Mod NF4 Ultra -> SLI = dead board?

[Emaciated]

Hello all,

 

Long time listener, first time poster. This is going to be long winded, so I appologize in advance.

 

I recently swooped up one of the cheaper x2 3800+'s from newegg. During the same purchase I decided to get a sexy new Lian Li PC-65b from newegg as well. I separately purchased a new chipset cooler (Evercool Twinkling VGA) from SVT as per angry(happy?)/DFI's recomendation.

 

Anyways, during my upgrade I decided that modding to SLI would be fairly simple since I already had the chipset exposed. Thus, I took a razorblade, scraped the epoxy off the bridges and did a little drawing with a pencil.

 

After that I installed my new CPU (x2 3800+) into my Ultra. Booted, went to Prime the beast and it failed after about an hour. I resat the CPU, checked to make sure that there was not too much (or too little) thermal paste, replaced the heatsink and tried again with a little more CPU voltage (upped to 1.45v). Again, same problem. I then thought it was a ram problem, so I loosened timings there, added .1 (to 2.9v) more volts for good measure and tried again....only to fail again. Updated bios to a newer version....no good.

 

So now I was thinking, CPU bad? Popped my 3000+ back in, no luck, it fails prime now too (used to be great at 2.2ghz/1.5v, stable). So I ran memtest, it ran for 17 hours on default settings. Reinstalled windows, thinking it could be old drivers....didn't work though.

 

Now, I'm thinking it could be a grounding issue, so I take the motherboard and powersupply, HD and DVD out of the case, still crashes.

 

Last shot was to undo the SLI mod using an eraser, acetone and isopropyl alcohol.

 

Throughout this entire adventure I had been using anti-static wrist bands, all of my power connectors are connected and I tried booting with an old PCI card just in case it was power supply related. I did a few CMOS clears just to be safe as well. I even underclocked my CPU, didn't work. I'm sure I forgot some things that I tried.

 

So, did modding to SLI bork my motherboard, or can you folks think of anything else to try?

 

Thanks in advance

[cull]

Were you using the CMOS reloaded? And did you use it after you cleared your BIOS? Well first off try doing the 24 hour clear that is on this page, http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...04&postcount=24 and dont reload to any of your old CMOS settings. First try with as few bios options as you can after your done with the clear.

[Emaciated]

Ok, so I tried the CMOS clear as was suggested. A full 24 hours, then tested with one stick of RAM in the board, ran memtest for a few hours just to be sure. No errors with memtest. Tried to install windows again, BSOD. Great, so maybe a hard drive issue? tried a different HD, bsod again.

 

Any other ideas?

 

*edit* didn't use CMOS reload

[Guest GripS]

Read your first post over a couple of times and i have a couple questions. Did you have this system up and running with your 3000+ before doing the mod? Are you running the RAM in the orange slots?

 

Ok one more question. When you cleared the CMOS did you load optimized defaults, restart then set the timings manually?

[Emaciated]

Yeah, the 3000+ was working fine before the SLI mod/new case/new chipset fan

 

I followed the directions exactly as "if you don't do it exactly it will not work" as per the suggested link.

 

I have one 512mb stick in the slot marked dimm2, which is orange

 

I am so confused....:confused:

[Emaciated]

Is it strange that memtest will run for over 17 hours but XP will not install without BSOD'ing?

 

Anything else that anyone can think of trying?

[Guest GripS]

tough one. Try experimenting with the ram slots. I know you have probably done this already but this is what i would do: 1. Long CMOS clear. 2. Out of the case setup with only CPU, 1 stick of ram, video card, hard drive, and CD/DVD rom drive. 3. Attempt to install windows.

 

Several hard disk diagnostic tools are available. Most, if not all, manufacturers have one available for download from their website.

 

OR you could just pick this up: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ Awesome free utility.

[Emaciated]

Thanks GripS,

 

I have tried what you suggested above to no effect. I've also tried different hard disks with the same results.

 

In your experience would you lean more toward an issue with the PSU or motherboard?

 

Can anyone else think of anything?

 

Mods, maybe move this back to the nf4 forums because it is more of an issue with the motherboard and not the actual modifications done to it?

[Guest GripS]

Heh. I wouldn't rule the modification out. Tough to say at this point what is going wrong. Can you see the text on the blue screen long enough to see what error is being reported?

[Emaciated]

well, I decided that I would start writing them down after the first few, it's never a specific file, just a memory address

 

0x0000008E was the last one that I got...the computer doesn't immediately reboot after each bsod, I have to manually do so.

 

I think (note: think) the one before that was 0x0000007* (* meaning that I don't remember what else was there).

 

A google search on the former error says maybe RAM issues, but I can memtest fine for 17+ hours.

 

edit: thank god for google search history, one of the BSOD's was 0x00000024 and I saw a IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL too, not sure of the hex

[Guest GripS]

Hmmmm. I do notice not many here are using geil ram. Maybe the motherboard just won't play nice with it. Increase the voltage to the ram a tad already?