Dramien Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 Well, I am typing this from my laptop, and hopefully when I come back I can have some answers so I can type this on my "new" computer. I bought a DFI SLI-D a couple of months ago against my better judgement. I have aloways been an intel guy, and an Asus guy. But the web all pointed to DFI and AMD as being the better combo for my mostly gaming habits. I went against my judgement and I am now typing into the forum I have been reading for months now. I don't consider myself a Noob, I have upgraded and built I can't remember how many computers, but every time I turned around with this build, I ran into a snag. So, here goes my story. This is a little long, but I tried to provide as much detail as I could. Returned from Iraq, decided I had money to upgrade. Bought all the stuff above, minus the drives and went to town putting the machine together. All went without a hitch. Memory, cpu, cooler, video, 1 HDD. POST, then into the bios. Verison 2/10/2005. No big deal. Load optimized, restart, Crash reboot just after windows boot screen. Back to BIOS, load failsafe, CRASH same thing. Try different harddrive, and install DVD. Boot from XP Pro CD. SOOOOO many problems, format, fdisk, attempt to install, can't copy certain files, start over. I had two XP Pro disks, and neither was working. Try new HDD in old computer set up, no problems whatsever first attempt. Try to put HDD into new system, get to Windows Load screen, Crash. Reboot, windows loads, then Crash. Never loads again. I started doing lots of research at DFI-Street to try and find the answer. Find quite a bit of knowledge here, went on vacation and came back after the holiday to start working it again. Updated BIOS to OC beta from TMOD (I think). Boot into windows, everything seems ok, but installing drivers, I would get either the BSOD, or just crash. More forum reading, find the 2.8 volt VDimm setting, change it, stability materializes. Get all the drivers installed, everything seems to be working ok, check device manager, I have the ? next to USB controller, Try installing the drivers, but the disk says it isn't needed, it should be provided by Windows XP SP1. Hmmm I just installed SP1, Maybe I should try to reinstall. try to reinstall, get part way through install, setup can not find files. can not boot to windows again. Flash BIOS back to an earlier version, rechange voltage setting, delete partition, format, and reinstall, still have problems, got super drunk, went to bed. This morning, on a last futile attempt before I take my 1K in paperweights and use them for target practice at the pistol range, I try again. Install went off without a hitch. First boot, held the hammer up to just let it drop, booted fine. Drivers installed fine. Still a ? next to USB controller iwth lack of Driver. Time to try to get online to download all the updates. Hmmm which LAN port to use? Try one. Turns out to be the Nvidia LAN port. ENTIRE NETWORK SLOWS TO A HALT, AND WIFE GETS REALLY MAD. Try the Marvel port. Same thing. On any computer on my network, I can not dl more than a few minutes beofre the connection resets. No info at DFI Street. The most I was able to dl in a single sitting was 8.2 MB over the Highspeed connection. That was once, lately, I can not even get to the 4 MB mark. Disabled Marvel LAN as the DFI street forums suggested, and am using the NVIDIA, seems to be a little bit more stable. My computer (WOW downloader) currently says I am behind a firewall, but I have none installed, that seems odd. So, the major problems I have today are as follows: Network connectivity issues, from entire network is slowing down, to just the connection, to inability to download anything. USB says it is running at 1.1 speed, when the DFI box clearly states USB 2.0. If a USB drive is left in a slot system fails to get past POST Screen just prior to IDE Identification. No problem with USB KB or Mouse, however, but to go into BIOS, I need to have a PS/2 KB attached (This stays attached, no issues having 2 KB's attached to Mobo.) Have not restarted system since reinstalling network, so I don't know if the system still hangs when I reboot with LAN cable is connected. USB Host controller not recognized nor drivers installed for it under device manager. My best guess is that this is not infact a USB controller, but perhaps the raid controller, or another uncommon XP SP1 device. But which one? Memtest runs fine. Can not d/l or install any benchmarking software to test system performance. Every test I have run, I get no errors. HDD's and optical drives all came from old P4 system and have no issues when I swap back to it, and without the need to reinstall (one of the features of XP) the OS. Intermittant program install problems. Sometimes a proggy will install, sometimes it won't. Depends on the day. The manual seemed poorly written, and the DFI website offered very little t/s help, just the read the forums at DFI street. No detailed explanation of the BIOS setting to get the M/b running. I never meant to be an OC'r, but then I never had any issues with Asus, and their support rocked. It is well past the date I can return the merchandise, so I am kinda stuck (Part of being a hard Headed guy). The only other major issue I have is that my wife talked me into upgrading her system as well, and bought her the identical equipment I had on the same day I got mine. Her's isn't working until mine is, and she is starting to get freaky about such an unstable system. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP. I hope I was detailed enough to get some help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowboy Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 Boy I lost track of the issues but what nvidia drivers have you installed did you install active armor or network manager. Sound like you still have memory issues as mem test doesn't show how it works within windows and you do need to install with a SP2 windows disk. You may need to go back to bare bones build did you build as this shows:http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...04&postcount=49 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dramien Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 I installed neither. I remembered reading that somewhere. I installed the drivers from the DFI supplied disk, Have been unable to download any other, and when I try to move with a thumb drive, I get a corrupted error, haven't tried since I had the successful install. trying to d/l the updates, but it is taking forever. managed to finally d/l the new LAN drivers from DFI, going to try to get the NF4 drivers next after a reboot. Seems to be picking up a little in the last hour or so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 Well, the first thing is get a PSU from the approved list... http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10854 Use the build guide here... http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6615 and here... http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20832 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dramien Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 I only scored 5585 in 3dMark05, that seemed a little on the low side Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowboy Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 If sig correct and its a 6600 I wouldn't think so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dramien Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 6600 GS is correct, 256 MB on board Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dramien Posted January 8, 2006 Posted January 8, 2006 Update for everyone who has checked this out. I just finished installing a creative X-FI, and in the mean time, I fixed the LAN connectiuvity issue I was having. I am not sure if it will help anyone else out, so UI will repost it outside. It turns out that with the Linksys router plugged into the same power strip as the new computer, laptop, speakers, monitor, USB hub, external Maxtor, there was just too much power draw when the fans would kick on, making the Router Useless. Tough troubleshooting on that one, but worth checking out if people are having similar issues. I noticed that the date had changed in my router, and that when the power was off, internet speeds resumed. Comp still chugging along now for a few houras, and it is almost time to go get drunk and get some grub. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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