New I7 Build Hardware Failure? Please Help!

[mursh]

Hi guys and thank you in advance to everyone who responds.

I have built several pcs over the years but have been out of the game since 2005. I decided to build a good pc now that I am out of college and can afford one again. Over the weekend I built a new I7 computer after weeks of research I tried to select the best and highest quality components. It seemed like it was going to pay off because after putting everything together and crossing my fingers it booted up the 1st try without a hitch. Everything showed as expected in BIOS temps reading at 37 and 38 C. Installed Windows Vista 64bit and everything seemed to be running fine. I have been busy this weekend so I didn't get a chance to benchmark or thoroughly test the pc but everything seemed fine. Started installing the basics like updates and programs like firefox ect. I was looking forward to gaming on this rig so I loaded up steam and started the downloading all my games again.

Well after setting up steam to download my favorite games I left it to let it download. I came back a few hours later only to find that my computer was turned off. My 1st reaction was that it had finished downloading and now was in sleep mode but it didn't respond to the keyboard or mouse so I hit the power switch and it didn't respond either. I then pressed and held the power button and still nothing. So i unplugged it, hit the power button again to discharge the computer then plugged it back up in a few minutes and hit the power switch again.

This time my computer came on. PC lights are on and the fans are spinning, however the monitor never finds a signal and nothing ever happens. No beep errors or weird sounds, nothing. I am not even sure if it is booting into windows without a display or if it is hanging before bios screens load up.

So now I have to troubleshoot this rig and figure out what is wrong and what to fix. Anyone have any suggestions? I do not have any other components that are compatible with this rig to try swapping out pieces and I really don't know where to start. I don't want to have to start sending piece by piece back until I find the right one because that will take weeks so If someone can help me narrow it down I would greatly appreciate it.

My 1st guess is that it is the video card. If it is not that I figure the power supply or mother board. Anyone else have something like this happen? what was wrong with your rig?

The only unusual thing I had happen before the crash was that my windows vista score for my video card showed 1.0 and it wouldn't updated my score even after installing the latest nvidia driver but everything showed in device manager correctly without problem. I figured it was just windows being stupid and that a few updates later it would be fixed but I didnt get that far. That is one more thing that makes me think the video card is the problem.

My system.


Case - Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Power Supply - CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
CPU- Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler- Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail
Thermal Paste- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Motherboard- ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Ram- OCZ 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit
Video Card- EVGA 01G-P3-1180-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Video Card
Sound Card- ASUS Xonar Essence STX Virtual 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface 124 dB SNR / Headphone AMP Card
Pri Hard Drive- Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Sec Hard Drive- Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Card Reader- SABRENT CRW-UINB 68-in-1 USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader w/ USB 2.0 Port
DVD 1- LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30
DVD 2- LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model GH22LS30
Keyboard- Logitech G11 Silver & Black USB Standard Gaming Keyboard
Mouse- Logitech G5 7 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Laser Mouse
OS- Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit

 

[foolycooly]

My first guess would be an S3 sleep issue. The X58 motherboards have serious issues coming out of sleep mode. Since you said you had no video even after a full shutdown/restart, then maybe that can be ruled out. I know that after coming out of sleep people get what they refer to as the 'black' screen of death...but usually after a restart and BIOS error messages, the system can be booted back up with no problems...just disable sleep mode in windows or look for a BIOS update.


Since you can't get back into windows at all (or show any kind of signal for that matter), then I agree with you that it is probably a video card issue. For the vista score, you have to actually prompt it to scan your system before it will give you an accurate reading...obviously your system will score an easy 5.9 after updating video drivers.

Does the 285 have any kind of indicator light? And if so is it green/red?

 

[mursh]

Sorry double post

 

[mursh]

My first guess would be an S3 sleep issue. The X58 motherboards have serious issues coming out of sleep mode. Since you said you had no video even after a full shutdown/restart, then maybe that can be ruled out. I know that after coming out of sleep people get what they refer to as the 'black' screen of death...but usually after a restart and BIOS error messages, the system can be booted back up with no problems...just disable sleep mode in windows or look for a BIOS update.


Since you can't get back into windows at all (or show any kind of signal for that matter), then I agree with you that it is probably a video card issue. For the vista score, you have to actually prompt it to scan your system before it will give you an accurate reading...obviously your system will score an easy 5.9 after updating video drivers.

Does the 285 have any kind of indicator light? And if so is it green/red?

Thank you for your response and input!

Well I didn't get time to mess with it for more than about 15mins last night. I was out late last night and it was 1am before I found my computer and I have to be at work at 7 so when the easy stuff didn't revive my computer I just went to bed and posted this message form work on my break. As soon as I get home Ill look for lights on the card.

Actually as for the vista score It said new hardware detected system needs update. I ran the update 3 times after I installed the latest video drivers and it ran through the tests and still gave me a score of 1.0. Even after reboots and rerunning the test it would still say new hardware detected and show my score as 1.0. I have not got to run any full screen 3d apps yet so maybe the card is just faulty although I noticed no problems in windows.

