Reformatted and problem still occurs.

[Kishan]

Ok so after reformatting since my video card drivers could not be recognized (BFG 6800), windows kept putting me in VGASAVE mode. I reformatted today and the problem started happening again. What happens:


Computer posts, boots, get to the windows screen with the blue slider(running XP Pro SP2, happened with SP1 as well) and after that, its as if the monitor has gone into power save mode. Sometimes if I'm VERY lucky I can get into windows normally. I have tried booting with last good configurations and such and nothing works.

Please help!

Thanks,
Kishan

 

[mechBgon]

*pssst: full specs needed!*

 

[Kishan]

thanks for the tip buddy

Asus K8V Se Deluxe
Corsair XMS PC3200 RAM 2x512MB modules
Seagate 120GB SATA Hard Drive
Athlon64 2800+ Retail with Retail Heatsink
BFG 6800NU
NEC 2510 DVD+/- R/RW
Antec TruePower 430 Watt Power Supply
Samsung 997DF Monitor

Everything with the exception of the vid card which is from Best Buy is from Newegg. NOTHING is overclocked.

Thanks,
Kishan

PS: All additional rig components are in the sig.

EDIT: If this helps any bit, the mobo bios is 1004 and I am using Forceware 61.77.

 

[mechBgon]

This is probably a silly question, but you do have the auxiliary power cable plugged into the 6800, right?

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
This is probably a silly question, but you do have the auxiliary power cable plugged into the 6800, right?

yup. Its basically, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I was trying to pull out a cable under the case since it was stuck, and thats when it started to happen again! Do you think it might have to with the motherboard shorting. I know that I only have 8 of 9 standoffs installed since I lost one during the install process. The CPU is not overheating since its temperature is about 36C in the bios. Video card fan blows.

Also mechBgon, if I didn't have the video card auxilary power cable plugged in, I guess the windows loading screen with the slider wouldn't display nor the bios, correct?

Thanks,
Kishan

 

[astrotech66]

I recently had some weird computer problems where I started having registry errors and Windows would have problems booting into normal mode. I reformatted, but I ran into problems reinstalling Windows, like it couldn't copy files off of the CD. I finally traced the problems to one of my memory sticks which went bad. Once I took it out, everything worked fine. So you might try running your computer with just one memory stick in place, and then with the other one, just to see how it works. If you have problems with one and not the other, that could be the problem. If not, then at least you've eliminated your memory as a possible source of your problems.

 

[loafbred]

It sounds to me as if Windows is halting while trying to load something, and may have nothing to do with video. It might also be something turning on during bootup, such as the HDD or a combination of things, causing a failure or conflict.

Go into BIOS and disable onboard sound and NIC, unplug floppy and optical drives (data and power cables), remove any PCI cards (you didn't list any, though). Unplug all case fans. Just in case you don't know, DON'T unplug the cpu fan. If that works, you probably need to rethink the way you have your p/s cables connected to fans and drives. NEVER put fans and other components on the same cable, because fans usually send problem-causing frequencies back into the cable. Whenever possible, give the video card its own unshared cable.

 

[Kishan]

hmmm-I started using onboard sound (via SPDIF digital coax). I'll buy a sound card today and see if that fixes anything.

With regards to the memory stick, I popped one stick out, and ity started working fine. Then, it started happening again!!!! So maybe I'll try switching the current stick as well.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Kishan

 

[loafbred]

HOLD EVERYTHING! Don't start buying parts until you identify the real problem. You'll find it... it's just a matter of taking the time to remove everything and then add one thing at a time.

 

[Sideswipe001]

Originally posted by: loafbred
HOLD EVERYTHING! Don't start buying parts until you identify the real problem. You'll find it... it's just a matter of taking the time to remove everything and then add one thing at a time.

I agree. Take it slow and figure out the cause, first. You did install your motherboard drivers after reinstalling windows, right?

Try diabling everything that isn't absolutely neccesary to run the computer, and see if it is stable.

If you suspect memory then run Memtest.

 

[Kishan]

ok thanks for the tip about not buying anything. However, the problem started happening again after I tried to get that cable, so I had to jar the machine back and forth. Do you think I should basically do a rebuild install? meaning reinstall the motherboard and other components since I only have 8 standoffs installed. When I reformatted my order was:

VIA Hyperion 4in1 chipset drivers
Video Card drivers
Monitor Drivers
Onboard sound and LAN drivers

Thanks,
Kishan

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: Sideswipe001

Originally posted by: loafbred
HOLD EVERYTHING! Don't start buying parts until you identify the real problem. You'll find it... it's just a matter of taking the time to remove everything and then add one thing at a time.

I agree. Take it slow and figure out the cause, first. You did install your motherboard drivers after reinstalling windows, right?

Try diabling everything that isn't absolutely neccesary to run the computer, and see if it is stable.

If you suspect memory then run Memtest.

i took out one stick and the problem went away, then I jarred it and the poroblem came back. I guess 2 sticks couldn't be bad, or could they? Maybe the mobo is bad?

 

[Sideswipe001]

It could be the slot, too. You never know for sure. That's why I'd suggest running Memtest. That will tell you for sure if it's the RAM at all.

