Major Issues After Installing new Mobo/Vid card

Sarod

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Jul 12, 2006
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Hello all, well I performed my first upgrade on the first computer I built and am facing some wierd problems. I upgrade to an Asus A8N SLI and a XFX 7900Gt Xtreme. After reformatting and installing windows im experience wierd problems:

- Web pages wont load completely ie emoticons wont load or small pics. general slow loading. Other computers on the same connection are fine.

- Freezes playing Farcry and FEAR. In FEAR I get an infinite loop sort of freeze.

- * When i download things i can extract without getting an error. THe same file wll download/extract fine on another comp.

I have been told that it may be memory problems in bios settings. Im new to this still so not quite sure where to start. I set CAS and timings (2-3-3-6) in mobo but not sure on more advanced settings. All updates have been performed

Thank you for reading. Any ideas are appreciated.

Specs
AMD 3200 939
A8N SLI
OCZ Performance 5x512 (pc3200)
XFX 7900GT Xtreme
SoundBlaster Audigy Value
 

wahooman63

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Jun 29, 2006
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If you are new to this why change any BIOS settings??? Especiall on the RAM.

My advice....set everything to default setting or automaitc setting and see what happens.
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
Did you install a new build of windows? I would try downloading the chipset drivers again, this time from the other guys. If you downloaded them the first time from Asus, try Nvidia this time.
 

cranbers

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Mar 13, 2006
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As you can see I have a very similar system as you. My problems all came from the video card. Xfx and 7900gt is a bad combo, I had two of those cards, and rma'd them both due to problems. I recommend you do the same immediately and get a EVGA 7900 gt with 584 in the sku number as that one is specifically designed to eliminate the known problems with the nvidia processor series in question. That is what I did and its smooth sailing! I love the new card, no problems and it over clocks like a champ, and its cheaper!

I would do the above no matter what, you are better off getting a video card that has much better support/warranty/service and build quality then a crazy hassle for the next few years if it comes down to it.

As for the other problems, I would recommend you replace the north bridge chip set/fan. It is very possible that is whats over heating. Download a program called speed fan. This will be able to check the temp of the chip set, under temp 3 I believe will be the chipset temp. When I replaced the north bridge it dropped the temp 15 degrees f by itself on the northbridge I was able to over clock another 50 mhz on the processor.

Make sure the motherboard is up tot date on the bios as well. I know the a8n sli had issues for awhile at the beginning of the year, you may have gotten a bad board as well. Also make sure you have the latest motherboard drivers from nvidia.com under nforce amd under platform drivers, a new version was just released a few days ago. Also make sure you have the latest video card drivers as well 91.31 from nvidia.com is available as well.

Make sure you set your bios to default settings, the motherboard will autodetect your ram and make the necessary settings for you.

Also, download and run 3dmark 2001 go specifically for the point sprites test which is the last one and do 3dmark 2006 test, pay close attention to the deep freeze test. Look for lock ups, artifacts and just weird behavior. These are all signs your video card is to blame. For proof, try to find a different video card to test with, buy one from best buy or something and then bring it back after the test if the new one does this as well.

Download "ultimate boot cd" http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/index.html this will help eliminate windows problems from the picture this cd has all hardware testing tools as well as other stuff to help you out.

Good luck!