Whistle and....reboot.

Yanayaya · 8 Aug 2009 at 23:22

Hello everyone,

I am in need of some advice. I started building my new pc today.

Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro
CPU: Intel P4 2.4ghz Duel Core
Graphics Card: Asus EAH3850 x2
DDR2 Ram and all the usual.
PSU is a 600watt unit.
300gb HDD (IDE)

However I encountered a totally different issue this time. My PC on power up has a whine/whistle coming from it. Initally \i thought it was the graphics card and I was totally sure about it at one point, however after extensive listening, it is coming from the PSU.

Windows build worked fine, was a fresh install to a blan hdd. Installed ALL Mobo drivers first, then installed video card drivers, after the reboot when windows was just about to hit the desktop....reboot. And it continues in that vein.

My inital thought is that the PSU is overworked and it is causing the pc to reboot.

Thanking you all in advance

If there is any further info that I can provide that will help please let me know.

Plec · 8 Aug 2009 at 23:39

It reads like 'coil whine' - it doesn't necessarily mean there's anything wrong with the PSU, it's just very annoying. If it persists you could try and rma it - especially if the psu is advertised as quiet.

What make is the psu?

Yanayaya · 8 Aug 2009 at 23:52

Delta PSU. Nothing special. With it whining only since I installed my new Mobo and Graphics Card I assumed it was perhaps an overloading issue. Doesnt start the rebooting issue till you install the video drivers though.

Plec · 8 Aug 2009 at 23:59

Yanayaya said:
With it whining only since I installed my new Mobo and Graphics Card

Are you positive it's not the gfx card as these too can suffer from coil whine? Does the whine change pitch when playing gfx intensive games?

If the PSU wasn't part of the new build - it could be that it's getting taxed slightly more and that's what's causing the 'coil whine'.

Yanayaya · 9 Aug 2009 at 00:05

Yeah I have triple checked its no the gfx. I cant play games, because as soon as I install the gfx card drivers the pc goes into a reboot cycle. It will boot into safe mode, but that requires less resources. Which again, leads me toward power issues.

Do I have two seperate issues here? coil whine and a rebooting issue? Or do you think this could be the PSU's way of saying. "I cant cope" and so it reboots?

Plec · 9 Aug 2009 at 00:11

Strip the rig down to skeleton setup 1 stick of memory, gfx and hdd (nothing else) and see if you can get into a stable windows environment.

EDIT: are you using the latest drivers for the MB and the gfx?

Additional: I've just re-read your original post - also check that the MB is secure and not loose and double check all your connections.

Yanayaya · 9 Aug 2009 at 00:15

Tried that, getting the same result. Just as windows loads...system reboots. Was working fine until I installed the drivers from the supplied software disc that came with the card. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Plec · 9 Aug 2009 at 00:17

Yanayaya said:
Tried that, getting the same result. Was working fine until I installed the drivers from the supplied software disc that came with the card.

Including my edits? As you stated that you used the 'supplied drivers' which sounds like they're old drivers.

Plec · 9 Aug 2009 at 00:26

Apologies, i didn't really take in the whole of your original post...

I'll start again:

It reads like the PSU is suffering from coil whine - which by itself is nothing to worry about. However, if it's as a result of the PSU being under too much load then there's a chance that it is the cause of your reboot issues but at the same time it could just be coincidental and a quirk of the new build.

You need to download and install the latest drivers for the MB and gfx card - not the supplied drivers on the CD.

If the problem continues - re-seat all your connections and try a skeleton setup. If it still persists you may have to consider a skeleton setup outside of the case and check the rails of the PSU with a voltmeter. (i'll search out a link for you on Hubby's site...)

Plec · 9 Aug 2009 at 00:38

Here's a link to Hubby's site on how to test your PSU - link.

Scroll down to 'Using a multimeter to check your PSU' and 'How to check Your PSU is working'.

mollymoo · 9 Aug 2009 at 07:58

How are you powering that gpu.... does your psu have the connectors for it or are you using a converter.
Also how much power do they take to run, sometimes cheaps psu's dont always have the power the manufacturer claim.

