Ok, I've seen some seriously weird stuff in the past concerning hardware failures / issues / etc... but this one takes the cake. It might be because I simply cannot wrap my mind around it and fix it (I used to be a LAN admin for the feds, so I've seen my fair share of hardware configs & troubleshooting), or it might be because I THOUGHT I had fixed it and it blew up in my face.
- Started when my 8800GTS 512 stopped being able to turn on my monitor from sleep after shutting down my PC
- Then it was whenever I turned on from a COLD start (not shutdown - turn on - shutdown... like a 1hour + delay between a shutdown and a power on) I would get maybe 15FPS in ANY game and my Windows was EXTREMELY laggy, the fix was a simple reboot.
- I tried everything to diagnose, every damn memory test, video tests, CPU tests, etc... no red flags.
- Ok, my vid card is fried, it's being stupid and its time I get a new one; a shiny new XFX 4870 1GB XXX
- Swap the cards, install the drivers, play games all quirkiness gone and a pretty damn nice boost in FPS for every game that I play... well, just a tiny bit more FPS in WoW, but that game is holy screwed with it's graphics engine, hell, EvE Online got a 80% boost in FPS with Premium graphics everything to the max (200+FPS VS ~120FPS) and 3dmarks through the roof.
- Go to bed happy
- After work the next day, boot up the PC and Beeeeeeeep, Beep, Beep, Beep.... W T F, NNNOOO, VIDEO CARD ISSUES! tell me it ain't SO. I try everything; reseating the RAM, unplugging everything from MB, reset BIOS through jumpers, etc... always the damned beeps...
- Swap back to my 8800GTS 512 and it boots fine, but I'm back to the boot -> reboot right away or it won't work to it's full potential... the REALLY weird part is I can't just reboot pre-Windows load, that doesn't work, I have to COMPLETELY load Vista or when I reboot I'll still be stuck in that weird "I'm only running @ 10% potential"; I've even tried rebooting while apps / services were loading and no go, FULL load up until my HD stops swapping.
- read up on the card and quite a few people have problems with flickering because ANY OC'ed cards beyond 900MHz memory seem to flicker, and mine is factory 950MHz, so I think to myself, it probably burnt out, great...
- RMA it with no problem, get the new one, and go through the same scenario; swap card, install drivers, this time turn on ATI Overdrive and force 900MHz. Play. VERY little FPS difference but ZERO flickering. Ok, I'm a WEE bit frustrated, but still happy (card was on a REALLY good special) and people say there should be a BIOS / driver update to fix this, hopefully.
- go to bed
- wake up the next morning with a smile............ and I let loose a #%^#$% yell once I turn on the damned PC... Beeeeeeeep, beep, beep, beep........... Jesus H Christ, W T F.
- At this point I'm completely clueless i'm just sitting in front of the PC for 20 minutes, just going through parts, connections, seating, BIOS, etc.. all again... and NOTHING, it won't **** boot.
- Swap in my 8800GTS 512, load it up, but wait... let's try something. turn off the PC before Vista loads, swap the card back to the 4780 and BAM, it works?!?!?!?!
- Wait, WHY does it work? I can do this over and over... let the PC get "cold" (literally), power it on and I'll get the beeps, double-swap the cards and it'll work.
Why can't my BIOS communicate with the video card on cold boots... or in the very first scenario, why can't it load the video card correctly (I'm guessing that's what going on with the 8800GTS, it just can't innitialize it correctly until another reboot)
You can check my hardware profile, the computer IS overclocked, but I've already tried reverting back to completely stock speeds and that doesn't solve a thing.
At this point, everything points to the P5K-E losing it a bit, sadly I don't have a second MB to test that theory (I have almost every other part that I can swap with something else to test, just not a MB)...
/sigh
Anybody got any insights at all over this?
- Started when my 8800GTS 512 stopped being able to turn on my monitor from sleep after shutting down my PC
- Then it was whenever I turned on from a COLD start (not shutdown - turn on - shutdown... like a 1hour + delay between a shutdown and a power on) I would get maybe 15FPS in ANY game and my Windows was EXTREMELY laggy, the fix was a simple reboot.
- I tried everything to diagnose, every damn memory test, video tests, CPU tests, etc... no red flags.
- Ok, my vid card is fried, it's being stupid and its time I get a new one; a shiny new XFX 4870 1GB XXX
- Swap the cards, install the drivers, play games all quirkiness gone and a pretty damn nice boost in FPS for every game that I play... well, just a tiny bit more FPS in WoW, but that game is holy screwed with it's graphics engine, hell, EvE Online got a 80% boost in FPS with Premium graphics everything to the max (200+FPS VS ~120FPS) and 3dmarks through the roof.
- Go to bed happy
- After work the next day, boot up the PC and Beeeeeeeep, Beep, Beep, Beep.... W T F, NNNOOO, VIDEO CARD ISSUES! tell me it ain't SO. I try everything; reseating the RAM, unplugging everything from MB, reset BIOS through jumpers, etc... always the damned beeps...
- Swap back to my 8800GTS 512 and it boots fine, but I'm back to the boot -> reboot right away or it won't work to it's full potential... the REALLY weird part is I can't just reboot pre-Windows load, that doesn't work, I have to COMPLETELY load Vista or when I reboot I'll still be stuck in that weird "I'm only running @ 10% potential"; I've even tried rebooting while apps / services were loading and no go, FULL load up until my HD stops swapping.
- read up on the card and quite a few people have problems with flickering because ANY OC'ed cards beyond 900MHz memory seem to flicker, and mine is factory 950MHz, so I think to myself, it probably burnt out, great...
- RMA it with no problem, get the new one, and go through the same scenario; swap card, install drivers, this time turn on ATI Overdrive and force 900MHz. Play. VERY little FPS difference but ZERO flickering. Ok, I'm a WEE bit frustrated, but still happy (card was on a REALLY good special) and people say there should be a BIOS / driver update to fix this, hopefully.
- go to bed
- wake up the next morning with a smile............ and I let loose a #%^#$% yell once I turn on the damned PC... Beeeeeeeep, beep, beep, beep........... Jesus H Christ, W T F.
- At this point I'm completely clueless i'm just sitting in front of the PC for 20 minutes, just going through parts, connections, seating, BIOS, etc.. all again... and NOTHING, it won't **** boot.
- Swap in my 8800GTS 512, load it up, but wait... let's try something. turn off the PC before Vista loads, swap the card back to the 4780 and BAM, it works?!?!?!?!
- Wait, WHY does it work? I can do this over and over... let the PC get "cold" (literally), power it on and I'll get the beeps, double-swap the cards and it'll work.
Why can't my BIOS communicate with the video card on cold boots... or in the very first scenario, why can't it load the video card correctly (I'm guessing that's what going on with the 8800GTS, it just can't innitialize it correctly until another reboot)
You can check my hardware profile, the computer IS overclocked, but I've already tried reverting back to completely stock speeds and that doesn't solve a thing.
At this point, everything points to the P5K-E losing it a bit, sadly I don't have a second MB to test that theory (I have almost every other part that I can swap with something else to test, just not a MB)...
/sigh
Anybody got any insights at all over this?
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