Legato895 Posted May 1, 2005 Posted May 1, 2005 (edited) first off i would like to say hi. i've posted my desperate pleas for help at ars and a few other sites, but this being my first pc build, im kinda a noob at this, so im not too well plugged into huge communities yet. my friend pointed me this way, so hopefully you can help me make an educated decision. case: generic best buy hunk of junk psu: ultra x-connect (500w) mobo: asus a8n sli deluxe cpu: a64 3500+ clawhammer ram: 2x512 crucial value ram gpu: bfg 6800gt hdd 1: 160gb sata seagate hdd 2: 34gb wd raptor sata (w/vantec cooler) opt/floppy (in retrospect, im sorry for how long this is, but i needed to explain everything i did) first off, as above says, the mother board is an asus a8n sli deluxe. i got in all the pieces 3 days ago except for the gpu. due to how new pcie based gpus were, my friend lent me a pci card, simply so i could boot and make sure everything was working. my friend who is very experienced with building computers helped me and basically did everything for me, just to make sure i didn't screw the pooch. we powered up, and everything whirred to life. this being my first build (heck, first pc) it was pretty cool... until the monitor told us nothing was connected. we tried the pci gpu in all 3 pci ports, swapped out and put the ram in various configurations, but eventually gave up. the gpu was literally 10 years old (ati mach64!) and we assumed that was the problem. all the drives spun up and everything worked. ff to 2 days later. my 6800 comes in, and like a jumping around like a school boy, i plug it in (grounding myself and the whole bit) nothing happens the 4pin atx is plugged, the 4pin molex ex plug is plugged, the 20 (don't have a 24pin adaptor yet) was plugged and the 6pin gpu was plugged. the mobo still was shinning its confidence inducing green happy light, and the gpu's red "im working" light was shinning brightly. having read a few forums about the mobo (it was a tough decision making process) i had read a few people with sli selection cards that were backwards, so i flipped it into dual mode, nothing put the gpu in slot 2 --- nothing tried mixing and matching the ram --- nothing i was getting pissed i was taking the gpu out of slot one, and due to the weird and pain-in-the-butt lever position to release the lock on the card (who comes up with these standards?!) my finger brushed against the chipset's cooling fan housing. i burnt the hell out of my finger (the fan im talking about is the small one under the gpu) the computer had been on from 5 to 10 seconds tops, just long enough to see if my monitor would see the computer and POST. essentially under no load, the north-bridge (i think) was as hot as sticking my finger in a lighter. i know these things get hot, especially the nforce4 chipset, but it wasn't even loaded with the bios screen! upon further suggestion, i found out that i may have a riser touching my board and grounding it. i than did and ran all the tests above, but out of the case, with everything only touching the anti-static bags they came with... still nothing, and still the fanhousign was burning up in a few seconds... i could feel it go from warm to hot in a second or 2... i wouldn't have been surprised if it burst into flame than and there. i checked the back of the board for scoring but nothing was seen. furthermore, i took out the battery and moved the jumpers from the left two pins to the right two for 10 seconds, to no effect (another friend suggest i do this) what it comes down to is, what should i do? i've already sent in a rma form with newegg, but i can't ship till monday. is there anything i am missing? the first impression with asus is ruined, but i can't get another board w/o losing 200$ so, yeah, thats not gonna happen. im just kinda slowly watching 1400$ slowly spin down the drain any help, suggestions or stories would mean the world to me at this point. thanks in advance. Edited May 1, 2005 by Legato895 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
E Fudd Posted May 1, 2005 Posted May 1, 2005 "the 20 (don't have a 24pin adaptor yet) " If Im reading that right I you are using the 20 pin power cable ? I don't think I would do that ? I know the ultra PWS comes with a 20 pin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest FxXP Posted May 1, 2005 Posted May 1, 2005 I notice that you have a molex plugged into the SLI molex connector on the motherboard. That is not required unless you are running an SLI system. The PCI-E power connector is the only thing you need when running one card. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoNothing Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 well, id assume if it got HOT as hell in 2 seconds, you borked it (or it came borked). If i where you id RMA it, it never hurts to make sure everythign works by getting a new one lol. (or buy one from a local store and return the borked one for cash....best buy is sooooo gullable). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legato895 Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 first off, from the ultra message boards i was told that unless im running a crazy hungry computer i wouldn't need the 24. also, i figured the 4 pin molex couldn't hurt its all boxed up and getting ready for rma for newegg... what sucks is i can only rma for a replacement, but oh well anyway, im not sure how i could have broken it... we were grounding ourselves every few minutes and the assembly was done on a glass table thanks for the help tho. apparently im the first to have this problem Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 you don't need a 24pin power supply IF yours has enough amps... however only the high grade ones do. second thing is that mobo... welcome to the hell known as "owning an post 2003 asus motherboard for your athlon". they have have a great track recrod of doing this kind of thing... and even worse yet. send it back, and ask to EXCHANGE it for the DFI board. third... grounding is not 100% fool proof. I've seen first time builders make small yet fatal mistakes. but don't feel bad we've all made them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdaddy25fb Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 you should have gone DFI man...if you want a bad@ss mobo get the SLI-DR like i have..so much better than Asus's from what ive heard all over the place...not to mention a beast overclocker.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoNothing Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 how much more is the DFI then the asus? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigred Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 I think it's actually less Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legato895 Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 well, newegg is quite clear that it can ONLY be replaced with the same thing, so... oh well i guess Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 well you can always sell that mobo on ebay and get almost all your money back and then go and get a DFI. i dont know why asus mobo have been so bad l8ly. they are ruining their rep. and dissapointing the enthusiest community. i hate my board, but the DFI NF3 ultra hasn't come out yet and i am stuck with an AGP card for now Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legato895 Posted May 2, 2005 Posted May 2, 2005 one more thing the mobo is on its way back, but on my last troubleshoot i ran, my bfg 6800gt's red light didn't light up... the fan spun up making the usual tornado-esque loud as hell noise, but unlike the other times i ran it, it's light wasn't on. this could either mean that a) the mobo finally blew (even more than before) and the gpu realized nothing was going on or b) the mobo took the gpu down with it im just wondering... could a motherboard destroy a gpu? </noob> Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now