Video signal problems...bad MB?

[xthekidx]

Couple weeks ago I rebuilt an old dell dimension with an E5200 and GA-G31M-ESL2 MB. After I got the basic system up and running I decided to add on to it and I bought an XFX 9600GSO that came with two free games which I was going to buy anyways (so the GPU ended up costing like $15) and a CPU cooler so that I could overclock it and make this little thing into something respectable. The system was running for about a week or so OC'd to 3.125ghz on integrated graphics. The CPU cooler and GPU arrived to day...


Alright so I got the HSF installed and the GPU I ordered as well and now for some reason its crapping out on me. It will post fine, but about 30 sec to a minute after I power the PC on, whether I am in the bios menu or booted into windows, the video signal gets completly disrupted, sometimes it starts flashing white, blue, red and green, somtimes there are a crapload of red and green or blue lines all over the screen, and then sometimes the system just freezes up and won't respond to anything I do, I have to shut it off. I tried clearing CMOS, doesn't help. I have installed everything correctly, all cables plugged in securely and everything, no screws lose inside shorting something out or anything that I can see. I completely removed the MB and tried plugging everything back in and same problem. This happens whether I have either the the 9600GSO in the system or using the onboard graphics and pulling the GPU. It didn't happen before I installed the HSF and GPU at all. And I don't see how the HSF could be causing this problem either, but just to be sure I tried with the stock heatsink again and the problem persisted. So idk what is going on, I think the MB might be defective. I tried adding a case fan to the MB header but when I did the system wouldn't post, so I had to plug it into the PSU, and one of the PCI slots didn't recognize that I had a sound card in there either earlier, I ignored both these things because the system was running fine and I could get by with just using a different PCI slot and using the PSU instead, but I am thinking all these issues are related now. What is your take on this? Can anybody think of another reason this video problem might be happening?

 

[r_manic]

Well I'm obviously not as experienced as you, but you've eliminated the display and/or the cord connecting it to the desktop as suspects? What about your power levels?

 

[xthekidx]

Display and display cables are fine, I am using them with my other system without incident.

I reset the CMOS and Loaded the optimized defaults for the MB, all voltages on auto, everything running at stock. I haven't put the 9600GSO into my other system yet...but I don't think its the problem since the problem persists even when I pull it from the system and try to use the onboard graphics (which were working just fine earlier today...). Bios is up to date as well (F8).

 

[xthekidx]

I will give this a day or so, if no one has any ideas as to the cause of this then I will RMA, since I am fairly sure its the MB. Just wanted a second opinion before I pay shipping costs

 

[r_manic]

I'm also thinking it's the mobo... you can always check the card on your other system's motherboard, just to make sure you've got all the bases covered.

 

[Outlander_04]

Do you have the option to disable the onboard video manually in BIOS?

Have you tried any other gfx card in that machine ?

Any indications in device manager that you have driver problems? Even if there arent it might be worth manually removing all the mb drivers and rebooting in safe mode and then use a registry cleaner like ccleaner .
www.ccleaner.com

Once thats done try reinstalling the mb drivers from the disc .


PS set the cpu back to standard clock as well

 

[xthekidx]

Thanks Outlander,
No I haven't been able to use any other GPU's in this system, as my only other GPU, a GTX 260 requires 2 PCIE connectors, which the 400CX sadly cannot supply, and I am not willing to remove the PSU from this system to try it out, my cable management was a bitch to accomplish and I am not about to do it again.

I might try removing the drivers, the problem is I only get about 1 min if I am lucky before the video signal flips out and the system freezes from the time I push the power button, and it takes about 20 seconds to get into windows, and this problem occurs even in the BIOS menu (has yet to occur during POST though...I am sure it will given time) so I don't think drivers are the problem, Windows has to boot for drivers to take effect doesn't it?

If I were to do the driver thing, would I have to do all the drivers or just the integrated GMA 3100 drivers? The other drivers wouldn't have any affect on it would they?

