Now I think the mobo is gone...Help please!

mac_leinn

Hello all,

I was having a bit of trouble with my VGA which I asked for help here.

I sent the VGA back to DABS and got a refund. I also bought a 7100GS to do for the time being.

So I went about installing the new VGA with a fresh install of windows.

The problem is everytime I install the nVidia drivers windows hangs on the welcome screen or freezes shortly after fully loading windows.

I googled the problem of windows freezing and it generally seems to be a software conflict problem. People seem to recommend starting windows in safe mode and uninstall the last piece of software that may be causing the problem.

But in my case, this occurs after a fressh install so theres no software for the drivers to conflict with (I think).

Im thinking that when the VGA went bust the mobo might have got damaged too. I dont think its the HD, PSU, CPU or RAM.
Prime95 ran for 2 Hrs with no errors or warning.
Also installed xp on two different harddrives and same problem.
This is all before I installed the nvidia drivers btw.

Im getting all sort of errors from "NTLDR is missing", "OS did not load correctly" etc. when I turn the computer but when I restart the problem is gone (it still crashes after a while though).

The thing that leads me to the motherboard (M2N32-Sli deluxe) is that on the POST screen the Asus "AI LifeStyle" Logo flashes up very slowly (like a game with really low fps).
I dont think this is right. This started happening before the VGA went bang too.

I just want a second opinion as RMA'ing a mobo is a bigger job than a VGA!

Thanks for reading another one of "my computer is broke" threads.

Auvers

I think its a ram issue download http://www.memtest86.com/ because prime95 will run without errors sometimes even though you have may have a dodgy ram module

8T8

Yeah could be RAM which is the first thing to test or worse motherboard is damaged.

Anti

i have had this problem before, it was the hard drive that was on its way out. Hopefully not in your case though, as you have tried 2 hdd's. So i would suggest you download drivercleaner2, entersafe mode. Remove all nvidia display drivers, reboot. And see if the card will work without a driver( you will still get 2d, albeit laggy and no hope of 3d) run memtest and prime95 too.

mac_leinn

First of all, thanks for the replys.

Ive tried using memtest as you suggested but I cant get it to work.
I created a bootable CD and burned the ISO as an image.
Set CDROM as first boot priority in the BIOS and got rid of everything else apart from HD in the list.

PC boots and I get a message saying "1. FD 2.88MB Sysem Type-(00)"
Keyboards is unresponsive.
Then windows just starts normally.
Im only checking one stick of RAM as recommended.
Ive tried both sticks of RAM in a couple of different DIMM slots aswell and get the same message.

Just reinstalled windows and everything works fine (including the VGA which Ive also tried in different PCIe slots btw) provided I dont install any software or drivers.

Im stumped!

I thinks its the mobo... that POST screen lag has me worried.

8T8

"1. FD 2.88MB System Type-(00)" is an old style floppy disk drive.

Have you got a floppy drive in the system if so disconnect the cables to it.

Secondly go into the bios and on the first main page set any floppy drives to none/disabled also enable HDD Smart monitoring as well.

Now try Memtest+ again, also remove any USB flash drives that may be plugged in while booting as they are treated as hard drives.

mac_leinn

8T8 wrote:

"1. FD 2.88MB System Type-(00)" is an old style floppy disk drive.

Have you got a floppy drive in the system if so disconnect the cables to it.

Secondly go into the bios and on the first main page set any floppy drives to none/disabled also enable HDD Smart monitoring as well.

Now try Memtest+ again, also remove any USB flash drives that may be plugged in while booting as they are treated as hard drives.

Ah, ok, now Im in business. Thanks 8T8.

Just ran one pass on each stick of RAM individually in the DIMM slots they usually occupy. No errors were found.

Im guessing that eliminates the RAM as the culprit?

The last thing Im might try is clearing the CMOS on the mobo. Not to sure what that will accomplish though...
Any other suggestions as to what to try?

8T8

Hmm well that doesn't help if the RAM is clean rather that than then mobo.

Clearing the CMOS is worth trying as is updating the bios I presume you tired that already.

This is something out of the blue I assume before the GPU died the system was running the same hardware with no stability problems ?

If you have more than one HD try disconnecting them or pull out any PCI cards in the system just to see.

mac_leinn

8T8 wrote:

Hmm well that doesn't help if the RAM is clean rather that than then mobo.

Clearing the CMOS is worth trying as is updating the bios I presume you tired that already.

This is something out of the blue I assume before the GPU died the system was running the same hardware with no stability problems ?

No hardware changes were made.
Before the GPU died the sytem would occasionally reboot suddenly, shortly after startup
and I also had that ASUS logo lag on the POST screen (is this something to actually worry about or am I just being paranoid?).

These maybe nothing but Im trying to think of anything out of the ordinary and give you as much info cause this has me really perplexed.

And yep Im running the latest Pheonix 1001 BIOS. Its a beta though.

8T8 wrote:

If you have more than one HD try disconnecting them or pull out any PCI cards in the system just to see.

Worth a shot, I'll disconnect the second HD, second DVD-RW and my x-fi and see what happens.

After that, I'll try clearing the CMOS and install the nvidia drivers. If the PC starts crashing again I think I'll RMA the mobo. For the sake of €20 post and packaging it'd be worth it to know what the hell is going on.