AW9D-Max, blank screen, wont boot.

[Plazek]

So now whenever I turn on my PC there is a very good chance of nothing happening. As in the screen does not come on. It will not even boot to let me into bios. The hard drive lights come on. The fans start whiring. The monitor light even flashes green for a second to trick me into thinking it might work but it doesn't.

If I am lucky it does come on but I do not know whether it will come back on if I turn it off again.

I get the error C1 on the little diagnostic thing. Then when I power it off afterwards I get 9.9 telling me to remove power? So I unplug the power wait a little and sometimes it works.

However last time I turned it on was after returning to Uni. It had been sitting in the car for an hour completely unplugged. When I put it all together I still got the error. Is this because when I turned it off last time it did not give me 9.9 error it just shut down? Or is it a sign of it getting worse?

I got the error randomly a few times in the past. I just turned it off and then on. With the power lead still plugged in. It worked. Now it is a lot worse.

Recently I have added a new hard drive. I had to remove the RAM and graphics card to do this. However I put my PC together I know how to do it, I put them back in fine. I think. I also cleaned the fan on my CPU and GPU as they were getting too hot from being all clogged up.

Anyone know what is likely to be the problem? I had a look at what C1 error meant on the ABIT FAQ on their website but was not entirely sure what it meant...

Any other info you need I will be more than happy to offer and thanks for any help. It is important I sort it out I need it for my work I don't want it randomly blowing up on me.

[BUFF]

C1 is a memory error but you will often get it if you haven't set the RAM voltage correctly & the RAM that you are using needs more than the JEDEC spec. 1.8V.
9.9. doesn't mean to remove power, it means that the mobo has completed it's shutdown sequence.

You haven't given any system info but it could be that your PSU is on the way out.

[Plazek]

Is there any way I can tell if that is the problem?
I imagine that my solution of leaving it on if the power supply is thinking about packing up is not a great one...

So C1 is a RAM error for sure? Nothing to do with GPU? BUT it could be a RAM error brought about by some other means like a bad power supply. Any other causes to this problem?

I am using:
Crucial Ballistix 2gb
2 500gb HD
X1800XT
Q6600

Thanks for your help so far.

[BUFF]

have you tried with only 1 DIMM installed?
C1 - auto detection of DRAM, size, type & ECC: auto detection of L2 cache (socket 7 or below)

what PSU are you using?

[Plazek]

Using a 450W power supply with a single rail. Rail is the length coming off the power supply with all the connectors right...Don't wanna tell you the wrong stuff

Not sure how many amps are on the rail. It says ATX 12V on it. and has a table with colours ampages and volts but not sure what all that means. This one ciao.co.uk/Q_Tec_Power_supply__Review_5545453

I have had it for a couple years it isn't a particularly well known brand I don't think, but has worked. I do think I should upgrade it when I can though, considering its not exactly top quality.
I would try just one stick of RAM but I do not want to turn it off. It may never come back on ->

I sure hope my RAM isn't broke though, I mean sure I got the Crucial guarantee thing but that would be the second stick to go in like 8 months.

[Plazek]

Sorry to bump but anyone know, is it more likely to be a RAM problem or a PSU problem?

[BUFF]

it could be either.
Unfortunately Micron D9 is known to die quite easily but Crucial do have excellent RMA.

[Plazek]

OK thanks man
It is appreciated. I agree though Crucial are pretty good. One of my RAM sticks broke before, only took a few days to get a new one.

One last thing though. Could I get this problem if the voltage for my RAM is set to 1.8V. When I booted it last I set the bios back to optimised defaults. However my uGuru utility has them set to 2V. Simply could it be a voltage problem?

Thanks again

edit:

Also I have been trying to email abit for the last week. I have tried UK and Europe office. The adress from here and from their website. The emails aren't being recieved or sent or something. Can anyone tell me the real abit email adress?

[gilgamesh]

OK thanks man
It is appreciated. I agree though Crucial are pretty good. One of my RAM sticks broke before, only took a few days to get a new one.

One last thing though. Could I get this problem if the voltage for my RAM is set to 1.8V. When I booted it last I set the bios back to optimised defaults. However my uGuru utility has them set to 2V. Simply could it be a voltage problem?

Thanks again

edit:

Also I have been trying to email abit for the last week. I have tried UK and Europe office. The adress from here and from their website. The emails aren't being recieved or sent or something. Can anyone tell me the real abit email adress?

just confirm

I have the crucial ballstix ram 4 gigs 4x1 gig sticks ddr 2 8500

This ram has no problems booting at JDEC 1.8 Volts if the timings are set to SPD.

Best way is to clear CMOS Fully

install one module
boot
in bios set correct voltage
set correct cl timings and divider
save and power off
insert rest of the modules

gilgamesh

[BUFF]

Europe
Universal ABIT NL B.V.
Jan van Riebeeckweg 15, 5928LG , Venlo, The Netherlands
Tel: 31-77-3204428
Fax: 31-77-3204420
Contact: info@u-abit.eu
Support: support@u-abit.eu
Webshop: Abit shop

[Plazek]

@Gilgamesh, sounds like the same RAM as me, I thought it worked at 1.8 cause I didn't change anything from the defaults. It has been at 1.8 the whole time and working fine till now. Just thought I would check, been racking my brain.
I am pretty sure I have the timings correct. 5 5 5 15 according to CPU-Z and running at 408.1mhz. Bank cycle is 21 though not sure what it is meant to be, or what it is
I will use your advice though and enter in the info manually when I get this problem again. Probably when I next power down my PC. Hopefully in 4 weeks after my exams, so long as the PSU doesn't explode. Cheers

@Buff, thanks for that, I can now send an email in confidence that it will actually be sent. Your practically running this forum

[BUFF]

I just lifted that info from the abit website contact page.
with the demise of abit UK I suppose that this is an orphan forum.