Hardware issue

[.walls]

Hi guys - I posted a thread in the Antec support forums here thinking that I had a problem with my PSU - except I borrowed another power supply and I get the same problem.

The basics of it are that I can't boot to a [composite] desktop with my GTX 460 any more. I have a dual boot install of linux and Windows 7 (both of which use 3D desktops) and I can enter my login details in both, but it the desktop fails to load. Under linux, the X server hangs but I can still log into the box via ssh. Under Windows, the box accepts my username/password and then the entire thing hangs. I can see HDD activity, but the network interface doesn't come online.

Anyway - the box works a treat with a borrowed nvidia 8500 and the card works fine in two other machines. Also, the box has successfully run through several passes of memtest, it will run mprime (the linux version of prime95) for hours and also has passed 20 runs of IBT on "extreme" or whatever the top setting is.... which leaves the board - a Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P. The really confusing part of this is that I did manage to boot the box to a desktop using an old Enermax PSU.

So... I'm kinda hoping that someone from the Hexus community can give me a bit of insight here (and maybe some helpful hints to what I might have missed), as I don't really have that much interest in buying a new board until Bulldozer shows its face.

EDIT: I should also mention that the windows install will boot to safe mode quite happily with both power supplies and even though it did previously work, I have tried a different set of drivers.

[The Fish]

Well, I venture an opinion due to a lack of others...

Sometimes I just spend hours following the logical fault path, redo it and still have no answers, often just more confused. So in these cases by the time I find a solution that works I don't know why often.

But as long as my frustration level has been elevated to a level that surpasses my wanting to know why, then...I just let it work and continue none the wiser in this case.

A long winded way of saying if the 8800 works, accept a weird conflict with other card and the psu.

I don't know Linux at all so sorry I can't be more helpful. Let us know if you do crack it and good luck.

[ehhhhhhh]

If the computer boots fine in safe mode and also, runs memtest without issues then I would say that the CPU, mem, MB, psu should be fine.

from this point I suspect it can be the HDD (bad sectors or file system corruption) or the operating system(s) itself (malware, viruses, driver problem etc).

furthermore:

both of which use 3D desktops

Usually these things are not supported properly by none of the operating systems. Both on windows and on linux I rank these things as useless, unstable bloatware which can cause many problems...but that's just me I'm yet to see anything like this to work flawlessly

[.walls]

Thanks for the replies guys, although it's clearly not a hard drive or software problem.

It is however looking distinctly like a mobo problem ('ultra durable' my ass), as I've managed to borrow spares of everything except that - so I have a cheap spare coming in the post in the next couple of days.