Computer won't boot with Delta 1010 Installed

Andelusion · 14 Aug 2006 at 17:00

Hallo, had this card off ebay for a while now, it worked for a day fine, then stopped working.

My PC will boot however nothing is displayed on the monitor, I also hear no normal motherboard beeps.

I've tried the soundcard in 2 other PCs (one newer than mine, one much older) and it works perfectly.

I'm using the latest soundcard drivers and latest motherboard drivers, I've also tried after a fresh reformat.

I've tried it in several differenct PCI slots and am now completely confused as to what to try!

Does anyone have anything to suggest at all?

I'm using an Abit NF7, Amd 3200+ and am running XP with Sp2.

Thanks, i've emailed m-audio tech support once already btw but never got a reply =-/ have just sent a second one off.

Codmate · 14 Aug 2006 at 17:24

I'm assuming the machine boots OK without the card installed at all?
If not, then you probbaly nudged the VGA card a bit when installing the new sound card.

If the machine boots OK without the 1010 then remove the 1010 and try using system restore to roll back to a point before you installed it.
Then re-install the card.

If the machine won't boot even without the 1010, then it's possible there is a different problem with the machine.

The 1010 should be OK with that mainboard - but it would be best to disable the onboard sound in the BIOS. M-Audio's cards can also be a little over-sensitive to IRQ sharing, so it can be a good idea to reserve one (although it's been a long time since I had to do this).

It may make it easier to help if you list what PSU and other components are you running.

Andelusion · 14 Aug 2006 at 17:47

Thanks, well the PC boots fine without the card installed so I definately haven't nocked the graphics card.

Can't really do a system restore as i've reformatted since installing the card (to eradicate any software issues!) and it still doesn't work.

Ok rest of the spec:

Antec 350 watt PSU
Abit NF7 Mobo
Athlon 2500 clocked to 3200 (I've tried it stock also, no difference)
Twinmos DDR400 (512mb)
GeForce 6800GT

Disabling the nvidia audio in the bios seems like a good idea.

I have a sketchy memory of the day the card stopped working, but I believe I had some trouble installing the nvidia audio codecs, but still, i've reformatted since then so would have thought that wouldn't change anything.

Thanks for your help so far! M-Audio have done bugger all lol

Codmate · 14 Aug 2006 at 19:58

Machine spec looks good - although I would certainly keep the CPU at stock until the 1010 works again.

It seems very odd that it runs without problems in other machines, yet your machine doesn't even POST with it in.

Have you used any other PCI cards on this mainboard - or is this the first time the PCI slots have been used?

It's always possible that the PCI slots are somehow broken - but I'm clutching at straws.

Maybe it's worth re-setting the BIOS to 'fail safe defaults'?

If the card works in other machines, I'm afraid it's something to do with the rest of your system - or possibly a flaky card with an intermittent fault.
Sadly, sometimes people find it easier to sell stuff on ebay than RMA it.

Andelusion · 14 Aug 2006 at 20:01

Aye disabling onboard audio in BIOS didn't do anything, i've cleared CMOS a couple of times before and tried it but to no avail.

M-Audio tech support from the site have told me to phone tech support as there could be 'many solutions to this problem, ring tech support for a quick solution' seems to be a bit of a contradiction there! Oh well.

Apparently m-audio stuff has a lifetime warranty so I may even be able to get it replaced..

jbloggs · 15 Aug 2006 at 21:01

Andelusion wrote:

I've tried it in several differenct PCI slots

Did you try it in the bottom most PCI slot?

Just asking, because I have a Terratec DMX 6Fire card, and that will only work in the bottom most PCI slot on my motherboard, as far as possible away from graphic card and SCSI/RAID controllers.

Andelusion · 16 Aug 2006 at 01:56

jbloggs said:
Did you try it in the bottom most PCI slot?

Yep

Phoning tech support today (Weds) hopefully, just need to put some credit on my phone, will be using mobile (

) as just moved into a new house and don't have a landline at the moment. Great.

Codmate · 16 Aug 2006 at 12:34

Andelusion said:
Yep Phoning tech support today (Weds) hopefully, just need to put some credit on my phone, will be using mobile ( ) as just moved into a new house and don't have a landline at the moment. Great.

I'm skeptical that there's much they can do to be honest...
It sounds to me as if there is some weird incompatibility going on.

If the 1010 is still working in other machines it *has* to be something to do with the rest of your config. Have you tried removing *everything* (including Hard Drives) and powering on the machine with the 1010?

Try booting off a Linux live CD, floppy (MS-DOS, Linux etc.) or USB stick with just one stick of RAM, CPU, VGA and PSU hooked up. If that's OK then stick the 1010 in and try the same with just one stick of RAM, CPU, VGA, PSU and the 1010. If it doesn't POST try the other stick of RAM.

It's also worth trying several VGA cards. Go through combinations of VGA cards and sticks of RAM. I've had stranger problems in the past believe it or not.

Then try a spare CPU. Then try another PSU. You get the idea...

If it won't post with any combination of the above, then there is something wrong with the mainboard. If the 1010 is working in other machines, that says to me that the soundcard is OK, unless it is somehow killing PCI slots after a certain period of time - but I can't think how this would happen.

I have a hunch that it's an incompatibility with your mainboard, or a flaw in the mainboard that you haven't picked up on before - maybe you haven't used the PCI slots on this mainboard for anything before?

Try other sound-cards in your rig if you can get them - especially other M-Audio delta cards, such as the Audiophile 2496, Audiophine 192, Delta44, Delta66 etc.

Another test would be to run the card in another PC for a longer period of time - the same sort of period you ran it in your machine for.

I doubt very much M-Audio will be able to help you over the phone if the machine won't even POST with the card in!