Nforce 4 rig takes a major dump. My personal hell....

SkyBum · Dec 16, 2004, 09:20 AM

(Specs below)

I'm very worried about my new a8n Deluxe.....

I initially had very good luck with this new build. Installation of hardware went fine, windows install went fine, all seemed well. Then I started noticing that certain programs would not launch and a few software apps could not install, soon after that I started getting various error messages (mini dump was the first what ever that means).

I went to control panel and tried to open system so I could check device manager (error message, system window wont even launch) at that point I did a reformat to reinstall windows. I kept getting error messages during install, mostly "can't read/open file" but I kept persisting. Each time it would be a different file that was the problem. After four or five reformat and reinstall attempts using 2 different optical drives and 2 different XP install discs I finally got windows to install. It booted to the desktop but there was only the default desktop screen but no toolbar or icons. I checked checked task manager and explorer was not even running. Nor would it launch from there. I was able to launch notepad but that was it. More reformatting and several more failed attempts with windows and I finally got windows back up and everything seemed fine again. I installed all drivers & utilities and every thing seemed perfect.

Damn, I was pretty stressed after 5 hours of that so I figure hey it's all set now, I should throw in a DVD and chill for a bit. Goddamned if at that moment my system just shut down cold. No warning no smoke no nothing. It was dead as a doornail. I let it sit for a bit and then hit the power button again, I got a quick flash from the power supply (LED's not sparks) and that was it. Power supply LED fan starts to light for a half second then nothing. Tried that twice more same result.

Man I'm freaking out so I pull my 2 optical drives and put them back in my old rig figuring to watch that DVD and CHILL. Guess what? They are no longer recognized in my old system. They dont even show up. Their not fried, the trays open up but there is no longer a DVD/CD drives listed in device manager. What gives here? It like they no longer exist. Despite my best efforts I could not get them to be seen from the moment they left my new system.

Where do I even start to trouble shoot this problem? WTF is going on with this system? Between the install weirdness and then what seems like a short and now my optical drives BOTH fubar in my old rig I don't even know WHAT to think.....

What a completely rotten evening, Im gonna upchuck if I even think about it much more.

ANy suggestions? Is this as bad as it sounds or could there be a simple explanation?

EDIT: I should mention that the first thing I did was check for any water leakage and it was dry as a bone, temps just before the time of failure were 30c CPU /31c MB.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Dec 16, 2004, 07:22 PM

I don't know but Id say reseat everything, run a memory tester on your ram......

whould be my first move.....

(didn't over clock now did ya?)

dipstick · Dec 16, 2004, 08:22 PM

Do you have another PSU laying around that you could try out? Weird with the cd drives no longer working even in another rig.

SkyBum · Dec 16, 2004, 09:15 PM

No overclock. I'll post some results on the PSU and opticals in a bit. I agree, the opticals have to be dead. I'll know for sure in a while.

riles9262 · Dec 16, 2004, 10:00 PM

hopefully that's all that's wrong...tough luck dude.

Prod1702 · Dec 16, 2004, 10:04 PM

just a guess try useing a diffneret install CD for windows makes some of hte files are F***. most llikely that isnt it but it doesnt hurt to ask or try. I will never buy ASUS again after having hte mobo i have now i have had 3 of them and they are still crap. i am going to stick with Abit, MSI, or Gigabtye. I have seen alot of ppl having problems with ASUS mobos

pr0digal jenius · Dec 16, 2004, 10:33 PM

sounds like a dead optical drive....which would cause certain files to not copy properly.

Geminiwave · Dec 17, 2004, 01:36 AM

well the PSU is definatly faulty. What probably happened is that you had a power surge when you hit the on button that wiped the firmware off the optical drives when they started up. most likely they are toast. RMA them if you can.

SkyBum · Dec 17, 2004, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prod1702

just a guess try useing a diffneret install CD for windows makes some of hte files are F***. most llikely that isnt it but it doesnt hurt to ask or try. I will never buy ASUS again after having hte mobo i have now i have had 3 of them and they are still crap. i am going to stick with Abit, MSI, or Gigabtye. I have seen alot of ppl having problems with ASUS mobos

Tried using 2 different optical drives and 2 different windows install discs. My take is that a faulty MoBo is caused both the data problems as well as the dead drives. (see update that I will post momentarily)

As for blaming ASUS, it's not really that simple. Ask any PC tech and you will find that ALL PC part manufacturers ship plenty of faulty parts and none of them are immune to it. The real problem lies in the fact that makers have realized that it is cheaper to RMA than to do thorough quality testing, hence the glut of defective parts appearing on the market.

