New system, intermittent POST beeps for video failure

[wolfestone]

I've just got a new system, and having some intermittent issues with booting up. I'm getting one long and three short beeps sometimes, although the computer will boot to windows other times and work fine.

The board is an asus P8p67-m pro, and the video card is a galaxy geforce GT 430. I've put it in PCIe x 16 slot one, as the motherboard manual said that's what would give best performance.

Is there anything I can run or try to figure out whether it's the board or card that is at fault? It's been ok for a couple of hours so far, but I'm worried it's going to do it again. If I have to RMA stuff I'd prefer to do it sooner rather than later.

 

[3DVagabond]

Make sure all updates are installed for your system. Sometimes you'll have older firmware installed on equipment when you first get it. Take the video card out and try reseating it. Latest drivers, patches, windows updates, etc.

 

[wolfestone]

Thanks, I've reseated the video card a couple of times but it's still doing it occasionally.

It gave me the error beeps first boot after sitting off overnight.

I've updated the motherboard bios, and downloaded all the newest drivers. It was doing this before I even installed the OS. I'll see if there's any kind of BIOS update for the video card.

I'm thinking if I move it to a different PCI slot and it still causes the error, then I can probably assume it's the card. If it behaves itself in a different slot, should I assume it's the motherboard?

Edit: This motherboard has a GUI bios, when I enter that, I see some artifacting while it loads. I don't know if that's relevant, that's the only time so far I've seen artifacting.

 

[Keysplayr]

Also observe the gold connections on the video card. Make sure none are torn off, missing etc. compare it with online photos if you cannot tell if a gold pin should be short or if it's damaged.

 

[wolfestone]

Thanks, on that note - the case came with one brass standoff installed, but it's not like any I've seen before. Rather than having a threaded hole in the top, it has a smooth pin sticking out. The board locates over this ok but there's no screw or fastening mechanism on this post. Is it possible that could be affecting the grounding or doesn't it work that way? I'll check the card over carefully for damage.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thanks, on that note - the case came with one brass standoff installed, but it's not like any I've seen before. Rather than having a threaded hole in the top, it has a smooth pin sticking out. The board locates over this ok but there's no screw or fastening mechanism on this post. Is it possible that could be affecting the grounding or doesn't it work that way? I'll check the card over carefully for damage.

You bought a ThermalTake V3 or V4 case, right? I just got a ThermalTake V4, and I'm trying to figure out WTF they were thinking with that. Normally, there are holes for standoffs. But instead, there's this threaded part of a bolt sticking up.

Did you attach standoffs to the raised sections, or did you bolt the mobo directly onto them? I'm trying to figure out which way it's supposed to go myself.

 

[wolfestone]

You bought a ThermalTake V3 or V4 case, right? I just got a ThermalTake V4, and I'm trying to figure out WTF they were thinking with that. Normally, there are holes for standoffs. But instead, there's this threaded part of a bolt sticking up.

Did you attach standoffs to the raised sections, or did you bolt the mobo directly onto them? I'm trying to figure out which way it's supposed to go myself.

Actually the case is a rosewill destroyer. I'm a bit disappointed in the quality. Rather than threaded holes for standoffs, they are raised 'bridges' pressed out of the motherboard tray. I think they'll be incredibly easy to cross thread, with no way to re-thread them. It came with two brass standoffs (needed for micro-ATX boards) which I installed, but had that one single brass pole installed from the factory. It looks like I could remove it and put in a normal standoff, if I have one left over from something else.

The asus-Q shield with it's foam made installing this board incredibly difficult, I had to push really hard to compress the I/O shield foam and the PS/2 'spring', and I found that the brass pole standoff helped as it held the board somewhat in place while I screwed in the rest. However, I've been feeling uneasy about the amount of force it took to get the board in, so I'm going to remove the foam from the I/O Shield and replace that weird standoff with a normal one.

 

[3DVagabond]

One other thing worth checking is a lot of times boards don't run the RAM at proper specifications. Sometimes under volting it. Something worth checking, anyway. I wouldn't think it was the vidcard's bios, but you can't be sure without checking?

 

[wolfestone]

I was able to get another PCI-E video card to test, and so far so good. I really appreciate all the suggestions, thanks for all the help.