chaintech vnf3-250 radeon HUGE prob

[El Gimpo Suave]

im trying to setup my new mobo and processor and I'm running into a problem. I just purchased a new chaintech vnf3-250 and 3200 cpu ( 754 fyi ). heres the fun part. with only cpu and memory installed the board starts up just dandy.when i install my radeon 9500 without using its power connector it prompts me to connect the card to power (of course). When i do connect the card to power the system does almost nothing. the fans spin for a fraction of a second and cut out. no post no helpful beeping not even some smoke. with another card ,an old 16mb Gforce, the ystem starts fine and rolls straight through windows loading with no real problems.

any help would be greatly appreciated .

 

[bfm227]

hi what are you running for a psu

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

vantec stealth 520. VAN520A. Ive been using it for about a month on my old system which was running my amd 1.3 with 2 dvdrw, 4 hd's, and the same VID card. I tossed my radeon in a diff system just to make sure i hadnt cooked it, it still works fine.

 

[bfm227]

go to bios to see what your agp reading is

 

[bfm227]

and try running ht at 1x this is one goofy mobo ive ever in stalled .

and i have 6 of these boards under my belt now and every one came with diffrent problem.strange!!!!!!!!
but when you get it stable you will love it.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

i set the ht to 1x...no luck. agp settings on auto. tried switching 2x,4x,8x ...no luck. also flashed the bios. nothing changed. damn damn damn

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

ok so heres something interesting...if the power cord to my radeon is unplugged when the power(to the system) is turned on AND THEN the vid card's power cord is quickly connected the system will start correctly. The system will also do a soft restart normally without needing to fidle with any power cords. If the system is completely powered off ..the game starts anew.

 

[bfm227]

sounds like a bad power cable to me or connector. have you tried a diffrent line .

 

[bfm227]

and who makes your ati card .

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

my card is made by sapphire and i had the same thought myself. i rebuilt the power cable and continuity tested the conductors ( even thought the card and cable worked fine in another system). So at this point im sure it must be something specific to my combination of components seeing how they only fail when used in concert. I appreciate your input here.

 

[effee]

One thing I learnt from my Radeon 9800 pro, was never to get another card from sapphire.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

this is the only time ive ever had a graphics card related problem with this card. my guess is mobo...

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

so i get this mobo and discover this problem just a few days ago. i search arround and dont find any answers on the web or other forums but this forum has some sharp folks and i start this thread hoping someone reads it and tells me im an idiot that I should have know THIS i should have done THAT or if i wasnt so lazy i might have taken the time to read "so-and-so's" thread HERE...yadda yadda yadda. Just a second ago i came within an inch of shooting myself, crying/laughing to death when i did another google search..."vnf3-250 radeon" and the FIRST RESULT WAS THIS THREAD I STARTED!! this board and this card have been out for a while now , why do i feel like chuck yeager in the mach one? i dont mind a few kinks if im pushing the limits of NEW hardware ...but COME ON!?! im using an old radeon...and the only fiddling i did with if was the radlinker soft mod. at least the chaintech english homepage has so much detailed documentation.

 

[SimsFreak]

I would say don't get chaintech, I say they suck. Go with ASUS, or a better known name.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

looks like ill be sending this mobo back. its ben a while but new egg's going to let me swap it for another one no hassles, i love those guys . now the hunt begins anew. Im kinda ticked since i liked everything aboutthis board (for the price) except no gb lan or onboard firewire. so maybe ill come out ahead. this whole thing has me feeling rather stupid. the only factor mitigating the damage to my nerd ego is that chaintech is so terrible at posting bios updates that i have to assume a problem like mine wont be addressed until the board is as usefull to me as my comodore 64 at a lan party.

If anyone has an idea here i wont be sending the board backfor a few days yet so let me know. ill keep it if i can get it to work.

im looking at an MSI or an ASUS i think.

 

[1luckymf]

Have you tried the 9500 in another system since you tried to install it in the chaintech? Sounds to me like the 9500 went bad.

 

[RaymondY]

My thinking is the video card also. I am currently running on office setup (Chaintech VNF-250/AMD A64 2800 (o/c 2.3ghz), retail HSF, BFG 5900nu, 80GB HDD, 52x CDRW, 4X +- DVD burner) on an Antech TruePower 430watt PS without any problems.

