8800 GTS installation problems

[lookoutsir]

Hi all,

Part-time reader, first time poster here. I have a problem and was wondering if anybody would be kind enough to lend some advice to someone who's not very sharp when it comes to fixing PC issues.

I have just purchased an EVGA geforce 8800 GTS 320.

During software installation into my system, the display breaks up into random coloured sections and is then followed by a blue screen crash.

Here are some of the things I have tried to remedy the problem. All have been unsuccessful.

- I have tried installing the drivers that came on the CD with the card (version 75.4) and also the drivers from the evga website (97.92)

- I have ensured all connections are good.

- Instead of using the 6-pin graphics card power cable from my power supply, I have used the 2 molex converter that came with the card - no effect

- I have made sure that my old graphics card was uninstalled beforehand


My system is as follows:

ASRock AliveNF6G-DVI motherboard
Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 4200+ processor
2x 1GB 530 MHz ram
550W Power supply with 30A on +12V
320 GB SATA hard drive
DVD Burner
Windows XP home (service pack 2 installed)

I have been using this setup with a geforce 7300 with no issues whatsoever.

Is it likely that anything in my system is causing a conflict, or is it more likely a fault with the new card?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[slashzapper]

Hey WELCOME TO THE FORUMS

I have exactly the same Graphic card only the OClocked version.

Okay i think your computer is Heating up big time , see it could be a few things

GPU heating up

Bad Ram

Bad drivers + not proper removal of older drivers .

You will have to give a few more details like what programs you have running in the background , does your system crash only on software installation or otherwise and can you install any software etc .

I would suggest download Ntune from Nvidia.com and use its monitor to see your computer temperature's

Do this and me know what you get . 8)

USE THE 6 PIN CABLE CABLE FROM YOUR PSU ONLY , atleast thats what i do . I have a Corsair 620 HX 50A triple rail .

 

[oc]

post the blue screen of death info (example: irql_not_less_or_equal).

 

[merc14]

I am going to ask you something that most people would not even think to ask.

When you say your PSU is 30amps on the 12v do you mean its a single 12v rail with 30amps or a dual 12v rail with 15amps on each rail?

If its the latter then you just answered your own question.

Not necessarily. A lot (most) of the dual rail PSUs aren't really dual rail, they join the rails up inside of the unit. That said it may very well be the PSU for the above reason or just because the PSU sucks. Do you have a meter you can check the voltage with? You can get a cheap portable voltmeter at Radio Shack for $19.95. Grab a molex and stick the red probe in a soket with the yellow wire coming out and the black probe in a black wire hole, set the meter to 20v and turn the system on. What 12v are you getting?

 

[merc14]

That is why I qualified my statement above. You just can't tell. Jonnyguru has a lot of good test data where he loads up a single rail and lets's you know if the unit is really dual or not. Dual rail design should go away. It was a safety measure to ensure that no more than 240 watts (12v x 20a) were present on any one rail and the spec was written before these power hungry cards wre designed. Single 12v rail, the way PC P&C does it, is definitely the way to go.

I'm sure you are right and it is a PSU issue with poor power on the 12v rail he has the card hooked up to. I'd like to know what PSU he has and can recommend the PC P&C Silencer 610 (49 amps on single 12v rail)without any reservations for his present rig.

 

[lookoutsir]

Hi All,

Thank you for the welcomes and all the help given so far. It's always nice to see people offering to help out a stranger in need.

I'll answer some of your questions/comments in turn. Apologies in advance for any ignorance of certain issues.

GPU heating up

Possibly, but it hasn't even had time to heat up, the crash happens during the graphics card software installation process

Bad Ram

Bad ram on the card you mean? The PC ram seems to work fine in other applications.

Bad drivers + not proper removal of older drivers .

What is the correct way to uninstall drivers? I use the add/remove programs utility on the control panel.

You will have to give a few more details like what programs you have running in the background , does your system crash only on software installation or otherwise and can you install any software etc .

Literally nothing is running in the background, as this crash happens after starting the PC following the physical installation of the card. I disabled my virus checker just in case and still no help.

The majority of the driver installation happens, then the screen goes blank, then the minitor changes through a few different settings, then the multi-coloured nonsense, then the blue screen.

I would suggest download Ntune from Nvidia.com and use its monitor to see your computer temperature's

I'll try this to check out the temps of the other components of my PC, but it won't work for the graphics card, as I can't get far enough to get the card running in order to monitor the temp.

post the blue screen of death info (example: irql_not_less_or_equal).

When I get home and have another go (or twenty) I'll write this down, as I can't remember off the top of my head.

When you say your PSU is 30amps on the 12v do you mean its a single 12v rail with 30amps or a dual 12v rail with 15amps on each rail?