I like ASUS, and I've had very good luck with them in the past. I have no reservations about sticking with them. Pick any board supplier you like and you are still as likely as not to recieve a problematic board. It just goes with the territory.

SkyBum · Dec 17, 2004, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Geminiwave

well the PSU is definatly faulty. What probably happened is that you had a power surge when you hit the on button that wiped the firmware off the optical drives when they started up. most likely they are toast. RMA them if you can.

PSU checked out just fine. I did not HIT any button, the system was extremely flakey from the first moment and suddenly it just died and failed to restart. Definitely toast on the opticals though....

SkyBum · Dec 17, 2004, 03:20 AM

Update: (my technical knowledge is limited so go easy on me with regard to what I have to say here)

PSU is ok, 2 optical drives are DOA.

The opticals will eject the trays but they were not recognized as being present on either of the two systems I tried them on, leading me to believe that they were killed through the EIDE cable and not from a power spike on the 4-pin cable. I checked the PSU in bios several times during this saga and each time the voltages were very solid and well within specs.

The system will not power up whether using the original X-Connect OR using another working power supply. However, If I place a jumper between pin 4 and pin 6 on the power supply 20 pin cable (as detailed in the Koolance manual for priming the pump) the psu powers up just fine. A real clue here however is that (using the jumper), if the 12v cable is present between the PSU and motherboard, the PSU fan led starts to light up and then immediately blinks out. As if an internal safety is kicking in. So all seems well until that 12v cable is connected. That would indicate a motherboard problem right?

Given the fact that I had SERIOUS problems installing windows (summary)

- 6 or 7 windows installs failed due to "cant read file" or "invalid data"
- 3 windows installs were succesful but resulted in an unstable enviornment
1st windows install: many apps would not launch and various windows errors
2nd windows install: got only a desktop background with no toolbar or Start Menu, from Task Manager I realized that Explorer was not even running and would not launch (in fact at that point Notepad was the only application that I found to be launchable from the Task Manager)
3rd install: Everything seemed fine, was able to install all drivers and utilities, at that point system completely lost power and ceased to power up.

These things lead me to believe that a faulty motherboard is causing data corruption. In addition there seems to be a power issue which killed two optical drives. My PSU is good and the fact that a second PSU failed to power up this rig would seem to substantiate that.

My assumption from all of this is that my motherboard needs to be RMA'd and that further testing will find it to be faulty.

Any opinions on my opinions here?

Judas · Dec 17, 2004, 04:16 AM

sounds like your getting the same thing i did (aside from multiple reinstalls of windows)... i had with my X-Connect psu... it worked BEAutilfully for about 2 weeks.. then suddenly popped up an error.... though nothing of it..... 2 days later another more serious error.... thought nothing of it as i had been screwing with the system... 1 day later, hit the power button, lights flashed then nothing... hit the power button any number of times with zero results..... flip the psu switch at the back.. retry would result in the leds flashing again.... but nothing after...

popped the psu in my other rig... same results... popped a different psu in the system that wouldn't boot.. and it fired up...

ATM, my x-connect won't even fire up a P1 75mhz AT asus board with 64mb of ram and a 1.6gb hardrive not to mention a 4x cd-rom... so apparently something DEFINITELY wrong (leds come on and the hardrive gets a jolt... but any attempt and turning it on from that point doesn't do anything)

Necrosis · Dec 17, 2004, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyBum

The system will not power up whether using the original X-Connect OR using another working power supply. However, If I place a jumper between pin 4 and pin 6 on the power supply 20 pin cable (as detailed in the Koolance manual for priming the pump) the psu powers up just fine. A real clue here however is that (using the jumper), if the 12v cable is present between the PSU and motherboard, the PSU fan led starts to light up and then immediately blinks out. As if an internal safety is kicking in. So all seems well until that 12v cable is connected. That would indicate a motherboard problem right?

Definitely sounds like the the MB is pardon my french is F_____D. Your PSU is doing that to protect itself (called "Crowbaring") which definitely does say something is wrong on the MB end of things. It also may of even been something as simple as a IDE cable /w a bad wire causing intermittent issues with ground and/or a data line. Not that is matters much now since if it was that it wiped out 3 things from your sytem. I wouldn't recommend using those ide cables any more to be safe.

shadowfield · Dec 17, 2004, 04:49 AM

A few months back i was having some major problems with the stability of my computer, the problem? the ide cable died and was causing my dvd burner to mess everything else up... somehow. so if you keep using the same cables, try swaping them out for new ones. i hope you get your new rig up soon! i bet the nforce 4 will be pretty wicked once its running.

