Diagnostic dilemma

[ibleet]

I built a new rig today (see below) for my son. After I loaded XP, I noticed the error message, "The NVIDIA System Sentinel is reporting that the NVIDIA-powered graphics card is not receiving sufficient power, and the settings have been lowered." I also noticed some small moving artifacts around words and graphics in the start-up screens. They subsided when XP completely loaded. Also, when I loaded up rivatuner, the card would not accept any overclock.

My first thought is to keep it simple, so I look at simple steps like cable problems, etc...

My diagnostics:

1 - move PCIE cable to other PCIE input on PSU - same results
2 - replace PCIE cable - same results so cable is OK
3 - unplug PCIE cable while system is running - system complains loudly, so it does recognize the PCIE device.
4 - replace XFX 8800GTS 512 with my EVGA 8800GTS 512 - I still get the artifacts, but I no longer get the error message. Evga card overclocks and runs nicely.
Solution: XFX card is bad, RMA to newegg....but wait...let me try an experiment...
5 - place XFX card in my computer, which has a corsair 520hx, same mobo, and it plays nice and overclocks without a hitch...no error...hmmmmm!

Ok, now I'm thinking that either I have a faulty PSU, or faulty ram. But, why would the XFX card fail and the EVGA card run on my sons computer? Why do they both run on mine? Also, every other device is functioning normally and getting sufficient power. Maybe its faulty ram.

I also noticed that the board set my ram to 6-6-6-18, 2T - dual channel symmetric, 400mhzx2=800, 2:3 - why is this set so far off from the listed timings of 4-4-4-15?

Next step is to check voltages on the PSU, and to run memtest overnight.

Q6600 Go
Gigabyte P35 DS3L
XFX 8800GTS 512
Corsair 620HX
4GB (2x2GB) OCZ Reaper DDR2-800, 4-4-4-15
Sunbeam case - 3x80mm fans, 2x120mm fans

Anyone have any ideas, or things for me to try to speed this diagnostic up a bit? Any insight is greatly appreciated.

[markkleb]

can you put your PS in your sons comp?
Do you have a digital volt meter? (get one if not)

as to ram prob that sounds a lot different than a Default setting, have you set the bios to the specs (and voltage) of the memory?
tried switching memory slots or just using 1 stick?

[ibleet]

Ya I have a multi-meter here somewhere. I'm also swapping parts as I type this and switching ram.

Thanks for the input, I will keep you posted.

[DMB2000uk]

If your PSU checks out fine, might want to give this post a gander.

Dan

[ibleet]

Ok thanks Dan. I knew I had seen that PSU info somewhere.

I found a few interesting things while swapping parts.

1 - Swapped out the PSU with a Corsair 520 and the XFX card ran no problems in my sons comp.
2 - Swapped out the ram with 2GB A-data and all the artifacts in startup and windows screen disappeared.
3 - His mobo recoginzed the A-data ram and the timings were exactly as listed.

I am going to try both the Corsair 620 and the OCZ ram in my spare computer...1 at a time of course.

With my Corsair 520 and ram in his system, it is running great. I'm glad because I was worried I had a bad board, and now his video card is running great. I sent for the RMA on the video card, but I'm just gonna let that request expire.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I knew I was pushing my luck as my last 2 systems went together so easily. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully all the problems are behind me and I can get some pics posted soon.

[DMB2000uk]

Let us know if you find a faulty component. Be interesting to track this one down, if it is traceable that is.

Dan

[markkleb]

glad its getting sorted. RMA is ur friend

[ibleet]

The Corsair 620 works fine in my test computer, and it works fine with my EVGA 8800GTS, so I'm gonna chalk it up to the link that Dan provided above. So no RMA on that one.

The ram seems ok in my computer, but the timings are still crazy. Any ideas on why these ram timings would be so far off spec?

4GB (2x2GB) OCZ Reaper DDR2-800 4-4-4-15 but running at 6-6-6-18 (800mhz)

BTW, when I manually set the ram timings to 4-4-4-15 in either comp...it won't post. I guess I should increase the voltage a tenth or 2 and see if that helps...but I shouldn't have to do that, right? It should run at stock timings without any tweaking, right?

Thanks!

[DMB2000uk]

Depends on if it is setting the voltage to 1.8v or whatever, when the reapers need the 2.1v(?) to run.

Dan

[ibleet]

I had to manually set the voltage to 2.2v for it to hold the stock settings...finally!

[markkleb]

I have seen hundreds of people RMA mobos and memory and wondered how many would have worked fine if they had just set them right from the beginning.

To the memory experts here, will two 2 gig sticks run at 1T?

[ibleet]

I don't think you can with most chipsets, but I do know that intel chipset won't let you set 1T for that amount of ram.

[ibleet]

Ok case solved....

The whole problem stemmed from the link that Dan provided above. The video card and the PSU didn't play nice together. I solved the situation by swapping the PSU with my corsair 520 and it worked like a charm. After a slight increase (0.2) in voltage, the ram decided to play nice also...I set it in the bios to stock timings and they stuck. The only issue still remaining is the "flickering dots" around the images and text in the windows boot screens. It happens maybe 1 in 5 boots and I can live with it. At this point, it may be board related and it doesn't cause any noticeable problems after it boots into windows.

I overclocked the Q6600 to 3.4Ghz stable on air...overclocked the video card to 800/1050...all is stable.

Here are the results from 3DMark06...



I guess it was worth all the trouble after all! My son and I were both quite happy with the results!

[ibleet]

Let us know if you find a faulty component. Be interesting to track this one down, if it is traceable that is.

Dan

Much to my dismay, I found a faulty PSU...After installing the 620 in my test system, it set off all my voltage alarms at once. As much as it pains me, I sent it back to Clubit for RMA. Just thought you would like to know.

[DMB2000uk]

I guess it playing up in two boards makes it pretty definite, but did you check it out with a multimeter?

Dan

[ibleet]

No, I never got around to testing it with the voltmeter. I got erratic voltage readings with both a Gigabyte board and an Asus board. I got the insufficient power error using this PSU and there was something rattling around inside it when I removed it. I am 100% certain that it was faulty. Possibly got dropped by Fed Ex a few times as the box it came in had some damaged corners. Oh well, new one should arrive within the week.