Absolute nightmare. Rig is dead, can't figure out why.

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:32

I'm having an absolute nightmare with my rig. A couple of weeks ago I installed a new cooler and graphics card. It worked for about 8 hours then died. I tried everything to fix it and nothing worked so I concluded it was a dead mobo. Evga sent me out a new one which I received today. I put everything on the new mobo and plugged it in and... nothing.

I have tried everything the tech people at Evga have recommended, including resetting CMOS, trying different ram, trying only one stick of ram, reseating the cooler, unplugging everything but the CPU, GPU and ram and none of it works. I just get either an FF or 1D error code.

Could it be a dead CPU? That's what I'm thinking now. It's a 3 year old Q6600. Never had any problems with it before but you never know. But wouldn't it at least boot into BIOS even if the CPU was dead? Maybe they've just sent me another crap mobo?

Specs:

EVGA 780i F.T.W. mobo
Q6600 CPU
OCZ PC2-8000 and PNY PC-6400 DDR2 ram
750w Corsair PSU
Antec 900 case

stulid · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:34

t wont boot into BIOS without a CPU.

Are there any lights? and fan movement?

Buchanan0204 · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:36

No.... it wouldn't boot into the BIOS (POST) if the cpu was dead. It wont be your CPU however.

Is there absolutely no sign of life?

If not... then it will be your PSU... since we've ruled out the Mobo.

Even if the ram, hard disk or any other component... even the GPU was faulty. It would still power on. No power on, means PSU or Mobo...

Darujhistan · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:41

kissenger said:
I'm having an absolute nightmare with my rig. A couple of weeks ago I installed a new cooler and graphics card. It worked for about 8 hours then died. I tried everything to fix it and nothing worked so I concluded it was a dead mobo. Evga sent me out a new one which I received today. I put everything on the new mobo and plugged it in and... nothing.

I have tried everything the tech people at Evga have recommended, including resetting CMOS, trying different ram, trying only one stick of ram, reseating the cooler, unplugging everything but the CPU, GPU and ram and none of it works. I just get either an FF or 1D error code.

Could it be a dead CPU? That's what I'm thinking now. It's a 3 year old Q6600. Never had any problems with it before but you never know. But wouldn't it at least boot into BIOS even if the CPU was dead? Maybe they've just sent me another crap mobo?

Specs:

EVGA 780i F.T.W. mobo
Q6600 CPU
OCZ PC2-8000 and PNY PC-6400 DDR2 ram
750w Corsair PSU
Antec 900 case

It's your PSU dude.

To be sure, try another one, if you can't get hold of another PSU - just RMA the CORSAIR.

Ginger-Menace · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:42

im going to say its the psu aswell, see if you have anyone who can lend you one to test

Buchanan0204 · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:45

Hang on?

EVGA sent you out a new Mobo without first diagnosing your original? Do you now have two working motherboards?

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:49

I don't think I explained myself well in OP. It does 'power on' as such. If I turn on the standby power I get a blue light in the top right hand of the board (near the DIMM slots) and an amber light on the 'power' light at the bottom of the board. Then when I press the power on button on my case the I get the error message and a quick red LED flash at the top of the board, plus the blue light, plus the amber light at the top of the board, which is all fine.

But at the bottom of the board the 'power' light doesn't show anything. It goes from amber on standby, then to nothing when I turn my rig on.

Can it still be a PSU issue?

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 18:58

Buchanan0204 said:
Hang on?

EVGA sent you out a new Mobo without first diagnosing your original? Do you now have two working motherboards?

Yep. EVGA advanced RMA. Plus they sent me a *** edition even though my old 780i was a standard one!

hildark7 · 1 Dec 2011 at 19:06

kissenger said:
I don't think I explained myself well in OP. It does 'power on' as such. If I turn on the standby power I get a blue light in the top right hand of the board (near the DIMM slots) and an amber light on the 'power' light at the bottom of the board. Then when I press the power on button on my case the I get the error message and a quick red LED flash at the top of the board, plus the blue light, plus the amber light at the top of the board, which is all fine.

But at the bottom of the board the 'power' light doesn't show anything. It goes from amber on standby, then to nothing when I turn my rig on.

