I know that we have some people here familiar with computers in the club so here igoes.
First off system specs will play your mind.
mobo- asus maximus formula (ROG) supports pci-e & pci-e 2.0
cpu- intell q6600 2.4ghz b3 stepping (over clocked to q6800 2.9ghz sometimes q6850 3.0ghz)
cpu cooler- Zalman
Ram- ddr2 2x 2gb sticks of corsair dominator 1066mhz (used to work in my system til my bro got it)
ram- ddr2 2x 2gb cheap crap my bro bought 800mhz
psu- thermaltake toughpower 700w
gpu- evga gtx 660ti pci-e 3.0 (just installed days ago)
gpu- asus 4970 dk/top (original ran with no major flaws on the system)
The computer was running fine til last night. I decided to try out the new graphics card on some online games and then the problems started. When in the middle of a game for about 1-2 hours the computer just randomly rebooted with no warning or hesitation at all. It did this about 4-5 times and everytime when it rebooted I would check realtemp to see my cpu temp and precisionX to check my gpu temps everything was good not even close of danger zones. The last time it did it i saw a quick flash of the blue screen of death. So I was wondering I have it over clocked through the asus mobo bios (simple don’t need to mess with voltage it does it automatically and very well) maybe the cheap 800mhz ram can’t keep up so good and maybe my faster ram will work now that it is oc’d so I popped that in go to reboot and nothing. wont even pull the monitor out of sleep mode now.
On my motherboard it comes with a lcd poster that kinda gives you codes and stuff and right now it is stuck with computer on or off at “VGA BIOS”. I have also switched ram back to the junk stuff.
Does anyone have a compatible system to test ram on and possibly a graphics card? I am going to try my older graphics card to see if it boots up with that just have not gotten that far yet as this is a new card and not a cheap one.
Just tested the other graphics card and even cleared cmos still stuck on vga bios. almost sounds like the mobo went bad :S?
[quote=“TimH07, post:2, topic:6309”]
I have an older system like that sitting around, it needs a HD though. What interface is your GFX card, pci, agp, or pci-e?[/quote]
Ah I forgot that part, pci-e 3.0 but it can do pci-e and pci-e 2.0.
I think I might have another HD with windows xp on it.
OK need some more info, you say it’s stuck on vga bios, can you see the bios screen ?
If so reset to defaults and double check CPU and memory timmings, it really sounds like a memory timming issue, but than the after effect of the crashes is that system drivers can become courpt.
Also just for kicks see if you can boot from a live CD of some sort.
If you are not getting to the bios screen, then turn off and ack on 3 times in a row, that sould also reset to defaults.
There is no screen at all. Monitor stays asleep even if I force itto wake up. On my mobo it has a lcd thing that connects to it and is mounted external so if you have a over clock issue it can tell you if its ram or cpu or vga. It just says “vga bios” from online that means either gpu or mobo pcie slot went bad. Im going to try it on the second slot later. Also on this mobo it has a button to reset clocks back to default incase of no boots. I have set the button back to default.
And for timing that was the sweet thing about this mobo it can do it auto or manual. I just did a cpu boost I did not mess with the ram timings at all.
Sounds like u confirmed the issue - Shame, that’s an intense board. I’m on two boards for servers that are 6+ years and going strong so I agree with you on homemade build longevity, especially with the right O/S for their retirement years. But it might be worth checking without any graphics card installed, if I’m not mistaken this has onboard Graphics as long as supported on CPU chip (most modern chips support this)? if that is available on this board it could be worth troubleshooting with that, I have seen many a add-on card fail (you’d be suprised what static electricity can do if you don’t wear a grounding strap when handling - not that you didn’t, but these parts can be sensitive sometimes)
It’s unlikely that the overclocking at the rate you mentiond or that the memory caused the failure if they worked well in the past, although in the future I would probably avoid mixing two speeds of memory, or even two brands/models for that matter. Mostly cause it’ll only work at the slowest speed memory you have installed but also different manufactured sticks could behave/react differently when combined with others (sort of like mixing alkaline and non alkaline batteries) not always a huge deal but more prevalent with the cheaper manufacturers.
Good luck on the new build if you have to go that route(that is always the “fun” part of that hobby/job anyway) it certainly beats mixing salt in ro/di in prep for a new tank build…but admittedly not as fun as shopping for new tankmates.
These boards do not come with onboard graphics.
