Serious unresolvable problem.

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 03:18 PM

This is about the computer I have listed in my specs.

This morning when I woke up and turned my monitor on my computer was frozen, couldn't do anything so I had to reset.

After this it only revved up fans and that was it, no post. Since there wasn't any speaker in the case I ripped one from another computer, put it in and tried again. No beep.

Since the gfx card was revving it's fan on max speed I thought maybe that's the problem so I reseated that. Somehow I got it to post and entered BIOS but then it froze again only to do the same thing.

Took everything out and reseated. Still the same problem. Disconnected one harddrive and I got it to post but as I was in BIOS it froze again. Tried to disconnect the other harddrive, same thing. Disconnected the PATA DVD and the same thing.

Now it's nothing, no beeps...

I have no clue as to what's causing this. Something makes the system freeze. Since I don't have any other PCI-E gfx card I can't try if it's that. Seems to me it's the motherboard since it works for a short time if I disconnect something. Have nothing more to disconnect now though..

Have no other PSU with PCI-E connectors to try with either so I'm really stumped as to what to do now. At first I thought it was one of the harddrives because it worked better with on of them disconnected but now that doesn't make any difference either.

Everything has worked flawlessly since I got this new motherboard. Added a second SATA drive about a month ago and same, everything has worked well until now.

LilRazor · Jan 11, 2009, 03:42 PM

Hmm sounds weird did u check ur cpu fan ? maybe overheating couse it died?

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 03:46 PM

As it is right now with everything connected. If I turn it off, leave it off for a minute, then turn it on again I get it to post and I start booting windows, then it freezes after 5-10 seconds and if I reset it just hangs there so I have to power down. Same thing if I go into BIOS. I can jump around inside BIOS for a while until it freezes and I have to power down again.

I wish I had a second gfx card to try with. It seems to me it's either that or the motherboard.

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilRazor

Hmm sounds weird did u check ur cpu fan ? maybe overheating couse it died?

No, it's working, visually checked it and bios reports correct fan speed for it. I've gone into bios and watch the hardware monitor until it freezes again and all temps are good.

**temeteus82** · Jan 11, 2009, 04:19 PM

Have you tried reset BIOS?

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 04:20 PM

Yes, twice.

**temeteus82** · Jan 11, 2009, 04:22 PM

Ah ok... sounds like either the mobo is broken, cpu or gfx card...

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 04:31 PM

Well, I can take the 5200+ from this comp and try with that as for cpu. Can borrow a gfx card from a friend to try but not until tomorrow.

If it still persists after checking those I gather it has to be the motherboard..

Judas · Jan 11, 2009, 05:40 PM

i always get nervous trying another cpu in a board that "may have poofed" cause there is always that remote chance that the board could damage the cpu....

or vice versa

sounds like something is definitely up.. it could very well be ram to

blibbax · Jan 11, 2009, 06:22 PM

You might want to check ram also. Go with only one ram stick at a time, then any faulty ones should show up.

It probably isn't ram, but at least this is easy to check.

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 07:57 PM

Tried one stick and then swapped but no difference so I doubt its the memory, I cant imagine that both sticks popped at the same time.

Though, I'm farely certain it's the gfx card. When the comp refuses to post I shut it down and then move around the card a bit, turn it on and then it posts only to freeze after 10-30 secs. Tried the card in another PCI-E slot and the same thing happened.

An odd thing is also that when it freezes I can turn it off holding the power button for 5 secs, but when I start it up again and it doesn't post I can't, then I have to turn it off with the main switch on the psu.

Went and borrowed an old PCI-E X850 that I'm gonna try next. If it works with that then I know for sure, if it doesn't well.. I'd put my bet on the motherboard considering what I just wrote.

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 08:18 PM

Negative. Same problem with the replacement gfx card. That leaves motherboard and CPU.

Question is, do I dare replace the CPU to test? I can always test the CPU on this motherboard as well as this CPU on that motherboard. Don't know what's the best to do to find out what's wrong.

**kris23** · Jan 11, 2009, 08:22 PM

i say test the mobo first.... since your processor probably is the most expensive of the two...

and is the one most likely to fail

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 08:33 PM

So, take this old cpu and put on that troublesome motherboard to see what happens? Well, if this old CPU fries as well it's not such a big deal, I can always get a 7750 instead, they're not that expensive, I'll just end up with two unusable computers for a while.

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 10:32 PM

Well, now it's completely unresponsive. I get nothing, fans are starting but that's it. No beeps and no reaction. Tried both gfx cards again with cmos reset after change but nada...

If it was the CPU and not the motherboard, wouldn't I at least get some beeps? Well, I guess if the cpu is dead it might nock the system out completely... well, gonna try the CPU on this old motherboard and see...

Judas · Jan 11, 2009, 10:38 PM

generally with all motherboards.. if there is no cpu.. no ram.. no video card.. just power and motherboard... nothing else.. the motherboard WILL beep.. if it doesn't.. it's usually motherboard.... always.

Neshi · Jan 11, 2009, 10:39 PM

the mobo should beep when one of the other things is faulty, if there are no beeps... it must be the mobo.