 

[XeonTux]

Computer posts, boots, get to the windows screen with the blue slider(running XP Pro SP2, happened with SP1 as well) and after that, its as if the monitor has gone into power save mode. Sometimes if I'm VERY lucky I can get into windows normally. I have tried booting with last good configurations and such and nothing works.

Don't rule out the possibility of the monitor starting to have difficulty with certain resolutions. Assuming you have autologin, Do you have any startup sounds that play when it normally gets to the desktop? Does your drive still churn after the screen goes black?

 

[Shagga]

It might be a voltage thing. Can you try another PSU?

 

[Kishan]

Ok after playing around with it, heres what I found out:

1. I played with every option in the BIOS-didn't work. (Guess it was a longshot for that to work.)
2. Tried two different sticks of RAM in three different slots-didn't work. (Could be faulty motherboard or RAM, but could I have 2 bad retail sticks of Corsair XMS RAM?)
3. Connected computer to different monitor, and it didn't work. (Monitor is good.)
4. Today I left the computer unplugged and flicked the power supply switch so no electricity was travelling to the computer. Windows loaded and I was in for about 2 minutes. What could this mean? Bad hard drive maybe?

However the power supply still works since all the rails look fine. The CPU was at 32-35C all the times I checked when rebooting.

So, that means its either the RAM, motherboard, or video card. I think I will RMA the motherboard and RAM tomorrow to Newegg, but I have to find out how I can RMA my card to BFG. Once again, a special thanks to everyone that posted in this thread to try to help me.
Kishan

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: XeonTux

Computer posts, boots, get to the windows screen with the blue slider(running XP Pro SP2, happened with SP1 as well) and after that, its as if the monitor has gone into power save mode. Sometimes if I'm VERY lucky I can get into windows normally. I have tried booting with last good configurations and such and nothing works.

Don't rule out the possibility of the monitor starting to have difficulty with certain resolutions. Assuming you have autologin, Do you have any startup sounds that play when it normally gets to the desktop? Does your drive still churn after the screen goes black?

drive still working, fans on, cpu heatsink fan working. Rails look good. Power supply should be A-OK. Hard drive spiining as well.

 

[Kishan]

Also can I RMA 3 things at once to Newegg?

 

[JimRaynor]

nah you don't need to start rmaing stuff just once. I bet you are using an oem version of windows xp right? What you need to do is boot into SAFE mode and then install your video card drivers, that will probably solve your problem.

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: JimRaynor
nah you don't need to start rmaing stuff just once. I bet you are using an oem version of windows xp right? What you need to do is boot into SAFE mode and then install your video card drivers, that will probably solve your problem.

I have-in the 1st post, when I initially started having the problem, I would boot into safe mode and try to install the Video card drivers, even though the DRIVERS ARE ALREADY INSTALLED!!!!!! When i booted into safe mode, my graphics card would not be listed and something called, "VgaSave," would be listed.

 

[JimRaynor]

well you seem to be able to boot into safe mode fine, and can't boot into windows normally. This indicates a SOFTWARE problem. try downloading the drivers off of nvidia's or your card manufacturer's site and installing them. Oh, and UNINSTALL whatever old drivers before.

 

[Luthien]

try changing out your Hard drive like you were thinking. If you have two hard drives installed pull the extra one first and boot and see if the problem happens again. If it does then replace the OS hard drive with with the an extra HD or the second one you were using and install the OS on it and see if the problem comes up again. You can also run a HD testing utility on both. At least you can rule out your Hard Drives doing this.

 

[XeonTux]

What are you typing on now? A laptop or something you can scavenge a video card from?

I've seen it suggested here but could not find you replying, whether you tried it or not. Here is memtest86+ sucessor to memtest86. Start it some time before you go to bed so you can keep an eye on it for a while. Then let it go overnight. Remove the disk from the drive - this way you will know if the machine rebooted. Otherwise it will go right back in to memtest! (if it doesn't lock up)

memtest86+
http://www.memtest.org/


If it is still running tomorrow, try running knoppix. Its a stand alone linux on a cd. No HD install required. Do whatever for a few hours, browse the web, play games, mess with the included apps for a while, etc. It probably won't give you a definative answer but it could help you narrow it down between software & hardware prob. Since replies here seem split both ways and I'm not sure myself. If you get the same/similar problem then I would bet it is hardware. However just because it appears to be running fine with knoppix doesn't mean there is no hardware issue causing a problem in windows...it just lowers the odds

(bittorrent is faster than any american FTP by far, I grabbed the latest version the other day)
http://www.knoppix.org/

Thats what I would do next: memtest86+ and knoppix.

 

[Kishan]

ok, thanks for all the info guys. However after multiple BSODs, and general stability problems, I think its the RAM. Even before I had this specific problem, I would get a BSOD quite often saying Bad_Pool_Cleaner(WTF!!!!) or MAchine_Check_Error. I'm going to RMA the RAM. I'm also going to RMA the hard drive as well, since this unit seems to have gone bad. Thanks for all the help, and taking the time to post.
Kishan

 

[styrafoam]

I will be the 3rd person to suggest this, run memtest86 on the ram before you send it out. It sucks RMA'ing a part because you think it is the source of your problems, and receiving a replacement only to find the problem still exists.