always a hardware problem or user error.

That said, YES, there could be several things wrong. Know how you find out what is wrong? You start checking components and settings, 1 by 1! Imagine that! And guess what? Checking the PSU is part of that process! But, aside from that, he'll also probably want to check all his cabling connections, ensure that his motherboard has no damage, and make sure his RAM is fully seated. I could list many many more things as well.

So, yes, people are inquiring about the power supply, because it sounds like the power supply could be at fault here. If it isn't, then the thread will move on to the next suggestion, but until you've ruled the PSU out, it doesn't make much sense ignoring it.

So, please, if you're just going to whine about other people's charity in trying to help someone in need, the door is over there ----->

 

[joelslaw]

Originally posted by: blazer
go ahead tell us how you spent the bucks to get that sys,then tell how you arived at the conclusion that a elcheapo power supply would be just fine,besides a PSU doesnt do anything really,it just takes up space right !

you WILL need a NAMEBRAND PSU 600watts or over,OR be prepared for PSU failure and possibly loose some major PC componets = VERY COSTLY

ROFL, wow you make it sound like a lif and death situation!
http://img58.exs.cx/img58/157/computeranitdrug6us.jpg




Thanks to ImageShack for http://www.imageshack.us]Free Image Hosting[/URL]

 

[superbooga]

Hey, I have an A8N-SLI Deluxe also. I can tell you these problems are most likely PSU-related OK? Before I used a 475W, el-cheapo Noisetaker from Enermax. With that PSU, my system was incredibly unstable, and could not overclock at all.

Afterward I switched to a 250W from Antec. This PSU is pretty old and lacks the 4 pin ATX12V connector, basically it's a PIII-era PSU. I just grabbed a 12V wire from a molex using my right hand, and stuck a finger from my left hand to a wire soldered to the two 12V pins of the connector. This fixed all my problems with the A8N-SLI. Afterwards, I also used my tongue to make the connection. This improved my max overclock speed by 100Mhz.

I still encourage the guy to buy a PSU just so consumer spending goes up and the benefits the economy. On the other hand, chances are you will buy some PSU made in China. Since the Commies are so reluctant to detach the RMB from the US dollar, this only further increases the trade deficit. If this trend continues, then at one one point, the US dollar will cease to be the major global currency, and holdings in the US are going to plummet, hurting the economy.

 

[superbooga]

Anyways, it's probably the BIOS' fault. Anyways, if you still want to try out stuff, you can try the following:

1) Use only one PEG card. Anyways, you lose SLI of course but there's a remote chance this fixes the problem.
2) Underclock certain things in the BIOS. Set your multiplier to 10x and run the CPU at 2.0Ghz. Set memory to DDR333. Use 2T timing. Anyways, your computer will be about 30% slower than before, but there's a remote chance this fixes the problem.
3) Make sure you plugged a molex into the EZ-plug. Anyways, chances are this was never the problem to begin with since you'd get a warning if you tried using SLI without the EZ-plug.
4) Remove the 180G drive. For fun you can try moving all SATA drives from the nForce to the Silicon Image, or vice versa. Anyways, there's a remote chance this fixes the problem.
5) If you are using dual channel DDR, try removing one DIMM. Anyways, you lose half your memory but there's a small chance this fixes the problem.
6) Be patient and wait for more BIOS revisions. Anyways, there's a good chance this will fix the problem.

EDIT:
Now that I think of it, I fully recommend that you buy a new PSU. I recognize mechBgon has almost 20k posts, and therefore is is about 300 times smarter than I am. I will worship him and divert all future question to his highness.

 

[TekDemon]

It's either the PSU or some other kind of power regulation issue...my own stupid ass Epox P4 board (which the geniuses at Epox decided didn't "need" the P4 connector) started out OK when I first installed it, but couldn't really supply the juice needed to properly overclock. I brushed it off as probably just a bad chip or whatever, but now I know that it's a serious power regulation issue as I'm having the exact same problems...which magically go away if I undervolt the CPU, even if I keep it at the same speed. So yes, 2.4Ghz at stock voltage will crash, while 2.4Ghz at -.75 volts will be stabler. Needless to say, overclocking is now out of the question if I want my computer to function at all.

Most likely in your case though, it's the PSU's fault. I know it's not the PSU in my case because it's running an Antec TruePower 550, and it didn't overclock any better on another power supply either (an Enhance 350 I think...this was back when I had a slower CPU installed and was testing overclockability with both, hoping the extra power would help...but this board is simply lousy for overclocking).

EDIT: Hah! I just noticed that Epox doesn't even officially support over a 2.4Ghz processor on this board...I guess the power regulation just can't handle it because I know the chipset can. Go morons at Epox! Boo hiss @ 4g4a+