I'm not sure if it's single or dual rail - how can I tell? On the side of the power supply, where it lists the different voltages and their current ratings underneath, there is only one value given for +12V, and that is 30A

I'd like to know what PSU he has and can recommend the PC P&C Silencer 610 (49 amps on single 12v rail)without any reservations for his present rig.

My power supply probably isn't a very good one. It's made by 'colorsit'. I'm not sure it even has a model number (would have to check at home).



What I intend to do tonight is test out the card on a PC here at work (have to wait until the boss has gone home though) and see if that has any problems - if it works no problem then it's obviously a fault with my setup, if not then it's looking like the card is faulty.

Following that, I thought about using a spare hard drive I have at home to try a clean install of windows and try installing the graphics card on that. It'll be time consuming, but it will let me know for certain if the problems are driver or other program based.

Does this seem like a sensible course of action?

Thanks again for any help,

Andy

 

[notherdude]

based on what you said I would try that card in another PC before going much further - it could simply be defective

but you may not have an adequate system to test on, which is a big problem with these new power hungry componants, you could always take it to a shop and get them to test it but they will prolly charge you $25 or so

if you still suspect the PSU you could buy one at a big box store and then take it back if that's not it

retrying on a clean install is always worth a try but somehow I doubt thats going to be it, definitely worth a try though if you don't have to wipe out your current install

 

[plguzman]

Well I have a PSU with 36 amps in dual rails (18A each) and powers my 8800GTS perfectly.

 

[lookoutsir]

Not neccessarily, do you even know the specs of the PSU for your PC at work? you could still have issues and it have nothing to do with the card.

I understand that. The PC here at work does meet the power requirements, although less comfortably than my PC at home. Obviously, there may still be issues with that particular PC too, but it gives me a stronger case for if I have to return the card.

Andy
(watching his intended weekend of high-settings gaming disappear as he types )

 

[merc14]

Well I have a PSU with 36 amps in dual rails (18A each) and powers my 8800GTS perfectly.

Check out http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php Jonny has some pretty thorough testing and maybe he looked at your PSU. If so then he'll show if it is really dual rail or not.

All PSUs are not created equal. Just because it saus 550 watts doesn't mean that it can proivide that. Also, some of the manufacturers list the peak power, not the continuous power which means it could be capable of providing 550 watts for only a few seconds. Its continuous may be as low as 420 watts. A good PSU costs money and if your 550 watt PSU was something like $42 then it could be failing.

 

[Dr_asik]

I'm not sure about this but you should at least try lowering the PCI-Express speed in your BIOS. The motherboard certainly defaults at full speed but sometimes things get a little out of hand which leads to all kind of artifacts. I think there is a setting in mhz (around 200mhz?) and there should be a setting in Xx, probably 16X for the PCI-E lane you installed the card in.

30amps on the +12rail should be enough. The PSU might be just plain defective though; what brand is it and for how long have you used it?

 

[lookoutsir]

UPDATE

Tried the card at work and it installs no problem.

Off home (picking up curry on the way), then I'm going to try a clean install of windows. If that doesn't work, I'll try a new power supply.

Wish me luck.

Andy

 

[slashzapper]

Hey Andy i am pretty sure that it is a PSU problem

 

[lookoutsir]

UPDATE 2

Well, I ate my curry, which was a bit disappointing, but never mind.

I installed the 8800 back into my home PC as well as the power supply I used at work. This time, the card installed and then decided to crash - so I'm making progress at least

I decided to give this whole power supply thing further investigation, so went out this morning and got myself the best shiny new power supply my budget could afford and I could find nearby. (Hiper 580W - please don't tell me it's crap or I'll be really despondent).

So, I plug in the new power supply and still no joy - windows won't even start up anymore.

So now, I've installed a clean version of windows onto my spare hard drive and, after making sure all the motherboard drivers were up to date, installed the 8800. This time the installation screen was completely different to what has gone before. Everything seemed to go smoothly (which is good). Right now I'm installing all my other drivers and then I'll give the card a whirl on some games.

Thanks for all the help so far.

Andy

 

[duntuatha]

Not to sure but if he is only having problems when he is trying to install the driver wouldn't that rule out the voltage problem (unless he is actually pushing the card by playing a game the card is not going to use an excessive amount of power) and also clear up that the card is not faulty becasue it works fine until he tries to install the driver. I had to format windows when I put my 8800gts in because windows would not take out the 7800gt driver completely in the registry and was causing problems. Just my 2 bits worth hope it maybe helps.

 

[lookoutsir]

Well,

After running the machine over the weekend with no further troubles, it appears that the fresh install of windows solved all the problems.

Thanks everyone for all your help and advice.

Andy

 

[slashzapper]

Hey Andy i am glad that everything worked out for you

All the best and Good luck