Sparkle 9600GT ~ 1 long beep, 2 short. Is it dead?

[prosk]

1 long beep, 2 short. Update ~ need more advice ^_^

Sparkle 9600GT (174.16 drivers)
Asus P5N-E SLI (0401 bios)
Intel E2160 (@ stock)
OCZ 2GB platinum rev. 2
Antec quattro 1000
Win XP home

When I switch on the pc I get 1 long beep and 2 short during post. AFAIK that's video card related, right? I've had the card for about 2 weeks, but I just installed it yesterday. It was running stock settings, no OC or modded drivers.

Quake 3 would crash (it's the only game I have on my pc at the moment so I can't say about other games). I tried some different drivers but the game still crashed. I installed rivatuner, but I didn't alter any settings at all. 3DMark '05 ran ok (about 10500 with everything at stock).

I decided to leave the card alone. Later on I was about to flash the mobo bios to the latest version (0901) and overclock the cpu. EZ flash 2 wouldn't flash it. Downloaded the 0803 bios and tried again. It still wouldn't flash. Gave up and went back into windows. After spending some time in windows I restarted and beeeeep, beep, beep.

The card ran cool at 41 idle and 47 load.

I tried the other pci-e slot but still got the same error. I reset CMOS but no good. What could be wrong? Could it be dead? I don't have another pci-e mobo or another graphics card to test with.

 

[nikebee]

It does sound like it could be a video card error (1 long, 2 short generally is)... but I wouldn't rule out a fault motherboard either.

I'd try and find a mate to see if they've got a compatible motherboard to be honest.

Unfortunately with a lack of an extra motherboard/graphics card there isn't really much more testing you can do.

I'd be leaning towards a DOA graphics card what with the beeps and all.

 

[DYNA_ROD]

Don't mean to state the obvious but you have got the power lead connected to it? got 2 of these cards in sli and haven't had any trouble.

 

[Schnippzle]

Yea power lead does sound like a likely option, as well as an outdated bios?

 

[prosk]

Yeah, the power lead is connected. I tried a different cable as well, just in case there was something wrong with the one I was using, but still got the same error.

Thanks for the input, though. I'll get a cheap 2nd hand graphics card to test the mobo.

 

[prosk]

OK, I found another system to test my 9600GT on and it's working fine. As mentioned above, I already reset CMOS and tried the second pci-e slot with no luck. Is there anything else I can do before going for a new mobo?

 

[AgedIdiot]

probably totally irrelavent but did read Antec Quattro psu's did have some problems with 'new' nvidia cards.
It was the 8800 gt/gts series as I remember and such may not apply to the 9600 series but you never know...

No doubt someone will correct me if i'm sending you on a wild duck hunt

 

[-iceblade^]

has your system been operating normally? is it okay to power the card??? maybe the card is drawing too much power? VERY wild guess, that, but hey, Tesco

(every little helps)

 

[prosk]

@AgedIdiot - The 9600GT works fine with the quattro. The problem mainly occurs in vista and with the cards you mentioned, but it still can be bypassed by dissabling the NV sentinel from running at boot.

@-iceblade^ - I ran the system for only one day since I got the 9600GT, before the problem occured (this coincidence made me think the card was faulty). It was running fine during this short amount of time. The 9600GT is definitely in working condition as I had it tested a few days ago.

I'm think the problem is mobo related, so at this point I'll try to source another board to test the rest of the hardware and make sure.

I wont be requesting assistance in this thread any more, since the problem isn't gfx related as it turns out.

Again, thanks to everyone who offered their advise!