Hairybudda · 9 Aug 2009 at 09:15

Being able to boot safe mode means you've probably got a driver conflict, disable all onboard devices and try again (if this works its probably an IRQ conflict, get us error messages please). If you still get the same error, safe mode, clean your drivers out and start afresh.

Yanayaya · 9 Aug 2009 at 14:58

ok, so I removed all the ATI drivers relating to the card and the system booted into windows no problem. I then installed the latest driver on its own from the ATI website and then rebooted, the system then started the rebooting crap AGAIN. Could an update to the already installed chipset drivers help do you think? what else should I disable to help the problem because this board does not have onboard graphics?

I set windows to NOT reboot on error, but it still does it, I will get some info from the event log for you and post it shortly.

Any further input is welcome.

Also, this is a brand new fresh install of win xp pro that im working on. (fyi)

Thank you for all the help so far, its very much appreciated.

Plec · 9 Aug 2009 at 15:11

Yanayaya said:
Could an update to the already installed chipset drivers help do you think?

Definitely worth a try as it is looking more like a conflict - at the moment, at least.

Always download the latest drivers - never use the supplied drivers as they're nearly always months out of date.

I would uninstall the MB drivers and re-install the latest drivers - it may be wise to uninstall the gfx drivers again too and install them after you've updated the MB drivers.

Yanayaya · 9 Aug 2009 at 15:25

mollymoo said:
How are you powering that gpu.... does your psu have the connectors for it or are you using a converter.
Also how much power do they take to run, sometimes cheaps psu's dont always have the power the manufacturer claim.

Yeah my PSU didnt have the 2 pci-e outputs required so it is using 2 converters that it came supplied with. So thats 4 psu outputs runing into to converters in total.

The GFX Card is said to soak up 300watts
The mobo about 75watts....

so there is still power to play with as I only have the HDD plugged in as well at the moment. :S

Yanayaya · 9 Aug 2009 at 16:20

I uninstalled the mobo drivers and display driver. Installed the latest chipset drivers for my mobo. Rebooted ok.
Installed gfx card driver on its own....rebooted failed and back to square one.

Event viewer shows nothing except a DCOM error because a service cannot start in safe mode (expected however because I am in safe mode when I remove the vga driver). Is there any other way I can get an error code or something for what is going on??

If its an IRQ conflict what can I do about it?

Yanayaya · 9 Aug 2009 at 18:26

I checked the IRQ settings, the card shows up in device manager as 2 cards, however that is to be expected as it has 2 GPU's by design. The IRQ of both listed EH3850 x2 is IRQ10, nothing else in the list has this IRQ and when I click on the video card they say "No Conflicts".

Whats the next step to resolving this? Thanking you all in advance.

mollymoo · 9 Aug 2009 at 20:18

I always go out on a limb, I'm not the best at this but I cant help thinking back to poor power.
I'm fully expecting to be corrected here but with generic drivers I cant see your gpu using all its resources and therefore all its possible draw of power, is it possible that when you put the real drivers on the power consumption is going up and causing an issue, I only mention this because you originally posted the problem coupled with a psu noise.

Yurihyuga · 9 Aug 2009 at 20:43

if it doesn't have pci-e power connectors its already a poor brand power supply and its not up to the task, the adapters won't help.
Going to need to get a better power supply for sure.

Yanayaya · 9 Aug 2009 at 21:21

Yurihyuga said:
if it doesn't have pci-e power connectors its already a poor brand power supply and its not up to the task, the adapters won't help.
Going to need to get a better power supply for sure.

I was thinking the same.....HOWEVER. Time for some confusion.

I installed the Drivers for the mobo again, but one at a time and individually, leaving the EPU-6 Engine till last (now this tool optimises the motherboard and its power usage etc to be greener machine etc) However on reboot....I noticed the whining all of a sudden...stopped.

EDIT: Then windows booted. I went into device manager and low and behold, Asus EH3850x2 is list. However the system still says "No VGA detected" hmmm.

Then I rebooted again and boom. Reboot cycle ahoy!!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Only remining thing is the PSU, its literally all it can be unless anyone else knows something else I can do.