Oh dear...

[gha128]

And it was all going so well!

Followed Clunks overclocking guide to the letter - let Orthos run over night and was getting 3.2ghz from my E6600 rock solid, good temps (50c) for a 12 hour run. And then turn my back and "fut" and smell of burning...

Tentatively tried switching it all on again, fans run at 100% and nothing on the monitor (yes it does work, I'm using it now.)

Re-set the bios- removed the battery, cleared via the jumpers, took a look at the CPU (how do you know if its dead??) (Heatsink was not that hot by the way (Thermalright Extreme) Had a good look at the motherboard - no apparent burning or duff capacitors. DVD works, hard drives are spinning.

SOOO in trying to establish what has gone wrong, I re-set the RAM and turned it on without the GPU and funnily enough the fans ran at the correct speed and I could hear the hard drives spin up to boot. Put the card back in and bingo fans overrunning and no boot up.

Read around the forums about the issues on the X1950 Pros so I think that that is it - I don't have another PCI-E compatible computer to test. So I'm going to RMA it from ebuyer (10 days old... )

However just to be sure I want to listen to the bios beeps but darn it if I can find either the speaker on the mobo or on the case - does the P5B Deluxe or the P182 case have one? If not how can I go about getting one?

Can anbody suggest anything else I should be doing...

[gha128]

[JimNastics]

Sounds worryingly similar to this:

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.p...&highlight=p5b

I'm keeping an eye on these threads, tomorrow I'm epecting delivery of a P5b Deluxe, Corsair HX 520w and an E4300

[Clunk]

If there was a "fut" and a smell of burning, it could be a few things.

You need to get each part under a bright light and check it throroughly, you should be able to see burn marks or burst caps.

See if you can smell the part thats burnt. Have a sniff inside the psu.

[gha128]

Ok - this is what I have done

Examination:
1)detailed examination of mobo with magnifying glass under bright light. No burns or burst caps

2) detailed examination of gpu - as above

3) examination of outside of psu - no obvious issues.

4) examination of inside of psu - from what I can see without removing the casing , looking in through the back grill where the on/off switch is, no obvious issues. Would everything else be receiving power if there was a fault?

5) RAM - as above

6) Harddrives and DVD all working

7) Case fans working

Testing:
1) If I have the graphics card inserted then case and cpu fans all spin at 100%. Including graphics card fan.

2) If I have graphics card removed then case and cpu spin at normal speed

3) The graphics card fan accepts power and the LED on it work

4) I have reset cmos, removed battery, cleared jumpers

5) I have run mobo without cpu

6) I have run mobo with cpu without heatsink (no gpu) - cpu gets hot and computer switches off

7) I have run mobo with cpu with heatsink (no gpu) - cpu gets hot but continues to work

8) I have inserted a thumb drive into front usb ports to test bios re-flash - interestingly does not work i.e. does not light up...

No chasis speaker means I don't know if its beeping at me or not...

[Clunk]

You sure you smelled buring?

And nothing actually smells burnt now?

Strange.

You say the graphics card led is lit up, which one..i think there are 2 close to eachother, and it says next to it what it is.

[gha128]

It smelt abit like TCP - I have to admit that the PSU does 'smell' - not like burning per se, so can't explain if its new or burnt...

As for the GPU - the led is housed in the cooler case so can't see...

I'm about to try the psu from the rig I am currently using..

[Blitzen]

I now its obvious but is your HS/Fan on the CPU turning?

[Clunk]

If everything is spinning up, I would say that the PSU is ok.

If its an ATI card, it could just be the problem with the shipping bios on the P5B. Have you updated the bios since you have had the board?

Also, on ATI cards, there are 2x leds, close to the back of the card, underneath, near the power socket usually. Depending on which are lit, can tell you if its a problem with the card.

I also notice you have Geil ram. Ive seen quite a few people with dead Geil ram recently, so you need to remove both sticks, clear the cmos again with the sticks out, and then put ONE of them back in, try booting again..if it boots, go and flash your bios right away, just to rule out any ATI/P5B problems, then power down, remove that stick, and try the other stick on its own.

Possibly, one of the sticks is dead.

[gha128]

Well the PSU swap was never going to work 24 pin versus 20 doh!

Blitzen - yes my cpu fan is tunring (at 100% when the gpus is in)

Clunk (thanks for sticking with me on this by the way) - ATI card actually has NO LED's lit - my mistake (reflected lights in the office) Is that an indication of a problem? It's this variety http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/119203

I have tried the re-booting with 1 stick of ram and trying them in any of the black / yellow slots. No jpy

Do you have any thoughts about the fan speed issue when the ATI is inserted?

[gha128]

Just been reading about the 520W here - http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/forum...t=Corsair+520W

Is is it the concensus that this PSU is no good for this graphics card?

[Clunk]

No leds could be a good sign.

When you power on, I think they should light up for a second and then go out, its when they stay on that the card is playing up usually.

Regarding the ram.

The P5B can be a bit fickle if there has been some kind of error with the ram (if the ram is dying for instance).

As you have already tried both the sticks individually, in all the slots, try this next....

remove the power cord from the PSU, remove the battery, and set the cmos jumper to clear, remove the ram, press the on/off switch a few times to discharge anything left in the caps.

Leave it like this for a good few hours, I would say at least 2, maybe 4 if possible.

Do as you did before, with one stick of ram, and then the other.

If it still doesnt work, you need to either;

Find someone who lives near you that can test the bits for you, or lend you a graphics card so you can flash the bios (if its the ATI/P5B thing).

Find a local PC repair shop, and get them to flash your motherboard to the latest bios. (if you take your entire PC down there, they will probably be able to tell you if something is actually fried/broke.

[gha128]

I had flashed the bios from ASUS with the latest rom when I first started up the PC a few days ago - no issues. I know from experience that issue scan be from this

No LED's at all come on on the ATI when starting up

Will now try a long clear as suggested

I still don't get why the fans go nuts when the gpu is inserted

Local PC shop - man no idea where I'm going to find one of those!

[excalibur2]

Just been reading about the 520W here - http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/forum...t=Corsair+520W

Is is it the concensus that this PSU is no good for this graphics card?

HUH! say it ain't so.....have been playing cod2 also hl2 and no system crashes yet.

[Couger]

I had flashed the bios from ASUS with the latest rom when I first started up the PC a few days ago - no issues. I know from experience that issue scan be from this

No LED's at all come on on the ATI when starting up

Will now try a long clear as suggested

I still don't get why the fans go nuts when the gpu is inserted

Local PC shop - man no idea where I'm going to find one of those!

Does sound like your card m8 the fact your LED's on the card
dont even illuminate and along with the fact your fans go nuts when the card is inserted defo suggests either the card went pop or something on the board shorted the card wither way as clunk said m8 try getting ya card down local pc shop and ask em to test in another machine


Cheers Cougs

[gha128]

Thanks Cougs - I'm leaning that way myself. It just seems to freak the whole system when I put the card in. Probably easier to get the card tested as opposed to taking the whole machine! Mind you part of me just wants to RMA it - that way no cost to me!

Just coming up to 4hours on Clunks monster clear - will post the results