SkyBum · Dec 17, 2004, 06:11 AM

I've yanked my mobo and repackaged it for RMA (I hope I dont regret it cause I've not yet gotten RMA authorization) Ultra is going to replace my PSU at no charge so with both of those replaced (and some new data cables) I'll try all of this again in a couple of weeks.

tEckniks · Dec 17, 2004, 09:06 AM

this thread scares me to build my own pc

SkyBum · Dec 17, 2004, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tEckniks

this thread scares me to build my own pc

aw hell, don't worry....few people have as bad of luck with electronics as I do.

It's just bad luck you are reading here, nothing more.....give it a shot.

Drakon · Dec 17, 2004, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SkyBum

I've yanked my mobo and repackaged it for RMA (I hope I dont regret it cause I've not yet gotten RMA authorization) Ultra is going to replace my PSU at no charge so with both of those replaced (and some new data cables) I'll try all of this again in a couple of weeks.

good luck...

Dec 16, 2004, 09:20 AM	#1
SkyBum HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Look up! Posts: 234 Rep Power: 0	Nforce 4 rig takes a major dump. My personal hell.... (Specs below) I'm very worried about my new a8n Deluxe..... I initially had very good luck with this new build. Installation of hardware went fine, windows install went fine, all seemed well. Then I started noticing that certain programs would not launch and a few software apps could not install, soon after that I started getting various error messages (mini dump was the first what ever that means). I went to control panel and tried to open system so I could check device manager (error message, system window wont even launch) at that point I did a reformat to reinstall windows. I kept getting error messages during install, mostly "can't read/open file" but I kept persisting. Each time it would be a different file that was the problem. After four or five reformat and reinstall attempts using 2 different optical drives and 2 different XP install discs I finally got windows to install. It booted to the desktop but there was only the default desktop screen but no toolbar or icons. I checked checked task manager and explorer was not even running. Nor would it launch from there. I was able to launch notepad but that was it. More reformatting and several more failed attempts with windows and I finally got windows back up and everything seemed fine again. I installed all drivers & utilities and every thing seemed perfect. Damn, I was pretty stressed after 5 hours of that so I figure hey it's all set now, I should throw in a DVD and chill for a bit. Goddamned if at that moment my system just shut down cold. No warning no smoke no nothing. It was dead as a doornail. I let it sit for a bit and then hit the power button again, I got a quick flash from the power supply (LED's not sparks) and that was it. Power supply LED fan starts to light for a half second then nothing. Tried that twice more same result. Man I'm freaking out so I pull my 2 optical drives and put them back in my old rig figuring to watch that DVD and CHILL. Guess what? They are no longer recognized in my old system. They dont even show up. Their not fried, the trays open up but there is no longer a DVD/CD drives listed in device manager. What gives here? It like they no longer exist. Despite my best efforts I could not get them to be seen from the moment they left my new system. Where do I even start to trouble shoot this problem? WTF is going on with this system? Between the install weirdness and then what seems like a short and now my optical drives BOTH fubar in my old rig I don't even know WHAT to think..... What a completely rotten evening, Im gonna upchuck if I even think about it much more. ANy suggestions? Is this as bad as it sounds or could there be a simple explanation? EDIT: I should mention that the first thing I did was check for any water leakage and it was dry as a bone, temps just before the time of failure were 30c CPU /31c MB. __________________

Dec 16, 2004, 07:22 PM	#2
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	I don't know but Id say reseat everything, run a memory tester on your ram...... whould be my first move..... (didn't over clock now did ya?) __________________

Dec 16, 2004, 09:15 PM	Thread Starter #4
SkyBum HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Look up! Posts: 234 Rep Power: 0	No overclock. I'll post some results on the PSU and opticals in a bit. I agree, the opticals have to be dead. I'll know for sure in a while. __________________

Dec 16, 2004, 10:00 PM	#5
riles9262 Driverheaven brewmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 4,842 Rep Power: 72 System Specs	hopefully that's all that's wrong...tough luck dude. __________________ A beer a day keeps the doctor away.

Dec 16, 2004, 10:04 PM	#6
Prod1702 DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Eagan, MN Posts: 45 Rep Power: 0	just a guess try useing a diffneret install CD for windows makes some of hte files are F***. most llikely that isnt it but it doesnt hurt to ask or try. I will never buy ASUS again after having hte mobo i have now i have had 3 of them and they are still crap. i am going to stick with Abit, MSI, or Gigabtye. I have seen alot of ppl having problems with ASUS mobos __________________ Core 2 Q6600 GO @ 3.75ghz/1.42v Thermaltake ToughPower 1000W Thermaltake Armor Series Black Case LITE-ON 20X DVD burner SATA WD 2x320 SATA 3gb Raid 0 Win 7 64bit 7200 Evga 780i P07 bios Evga 2x8800GTX Superclocked 655/1680/2160 Corsair Dominator 4x1gb PC2 8500 5-5-5-14 2T Auzen X-Fi Prelude 7.1

Dec 16, 2004, 08:22 PM	#3
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	Do you have another PSU laying around that you could try out? Weird with the cd drives no longer working even in another rig.

