ASUS V9980 teething problems - crashes and non detection

[Arakel]

Hi all.

First, let me give my system specs:

AMD Athlon 2800XP
MSI K7N2 Delta ILSR MOBO
1024mb Corsair TwinX PC2700 RAM
Soundblaster Audigy Platinum
Seagate 5500rpm 30 gig HD
Win XP Home (SP1).

Up until my new shining ASUS V9980 arrived yesterday, I was using the Nforce2 onboard graphics - the system was stable and worked well (if a bit slow graphically at times... )

I popped the V9980 in yesterday, and changed nothing else.

When I booted into Windows, I tried installing the ASUS drivers. I was told that no ASUS card could be detected.

However, Windows COULD detect the card, and I installed the Nvidia 5950 drivers without problem. THe card was now detected.

Rebooting, Windows told me the GFX card wasn't getting enough power, and as a result performance had been reduced to safe levels. I noticed my processor fan was operating at a slower speed at this point, and I hadn't adjusted it.

THinking the Nvidia drivers might not be working right with the card, I used the Add HArdware wizard to manuall select the correct ASUS driver from the CD. This seemed to work fine. I rebooted, to no error message.

When I started HALO, my system rebooted immediately.

I tried reinstalling the Nvidia drivers, to no avail. The ASUS driver install program still can't detect the card.

My fan is incapable on running properly with the ASUS card plugged in. In fact, I have now removed the V9980 because the fan could no longer keep the processor cool enough to stop my comp from autoshutdown (temp sensor).

The only thing I can think is that my PSU isn't putting out enough juice. I've purchased an Antec Truepower 550W PSU which should arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping this will solve the issues. To my mind, the reduced speed of the fan HAS to be due to power issues - my best guess is the ASUS can't run properly as it isn't getting sufficient power, and the fan can't run properly as it isn't either.

Does anybody else have any suggestions?

Much obliged for any help.

 

[paparazi]

At this stage I would agree with your diagnosis.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you but think the Antec should solve the problem.
You are installing the extra power cord on the graphics card and motherboard (if it has one) arn't you?
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[Arakel]

Nice to know I may be on the right track.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "extra power cord" - could you elaborate a bit? Insofar as I'm aware I've done everything correctly, but I'm more than willing to hear something I might have overlooked. Would you mind elaborating?

 

[paparazi]

Hi Arakel !
What I'm saying is the MSI K7N2 Delta needs the extra 4pin power cable connected.
This extra plug/socket is located directly underneath the existing main power socket on this particular mainboard. All modern P4 compatible power supplies have one of these additional power supply harnesses in their loom, if yours is an older PSU it may need replacing for one that has this connector.
It is a similar story with the graphics card, these high end cards require so much power that they need an additional 4pin molex connector supplying them to work properly, they simply cannot get enough power through the AGP slot, you have to use a spare molex connector (same 4pin type that it used to power HDD's and CDroms devices) connect one of these to the end of the graphics card.
Martin


Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[SavageMonkey]

Hey Arakel, I'm having VERY similar problems with my Asus V9980. In windows it seems fine and all, but when running OpenGL games it crashes almost straight away. When I listen to my computer when I go into these games I hear what sounds like the hard drives shutting down and booting up again. After a short while the system will usually shut down and won't be able to turn on again for a short while.

If I manage to leave the games before the full system shut-down and get back into windows, sometimes the system will just become inactive (mouse becomes static). I remember this sort of thing when my system used to overheat years ago. Things would seem to point to power supply issues, but I would have thought 450W is enough. My system does have a lot of hardware though (2 hdd, 2 dvd drive, mother of a fan).

Even before reading your post I suspected it was a power related issue. Now you have your new power supply, are things working? Please please come back, I'd like to hear how things are going.

PS - My system is also very similar to yours (nforce2 motherboard, Athlon 2700XP).

 

[Arakel]

Savage Monkey - sorry for the tardy nature of this reply, I've been busy! On holiday, and preparing to emmigrate to the US, so things have been hectic here lately. Full apologies.