I have been running everything at stock speeds and voltages too...

And just to be safe...the 9600GSO doesn't have like a bios incompatability with motherboards right? Aren't all GPU's pretty much guaranteed to work, at least minimally before drivers are installed? I really don't want to put the 9600 GSO into my i7 rig and have it *uck up that rig too, if that is at all possible. I'm kinda paranoid about it now since the problem didn't arise until I tried installing that GPU...

 

[dokk2]

HMMMM,given that everything worked well until the 9600 was inserted,I would suspect the old power supply,..

 

[hundredislandsboy]

"and this problem occurs even in the BIOS menu ..."

That definitely sounds like the onboard graphics ship. I've never seen one go bad in the dozens of system I've built with onboard graphics. Right now I'm running 2 G31 mobos, Intel and ECS. the only issues I know with the G31 chipset is the Northbridge runs on the hot side.
It's a possibility the onboard video chip got fried. Did you check motherboard temps while overclocking?
Another possible issue is the Dell power supply. I've owned one Dell in my life and the power supply on it was overrated.

 

[aevm]

about 30 sec to a minute after I power the PC on, whether I am in the bios menu or booted into windows, the video signal gets completly disrupted

Since it happens in the BIOS menu too, I think we can rule out software as the cause.
Since it's happening with or without the graphics card, we can rule out the graphics card too.

I'm assuming you've tried memtest86 or similar tools to check the RAM.

Yeah, I think it's the MB too.

 

[Outlander_04]

I agree its not likely to be drivers if its happening in BIOS .

Can you add a bit of voltage to the nb?

 

[xthekidx]

HMMMM,given that everything worked well until the 9600 was inserted,I would suspect the old power supply,..

The Corsair 400CX is brand new and should easily handle a 9600GSO, 30A on the 12V rail. I probably should have mentioned that, I took everything out of the old dell except the optical drives which work fine and replaced them with all new (and I thought!) high quality parts.

I will try bumping the NB voltage and see if I get anything out of that, before when I was running integrated graphics the NB didn't need any extra voltage, and so it doesn't make sense to me that it would now...I guess if the board is dying there isn't really much I can do to make this worse.

 

[xthekidx]

I'm assuming you've tried memtest86 or similar tools to check the RAM.

Ram was totally stable for 24hours stressed while it was overclocked (250x12.5 CPU) and was running at 833mhz (250x3.33) at stock voltage and timings (1.8v, 5-5-5-18 2T). Its not a memory issue.

Another thing about that was when I was trying to OC, I couldn't exceed a FSB of 250 and get it stable, anything over that and I would get errors in P95 after a couple seconds, even at 1.35v Vcore and bumping the FSB voltage, and ram voltage. I thought this was really strange, the E5200 is supposed to OC like crazy.

 

[xthekidx]

Adjusting the voltages have no effect. I am fairly certain its dead

 

[xthekidx]

It seems to be going downhill, it died twice during the POST. I'm giving Gigabyte tech support 1 more day to respond to my email then I am sending it back. Frustration.

 

[r_manic]

Keep us updated man.

 

[photonboy]

You really need to borrow a PSU if possible. It'd be a big waste of time and money to RMA a Gigabyte motherboard if it's not broken. Mine arrived 8 weeks later and was still broken from Gigabyte. There was no note, just my original motherboard which wouldn't even POST. This might not be typical.

It sounds like you stressed something when you installed the card and the only logical things are the PSU and the motherboard based on your symptoms.

 

[jsc]

xthekidx,
I have been following this thread. Puzzling problem, but I hadn't signed in because I really didn't have anything to add.

I am inclined to think that it's the motherboard. I think that a bad or inadequate PSU either wouldn't POST, or it would fail under a heavy 3D load.

 

[xthekidx]

So I got the replacement MB today, the same model as last time. I'm using right now as we speak, with the GPU installed and currently OC'd to 3.5ghz, I might decide to get crazy and push it further, we will see. It appears that it was the MB last time. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this discussion.