And I see Judas just posted the same thing!

OldBuzzard · Jan 11, 2009, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Liqourice

... An odd thing is also that when it freezes I can turn it off holding the power button for 5 secs, but when I start it up again and it doesn't post I can't, then I have to turn it off with the main switch on the psu. ...

I had that happen when a PSU was failing. I know that you said that you had another PSU without PCI-e connectors, but you could use an adapter for that. You should have gotten a couple with your 3870 x2.

If the x850 doesn't work, I'd try swapping the PSU and see if the x850 works with the swapped PSU before anything else.

Judas · Jan 11, 2009, 10:53 PM

that's definitely worth a try

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 10:54 PM

Well, I'm gonna test the CPU anyway just to make sure.

Luckily I bought the motherboard at a local store, one of the biggest in the country as well, so I can go back with it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get a new one at once... Question is, is it a general issue with this motherboard or is it just mine that was bad'ish but worked well for two months before it died..

Liqourice · Jan 11, 2009, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldBuzzard

I had that happen when a PSU was failing. I know that you said that you had another PSU without PCI-e connectors, but you could use an adapter for that. You should have gotten a couple with your 3870 x2.

If the x850 doesn't work, I'd try swapping the PSU and see if the x850 works with the swapped PSU before anything else.

I've thought about that but the PSU is almost brand new as well. But, I'll have a go at that as well and see... just so annoyingly many things to try and I have to completely dismantle this rig to do it! :P

Liqourice · Jan 12, 2009, 01:20 AM

Well. Tried the PSU, no difference. Now running on my old setup with the new Phenom in it and it works perfectly so the CPU is healthy. This means it can only be the motherboard.

Tried the motherboard again with nothing connected to it but the powercables and no beep at all so I guess it's dead.

Judas · Jan 12, 2009, 05:57 AM

problem found... solution pending?

Liqourice · Jan 12, 2009, 10:42 AM

Rma asap.

Liqourice · Jan 16, 2009, 06:24 PM

Ok, got my replacement motherboard last night and put everything together today.

Everything seemed fine to begin with but after a while it did the Freeze again. Restarted, started a memtest that ran for 5 minutes then that froze.

Only things I had changed in BIOS after firing it up was disabling onboard audio and eSATA, set memory to 1066, disabled TLB fix since it's not needed, That's it.

Now, I reset bios and only disabled onboard audio and left everything as default and now it seems to work just fine.

So, I'm starting to wonder if it's the memory controller in my Phenom that's the problem. It doesn't like 1066 but works fine in default 800MHz.

Any ideas?

Judas · Jan 16, 2009, 07:29 PM

that's quite hard to say....

it "could" be the memory controller.. but the emediate same symptoms should have been experienced identically if it were solely the cpu.

Liqourice · Jan 16, 2009, 09:19 PM

Oh well, as soon as I can afford one I'll get a Phenom II, I'll have to live with this set to default for now. It works fine as it is now, only conclusion I can make is that it's connected to the memory in some way.. memtest shows no errors though.

Don't want to fry another motherboard!

Jan 11, 2009, 03:18 PM	#1
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Serious unresolvable problem. This is about the computer I have listed in my specs. This morning when I woke up and turned my monitor on my computer was frozen, couldn't do anything so I had to reset. After this it only revved up fans and that was it, no post. Since there wasn't any speaker in the case I ripped one from another computer, put it in and tried again. No beep. Since the gfx card was revving it's fan on max speed I thought maybe that's the problem so I reseated that. Somehow I got it to post and entered BIOS but then it froze again only to do the same thing. Took everything out and reseated. Still the same problem. Disconnected one harddrive and I got it to post but as I was in BIOS it froze again. Tried to disconnect the other harddrive, same thing. Disconnected the PATA DVD and the same thing. Now it's nothing, no beeps... I have no clue as to what's causing this. Something makes the system freeze. Since I don't have any other PCI-E gfx card I can't try if it's that. Seems to me it's the motherboard since it works for a short time if I disconnect something. Have nothing more to disconnect now though.. Have no other PSU with PCI-E connectors to try with either so I'm really stumped as to what to do now. At first I thought it was one of the harddrives because it worked better with on of them disconnected but now that doesn't make any difference either. Everything has worked flawlessly since I got this new motherboard. Added a second SATA drive about a month ago and same, everything has worked well until now.

Jan 11, 2009, 03:42 PM	#2
LilRazor HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Malaysia,Kuala Lumpur Posts: 158 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Hmm sounds weird did u check ur cpu fan ? maybe overheating couse it died?

Jan 11, 2009, 03:46 PM	Thread Starter #3
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. As it is right now with everything connected. If I turn it off, leave it off for a minute, then turn it on again I get it to post and I start booting windows, then it freezes after 5-10 seconds and if I reset it just hangs there so I have to power down. Same thing if I go into BIOS. I can jump around inside BIOS for a while until it freezes and I have to power down again. I wish I had a second gfx card to try with. It seems to me it's either that or the motherboard.

Jan 11, 2009, 04:20 PM	Thread Starter #6
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Yes, twice.

