Problem with A8N-SLI

Z

zg75

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 21, 2005
Messages
286
Popped the case open to experiment a little as I was getting nVidia system sentinel warnings about power to my 2x 7800 GTs and had just powered up following a removal of one card and a flip of the SLI selector when my game pad/usb bracket slipped and shorted across the board, causing the box to power down. Secured everything back down and on boot everything powers up, but no POST. If I pull memory or some other critical (aside from video) I get appropriate BIOS beeps. Cleared the CMOS via the jumper, no love. Anyone have any ideas or am I in for a virtual trip to The Egg to snag a new mobo?
 
What happens when you take out everything but the bare minimum? Do you have another computer you can swap in parts to see if it's your mobo?
 
Pulled nonessentials and no POST, pull memory and it complains, pull video cards and nothing (the shorting was the game port/usb bracket hitting the mobo), pull CPU and no complaints either.

ETA - yes, EZPlug/4-pin is in as are the 6-pins on each card.
 
careful with the RMA, fed ex seems like they like to lose A8N-SLI motherboards.... :( still waiting for the claim to go through for a new 1
 
Woke up yesterday with the answer on the tip of my mind. I forgot to pull the wireless NIC which had caused my system to do similar on first install. Did so and it POSTed, then reseated wireless NIC and booted and still fine. Only issue now is whether there is something wrong with one (possible) or bot (less likely) of my 7800GTs or whether there is something wrong with my 8 month old Antec TruePower II 550w SLI cert'd PSU.
 
zg75 said:
Woke up yesterday with the answer on the tip of my mind. I forgot to pull the wireless NIC which had caused my system to do similar on first install. Did so and it POSTed, then reseated wireless NIC and booted and still fine. Only issue now is whether there is something wrong with one (possible) or bot (less likely) of my 7800GTs or whether there is something wrong with my 8 month old Antec TruePower II 550w SLI cert'd PSU.
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There is a known issue with Neo HE PSU's and Asus boards. If you look on your PSU, you should find a code such as A3. This will be to the left of the sticker that holds the serial number. If your PSU is not A3 or higher (A3.1) then its probaly your PSU not playing nice. I belive Antec will supply a replacement if not.

I swapped out my Antec HE for a BFG 550, all my problems vanished.

I dunno if this is true, but ive heard that the lack of the -5v on the Neo HE prevent it from functioning properly. Now again, i dunno if or how this is true, just something i read when i was having issues.

Btw here is the link to the Antec HE thread. If you dont have the newer version of the PSU, might want to get in touch with Antecrep (member name) and he will point you in the right direction for a RMA. He has helped a ton of people here and im sure will have no problems getting you straighten out.

Now this might not apply to you cause you have a TP2.0. However, its worth looking into.
 
The other thing is that its been SLI'd and running fine since around Christmas... May have to try throwing one of them in the sc420 toybox that I have (just got around to modding the pci-e slit to rid it of its bogus dividers), just need to get a 4 to 6pin power adapter for it.
 
I have the same problem with my A8N-SLI. I have no boot whatsoever. I RMAed my evga 7900 GTX, to see maybe thats the problem. I have a new power supply a Rosewell, 550W, 2MB. It ridiculus. I tried putting everything back in my old mobo and I get the same results. I even tried another processor, no luck. SO......we are in the same boat my friend.
 
Orian3182 said:
I have the same problem with my A8N-SLI. I have no boot whatsoever. I RMAed my evga 7900 GTX, to see maybe thats the problem. I have a new power supply a Rosewell, 550W, 2MB. It ridiculus. I tried putting everything back in my old mobo and I get the same results. I even tried another processor, no luck. SO......we are in the same boat my friend.
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Have you tried the bare min to boot? Might want to try a build outside of the case to make sure there are no shorts or anything.

Does it run and not turn off? Or does it stay on, continue to boot but no video?

I know that rosewll is 550w, but sometimes PSU's are rated ALOT higher then they spit out. This is known with most off brands of PSU's. I would look at that also, make sure that the PSU is enough to run your machine.
 
Ive tried to boot outside the case. I get nothing. No screen. My fans all spin. I have tried barbone with nothing installed but the processor, RAM, and video card. I get nothing.
 
Orian3182 said:
Ive tried to boot outside the case. I get nothing. No screen. My fans all spin. I have tried barbone with nothing installed but the processor, RAM, and video card. I get nothing.
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this is going to sound stupid...but i noticed this on my build.