After installing the Antec Truepower 550w power supply, my system worked without problem. The graphics card works like a charm, and I'm freely running all kinds of FPS in highest detail. In short...it certainly was my problem!

I also noticed a serious speed increase in my system since the new power supply came in. Someone recommended Antec to me as the best PSU around, and my personal experience seems to back that up - if you're going to get one, get an Antec - and the 550w seems to give all the juice I need, for certain.

Hope this helps.

 

[ziad87]

Hi Savage Monkey i have the same problem you have. I am hearing clicking sounds whenever i play games. And sometimes when i boot my pc the mouse is inactive. I have a p4 3.4 , 2 gigs of ddr ram, intel d875, asus V9980, 550 watt power supply. How did you solve your problem? Is it possible that it is not connected to the power supply with the proper cable? However i never got an error saying there wasnt enough power. Thanks

 

[SavageMonkey]

I'm sorry to you all, I should have come back here earlier to explain how I corrected the problem. The reason why I didn't is that I wanted to actually test it for a long time before I could say, "Yes, it is ACTUALLY working!".

Okay, I tried everything that was available to me as far as software goes. Tried all the different drivers, all the different settings etc, but nothing could do it. As problems seemed to be Power Supply related, I bought myself an expensive PSU by a good manufacturer.

I was using a QTEC 450W Power Supply before. Extremely cheap, but I was ignorant before to how much difference it could make. I've seen QTEC 550W PSUs for about £30 ??!?!?!!? Doesn't that just make you think they're lacking quality somewhere?

Anyway, so I bought an ANTEC 480W PSU (ANTEC TruePower 480, I think) for around £80. All I did was simply swap the old PSU for this new one, and never saw one problem, easy. I didn't change anything, only the PSU. I haven't had any problems since, and I play a lot of CS and my computer is powered on for long stretches of time.

It's sad to say it, but you might be wise to buy a new PSU. Unless however, your PSU is already a decent brand. If it's QTEC though, , well, destroy it as soon as possible!

If you'd like to ask anything inparticular about my situation just reply back here, I've got it to email me a notification.

Best of luck to you ziad87!

 

[SavageMonkey]

So it actually appears my solution is identical to Arakel's.

ASUS really should put on the box of the card "Needs a decent PSU to run properly".

 

[ziad87]

Thank you SavageMonkey, I have a 550 watt power supply but I don't know the company. It should be good becuase it was the best I found in the shop, however it only costed 50 dollars. Anyways I think the problem is over-heating. When playing games the temperature of the card reached about 100 degrees (C). I dont have these new case that contain more than two fans. I also dont have a cooling system. So is this a power supply or a over-heating problem?

Thank you

 

[SavageMonkey]

50$, around £27 isn't a lot at all for a 550W PSU. In fact I'd say that's very cheap, especially if you bought this quite a while ago. The ANTEC 550W PSUs cost around $175.

You don't have a cooling system? What are you meaning inparticular. Your graphics card does have a fan and heatsink on it, doesn't it? If not, that will cause an overheating problem, but I can't imagine a retail version of the card without the proper cooling system.

My graphics card idles at about 47 degrees (C), that's what it says at this very moment in the display settings. The "Core slowdown threshold" is 140 degrees (C) though. This leads me to believe that a card running at 100 degrees (C) should still function, even though that's VERY hot for "our" standards [I wouldn't want to touch it at that temperature ].

It's always important to have some system fans, as well as the fan on the PSU, but you shouldn't really notice such extreme symptoms unless you're overclocking your system as well.

If you symptoms are the same as mine and Arakel's, then I'd say it's a Power Supply problem.

You know though, it could STILL be an overheating problem. However, this problem could be because the PSU does not have enough power to spin the fans fast enough after the GFX card requests more power to display those neat graphics. Unlike previous GFX cards which recieved power through the AGP slot, this one also recieves power through it's own power cable. Unless the PSU can handle the distribution of the power correctly, there are likely to be surges here and there, which could be the reasons here.