Jan 11, 2009, 04:31 PM	Thread Starter #8
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Well, I can take the 5200+ from this comp and try with that as for cpu. Can borrow a gfx card from a friend to try but not until tomorrow. If it still persists after checking those I gather it has to be the motherboard..

Jan 11, 2009, 06:22 PM	#10
blibbax What does this do? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 4,230 Rep Power: 254 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. You might want to check ram also. Go with only one ram stick at a time, then any faulty ones should show up. It probably isn't ram, but at least this is easy to check. __________________ Donate the spare computing power of your PC to help to cure Alzheimer's, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease and cancer: Fold for HH!

Jan 11, 2009, 07:57 PM	Thread Starter #11
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Tried one stick and then swapped but no difference so I doubt its the memory, I cant imagine that both sticks popped at the same time. Though, I'm farely certain it's the gfx card. When the comp refuses to post I shut it down and then move around the card a bit, turn it on and then it posts only to freeze after 10-30 secs. Tried the card in another PCI-E slot and the same thing happened. An odd thing is also that when it freezes I can turn it off holding the power button for 5 secs, but when I start it up again and it doesn't post I can't, then I have to turn it off with the main switch on the psu. Went and borrowed an old PCI-E X850 that I'm gonna try next. If it works with that then I know for sure, if it doesn't well.. I'd put my bet on the motherboard considering what I just wrote.

Jan 11, 2009, 08:18 PM	Thread Starter #12
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Negative. Same problem with the replacement gfx card. That leaves motherboard and CPU. Question is, do I dare replace the CPU to test? I can always test the CPU on this motherboard as well as this CPU on that motherboard. Don't know what's the best to do to find out what's wrong.

Jan 11, 2009, 08:22 PM	#13
kris23 Going Insane..... Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 6,018 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. i say test the mobo first.... since your processor probably is the most expensive of the two... and is the one most likely to fail __________________ Hardwareheaven Super-Moderator Building a new computer system and not sure where to start? Click Here! last updated (5/18/11) Rosewill FUTURE case replaces CM 690 II with its greater interior length. Building a PC: Step by Step Guide Written by Kristopher Pedemonte and Nathan Marks-Forder Edited by Allan Campbell Questions or Comments? feel free to post them in the forums!

Jan 11, 2009, 08:33 PM	Thread Starter #14
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. So, take this old cpu and put on that troublesome motherboard to see what happens? Well, if this old CPU fries as well it's not such a big deal, I can always get a 7750 instead, they're not that expensive, I'll just end up with two unusable computers for a while.

Jan 11, 2009, 10:32 PM	Thread Starter #15
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Well, now it's completely unresponsive. I get nothing, fans are starting but that's it. No beeps and no reaction. Tried both gfx cards again with cmos reset after change but nada... If it was the CPU and not the motherboard, wouldn't I at least get some beeps? Well, I guess if the cpu is dead it might nock the system out completely... well, gonna try the CPU on this old motherboard and see...

Jan 11, 2009, 10:39 PM	#17
Neshi S.N.A.F.U. Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wellington, NZ Posts: 3,378 Rep Power: 177 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. the mobo should beep when one of the other things is faulty, if there are no beeps... it must be the mobo. And I see Judas just posted the same thing! __________________ If one does not attach himself to people and desire, never shall his heart be broken. But then, does he ever truly live? Life is just too damn short for if's and maybe's

Jan 11, 2009, 10:54 PM	Thread Starter #20
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Well, I'm gonna test the CPU anyway just to make sure. Luckily I bought the motherboard at a local store, one of the biggest in the country as well, so I can go back with it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get a new one at once... Question is, is it a general issue with this motherboard or is it just mine that was bad'ish but worked well for two months before it died..

Jan 12, 2009, 01:20 AM	Thread Starter #22
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Well. Tried the PSU, no difference. Now running on my old setup with the new Phenom in it and it works perfectly so the CPU is healthy. This means it can only be the motherboard. Tried the motherboard again with nothing connected to it but the powercables and no beep at all so I guess it's dead.

Jan 12, 2009, 10:42 AM	Thread Starter #24
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Rma asap.

Jan 16, 2009, 06:24 PM	Thread Starter #25
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Ok, got my replacement motherboard last night and put everything together today. Everything seemed fine to begin with but after a while it did the Freeze again. Restarted, started a memtest that ran for 5 minutes then that froze. Only things I had changed in BIOS after firing it up was disabling onboard audio and eSATA, set memory to 1066, disabled TLB fix since it's not needed, That's it. Now, I reset bios and only disabled onboard audio and left everything as default and now it seems to work just fine. So, I'm starting to wonder if it's the memory controller in my Phenom that's the problem. It doesn't like 1066 but works fine in default 800MHz. Any ideas?

Jan 16, 2009, 09:19 PM	Thread Starter #27
Liqourice HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Stockholm Posts: 1,702 Rep Power: 98 System Specs	Re: Serious unresolvable problem. Oh well, as soon as I can afford one I'll get a Phenom II, I'll have to live with this set to default for now. It works fine as it is now, only conclusion I can make is that it's connected to the memory in some way.. memtest shows no errors though. Don't want to fry another motherboard!