I guess I wasnt clear about the ram issue. I have 2 sets of ddr2 ram. I never mix ram in a system.
Funny thing last night I took my tower over to my lil bro’s house to test if the power supply or mobo was bad and went through all the trouble and I mean pita pulling wires from his case to plug into mine. and my computer booted right up. So I was like “sweet” only need a psu. Go buy a top of the line psu Corsair HX850 (80 gold rating efficiency) hook it all up. AND BOOM vga bios… >:::
So only thing left now is the mobo is having trouble with proper voltage to the pci-e slots which has been known on this mobo.
I honestly do not feel like spending another grand on a new build I am already up to $300 gfx, $190 psu. I might try and find another asus board on ebay or something to hold me off for a bit.
Future build I am looking at
either i5 3570k or a i7, asus maximus formula V mobo, windows 7 64bit maybe. 8-12gb of some sweet ram that will mix with my mobo and oc’n, solid state drive.
[quote=“TimH07, post:10, topic:6309”]
Next build remember not to mix ram speeds, they will always run at the slower speed ram.[/quote]
I did not mix ram…
I have
2 sticks of 2gb corsair dominator 1066mhz ram and 2sticks 2gb of cheaper 800mhz ram. I only ever run 2 sticks OF THE SAME TYPE & SPECS. since I am on windows 32bit that will only recognize 3.75gb of ram and no more.
Weird that it worked at your brothers…even with your graphic cards? That’s frustrating! You might get lucky with microcenter clearance rack or ebay like you said…good luck with it. at least you end up with a friggin’ awesome system when done. You can probably get windows 8 under oem license for a steal if you are getting a board - you can disable the touch frinedly metro navigation if necessary (but no start button). Do you do video editing or game development or have a lot of peripherals? The parts you have could handle quite a bit.
i multi task and my son is also getting into gaming a little. I am half tempted to just go buy stuff. but I am doing some research and trying to find a deal. shame I bought a power supply i don’t need but as my excuse was stated “but it is more efficient, look at that gold rating” haha. I prob could return the gear and find better deals online.
so you hooked it up to your brothers system and it worked, so think real hard, what eactly did you hook up, try and plug only the same things in at home , also did you have yours on it side when you hooked up to your brothers, could be a grounding issue somewere, could it be the monitor ?
[quote=“Hudzon, post:14, topic:6309”]
so you hooked it up to your brothers system and it worked, so think real hard, what eactly did you hook up, try and plug only the same things in at home , also did you have yours on it side when you hooked up to your brothers, could be a grounding issue somewere, could it be the monitor ?[/quote]
I hooked up everything needed to power the system same as now. powered standing up. Monitor works perfectly. Now it boots up everytime but hangs on windows 32 error… I hate windows sometimes. I can not find my windows xp cd and cant remember if I use home or pro.
[quote=“kaptken, post:16, topic:6309”]
Like I said… I know Nuthing, but ADIOS! AMIGOS!!
Buy a new one. I like my new DELL Machine!
For whatever its worth…[/quote]
haha Ken.
Did some more testing win 32 error is a problem but not the problem relating to my vga bios. motherboards pci-e slots must not be getting the proper voltage. I am researching a new setup but in the meantime I may try and find another mobo for the time being as the new setup idea’s are being researched and quite on the pricey side.
[quote=“kaptken, post:16, topic:6309”]
Like I said… I know Nuthing, but ADIOS! AMIGOS!!
Buy a new one. I like my new DELL Machine!
For whatever its worth…[/quote]
Dell bought Alienware who was a great gamer pc builder, until the buyout of course. I built a system comparable to one of their $4,000 systems for around $700. “whatever its worth” is something to think about :BB)
And as Craig noticed, I tacked on a 46" samsung HDTV to bring the system full circle.
Did you troubleshoot each piece of your setup individually? You can jumper your PSU to make it run to test that. Did you rule out a short somewhere on the mobo?
There are so many steps to PC troubleshooting, i agree the Mobo is most likely bad at this point, but there could be any number of problems.
Check Toms Hardware for the budget gaming builds. I built my PC last year for around $500 and it plays anything at 60FPS+.
It really just seems like a timing issue to me, I know you said it has auto timmings but that can be a curse also, try switching to manual mode and setting the timings to spec or a little below if you are running at a higher bus speed.
If you can adjust your video memory timing I would clock that back a little also and maybe up voltage a bit.
