New Rig Problem - DFI nF4 Ultra-D + Video card problems

[Schmave]

I am putting together a new rig with the following specs:

 

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D

Athlon 64 3000+ Venice

1 GB (2x512MB) Corsair Value Select PC3200

Asus PCIe Geforce 6600 GT

Antec Neo Power 480W PSU

etc.

 

After setting up the system everything was working fine. I was able to install Windows, plug in all my drives, etc. I tried installing a few programs and everything was working fine. Then I installed and ran the nanu (mermaid) nvidia demo for NV40 cards. The demo ran for about 10 seconds, and then the monitor lost its signal from the video card. The music from the demo kept playing for a few seconds and then stopped. I tried rebooting, and could not get a video signal back. I then tried re-seating the video card and still had no luck.

 

I then noticed that the diagnostic lights on the motherboard showed 3 of 4 LEDs lit when I tried powering the system on. According to the manual, 3 LEDs corresponds to CPU Detected.

 

I then tried booting the system without the video card installed. This time the boot sequence got all the way to VGA Detected (1 LED on). So without the video card in, the system passed all the tests System Startup, CPU Detected, and DRAM Detected. With the video card plugged in, it only passes System Startup, then hangs on CPU Detected. I've tried clearing the CMOS and that did not help.

 

Is it possible my video card got hosed? I find it unlikely that running a graphics demo could kill my video card (unless the heatsink was not on correctly). I have the stock heatsink on the video card and was not overclocking at all. However, I don't have another PCIe graphics card that I could use to test in the system.

 

Has anyone had a similar problem? I tried using the other PCI-E x16 slot and the system booted as if no video card was installed (booted all the way to VGA Detected). Any help would be appreciated as this is a strange problem and I want to get the system working.

[willyrybone]

Alot of ppl have had problems getting up and running with any kind of value ram and specically corsair (not b/c it's the worst, just b/c its what most ppl with value ram have)

 

i guess some quick things make sure you have all the connections made to the motherboard (4pin molex and floppy connector)

 

try ram in other slots

 

try one stick at a time

 

If you have any old ram PC2700 ... what ever ... put it in, You need to at least get the board to post so you can make some changes in the bios ... I know there is a specific tread on getting up and running with value ram ... also look in the OC Database ... i saw someone withs Corsair ValueSelect running a 2.5 GHz ... seems like if you can get those setting put in you should at least be able to bood at stock speeds

 

Just looking at your list of hardware I would really lean towards you ram being the problem ... if you can get it to post any of these ways i would say find a friend

 

test their hardware(RAM and/or Videocard) in your pc, test your hardware in their pc should be able to find the problem for sure if you try all of that

 

use the search feature to look for threads on Corsair Value Select .... see if any one else has had this problem and see how they fixed it

[oliveryochest]

what bios version are you using???

[Schmave]

I'm not sure what BIOS version I am using (it is whatever came with the board). I did not check when I was able to boot and now I am unable to boot, so I can't check the version.

[Equlizer]

Hi there.

had the exact same problem.

New videocard put it in got 3 led.

Tried a biosflash and other cpu.

Turned out the videocard was dead. realy strange.

 

I am putting together a new rig with the following specs:

 

DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D

Athlon 64 3000+ Venice

1 GB (2x512MB) Corsair Value Select PC3200

Asus PCIe Geforce 6600 GT

Antec Neo Power 480W PSU

etc.

 

After setting up the system everything was working fine. I was able to install Windows, plug in all my drives, etc. I tried installing a few programs and everything was working fine. Then I installed and ran the nanu (mermaid) nvidia demo for NV40 cards. The demo ran for about 10 seconds, and then the monitor lost its signal from the video card. The music from the demo kept playing for a few seconds and then stopped. I tried rebooting, and could not get a video signal back. I then tried re-seating the video card and still had no luck.

 

I then noticed that the diagnostic lights on the motherboard showed 3 of 4 LEDs lit when I tried powering the system on. According to the manual, 3 LEDs corresponds to CPU Detected.

 

I then tried booting the system without the video card installed. This time the boot sequence got all the way to VGA Detected (1 LED on). So without the video card in, the system passed all the tests System Startup, CPU Detected, and DRAM Detected. With the video card plugged in, it only passes System Startup, then hangs on CPU Detected. I've tried clearing the CMOS and that did not help.

 

Is it possible my video card got hosed? I find it unlikely that running a graphics demo could kill my video card (unless the heatsink was not on correctly). I have the stock heatsink on the video card and was not overclocking at all. However, I don't have another PCIe graphics card that I could use to test in the system.

 

Has anyone had a similar problem? I tried using the other PCI-E x16 slot and the system booted as if no video card was installed (booted all the way to VGA Detected). Any help would be appreciated as this is a strange problem and I want to get the system working.

[Schmave]

Hi there.

had the exact same problem.

New videocard put it in got 3 led.

Tried a biosflash and other cpu.

Turned out the videocard was dead. realy strange.

 

Was your video card dead to begin with? Mine was at least working for a little while today until I ran that graphics demo. Could running a program like that kill the card?

[Equlizer]

The card worked for about a week.

Then all of a sudden it died.

Stock cooling on both graphic card and cpu.

Gonna get a new dfi card also on rma , just incase there is something wrong with it.

[oliveryochest]

do you have a spare card to try????

if you can, flash the bios to 510-2

[BOJAICR]

I flashed my BIOS and alot of things changed.I Got rid of BSOD and some other issues.Prolly this solves alot of things

[Schmave]

Alright, here's the current situation. I found an old PCI video card in the garage and plugged it in. Low and behold, the system boots up just fine. It gets into windows and everything works fine (well, aside from the PCI video card being a piece of crap). It looks like my brand new video card got hosed from running a graphics demo. The only reason I can think this would happen is if the stock heatsink wasn't making adequate contact with the GPU. Grr...

 

I guess now I can try flashing the BIOS...and try getting a replacement video card.

[willyrybone]

Man I thought those cards are supposed to shut themselves off b4 they melt ... haha

 

guess it's best you find out you have a bad card now than in a few months when you can't RMA it anymore

[Schmave]

I had another thought: let's hypothesize that the card isn't broken and still works. Do you think a BIOS update or a change to the PCI Express settings in the BIOS could fix the problem? The reason I ask is because the board boots differently when the card is placed in different slots. If I stick it in the top slot (PCIE-1), the board does not go through it's boot sequence at all. If I put the card in the lower slot (PCIE-4), the board goes through the boot sequence and stops at VGA Detected. I really wish I had another card to test in the board...but could changing the PCI-E settings in the BIOS possibly fix the problem?