Is 1 red diagnostic led indicative of a bad vid card or bad BIOS or bo

[Informationator]

My question never got totally answered in my other thread so I just wanted to make a quickie. Thanks .

[lowboy]

What part do you not understand?

Here is the way to read the Diagnostic LEDs.

 

4 LEDs on = Power applied, checking CPU

3 LEDs on = CPU has been detected OK, checking RAM

2 LEDs on = RAM has been detected OK, checking VGA

1 LED on = VGA has been detected OK, entering BIOS

0 LEDs on = System has booted to the Operating System.

 

As long as you are in the BIOS including running memtest from the BIOS option, there will be one LED on.

 

Example: If you are getting 3 LEDs on, it means the rig is having trouble detecting the RAM.

 

The lower(PCI) Amber LED is the 5VSB indicator. The upper Amber LED is the RAM voltage indicator. Once the rig has started and been shut down the RAM LED will go out until the PSU is power cycled.

[Guest Blooz1]

This thread by ExRoadie has the LED codes:

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...611&postcount=4

[Informationator]

What part do you not understand?

Here is the way to read the Diagnostic LEDs.

 

4 LEDs on = Power applied, checking CPU

3 LEDs on = CPU has been detected OK, checking RAM

2 LEDs on = RAM has been detected OK, checking VGA

1 LED on = VGA has been detected OK, entering BIOS

0 LEDs on = System has booted to the Operating System.

 

As long as you are in the BIOS including running memtest from the BIOS option, there will be one LED on.

 

Example: If you are getting 3 LEDs on, it means the rig is having trouble detecting the RAM.

 

The lower(PCI) Amber LED is the 5VSB indicator. The upper Amber LED is the RAM voltage indicator. Once the rig has started and been shut down the RAM LED will go out until the PSU is power cycled.

The reason I asked is because there seems to be more than one interpretation to the chart. For example, is VGA being tested during the moment the 1 LED is on or was it tested prior to the 1 LED and is BIOS being tested?

 

My Award BIOS is giving the standard beep code for VGA error, yet your chart seems to indicate that VGA is fine on one LED.

 

That's the confliction that I'm having trouble understanding.

[lowboy]

It is showing the vga card has been detected it is not saying everything is OK with the card. Your beep codes can show a problem with card though. If you get no beep code you should be in bios and OS is getting ready to load. I don't know from my post what would be insulting as I just asked what part you were not understanding.:confused:

[Informationator]

It is showing the vga card has been detected it is not saying everything is OK with the card. Your beep codes can show a problem with card though. If you get no beep code you should be in bios and OS is getting ready to load. I don't know from my post what would be insulting as I just asked what part you were not understanding.:confused:

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Darnit... I'll probably have to buy a X1900 XT

 

Shucks

[lowboy]

You have PM please read.

[Guest mars]

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Darnit... I'll probably have to buy a X1900 XT

 

Shucks

1 LED will be lit until the POST is finished and it starts to boot from a drive. It could well be that the BIOS is corrupted and just needs a proper long CMOS clear. If you are not sure of the procedure, look it up in the boards (insert, delete key, 1 stick orange slot, etc...)

 

Before you buy another video card, test it in another computer - if it's broken, it won't work in any PC

[SanguineI]

Before you go running off to go buy another video card, make suuure its plugged completely in the pcie port. I know it sounds silly but one time I was working on my pc and jostled the video card out a little bit and I think I got the same diagnostic LED situation I think. I panicked for a while and made a post here till I realized my error.

 

Bummer if you have to get a new video card though.

[Guest Bulldog]

Gents:

 

To be clear on this the 4 leds are extremely simplified versions of BIOS POSTs. I advise not taking the "explanations" of the lights as presented in the manual not too literally. They should be treated as rough indicators only. The reason being the "explanations" are only reasonably accurate if the system is healthy. Take for example a system where the chipset has overheated and started to degrade. This system will often freeze at random moments. Perhaps during BIOS Boot, perhaps during OS boot, or even perhaps during an application. If it freezes at different times during BIOS boot then of course you will see different light patterns being given on the display. If in this fictional case the random "freeze" occurs at seemingly the same place then this could lead the user to falsely believe that a specific component is at fault, when in actuality the chipset was to blame the whole time. Look at at it this way, a 2 digit alfa-numeric POST code system that cycles thru a good 200 unique BIOS POSTs at boot is being compressed into a handy 4 light display with only 5 explanations being given in the manual. The leds are handy indicators, but if you want more accuracy you would need a full POST card. The DFI CFX3200 board is an example of a model that now features a full alfa-numeric POST display.