Topic: Weird video output issue I'm having... thoughts? (Read 3658 times)

Banshee · « **on:** January 12, 2011, 09:50:25 AM »

So, since about the very end of December, I've been having intermittent issues with my video adapter. First, some specs:

CPU: Core i7 930
Motherboard: ASUS P6T (non-deluxe)
RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
PSU: XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
GFX: EVGA GeForce 8800 GT (have a new one I bought for Christmas still waiting to be shipped from Amazon)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Everything but the 8800 GT is about 6 months old.

Here's what's been happening... see if you can puzzle it out. At the very end of December, I moved my computer from one place to another and all of the sudden I was getting a no-POST, no-boot. Not even beep error codes. I tried everything, including removing the motherboard from the case and trying to boot on a non-conductive surface, attempting to boot with 1/0 sticks of RAM inserted and disconnecting everything but the 20 pin and 8 pin power adapters, and nothing happened. The fans would come on and spin, but nothing else moved. I finally decided I was just going to have to RMA the motherboard, and left everything out overnight. When I woke up the next morning, I figured I had nothing to lose (since I couldn't start the RMA process till after the New Year holiday weekend anyway) and put everything back in the case. I powered on, and poof -- booted like nothing had happened, except that the BIOS had reset and I had no motherboard LAN adapter anymore. I figured it was some kind of weird grounding problem, bought a PCI NIC and shrugged it off.

Flash forward to last night. I'm playing STO and all of the sudden, video output goes blank, system hangs and the monitors go into standby. I go, "huh," do a hard reset, and the same thing happens as before, except now I get an error code of one long-three short.According to this site, for an AMI BIOS this is the error code for an EMS failure, or potentially an EGA/VGA adapter failure if they are using standard IBM POST codes. The only way I can boot is if I shut off the case power entirely and restart. After it boots, it will be fine for anywhere from 5-20min before the same thing happens (lose video, monitors to standby, system hang). I've tried flushing the capacitors by unplugging the power cable and holding down the power button (which incidentally reset the BIOS again), but no dice. I've also eliminated dust and heat as possible causes. I've tried doing a variety of things on the computer to see if the problem has a software trigger, but it seems to be independent of anything I'm doing. I went into the BIOS, and on the advice of some forum-goers, disabled legacy USB support--no result, but system seemed slightly more stable afterwards. I don't want to attribute that to what I did in the BIOS though. Temps and voltages reported in the BIOS are within specs.

Now, this morning, it booted up fine, then did its usual system hang. I restarted, and it seemed okay after that: total uptime was stable over an hour (over twice as long as previous attempts) before I had to leave for work. I left it on to see if it will stay stable all day. In the meantime, I've started the advance-RMA process with ASUS because I figure the motherboard is on its way out anyway, but I'd like to not have to rebuild the computer again with a new motherboard unless I have to, and because RMAs generally suck.

I've had people mention a couple possible causes to me I haven't eliminated yet; after this wall of text, can anyone here think of others? So far, I have:

An "extra" standoff causing an intermittent grounding problem (possible damage/scratches/hairline fractures to the motherboard's PCB?)
Given that the problem occurred on 1/11/11 (and hasn't really since), someone else mentioned that I somehow acquired a logic bomb, possibly directed at the BIOS. This is only at all significant because programmers like weird dates.

And that's all I got. Any suggestions? Concerns? Wild accusations? Conspiracy theories?

TheJudge · « **Reply #1 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:22:06 AM »

Did you try turning your monitor upside down and degaussing it?

Oh wait...

Other than moving the PC, did you do anything to it before (new components, driver updates, bios updates)?

What's the power supply you got int there? An el cheapo one that came with the case? At this point I would borrow a PS from another PC to rule out a potential PS issue. Defective PS can do all kinds of funky things to a computer. Sounds like it might be related this, or its the board. Test it.

Banshee · « **Reply #2 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:37:16 AM »

Randomly, my ability to reply to this thread (but not view it, strangely) is now blocked by websense. Fuck you, websense! So now I have to post from my phone.

Anyway, I listed the PSU above. It isn't at all an el cheapo one, I specifically shopped for a quality one as this is far from the first computer I built. I'm glad I learned that lesson early. I don't have another one I can try. I did swap graphics cards the first time and it didn't help. I forgot to mention that. I don't have the option of trying that right now though.

I haven't done anything to the computer recently.

It occurred to me that the CMOS battery could be a problem, given that no POSTing and BIOS resets are a factor. Is it possible I just need a new battery for the cmos?

ivan · « **Reply #3 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:40:22 AM »

Stop playing STO.

Whatever that is.

Demosthenes · « **Reply #4 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:52:59 AM »

Power supply. I'm almost positive that's your problem. Seriously. Swap that out, and I bet most of your issues will go away.