Unless you're hard up for cash, I'd suggest buying a new, expensive PSU, fitting it in and trying it out. If it solves all problems, then you've solved your problem. If it doesn't, simply take it back and get a refund as "It's not compatible with your case", for example. That'll be one less cause to think about.

 

[ziad87]

Here are the exact problems:
After playing games for like 10 minutes, i start to hear a clicking sounds and a fan (i dont know which one) starts spinning at 5,000 rpm (checked with intel system monitor).

And sometimes the mouse freezes and sometimes pc restarts by itself. But these last two problems barely happen.

 

[SavageMonkey]

The second set of problems would suggest overheating, but that's probably because of PSU even so. I really would try the PSU option.

These problems only started happening when you put the ASUS V9980, is that so? It seems that people who have had similar symptoms with their new V9980 have resolved the problem by buying a good PSU.

Anyone else got any other ideas except a new PSU?

 

[ziad87]

The v9980 was the first 3d card i put in my new pc. So I never tried the pc without the 3d card. I will try getting the antec if its available here. Are there any other reliable companies for power supplies in case i dont find antec?

 

[SavageMonkey]

Oh this is a little more complicated then if tis is the only card you've tried in your PC. With people like me and Arakel, we upgraded, having no previous problems, then recieving problems with the V9980.

If you've got another 3d card available you could try using that for a while to see if you ever experience similar problems. If you do have problems with another card it's not the ASUS GFX card that's specifically causing the problems. :-( damn.

 

[ziad87]

Another thing just occured to me. When I play Collin Mc Rae Rally 4 i never hear the sound of the hard disk thing from the 3d card. And I only hear it barely in some occasions in Unreal Tournament 2004. However, i always hear out in World Racing and in Counter Strike and in Warcraft 3, which are older games and do not require high graphics. So is this a possible problem in the power supply? I am planning to buy a new supply but i want to make sure that this problem will be solved becuase a new power supply is really expensive.

 

[SavageMonkey]

Yeah I had the same thing that some games would do it more than others.

I may be wrong, but even though these are "older games", because we demand such high FPS of them, the overall computing the system needs to do to display the games is the same.

Like if we try to force Counter Strike to run at the most frames per second the system can handle, this processing is probably the same as Unreal 2003 on the maximum frames per second that that can handle.

If your hard drive is going off and on, and you get system shut-downs sometimes, I think it's safe to say it's PSU. Still, try to cover your back. Buy from a company who offer refunds because of incompatibilities... when you recieve the item, do not ruin the box or destroy the packaging it came in. This way, if the PSU doesn't solve the problem, you can hand it back in perfect condition.

 

[ziad87]

Thanks for your constant help, did I mention that I live in Lebanon. we dont have anything called "refund". Antec power supplies dont exist here, so i am gonna try to order one. Unless there are any good companies other than antec, are there?

 

[SavageMonkey]

, you didn't mention that... Hmmm.... that makes things slightly different as I don't want you to spend your money if it won't solve the problem.

If the symptoms on your system are the same as mine and Arakel's, then getting an Antec PSU (such as the 480W) would be a good idea. It worked for both of us. It's up to you on that part. It would appear the problem is the same, but as I cannot see the problems directly :S....

To clarify things - Is the system shutting down? Does the hard drive appear (with the clicking sound) to be turning on and off?

Also, if you think there is any other useful information, please tell us again, just in case something was missed.

 

[ziad87]

Sometimes the system shut down randomly, sometimes it boots and then automatically shuts down. I hear clicking sounds only in games but I dont know where the sound is coming from. And i have another question, in order not to face other problems, are only two fans enough. Many new pcs come with like extra 4 fans. While i only have the processor, 3d card, power supply, and one exhuast fan. Is that enogh considering i dont overclock. I dont want to face heat problems after i fix the supply issue. Thanks