PC issues - my god guys where do I start, advice greatly apprecicated.

[Serial45]

Hi Guys,

Well basically i'm running the PC spec in my signature.

Let's see.

I have windows xp and windows vista dual booted.

Around 2 months ago my PC started playing up. I was gettin the fabled
"Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding , but has succesfully recovered"
issue under vista.

This started happening so often it drove me crazy.

I went down to basics testing memory.
I discovered one of my sticks of memory to be faulty using windows mem test . I RAM'ed this memory found to be faulty and got a refund due to no stock. I'm still waiting for my new memory.

In the meantime I borrowed a stick of memory from my friend and am running one gig.
I was getting the "display driver not responding" issue more and more, basically I sat there two weeks ago looking at my screen it happened 30 times in 10 minutes.
I did some serious research round the web and GPU issues, including drivers, temperature etc.

MY GPU temp was around 48c on desktop 55c under load (running on a danger den watercooling block).

I phoned BFG tech support, after running every single check under the sun they have decided it's an issue with the card and have RMA'ed the card for me.

I have borrowed a BFG 8800GTX OCd version from my friend(he has an SLI setup), I'm just running the stock fan that's with it.

The temperatutes on this card are around 75c IDLE in windows.
The issue with the "display driver not repsonding" was happening frequent in windows vista and blue screens within minutes on XP.

I decided to reset my default options from my bios. Now My PC wont even boot.
I get the error C1 on my LCD display on my motherboard - which basically related to the memory check status.
I have tried resetting CMOS - no joy.

I think the 1 gig patriot memory I have borrowed from a friend may now be damaged!

The sound from my PC when booting is :

I get a long beep then nothing, long beep then nothing
My main questions are please guys :

What is causing these issues -
- Is it possible I have some crazy PSU issue and it's damaging parts?

- is it possible that i'm just really unlucky and have a collection of different issues i.e.
- faulty memory, faulty cards all seperate issues?

- motherboard damanging parts?

I'm really at a loss now. i'm at my wits end here

Another question is - is there anyway I can tell or test exactly how much power i'm using, surely 620w is enough for one GTX, 3 hard drives, one writer and water cooling pump?

Thanks for reading.
I'm almost at the stage of taking a step back and ordering entirely new parts for extensive testing.

 

[geezy]

Hi Guys,

Well basically i'm running the PC spec in my signature.

Let's see.

I have windows xp and windows vista dual booted.

Around 2 months ago my PC started playing up. I was gettin the fabled
"Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding , but has succesfully recovered"
issue under vista.

This started happening so often it drove me crazy.

I went down to basics testing memory.
I discovered one of my sticks of memory to be faulty using windows mem test . I RAM'ed this memory found to be faulty and got a refund due to no stock. I'm still waiting for my new memory.

In the meantime I borrowed a stick of memory from my friend and am running one gig.
I was getting the "display driver not responding" issue more and more, basically I sat there two weeks ago looking at my screen it happened 30 times in 10 minutes.
I did some serious research round the web and GPU issues, including drivers, temperature etc.

MY GPU temp was around 48c on desktop 55c under load (running on a watercooling block).
I phoned BFG tech support, after running ever single check under the sun they have decided it's an issue with the card and have RMA'ed the card for me.

I have borrowed a BFG 8800GTX OCd version from my friend(he has an SLI setup), I'm just running the stock fan that's with it.

The temperatutes on this card are around 75c IDLE in windows.
The issue with the "display driver not repsonding" was happening frequent in windows vista and blue screens within minutes on XP.

I decided to reset my default options from my bios. Now My PC wont even boot.
I get the error C1 on my LCD display on my motherboard - which basically related to the memory check status.
I have tried resetting CMOS - no joy.

I think the 1 gig patriot memory I have borrowed from a friend may now be damaged!

The sound from my PC when booting is :

I get a long beep then nothing, long beep then nothing
My main questions are please guys :

What is causing these issues -
- Is it possible I have some crazy PSU issue and it's damaging parts?

- is it possible that i'm just really unlucky and have a collection of different issues i.e.
- faulty memory, faulty cards all seperate issues?

- motherboard damanging parts?

I'm really at a loss now. i'm at my wits end here


Thanks for reading.
I'm almost at the stage of taking a step back and ordering entirely new parts for extensive testing.

long beep then nothing, long beep then nothing?

i had that when my GPU died on me, prob not the same thing but i thought i would mention it.

 

[Jaffa_Cake]

You need to open up the manual for your motherboard and flick to the back to find troubleshooting!

This should then give the meanings of the different beeps from the BIOS.

Those PSU's have a long history of exploding but I havn't heard any reports of them doing damage (without exploding). However it does sound like a PSU issue (possibly).

Let me know the meaning of the beeps.

 

[Serial45]

long beep then nothing, long beep then nothing?

i had that when my GPU died on me, prob not the same thing but i thought i would mention it.

I've just bought a 7800GTX from a friend as a backup! popped it in, no problem!

I can't believe this, basically two 8800GTX are dead.

Althought I have to think about this outside the box!

- Memory - could quite possibly have failed from natural causes.,
- First card - may have just turned bad.
- second card - may have failed from the exceedingly high temperatures the GTX cards run at,

I am quite frankly utterly shocked and amazed. I have spent hours looking into issues with 8800 cards, and my god they are plentiful! Mostly over-heating issues.

And to think all the fans I have in my case.

If it is the cards naturally failing - I think I have been put-off ever jumping first on the graphics card bandwagon again.

I'm just really hoping that nothing is damaging these parts as it is going to take weeks to resolve.

I thought maybe PSU issue - lack of power! but then I thought again, i left my pc on for days with prime95 testing my overclocks and had no problems at all.
I think i'll try a different PSU regardless.

I've never had so many issues in all my life, through al the different new systems, upgrades etc

 

[Jaffa_Cake]

The 8800s should run 'safe' at up to 120deg without risk of failure (i think).

I feel you may have been catastrophically unlucky. Although 3 parts dieing may be a PSU issue, maybe you could stick a meter on your different rails.

 

[Serial45]

The 8800s should run 'safe' at up to 120deg without risk of failure (i think).

I feel you may have been catastrophically unlucky. Although 3 parts dieing may be a PSU issue, maybe you could stick a meter on your different rails.

I think i'll have to purchase a multimeter and test it for sure.

I have a spare 700w psu lying about looks like it's time to move across to that for testing.

words cannot describe how agitated I feel with this .

thanks for the replies guys.

 

[Serial45]

You need to open up the manual for your motherboard and flick to the back to find troubleshooting!

This should then give the meanings of the different beeps from the BIOS.

Those PSU's have a long history of exploding but I havn't heard any reports of them doing damage (without exploding). However it does sound like a PSU issue (possibly).

Let me know the meaning of the beeps.

Seems the error code on the LED board display says C1. I've spoken to BFG tech support who have confirmed could be faulty or incompatible memory.
Again i'm going to get some DDr2 memory from a friend.

Although tbh i'm scared to place any more parts in this machine.

It's either something breaking em, or i'm just unlucky so far (i'm hoping its the latter of the two).

Either way i'll be booting up the spare 700w PSU

 

[Serial45]

RMA'ed the board, luckily i'm going away tomorrow