If you just let it run, with no video....does the HD light up like its booting? My machine would boot into windows but show NO video at all till you got to windows login screen. Wouldnt show post, or anything like that. Let the machine run a few mins and see if it does that. If so, i belive your problem is power to the video card. However, people have reported that the 91.31 drivers from Nvidia might cause the problem. I didnt find this to be true. However, worth checking.

Have you enabled on board sound and plugged in a headphone? It will verbally say whats the problem with boot.
 
Orian3182 said:
hmmm lemme try
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Also, psu wattage really doesnt mean much and this problem is EXTREMELY common with new Nforce4 boards.

Some people find a new PSU (good name like OCZ, Enermax, FSP, PC&P) fixes their problems, others say no.

Ive also heard that it has something to do with the 12v rail and how much load you put on it. Make sure its loaded up enough to hit the 12v rail. Some PSU's cannot hit max +5v and +3.3v without having the 12v loaded up.

Another set of people belive that its because of newer PSU's and the lack of the -5v rail. I dont think new boards even use the -5v rail, but it might smooth things out.

I know you probaly not going to belive it, but i think that PSU cant handle what you need. Just cause it says its a 550w doesnt mean its a true 550w on full load an temp.I would invest in a better brand PSU personally. Go with something like a OCZ or FSP. I got a BFG 650w from my Antec 550w HE. I can tell you now the difference was night and day. As soon as i plugged in my BFG, my machine booted right up. my antec would take some swapping of cables to get working right and was i was up in windows, it wouldnt allow my overclock. As soon as i moved my FSB up alittle, my machine would do weird errors.

Also, try each stick of ram single in each slot , trying to single out if its a ram problem.

I know it seems like its hopeless. I have the same board and battled the same problem for a few weeks. Once i got it up and running though, i have to admit the asus board is much better overclocker then the abit. Just give it a good try, single out the variables and the problem just might show itself.
 
Orian3182 said:
so you think something like this would help me?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341002
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I can tell you right now, that many many people have reported that the OCZ gamerextreme has fixed their cold boot issue with their DFI (on DFI-Street forums). WIll it work for you? I dunno, i would try another PSU if you can before you spend 160 on a new one. If i had to get a PSU though, i would for sure get that OCZ. Great choice.
 
update on my particular issue. my refusal to post was and remains an issue related to the wireless NIC that I am using temporarily. Tried one of my 7800gts in the only other box I have in the house right now (dell sc420) and got the system sentinel complaining again... so I'm not entirely sure what to do. Granted the sc420 is probably not the ideal test case as it doesn't have the world's best PSU. Had I not just moved halfway across the country I would have way more testable/swappables as I had a lot of [H]ardWare freak friends in Minneapolis :) Plus I got rid of a bunch of stuff when I moved (drat!). Wishing I had a spare PSU or another PCI-E card to swap in and see if message continues. Maybe ping Antec as the PSU is only 6 months old and see what they say... Having doubts that both GPUs could be iffy, more likely the PSU, though the BIOS does show all voltages as being okay.
 
update:

I got the OCZ GameXstrem 700W PSU. No luck. Video Card gets RMAed today. Will check back later.
 
OK.....This is my system

A8N SLI Asus
AMD 64 4000+
Twin Corsair XMS 2GB(1 GB each) Platinum Series
eVGA GeForce 7900 GTX 512mb PCI-e
Linksys Wireless PCI card
Floppy Drive
WD Raptor 74GB SATA
DVD RW Drive ATA
CDRW drive ATA
OCZ Extreme 700W PSU


Everything is brand freaking new.....The video card is RMAed direct from eVGA. I still get no output to video. Im about to go drop it off at a place to fix it. Does anyone have any sugestions??!?!?!?!?!? I am fresh out of ideas. I've tested everything. Bareboned started it, 1 Ram....no RAM, different RAM started it......minimum power connected, max power connected. HELP!
 
Orian3182 said:
so you think something like this would help me?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341002


I've done the Ram, processor. None of those are the problem. Ive tried 3 different types/sizes of Ram. PSU, or Video card are narrowed down. eVGA sent out a replacement card today and i send mine in wednesday to see if there a video problem. PSU seems to be the only thing now.
Click to expand...
I'm running this:
A8N-SLI Deluxe
A64 4400+ @2.5
2x 7900GT KO Superclock SLI
2Gb OCZ DDR400
2x Seagate 160Gb sata

On that same psu with no problems..if you haven't tried a new mobo then I would do that.
 
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