It is worth mentioning that I am not running a legit copy of vista 64 and was trying a black edition I found online. I own a copy of xp 32bit and was planning on running Windows 7 RC untill it came out to buy but there wasn't any compatible drivers out for my usb wireless network card. I didn't want to loose all my ram I just paid for by going to 32bit so I formatted my drive again and did a clean vista install to use for the next few months. It seemed like a waste to buy a copy of Vista now since I would be switching to Win 7 in a few months and would never use my Vista CD again.

It still doesn't' seem like a windows or sleep issue though just because I cant even get a Bios screen to pop up.

i didn't know about the sleep issue and if I ever see windows again i will turn it off to prevent any trouble.

I figure its got to be video card since I don't get any screen. Unless bios is hanging which i guess could point to bad ram or a bad cpu. Had a pc do this once before upon the 1st build and it turned out to be a bent pin on the CPU but the i7 is pin less and was running fine at first so a CPU problem seems unlikely.

 

[foolycooly]

Was the 1.0 just for your video card? Or were you getting 5.9s for the other categories? Everything here seems to point to a bad video card like you said. If you can boot into windows again when you get home, try to run a full 3d app like you said.

If you can get into the BIOS or windows again I would definitely try to format and install a 64-bit windows 7 client just for trouble-shooting purposes. It's hard to know for sure whether or not that boot-leg OS is a source of the problem without eliminating it.

While you can RMA the card no problem, it's better to go through some more troubleshooting before having to wait for a new one in the mail

 

[mursh]

Was the 1.0 just for your video card? Or were you getting 5.9s for the other categories? Everything here seems to point to a bad video card like you said. If you can boot into windows again when you get home, try to run a full 3d app like you said.

If you can get into the BIOS or windows again I would definitely try to format and install a 64-bit windows 7 client just for trouble-shooting purposes. It's hard to know for sure whether or not that boot-leg OS is a source of the problem without eliminating it.

While you can RMA the card no problem, it's better to go through some more troubleshooting before having to wait for a new one in the mail

Yes it has 5.9 for all except for the two that are video card related.

Yeah If I can get it to where I can see what I am doing again I will either try my copy of XP or try windows 7 RC 7100 again and see what happens from there. If they both run without a problem I guess I will just go buy a copy of Vista 64 home premium and pass it down to a friend still running xp or something when I upgrade to Win 7.

Again thanks for your help!

 

[mursh]

Ok guys I need some serious help now.

About 3 days after this strange shutdown problem started my system crashed completely. I was in the middle of playing L4D when suddenly I heard a POP! Followed with the computer shutting down and refusing to ever come on again. There is no response what so ever when you hit the power switch. No beeps. No fans spin. I pulled all no essential components and still no response. The lights on the motherboard are on. USB powered devices are still getting power. So I figured the power supply was good and that the motherboard was bad. RMA'd MB and installed the new one today. SAME PROBLEM! No response at all. everything seems powered. So what do I do next? Replace power supply? Could it be a blown CPU? What could make the MB not respond at all? Is it at all possible that I have another dead MOBO? I am so frustrated right now!

 

[danorlando_02]

Ok guys I need some serious help now.

About 3 days after this strange shutdown problem started my system crashed completely. I was in the middle of playing L4D when suddenly I heard a POP! Followed with the computer shutting down and refusing to ever come on again. There is no response what so ever when you hit the power switch. No beeps. No fans spin. I pulled all no essential components and still no response. The lights on the motherboard are on. USB powered devices are still getting power. So I figured the power supply was good and that the motherboard was bad. RMA'd MB and installed the new one today. SAME PROBLEM! No response at all. everything seems powered. So what do I do next? Replace power supply? Could it be a blown CPU? What could make the MB not respond at all? Is it at all possible that I have another dead MOBO? I am so frustrated right now!

What was the outcome of this? I have the same exact problem. Similarities are the mobo and cpu between my rig and yours. I think its the cpu... did that turn out to be the problem?

 

[mursh]

sorry double post again

 

[mursh]

What was the outcome of this? I have the same exact problem. Similarities are the mobo and cpu between my rig and yours. I think its the cpu... did that turn out to be the problem?

The problem turned out to be my power supply. My fancy corsair 850TX. Basically one of the voltage rails had gone bad so essentially 90% of my computer was being powered but it was enough for it not to attempt to come on. The power supply gave no indication that anything was wrong. Most power supplies that blow have a burnt smell or you can see a busted capacitor but this one seemed fine.

I RMAd the power supply and the new one has worked fine and I have had no further problems from my computer for the last few months. Its funny that such a "high quality" power supply would go bad so quickly. I have had many generic dirt cheap power supplies in computers in the past that have never given me a bit of trouble before. But I guess sometimes you get the unlucky unit. It does make me nervous though that it will happen again since it took a few days to go out the 1st time. So far though everything has ran great.

Hope you get your problem worked out. I know how frustrating something like this can be.

Good Luck!@

 

[shortstuff_mt]

@danorlando_02 - Did you also hear a POP? A loud POP is a dead giveaway that the PSU has died.