Possible video card death?

9

99-LS1-SS

New Member
I'll give you my systems specs first.

AMD ATHLON64 FX 55 CPU
ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI Chipset SATA RAID Dual PCIE MB
2 120G Seagate Hard drives running RAID 1(mirroring)
1 gig (2x512) of GeIl DDR3200 3-5-2-2 (came with the computer)
1 gig (2x512) of Corsair DDR3200 3-5-3-2.5 (just put it in)
PCI-X XFX 6800 Ultra video card
Creative Labs SB Audigy-2 ZS PLATINUM 7.1
Super Alien 500 Watt See Through Power Supply w/ Fan Speed Control
4 case fans and 2 power supply fans
Windows XP Pro SP2


Now for the problem.

I had the GeIl ram in my computer since I bought it. I just put the Corsair in 3 days ago. Well I wanted to see if the extra RAM would help my 3D benchmark score. I tried to run the test right after I put the RAM in and the benchmark program shut down after about 30 seconds into it. I didn't have time to trouble shoot it at that moment. Well, I get home day before yesterday and I re-seat the RAM (all of it) and reboot it and the computer gets hung up after the bios data finishes. So I reboot it again and it boots fine so I start messing around on the computer. I really couldn't tell much difference at all in the performance after adding the additional gig of RAM. So yesterday morning I start the benchmark test again and I have to leave for work before it gets done (it did make it past the part that hung it up the first time). It seemed to be running fine when I left but, when I got home yesterday from work I have these brown and yellow vertical lines on the right side of my monitor and the rest of it is black. So I reboot it and all the bios numbers and info that comes up when you first boot my computer come up just fine and then the black Windows screen comes up with the progress bar below the logo. But, when it tries to go to the login screen it goes balck to the brown vertical lines on the right side of the screen and the left side is black. I pulled the video card and the RAM out and re-seated both of them and I still get the messed up screen. I pulled the new RAM out and try to reboot and still get the messed up screen. I really need help with this. Thanks for any input!

edit: I did try the monitor on another computer and it worked fine.
 
hmm...hmm...

You say that even WITHOUT the new RAM installed, it still is acting up?

After installing the new RAM, I would clear your CMOS, and then try it. With the new RAM, your BIOS may be trying to run the timings/speed of both RAM at the factory settings. Since both RAM has different factory settings, one kit might not be able to handle the other's settings.

You could also go into BIOS and change the settings yourself, until you find a point where both kits of RAM work with eachother.
 
Sure.

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=98&type=expert&pid=6 This is just about every screen of your BIOS. Within here, you can change your memory settings/timings in an attempt to get both kits working with eachother. Because they both are different brand and have different settings, your BIOS attempts to make them both compatible at the same settings. However this doesn't always work, and now you might have to do it manually.

Before we do that, I'd clear CMOS for a fresh start on things. There is a jumper on your motherboard that is often yellow, and should be labeled "CMOS". Cut the power to your motherboard by turning off the PSU and wait about 30secs. Then, move the jumper over to pins 2&3 (it should be on pins 1&2). Let it sit for about 15secs, then move it back to the original position of 1&2. Then power on the machine and enter BIOS, all your settings will be set to factory defaults.

http://www.pcperspective.com/images/reviews/98/bios_03.jpg This is your memory BIOS page, when you get here you can try and set the timings for all your RAM. I would try 2.5-3-3-5 to start. You also need to set the correct voltage for the memory. Whichever kit requires more voltage is the one t oset it to. So if one kit is 2.6v and another requires 2.8v, select 2.8v for all.

Save your settings once you've configured everything and exit. If it doesn't boot, you'll have to clear CMOS again and try a different timings setting for your memory. It can be very tricky getting 2 brands of memory to work together, and sometimes it just won't work and you can't use them together. But i've used mushkin and OCZ, and all sorts of different brand memory in computers before so it's definetly not impossible.

If anyone thinks they have a better way to help him out, or just an easier way...please chime in. sometimes i miss the obvious and do everything the hard way :-/
 
Definately sounds like when you put that RAM in, it messed up some sort of setting. i think 4W4K3 is on the right track in starting from scratch, aka resetting your bios settings to factory default. I personally do not think it has anything to do with your videocard. If you still have problems after that, let us know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top