Dec 16, 2004, 10:33 PM	#7
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	sounds like a dead optical drive....which would cause certain files to not copy properly.

Dec 17, 2004, 01:36 AM	#8
Geminiwave I Have lovely Breasts Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: In the closet... Posts: 5,395 Rep Power: 64	well the PSU is definatly faulty. What probably happened is that you had a power surge when you hit the on button that wiped the firmware off the optical drives when they started up. most likely they are toast. RMA them if you can. __________________

Dec 17, 2004, 03:20 AM	Thread Starter #11
SkyBum HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Look up! Posts: 234 Rep Power: 0	Update: (my technical knowledge is limited so go easy on me with regard to what I have to say here) PSU is ok, 2 optical drives are DOA. The opticals will eject the trays but they were not recognized as being present on either of the two systems I tried them on, leading me to believe that they were killed through the EIDE cable and not from a power spike on the 4-pin cable. I checked the PSU in bios several times during this saga and each time the voltages were very solid and well within specs. The system will not power up whether using the original X-Connect OR using another working power supply. However, If I place a jumper between pin 4 and pin 6 on the power supply 20 pin cable (as detailed in the Koolance manual for priming the pump) the psu powers up just fine. A real clue here however is that (using the jumper), if the 12v cable is present between the PSU and motherboard, the PSU fan led starts to light up and then immediately blinks out. As if an internal safety is kicking in. So all seems well until that 12v cable is connected. That would indicate a motherboard problem right? Given the fact that I had SERIOUS problems installing windows (summary) - 6 or 7 windows installs failed due to "cant read file" or "invalid data" - 3 windows installs were succesful but resulted in an unstable enviornment 1st windows install: many apps would not launch and various windows errors 2nd windows install: got only a desktop background with no toolbar or Start Menu, from Task Manager I realized that Explorer was not even running and would not launch (in fact at that point Notepad was the only application that I found to be launchable from the Task Manager) 3rd install: Everything seemed fine, was able to install all drivers and utilities, at that point system completely lost power and ceased to power up. These things lead me to believe that a faulty motherboard is causing data corruption. In addition there seems to be a power issue which killed two optical drives. My PSU is good and the fact that a second PSU failed to power up this rig would seem to substantiate that. My assumption from all of this is that my motherboard needs to be RMA'd and that further testing will find it to be faulty. Any opinions on my opinions here? __________________

Dec 17, 2004, 04:49 AM	#14
shadowfield DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 117 Rep Power: 0	A few months back i was having some major problems with the stability of my computer, the problem? the ide cable died and was causing my dvd burner to mess everything else up... somehow. so if you keep using the same cables, try swaping them out for new ones. i hope you get your new rig up soon! i bet the nforce 4 will be pretty wicked once its running.

Dec 17, 2004, 06:11 AM	Thread Starter #15
SkyBum HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Look up! Posts: 234 Rep Power: 0	I've yanked my mobo and repackaged it for RMA (I hope I dont regret it cause I've not yet gotten RMA authorization) Ultra is going to replace my PSU at no charge so with both of those replaced (and some new data cables) I'll try all of this again in a couple of weeks. __________________

Dec 17, 2004, 09:06 AM	#16
tEckniks DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 115 Rep Power: 0	this thread scares me to build my own pc __________________ [color=navy][color=lightblue] Made by Razgriz Lian Li PC-65B[/color] [color=red]\| [color=MediumTurquoise][color=LightBlue]OCZ Powerstream 520w psu[/color] [/color]\|[/color] [color=lightblue]AMD 4400+ X2 [/color][color=red]\|[/color] [color=lightblue]Asus A8N-32 Sli Deluxe[/color] [color=red]\| [/color][color=lightblue]1gig (2x512mb) OCZ Platinum PC3200[/color] [color=red]\|[/color] [color=lightblue]Audigy X-Fi[/color] [color=red]\| [color=lightblue]XFX Geforce 7900GT Extreme[/color][/color] [color=red]\|[/color] [color=lightblue]250gig Western Digital HD[/color] [color=red]\|[/color][color=lightblue] Lite-on DVD-R w/ Lightscribe[/color] [color=red]\|[/color] [color=lightblue]Klipsch 5.1 Ultras[/color] [color=red]\|[/color] [/color][color=lightblue]Window XP home [/color]