New build frustrations

J

Jimbles

New Member
Hi all,

So this was my first build and it all went off surprisingly well...posted the first try and everything was good until I tried to play SCII, Portal 2, or anything remotely graphics intensive. I started getting flickering in the bottom half of the screen, random artifacts, and then it would crash every 20-30 min. I thought, of course it is something with the video card, so I tried various driver versions with no luck. Then I reinstalled Windows 7 on a different hard drive, still no luck.

So I returned the video card (a Sapphire Radeon 5850) and got an EVGA Nvidia GTX 460. Same exact problem with the new card. I tried switching PCI slots, various drivers, different power connectors, updating my bios to the latest version. I also ran memtest86 to rule that out and got 0 errors.

I checked the temps of the card under full load and it doesn't get above 55c. I even tried my old 8600 GT which I know is fine and got the same problem.

Any ideas before I start scrapping more parts?


Here are the rest of the specs:

- Corsair 600w PSU
- MSI 870s-g46 motherboard
- AMD Phenom II x4 965 black edition 3.4ghz
- Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 8gb (2x4gb)
- Nvidia 460 GTX
- Windows 7 64bit Home edition

Thanks,
Jimbles
 
Well I'm not sure what the recommended power is for your graphics cards that you tried, but it could have something to do with your PSU only being 600w. If I am wrong, I hope somebody corrects me. But that is one thing I noticed. Also, have you taken the computer apart and checked all your components to make sure none of them have bent prongs in the connectors or on the components themselves(e.g. CPU, as my RL friend had that problem)? Hope this helps.
 
I do not think the power supply is the issue. Have you tried wiping the hard drive and then reinstalling Windows?
 
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Yeah, I wiped hard drive and even tried doing a clean install on a different hard drive as well.

I really doubt it's the PSU, the manufacturer says that 450w is sufficient. I'll try checking for bent prongs though
 
Alright, I wasn't sure about the PSU because I don't really know enough about them, but it was just a thought. Yeah he was lucky that he found the bent prongs before he put it all together. And that may not be it, but it was just an idea because it would definitely screw up your computer. And if you do have some bent prongs, research how to fix them on the internet, because many people have had that problem and fixed it, from what my friend told me anyway.
 
Scan the present hard drive for errors using Windows checkdisk.

You may also want to try a different working hard drive with your motherboard and completely unplug the present drive. Install your operating system on the other hard drive and see if you still have issues.

Edit: Also try unplugging all the power supply wires and others then plugging them all back in. Also pull out and reseat the RAM modules as well.
 
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I actually ran into a similar issue with a client's PC recently. For some reason, some of the i3-xxxx socketed boards have major issues with power settings in windows 7. Try disabling all the suspend states in your bios and windows settings. For the standby state set it to S1 as opposed to S3, also try turning down any processor voltage control features, they can cause similar problems.

The flickering though calls to mind a video card issue, have you tried removing the video card and booting up to onboard video?
 
No dice on the power settings, it was already set to S1 and I tinkered with the suspends states. Not sure if you new this but it's an AM3 socket board. Also, there is no onboard graphics, but I did try a card that I know works in it and got the same problem.

I haven't gotten around to tearing it apart yet to look for bent pins and such, probably tomorrow..... but I'm really starting to think it's the MoBo
 
Stretch1414 said:
Well I'm not sure what the recommended power is for your graphics cards that you tried, but it could have something to do with your PSU only being 600w. If I am wrong, I hope somebody corrects me. But that is one thing I noticed. Also, have you taken the computer apart and checked all your components to make sure none of them have bent prongs in the connectors or on the components themselves(e.g. CPU, as my RL friend had that problem)? Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

The cpu will not fit in the socket if the prongs are bent on it. If his computer actually turns on this is most definitely not the problem. Good guessing though.

If both of your graphic cards did not stop this problem, it unfortunately appears to be your motherboard (That is my best guess anyways).
 
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Oh well it was just a thought Manakore, because I know you didn't put it together until you fixed it, so I wasn't sure what problems he or you would have had.
 
I had the same sort of problem a while ago on a system I built for someone, it turned out I had 2 lots of graphics card drivers on the system, I deleted both and let the op system sort it out, it was in xp though so I don't know if this is still possible. Also have you tried a different monitor lead or a different type of monitor connection if you have the 2 types available.
 
Tried another monitor and got the same problem still. I have also done a clean install already on a different HDD so I guess that leaves the motherboard, luckily I'm still within the first 30 days with newegg :D
 
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