Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Asus > Bad memory controller?
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
despotency   11-25-2008 at 03:42:14 AM

Been sluggin it out with my PC for the past week.. not sure what to do.

Barebones Specs (no periphs, minimal RAM):
ASUS MOBO P5N32-E SLI
1 2GB stick of Corsair DDR2 PC6400 RAM
nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX OC
Intel Core 2 Duo (E8500)
PC Power & Cooling: Silencer 750W power supply

I took my system down to blow it out with compressed air. I boot it back up and a few hours later, it just turns off.

I have the above listed components out of the case hooked up on top of my mobo box for testing.

When I power up the system (by shorting out the mobo pins) all fans and lights come on, but no beeps and after a few seconds, the system powers itself off. I first thought that it was a PSU problem. I took the PSU out, and tested it independently of the mobo, and it was fine. The mobo is out of the case, so I am sure that it's not shorted out.

The hardest part of this troubleshooting is that I'm getting inconsistent results. I reset the power supply on the mobo by shorting the power pins, and put 1 stick of ram in the B1 slot. Then it POSTed fine. Then, I put the RAM in the A1 slot, and then it crashed. I moved the RAM to the B1 slot again, and it crashed. Makes no sense!!! Now it's back to being unable to boot at all. I can't get any more POSTs. Then other times, it will power up, and it won't shut down, but I will be unable to get video.

I am utterly confused because I'm not getting repeatable results. The only consistent thing is that it reverts to the state of turning itself off after a few seconds.

What in the world is going on here?!

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
despotency   11-25-2008 at 04:41:03 AM
- 0 +

Latest update:

I have 1 stick of RAM in the A1 slot. I attempt to power up the mobo and it turns off after a few seconds.

I come back 30 minutes later and attempt to power it on again, I get video, and a POST and then it dies a minute or two later. I changed absolutely nothing about the configuration. All I did was unplug the 24-pin mobo power and see if it would fit into another mobo, and then plugged it right back in without changing anything or powering up the mobo.

Now I'm thinking it's a power supply problem again. If it were a bad mem controller, would it work intermittently? Thoughts?


Message edited by despotency on 11-25-2008 at 04:43:05 AM
Reply to despotency
bobbknight   11-25-2008 at 05:16:13 AM
- 0 +

when you are able to post are any of your voltages (as read in the bios) in the red? Out of spec?
also if your are doing this on the plastic bag the board came in remove the bag.

Reply to bobbknight
dallasjoh   11-25-2008 at 05:34:42 AM
- 0 +

This is probably a lame question. Have you tried clearing cmos to reset the bios to factory defaults? If not, try that, then if you get a post go into the bios and set the memory timings and voltage to the manufacture's spec's.

------------------------------ http://valid.x86-secret.com/cache/banner/450637.png
 Reply to dallasjoh
despotency   11-25-2008 at 06:24:26 AM
- 0 +

I can't get to BIOS right now :( and yes, I have reset the CMOS :(

Any other ideas?

Reply to despotency
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > Asus > Bad memory controller?
Go to:

There are 1210 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.230 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them
How do I win badges?