Mobo problems

Synesthesia

Synesthesia

New Member
Well, I built my comp and it WORKED great. Ran Prime 95 24 hours without 1 error, ran 1 mil digits super pie 14 seconds, 32 mil 16.5 minuets. I had transferred my files from the old hard drive, and discovered that not one bit of my programs work with Vista.....not even the games. So, I really tried to set up the wireless internet network asap so that I could re-download all the programs. After being unsuccessful, I contacted D-Link, and proceeded to download the Asus P5N-D drivers. Well, those morons at Asus really F*ed this one up. Basically, my system went from 100% stable to 2%. Constant BSOD's, reboots, system errors, and an assortment of other issues. So I then re-modified my Bios settings until I finally got it around 50% stable (Prime 95 for 30 minuets before errors), at the cost of 4 seconds in super pie 1 million digits :mad:
It worked ok for about 2 days until I decided to un-install the Asus mobo drivers and software. It claimed that it un-installed it, even though a message would appear ever so often saying that the Asus center has failed. Well, it got even more unstable! So I progressed to set my OCZ reaper ram timings a little higher , from 4-4-4-15 to 5-5-5-16. It made it allot more stable for a little while, so I thought I fixed the issue. A couple of hours later I came back to play some music. 10 minuets in a message comes up saying that my "I" drive has failed (The flash drive that I used for Vista ReadyBoot). It said it was checking for errors and will fix it soon. 5 minuets in, the screen went black and the computer seemingly restarted; then some cryptic looking code flashed by really fast. Then a screen came up doing what looked like a disk defragment to the flash drive......4 minuets later the comp restarted and nothing preceded to happen. I tried restarting it multiple times, tried removing various chips like the wireless adapter and USB card, reset the bios by removing the battery for 5 hours and pressing the on button for one minuet. Nada. I even tried various codes that a friend told me aboutbhow to insight a POST, but none worked. After pounding the keyboard in a rage for a while I realized that the wireless keyboard receptor was not flashing. I then attempted to plug in a few devices that light up when power goes to them through the usb...they didn't light up. The only thing that got power was my Logitech G7 mouse battery charger.....and my keyboard that only received power for a second. WHY. What did I do wrong! Did the computer F up the ready boot causing it to destroy itself!!! I hate this! I go through so much just to have it break on me! And guess what, D-Link responded to me 3 hours after it broke, with PERFECT instructions! What else can I do to make it post?
If I RMA it, I will NEVER EVER EVER install those damn drivers, or use readyboot on vista.
 
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Well...it sounds like half driver issues and half potential-bad OS install. At this Point, I think it would be safest/quickest to do a complete format or the entire drive and then reinstall. I'd then install the drivers from the MoBo CD one at a time, and do a restart after each one, even if it's not required, to try and narrow down any potential driver issues.

After that, you should be OK to start reinstalling updates/software/connecting additional hardware to the system, again restarting after each time to ensure complete operation.

It might not be what you want to hear, but it's a start to try and narrow down some of what happened.

(And no disrespect, but that first post was *really* hard to read! Can you break it up a bit next time?)
 
You don't think any physical components are damaged? Will formatting the HD actually help? It was a BIG pain in the A** to transfer all my files to the new HD and install vista the first time, for some reason. I'll wait for more suggestions, and then try formatting it tomorrow, B/c RMA'ing it is even a bigger pain.

BTW, the NB on that mobo runs very very very very hot!!! A fan IS necessary.
 
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Synesthesia said:
You don't think any physical components are damaged? Will formatting the HD actually help? It was a BIG pain in the A** to transfer all my files to the new HD and install vista the first time, for some reason. I'll wait for more suggestions, and then try formatting it tomorrow, B/c RMA'ing it is even a bigger pain.
Click to expand...

Well, at this stage, it will be easier/quicker to do a fresh install than it will be troubleshoot individual hardware components. I'm not saying rule them out completely, just put testing them on the back burner for now while we look at other stuff first.

Another reason I suggested a fresh install is because you un-installed the drivers, then tried reinstalling, then had more problems. Who's to say where the *exact* location of the problem lies, but at this point, it will be tricky to find out. By reinstalling, you'll have a clean slate to work with and finding things gone awry should be a bit easier because of it. Also, notice the part of your quote highlighted in red. Again, that leads me to believe that the original problem might have had nothing to do with the drivers, but rather just a goofed Install. What troubles exactly did you have?

Edit: It's 11:10, and I'll be heading to bed in about 5 minutes, so if I don't respond tonight, that's why. Hopefully someone else will be able to lend a hand until tomorrow.
 
Someone told me about "jumpers" on his motherboard that can be used to reset the Bios even further; I see a few on the P5N-D, but I can't tell what they do, and my manual says nothing about them.

The problems were bsod's every other time I tried to turn it on, non-posts, many more errors than before in SuperPie and Prime95, occasional frozen screens, and stats in the Asus control center that completely disagreed with cpuz. As in, the Asus program would say that my ram voltage was at 1.85, while Cpuz told me the correct voltage set in the Bios, 2.21 V. Same for the cpu, cpuz would tell me 1.42v while the other would be 1.25.

I'll try formatting it. Hope it works.
 
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No luck...I'll have to rma it. Wow, building this one computer is like building three! This is my second mobo return; (sigh) I hate taking the cpu out.
 
Well, before you RMA the MoBo, there's still one or two other things to check. Since this new install of Vista is also awry, let's look more towards the Hardware aspect. Have you tested your memory? Memtest86 is a good, free program. I believe it's one of the tools on the Vista DVD, otherwise you can download and burn it for free. Load it up and let it do it's thing for a while.

If the RAM checks out to be OK, you could also look at your PSU. What are your system specs - is your PSU able to handle everything? Do you have a second unit to swap out and replace it with for testing purposes?
 
Nothing will load on the computer, including the Vista CD or Memtest.

My PSU is a 500 Watt Ultra modular. I don't see why people think you need a 750 watt power supply these days. This computer that I'm typing on is running a ATI 850XT Pro, a 2.8 GHz Pentium 4 Hyper threading, 1 gig in total 3 sticks of ddr1 ram, a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card, AND A 300 WATT STOCK CHEAPO PSU. Its a REALLY cheap one that came with the computer, and I've never had any problems. The components for the new computer take up considerably less electricity, right? So I don't see the need for anything more than a high quality 500 watt.

And, I used a DMM to check the voltages and current across every channel while running; everything checked out.

The psu in this modded Gateway is stuck to the case, almost welded in. I have no idea how to take it out, and I can't afford to break it now since this is my only computer.
 
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