ATI 4890 crossfire red led + max fans on some boots?

[CellarDoor]

Hey, i have 2 4890's in crossfire and have for a while now, about a bit over a year.
About a month ago i started getting this problem where the computer would boot and the Cards would run at 100% fan with 1 red led each(and no display). At first i thought my cards had both died because when i restarted it i had the same problem. I tried one more time and the system booted fine so i kept turning the pc on and off to test it and sometimes i would encounter this error and sometimes not, sometimes several bad boots in a row, sometimes several good ones in a row. I had a few custom settings on the fans and such so i set all my CCC options to default (factory) but still the same problem. I'm hoping someone can help me and i don't have to get 2 new cards because i cant really afford that.

Specs
2 4890 in CF
AMD Phenom 2 X4 965BE
Asus Crosshair 3 mobo
1000w PSU
8gb DDR3 RAM
500gb random IDE HDD I had around.

Let me know if I left any important details out.

 

[nforce4max]

Could be damage as the result of thermals, it seams as though that the cards have to warm up and once they have passed a certain temp on the next boot attempt while warm work fine. I suggest that you RMA the both of them before failure.

 

[Guest]

I think its the PSU, that was happening to me just before my PSU died, and it was an antec smart power but still it took everything else with it, everything on the 12 volt rail that is, hard disks and DVD drives were just fine though.

 

[nforce4max]

ok have you checked the volts on the 12v rail? Is hold a stable voltage of at the least 11.5v while not having large changes over a short time during use.

 

[CellarDoor]

Could be damage as the result of thermals, it seams as though that the cards have to warm up and once they have passed a certain temp on the next boot attempt while warm work fine. I suggest that you RMA the both of them before failure.

Well sometimes i wake up in the morning and its cold but the card boots is the problem, and i get this problem whan the heaters on too, as for the 12v rail no i have not but i will look into it. I also for got to mention the PSU was refurb, would that add more validity to the PSU failure theory?

Is there a period of time in which you can RMA within? It's been over a year and Ive never done this before so i don't know the policies.

 

[CellarDoor]

I think its the PSU, that was happening to me just before my PSU died, and it was an antec smart power but still it took everything else with it, everything on the 12 volt rail that is, hard disks and DVD drives were just fine though.

I could try changing the PSU, i just remembered mine was a refurb so it could be just that its giving out.

 

[CellarDoor]

This isn't looking good for me :/, 12.444v on the 12v rail which would mean its working right? I.E. the both my 4890's are toast? is there any GPU diagnostics i can do? Ive read that 1 LED on ati's are power issues so could it be that the psu fails intermittently so I wouldn't be able to check the voltage through software on the times it fails anyway as it doesn't show a display.

 

[nforce4max]

Something just doesn't add up about your machine. The voltage is a little high but you need to check how it is during use. If there are lot of quick changes ware it is changing like .3 to .5 volts as dips and spikes then maybe a more stable psu would be a good option. Now for the cards. Do you clean them and run them at a fixed fan speed? Never leave your cards at stock fan settings or they will roast.

 

[benski]

Can you try different power connectors on your power supply? I had an old machine with a 4650 and a cheapo PSU that would do that occasionally (except it was a bright blue LED) and when I switched to a different molex plug it stopped doing it.

 

[CellarDoor]

Something just doesn't add up about your machine. The voltage is a little high but you need to check how it is during use. If there are lot of quick changes ware it is changing like .3 to .5 volts as dips and spikes then maybe a more stable psu would be a good option. Now for the cards. Do you clean them and run them at a fixed fan speed? Never leave your cards at stock fan settings or they will roast.

I haven't cleaned them recently no but I really probably should, they did not run on stock fan settings until I had this problem (I would run them at 75% as opposed to 60%) so the cards developed the problem while running at 75% fan after which i set everything to default to see if that would help. But I think I've found my problem, PC booted so i downloaded speedfan and i was greeted with (under load) 4.74V (that impossible isnt it?) on the 12V rail, Something with the PSU must be messed up...

 

[CellarDoor]

Can you try different power connectors on your power supply? I had an old machine with a 4650 and a cheapo PSU that would do that occasionally (except it was a bright blue LED) and when I switched to a different molex plug it stopped doing it.

I could try that but it would be awhile before I got the chance.

 

[nforce4max]

OK there is definitively a defect some ware. The psu is either very bad or it is the board. I suggest that you do replace the unit. I wouldn't want that problem and wouldn't wait to fix as dependent on my machine as I am.

 

[CellarDoor]

OK there is definitively a defect some ware. The psu is either very bad or it is the board. I suggest that you do replace the unit. I wouldn't want that problem and wouldn't wait to fix as dependent on my machine as I am.

I believe it is the unit as I have been reading about this being a kind of common way for one to die, also it's possible whoever did the refurb just did a bad job so I will be replacing it, probably with http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4558889&Sku=U12-40502.

 

[nforce4max]

That is a nice unit or so it looks but Ultra has been very hit or miss and suggest a different brand. On newegg there are many and great choices of units. Personally I like gold rated units with 90% efficiency but they aren't cheap

There are more fish in the sea than that one. I wonder why people go with that brand.

 

[CellarDoor]

That is a nice unit or so it looks but Ultra has been very hit or miss and suggest a different brand. On newegg there are many and great choices of units. Personally I like gold rated units with 90% efficiency but they aren't cheap

There are more fish in the sea than that one. I wonder why people go with that brand.

Honestly because I can get a discount on the tiger direct ones because i know someone who works at a place in IT and the company has a deal, but if there is a better priced unit on newegg ill definitely give it a look.

This any good? I'm pretty new to this but it is gold certitified, 1000w, crossfire ready http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171056

 

[nforce4max]

Link is broken as it just sends me to the front page :/

 

[CellarDoor]

Link is broken as it just sends me to the front page :/

it was "COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RSA00-80GAD3-US 1000W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply"

 

[npapanik]

I had the exact same problem with a brand new Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 800W. Fans at full speed at boot.

I have changed the PSU with the inferior Coolermaster Silent Pro M850W. Was running fine for at least a month and today it died completely. Its back in the shop for replacement. I think I am gonna go for the Coolermaster Silent Pro Gold 1000W this time.

Running on:
AMD Phenom X4 955
MSI 890FXA-GD70
2x 4890 1GB
1 SSD
2 HDs
Corsair H50 Water Cooling