I've been trying to troubleshoot a PC lock-up issue since I replaced my video cards last Friday. Basically, the PC would bench fine in 3DMark06, and work normally in Windows, but within five to eight minutes in a game (LOTRO, WOW, HL2, PORTAL) the video display would go black, the card fans would spin up into high gear, and there would be a lot of disk activity. I wouldn't be able to get back into the system, so I'd have to restart. Once this happened, the PC would sometimes lock in Windows, also requiring a restart.
Anyway, I've tested memory with no issues, I can't see anything funny with voltages or heat, and yet the problem persists with either card by itself, or both cards in Crossfire. Windows doesn't identify anything in error logs beyond 'the previous shutdown was unexpected.'
SO, last night I pulled the CMOS battery for a couple hours just to clear things out and start troubleshooting from scratch.
When I put the battery back in and started the PC, I got the Abit logo followed by a post screen, detecting my CPU, memory, and single hard drive correctly. I can hit F1 to continue or DEL to enter setup (I see the CMOS error, defaults enabled message), but hitting either one takes me to a black screen with a single blinking cursor in the upper left corner.
I've rebooted multiple times, cleared CMOS, nothing changes.
Any ideas on how I can get around this, or is the board officially dead?
My specs...
Abit IX38 Quad GT
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4gHz @ 3.0gHz
Scythe SCING-1000 120mm CPU cooler/heatsink
Seasonic M12 SS-700HM 700w PSU
4x1gb OCZ ATI Crossfire 240-pin DDR2 800 PC2 6400 SDRAM
2x HIS HD3870 IceQ3 Turbo PCIe 2.0 video cards
Soundblaster X-Fi audio card
Antec P160 case with 120mm Antec rear exhaust fan
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm front intake fan
Vista x64
Catalyst v8.1
Case temp between 25 and 31 celsius, up to 35 when in games
Primary card idles at 45-50 celsius, up to 70 when in game
Secondary card idles at 37-40 celsius, haven't seen it used yet (no chance, really, because of the PC locking problems)
Anyway, I've tested memory with no issues, I can't see anything funny with voltages or heat, and yet the problem persists with either card by itself, or both cards in Crossfire. Windows doesn't identify anything in error logs beyond 'the previous shutdown was unexpected.'
SO, last night I pulled the CMOS battery for a couple hours just to clear things out and start troubleshooting from scratch.
When I put the battery back in and started the PC, I got the Abit logo followed by a post screen, detecting my CPU, memory, and single hard drive correctly. I can hit F1 to continue or DEL to enter setup (I see the CMOS error, defaults enabled message), but hitting either one takes me to a black screen with a single blinking cursor in the upper left corner.
I've rebooted multiple times, cleared CMOS, nothing changes.
Any ideas on how I can get around this, or is the board officially dead?
My specs...
Abit IX38 Quad GT
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4gHz @ 3.0gHz
Scythe SCING-1000 120mm CPU cooler/heatsink
Seasonic M12 SS-700HM 700w PSU
4x1gb OCZ ATI Crossfire 240-pin DDR2 800 PC2 6400 SDRAM
2x HIS HD3870 IceQ3 Turbo PCIe 2.0 video cards
Soundblaster X-Fi audio card
Antec P160 case with 120mm Antec rear exhaust fan
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm front intake fan
Vista x64
Catalyst v8.1
Case temp between 25 and 31 celsius, up to 35 when in games
Primary card idles at 45-50 celsius, up to 70 when in game
Secondary card idles at 37-40 celsius, haven't seen it used yet (no chance, really, because of the PC locking problems)