System stability is awesome!!! I even installed WinXP Pro while o/c my system to 2.3ghz.

I'm using the 3/04 BIOS version too.

Have u tried anyone high end video card in your system????

 

[Ages120]

I had the same problem with my BFG 6800gt. One day the power went out. I don't think my comp was on but it shouldn't have mattered since I got a surge protector. Well after I went to restart it I got the same crap your saying you have/had. I didn't think to try another vid card. I asked around and didn't find anyone with the same problem or a solution. Strange thing is it worked flawlessly for like a month before it did that shit.

I rmaed my mobo, power supply, and chip. As far as I know my mobo was fried. Well I get my proc back tommorow so I will rebuild the system.

 

[Childs]

Originally posted by: Ages120
I had the same problem with my BFG 6800gt. One day the power went out. I don't think my comp was on but it shouldn't have mattered since I got a surge protector. Well after I went to restart it I got the same crap your saying you have/had. I didn't think to try another vid card. I asked around and didn't find anyone with the same problem or a solution. Strange thing is it worked flawlessly for like a month before it did that shit.

I rmaed my mobo, power supply, and chip. As far as I know my mobo was fried. Well I get my proc back tommorow so I will rebuild the system.

That happened to me with a 9800Pro. Switched it out with a 5200 and the system was fine. Put the 9800 into another system and it was still dead. I didn't feel too bad about it since I got it at Compgeeks for like $129, but sucks none the less.

Anyways, the Chaintech has been stable for me. The first thing I did was update the bios, but one thing that kinda scared me was that there was only like 2 updates since 1.0. Either it was extremely stable or Chaintech doesn't fix their problems. I haven't had any problems with it yet, so now I tend to think they are extremely stable.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

yeah, i tried my card in another system and it works just fine. and this board works fine with a different ( and older) vid card...
and...thanks raymondY i hadnt thought about a newer card.ill try that tonight , not sure what it'll tell me though if it does work...whats the deal with the voltage issues though ? like i said before if the floppy cable powering the card is unplugged when i first power on and i QUICKLY connect
it ...it will boot up just fine. So is the bios handling power poorly? sending too much to the AGP slot on boot up ? i tried changing the voltage under the bios, to no effect...damnit. this board looks soooo good on paper and ive seen solid reviews by some sharp members here.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

so how about this....my new Vantec PSU has ( i believe) a short protection circuit(normally a good thing) but in this case it sees a "short" due to my card drawing power via the AGP slot AND the additional floppy power cable.<----just a theory . Most cards use that 2nd power hookup for the fan not extra juice to the card right ? mine has the fan connector ( of course ) plus the extra power cord to the card and the power via the AGP slot.
what do you think?
im going to try my mates psu tomorrow

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

sooo its looking like thats what the problem was. how nice that i couldnt find any reference to this on vantec's site. its not as though there are A BILLION Radon 9500/9700 cards out there . do any other radeon cards have this connector ? or just the 95/9700? i got the psu about a month before the new mobo so now im stuck with a psu i can only use if i buy a new vid card, which i dont feel any real need for since ive got the xtra pipelines unlocked and the gpu running at almost 400 on my 9500. im sooo pissed off. i spent a lot of time looking into psu's , checking bechmarks and reviews . I CHECKED VANTEC'S SITE before i bought this thing.ive got about a TB of storage over four drives, too damn many fans and gizmos, so i took my time looking into this before i bought it . this was supposed to be the last psu i would need to buy for a looong time. im sorry for rambling but im sooo torqued my eyes are bleeding.

 

[bfm227]

hey sorry for not getting back to you . lost a good friend sunday.
i kinda thought it was your psu you will get over it . like all high tec junkies we learn from are misstakes .
and we learn nothing is taken for granted. its just a small set back for now . you seem to be on the ball and i think you will have it up and running in know time .
good luck.

 

[bfm227]

is that vantec still under warantie . that circuit did'nt do its job. it should of shut down. its not your fault.

 

[El Gimpo Suave]

I might owe vantec an apology. my chaintech is now doing the exact same thing with a diff. PSU. i ordered a new mobo so we'll see shortly...
EPOX EP-8KDA3J on the way.
thanks for the advice , it helps have someone to bounce ideas off of.

and to vent too.