Can it still be a PSU issue?

check for objects on and under your board maybe?? could be shorting

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 19:20

hildark7 said:
check for objects on and under your board maybe?? could be shorting

Checked that. All that's under my board is the backplate of the cooler, which is pretty well insulated from the board.

If it is the PSU then that's a good thing because I can buy one tomorrow, but I can't see how it can be the PSU if the board lights up and the fans are spinning, etc. I don't know much about computers but that just seems counter-intuitive to me?

GTO656 · 1 Dec 2011 at 19:30

yeh it could be the PSU

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 19:51

GTO656 said:
yeh it could be the PSU

How's that possible if the machine powers all the fans, etc?

Could it be that when I installed my new GPU (an overclocked 560Ti) it caused an extra power draw which did something to the PSU to make it stop working properly? That, plus 3 and half years wear and tear through heavy daily use?

Tealc · 1 Dec 2011 at 22:43

1D according to a site I looked at refers to a memory issue but could be the VRAM on the graphics.

FF can mean fully functional or a hardware checking stage.

Sounds like you've tried a few things to to with the ram though.

I'd be looking at the PSU too.

What happens when you boot without the video card. Same?

honosuseri · 1 Dec 2011 at 22:56

kissenger said:
I'm having an absolute nightmare with my rig. A couple of weeks ago I installed a new cooler and graphics card. It worked for about 8 hours then died. I tried everything to fix it and nothing worked so I concluded it was a dead mobo.

What is the GPU? Did it require significantly more "juice"?

Personally I would check the voltages the PSU is putting out or indeed just swap the PSU for a known working one. It's very handy to have a spare PSU when it comes to troubleshooting.

You didn't clarify that you know the PSU is good. Once we know we can go further from there.

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 23:13

honosuseri said:
What is the GPU? Did it require significantly more "juice"?

Personally I would check the voltages the PSU is putting out or indeed just swap the PSU for a known working one. It's very handy to have a spare PSU when it comes to troubleshooting.

You didn't clarify that you know the PSU is good. Once we know we can go further from there.

Okay I've done a bit of research. My old GPU (a 9800GTX) had a max system power consumption of 265w according to a review I saw. The Asus 560Ti TOP I installed had a max power consumption of 402w!

So could that extra power consumption have done something to the PSU? I noticed that I got crashes a few times after I had installed the new card when I was gaming, i.e. putting the card under load?

My PSU isn't a crummy one though. It's a 750w Corsair with 60 amps on the rail, but for all I know 3.5 years of heavy use can lead to a deterioration of the PSU's performance?

Buchanan0204 · 1 Dec 2011 at 23:21

Just to clear things up... A fully functional 750W Corsair PSU will not be put under any pressure running any single GPU on the market right now. It would have been a walk in the park running your 560TI overclocked edition.

Tried with one stick of RAM in the slot closest to the CPU? Tried it with each stick?

I doubt you have a multimeter to check voltages? Most people don't. Am I wrong?

Is it possible to borrow a friends PSU for an hour or so?

Tried clearing the CMOS? Does the board have onboard graphics? Try another GPU if possible.

Hyburnate · 1 Dec 2011 at 23:25

What were your temps after installing the cooler?

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 23:27

Buchanan0204 said:
Just to clear things up... A fully functional 750W Corsair PSU will not be put under any pressure running any single GPU on the market right now. It would have been a walk in the park running your 560TI overclocked edition.

Tried with one stick of RAM in the slot closest to the CPU? Tried it with each stick?

I doubt you have a multimeter to check voltages? Most people don't. Am I wrong?

Is it possible to borrow a friends PSU for an hour or so?

Tried clearing the CMOS? Does the board have onboard graphics? Try another GPU if possible.

Yes mate. Tried multiple GPUs. Reset CMOS. Tried every ram configuration possible. Unfortunately I don't have a multimeter or second power supply though.

I wouldn't have thought a 750w PSU would have any problems, but what if you consider it's 3.5 years old and been used 7 days a week for probably 10 hours a day.

kissenger · 1 Dec 2011 at 23:28

Hyburnate said:
What were your temps after installing the cooler?

Less than 25C.

jaybee · 1 Dec 2011 at 23:29

Have you taken everything out the case and ran it on a table/bench with one dimm and all non essentials plugged in? Have you tried starting it up without using a case button as the power switch? i.e. short the power on header with a screwdriver to turn it on.