Encountering red dots in BIOS.please help

[saumya]

Hi guys,
I bought my pc a few days back and when i switched it on for the first time connected to a 15'' crt, i got a very distorted and almost unreadable image of that "insert bootable media" message.

So, i connected a friends 17'' crt and now the image was fine but i always had a problem of red dots appearing in bios, so i tested it with a 20'' lcd to find those red dots unaltered, also when i tried rating my system with windows 7, my screen used to flicker followed by BSOD when media decoder thing started.

So, i took it to dealer who called a so called engineer, he tried removing and reinserting ram and that system rating problem was solved, but that red dots thing remained uncured, with an exception that it used to disappear sometimes.

Now the problem is that when i boot my pc for first time everyday, i get wierd colored squires instead of win7 login screen and if i try playing any game screen flickers a lot, if i go to bios, i find those red dots there but after rebooting that windows problem gets solved (havent checked bios) and games start running smoothly.

I own an OCZ Platinum and running everything at default bios setting. (That RAM has 5-4-4@2.1V written over it), could this be causing the problem.

Config:

Phenom II X2 550
Asus M4A78-EM/1394
OCZ Platinum6400 2GB (2 such sticks)
MSI HD 4870 1GB
Windows 7 32 bit

Here are the pics from bios

By saumya9888 at 2009-12-27

By saumya9888 at 2009-12-27


Also wanted to tell that currently i'm using my old 15'' crt. Why didn't it work for the first time.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[Shadow703793]

1. Download Memtest86+ and check the RAM. Make SURE your RAM is set to get 2.1v. The standard JDEC voltage motherboard provides for RAM is 1.8v which is quite a bit lower than the needed 2.1v.

2. Download ATI Tool and run "Scan Artifact" test. If it detects artifacts you have a bad or under powered GPU.

3. What are the temps for the GPU and CPU?

4. What PSU?

 

[redgarl]

It doesn't mean it's related to the motherboard or the bios, it seems like a video drivers problem. It could be your video card... and I strongly advice that you check that. Check also Asus forum, you will get a better answer.

Artifacts are not necessary related to an underpowered card, it's more about a damaged GPU, an overheated gpu or bad drivers. If your power supply is not powerful enough, you will get message from Catalyst or Nvidia control panel telling you so... and some dangerous BLUE pages (personal experience)...

I got a pretty similar motherboard and I got the same RAM as you without any problem, an Asus M4A78T-E with some OCZ platinum DDR3 1600. It seems your video card is messed up. You will need to use the IGP (Integrated Graphic Processor) of your motherboard. Plug your CRT on your motherboard VGA connector and check if the problem is still there. If it's not, you found your answer.

Also, the IGP need to be activated in the BIOS. At default settings it is the case, but you should check it out anyway... it's easy to find.

 

[saumya]

Download Memtest86+ and check the RAM. Make SURE your RAM is set to get 2.1v. The standard JDEC voltage motherboard provides for RAM is 1.8v which is quite a bit lower than the needed 2.1v.

Yes the default voltage for RAM is 1.8V in my mobo. So I changed it to 2.1 to find the problem still there.
I ran memtest for 3 hours and it didn't find any errors (both at default settings and changed to 2.1V )

This cannot be temperature problem because this happens only first time of the day i switch on the pc, after subsequent restarts everything works as charm.

Actually i didn't know that onboard graphics can be used with graphics card mounted so i removed my graphics card and connected it to onboard graphics. As i said, its a matter of chance whether it happens or not so i have to give it at least a day or two to be sure. Didn't see that problem though but its too early to say.

And yes i have Corsair VX450.

Thanks for replies.

 

[saumya]

Okay, gave my graphics card for replacement.
Thanks for all the support.