TheJudge · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:55:03 AM »

The fact the the bios resets is pointing to the battery, but it's strange that it would already be dead if your gear is fairly new. Still, I doubt this would cause the other problems you describe. The purpose of the battery is to provide power for the memory of the BIOS settings while your PC is off so you don't loose your settings every time you shit down. While the PC runs, the battery recharges and no longer supplies that power.

Banshee · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2011, 10:58:55 AM »

I can now reply to the thread again. Whisky Tango Foxtrot.

How is it I can edit others' posts now?

Quote from: Demosthenes on January 12, 2011, 10:52:59 AM

Power supply. I'm almost positive that's your problem. Seriously. Swap that out, and I bet most of your issues will go away.

And goddamnit, I bought a good one for that MF'ing reason! I can't afford a decent new PSU right now. I'll see if I can cajole the wifey into letting me borrow hers to test.

What I NEED is to invest in a UPS and make sure I'm getting clean voltage. If it is the PSU, it'll be the second one in a year (I think). I built this rig because I suspected the PSU to have killed the motherboard in the last one. Obviously I'm not going to use THAT one to test it.

What about what's happening leads you to suspect the PSU? A lot of people have suggested that simply because it's a usual culprit, but haven't been able to support that. I need to be able to explain it to the wife to buy a new one any time soon.

Banshee · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2011, 11:15:09 AM »

More food for thought: bad IDE cable? Not likely, IMO.

ivan · « **Reply #8 on:** January 12, 2011, 12:51:38 PM »

Quote from: ivan on January 12, 2011, 10:40:22 AM

Stop playing STO.

Whatever that is.

I'm lame.

Hm.

Vandalizing posts of members in good standing?

Post vandalism is reserved for spammers and trolls.

Chris · « **Reply #9 on:** January 12, 2011, 03:27:00 PM »

You know, last night my computer did something weird, too.

It was running fine, then when viewing a web page it stopped displaying any video output, and just sat there. Monitors went into stand by and the hard drive kept spinning and fans kept running. I tried restarting it and nothing happened - same thing. I tried re-seating the RAM and nothing. It turned on, hard drive spun up and fans started turning but no beeps and no POST.

Finally I got the bright idea to reset the BIOS by clearing it with the jumper and afterwards it's been alright. I have restarted it and powered it off several times now with no issues.

I just think it's kind of ironic how we both had almost the same issue on the same night.

Banshee · « **Reply #10 on:** January 12, 2011, 03:33:50 PM »

Do you have an ASUS P6T mobo by any chance?

Demosthenes · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2011, 07:50:31 PM »

Quote from: Banshee on January 12, 2011, 10:58:55 AM

What about what's happening leads you to suspect the PSU? A lot of people have suggested that simply because it's a usual culprit, but haven't been able to support that. I need to be able to explain it to the wife to buy a new one any time soon.

Well, technically Judgie could be right too... it could be the mobo battery. But I've encountered that as the culprit so rarely that it's far less likely. Still, it'd be the cheaper thing to swap out for testing.

As for why I think it's the PSU, it's because, well, I've seen almost exactly the behavior you're talking about, to a tee. Many times. And in every time (except like one, where it was the battery), it was a bad power supply.

I replace probably one PSU a week where I work on average. I can spot a bad PSU from symptoms like that at 1,000 paces.

Chris · « **Reply #12 on:** January 13, 2011, 02:14:30 AM »

I have an Asus M4A89GTD Pro board with a 6 core AMD Phenom II processor.

Banshee · « **Reply #13 on:** January 13, 2011, 02:39:40 PM »

Quote from: Demosthenes on January 12, 2011, 07:50:31 PM

Well, technically Judgie could be right too... it could be the mobo battery. But I've encountered that as the culprit so rarely that it's far less likely. Still, it'd be the cheaper thing to swap out for testing.

As for why I think it's the PSU, it's because, well, I've seen almost exactly the behavior you're talking about, to a tee. Many times. And in every time (except like one, where it was the battery), it was a bad power supply.

I replace probably one PSU a week where I work on average. I can spot a bad PSU from symptoms like that at 1,000 paces.

Well, I have the RMA for the motherboard pending and a new graphics card already in the mail. If both of those don't fix it, I have it narrowed down pretty well. I was just hoping I didn't have to wait that long to have a computer.

12AX7 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 15, 2011, 04:45:51 PM »

Old school suggestion; find a small mom-and-pop computer repair nearby. Visit them a few times, bring/send them some business, and lots of times they may let you borrow something like a power supply to check your system; once they know you.

For future reference.

ivan · « **Reply #15 on:** January 16, 2011, 01:38:28 AM »

Or, these days, it may be a mom-and-mom computer repair shop. Or a pop-and-pop.

NTTAWWT, of course.

12AX7 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 16, 2011, 01:54:36 AM »

That's true. It could also be an "our son's" or "our daughter's" computer repair shop. Or "my brother's" computer repair business-on-the-side; like my brother's computer repair business-on-the-side in Abbeville, SC.

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Author Topic: Weird video output issue I'm having... thoughts? (Read 3658 times)

12AX7

12AX7