First boot new rig, screen is all messed up, screen has a Matrix text

[nekon]

Hey guys!

 

I'm having a problem with a machine I just built:

 

 

The screen flickers with gibberish in a Matrix kind of way.. sometimes being unreadable.. other times less mess.. The last two times I've powered the system up the DFI logo is clear then the mess pops up. Have any of you had anything like this happen before? The board can see the 4400+ and displays the proper amount of RAM.. I'm stumped.

 

I'm only running two sticks of RAM (slot 1 & 2), the GPU, KB, and outside of case now..

 

I can't figure out the problem for the life of me.. it's different everytime I turn on the PC.. sometimes the DFI logo is clean.. sometimes the screen cleans up then goes Matrix style on me.. I dunno :bang: anyhow.. here is a video of my situation Right Click, Save Target As :confused: Everything is out of the box new from Newegg.. help.

[lowboy]

Put only one stick of ram in orange slot farthest away from cpu. Run memtest from bios 5passes full test and 20 passes of test #5@#8. on each stick then both before OS install.

[nekon]

Put only one stick of ram in orange slot farthest away from cpu. Run memtest from bios 5passes full test and 20 passes of test #5@#8. on each stick then both before OS install.

 

thanks for the quick reply. i've got this issue on two other boards looking for a solution since dfi-street was done most of the afternoon. currently the system is out of case on supplied mobo surface. single stick.. etc etc. So far I've cleared the CMOS and it seemed to clear things up but the longer the system eventually the Matrix effect comes back and gets worse.

 

Some people believe my situation may be the result of software ie. GPU BIOS vs MOBO BIOS.. some members at PlanetAMD64 think it's a heat issue with the BFG 6900GT OC. I have no other compatible video cards to swap.. no other PSUs.. and I've tried each stick of RAM.

 

either way I have no ideas left and I've been waiting for a BFG rep on the phone for over thirty minutes already.. I'm just happy this forum is working again because I want someone to tell me a fix a BIOS flash away! i can dream can't I

[nekon]

I just got off the phone with BFG's 3rd party tech support rep and he told me this is a bad card. He quickly issues me an RMA number and informed on thier RMA policy. I pay to ship out and they ship back 3-5 days. I could go through newegg and exchange or try to swap it out with another 7800GT but I'm not sure what I want to do.. I waited this long, I just wish it would work. I was told there are no BIOS for BFG cards.. as a last resort I'm going to flash the motherboard with the latest offical release.. my BIOS is 11/02/05 so everyone keep your fingers crossed.

[RGone]

BFG's 3rd party tech support rep and he told me this is a bad card. He quickly issues me an RMA number

 

The vid rep tells you it is a bad card so you are going to flash the bios on the motherboard? Right!

 

Unless I missed something in translation of what you said earlier; you said this had happened now on 3 motherboards. BFG says it is the video card! Already got rma number for the video card but you are flashing the board bios!

 

Humh? I think you are in for a lot of problems ahead.

 

RGone...

 

Edit:

i've got this issue on two other boards looking for a solution since dfi-street was done most of the afternoon

Ok the phrasing had lost me. With the done instead of down; I missed that you actually were saying you had 'made posts' to two other forums seeking an answer. RMA the video card.

[nekon]

lol your post was a nice read.. The tech guy was 3rd party and it seemed he didn't know anything I was talking about.. the mobo BIOS is 11/02/05 why not flash it with the newer release.. who knows, it couldn't hurt..? If nothing works tonight I'll send it out first thing tomorrow morning.

[Curtybob]

I've had that happen before, it was the video card both times. Once was my brothers card, fan quit working, and the core was frying itself. I happened to hear his fan sqeak a little bit and decided to take a peak to see what the noise was. That time it was kinda like yours... dark screens and low resolutions helped for a few minutes, but it was still broke. The other time was when putting a GPU waterblock on an AGP 6600GT. I got a little careless and cracked the corner of the core. It still booted fine, but a few hours after running Windows, the PC restarted and the weird flippy text started in.

 

Not sure whether the 7800 uses an IHS or not, but if you handle the heatsink roughly, you could damage the core. Could also just be a bad card from the factory.

 

Good luck, hope you get it sorted.

[nekon]

Thanks Curlybob, it was the video card. I've decided to return the BFG to Newegg and try to swap it for a eVGA 7800GT N517.

 

BFG wants me to pay to ship DOA card back for RMA and wait about 7 business days for the whole process. From what I read on Newegg the eVGA customers that recieved DOA 7800GT cards get a replacement card overnight. Not to mention paid pickup of their DOA card at the arrival of the replacement. Plus newegg dropped the price of my card 25$ a day later.. and the eVGA is clocked higher and can be had with rebates for 40$ less then what I paid.

 

I'll have my finger crossed tomorrow and see if newegg will give me that great customer service so many others praise. :angel:

[Curtybob]

The egg technically doesn't do swap ups.... but if it's still in the 30-day money back period, they'll do a refund. If you want it quick and have the full amount for the 7800, get the refund RMA approved, and just place a new order. Then you'll have it as fast as you feel like paying for, but will have to wait for the refund payout until they recieve and inspect the card.

[nekon]

Thanks for the info, I'll update the thread tomorrow when everything gets sorted out.

[bountykiller]

Had the same problem...bad video card...waiting on my 7800gt as well back from newegg...they replaced mine NP. SHould be here today... Not being able to game over the weekend kinda sucked though...so I just went out and drank a lot instead

[nekon]

I felt the same way.. I went out and got a 16MB NVIDA PCI Video card just so I could use the damn PC. :sad:

 

I just printed out my RMA stuff.. I returned my DOA BFG 7800GT OC and the Mushkin RAM. My card had the artifacts and my RAM must have just be incompatible. After posting here, PCPer, and at the Mushkin support forums we couldn't get that RAM to run. So I ordered the eVGA 7800GT N517 470/1100 and a OCZ 2x1GB Platinum PC3200 dual kit.

 

Funny thing is I raised my performance eVGA 7800GT is clocked faster then the BFG. Plus running OCZ 2x1GB 1T over Mushkin 4x512 2T will help out too.. Oh and not to mention after MIRs and the headaches I saved $74.00. :nod: