Just installed watercooling... HELP

[Hey_Its_Cole]

@iceage: No, AS5 didn't go anywhere else. I am not using a custom mount. Just the LGA 775 mount that came with the 6002.

@Scroatdog: I leak tested outside the case, then drained and put inside the case. Although I did change the order of my loop when I moved it inside the case. Nothing leaked onto any components.

@Jas: Yep, my pump is working.

@Phaeton: You have to understand, with water my system only stays on 30 seconds max. All the components get too hot. I didn't measure the temp of my water, but I'm pretty sure it is room temp. Rad fins are not warm, just normal to the touch. Maybe even cool. I touch the cpu and gpu block and it is cold.

RESULTS ARE IN. I INSTALLED THE AIR COOLING FOR BOTH GPU AND CPU.

When I booted up I still got the same artifacting all over. a's appeared all over the screen when booted and going into bios. Bios showed the cpu at 48 with the air, water showed 70. I actually was able to get into windows this time. Still gave gibberish text and ****. When Windows loaded, the resolution was at the lowest - 800x600 I believe. I when to my appearence and it didn't even read my 6800GT! For display it said default or something whereas before it showed my full gpu model. I couldn't even go into 1680x1050. Weird - it didn't read my graphics card even though my monitor is plugged into it, instead it was using onboard. I think my graphics card is the problem here, but I don't understand how it got f'ed up. Do I have to buy another graphics card???

I had this problem when I got water on my 6800 gt. I was getting serious artifacts. I just cleaned everything with rubbing alcohal and let it dry over night reinstalled it and it fired right up. The graphics card is likely to blame as other have said. You probably have not fried anything, suprisingly, computers arent as fragile as people think.

 

[SlipViper]

Anybody live near him where we can go and help out???? Poor guy is so freaking out....

 

[whozyodaddy]

Well, mates, anyone have a suggestion? I don't see how the blocks are incorrectly mounted, but if they are that would explain the obsurdly high temps.

 

[Slammin]

I had this problem when I got water on my 6800 gt. I was getting serious artifacts. I just cleaned everything with rubbing alcohal and let it dry over night reinstalled it and it fired right up. The graphics card is likely to blame as other have said. You probably have not fried anything, suprisingly, computers arent as fragile as people think.

Try running a 6800gt w/o a heatsink (really, don't!). I think it will die. They do have built-in throttling, but even a throttled 6800gt will burn up without proper cooling, and I'm certain of that.

Regardless of the blocks being properly mounted or not, something was not removing the heat from his cpu and gpu and letting them hit max temp.

 

[MailOrderSausag]

reset your cmos, pull the little battery out, short the pins, whatever you do for your mobo to reset it. not flash, ,just reset.

that fixes my problems when components aren't damaged.

next



go to best buy and buy a 6200 turb-cache for $100, make sure you can return it for any reason (circuit city lets you return it for ANY reason....err.. at least they used to).

put that into your pci-express slot, if all is well, then u have a hosed 6800, ,and u need to rma it. if it doesn't work, ,then return the 6200 because it is hosed.

next - do same for all components, this is the only way to see if a component is damaged, it is expensive, but computer shops will do it for you, tell them to troubleshoot the hardware, they will mix-n-match parts in for you (a good shop will, anyway) so you don't have to buy each one. my shop did this for $75, and then i bought a new cpu from them, so they refunded the troubleshooting fee, as they should have after i bought a new cpu from them.

as others have said, computer parts are quite sturdy, they have to hold up to mishandling, etc... companies want a minimum of rma's, so even cheap ones hold up quite well.

 

[cliffboss]

well his cpu seems alright, the best i can say is that your graphic card is dead.... are warenties on nvidia card void if you remove the heat shink?

 

[BioTuned]

any kind of modifications an void warrenty on the video card. any kind of noticiable modifications.

 

[whozyodaddy]

Bottom line - I should try out another graphics card? If it works, then my 6800 is nuked...? I will be making a stop at circuit city tomorrow. I can't RMA a broken card. If that is the case, my gfx card is broken ~ then what? If I put water back on my cpu will throttle 70c and I might **** another card up.

 

[CJ-5]

I've got to ask, did you remember to use the acrylic block that came with the mounting kit on the underside of the GPU when mounting the Maze 4?

The reason that I am asking is because it is not shown in the Pdf version of the DD directions and I forgot to use it when I mounted mine last week. Without it you won't get good contact between the water block and the GPU. I bent the card so much that it wouldn't fit back into the slot until I loosened the nuts some. The 6600 would work but if I rebooted I would have no video unless I let things cool down beforehand. It got hot enough to leave the Nvidia logo imprinted on the water block. After I figured out my mistake and mounted the water block properly using the acrylic support, everything is working fine.

Just sharing, since it's already been pointed out that alot of us are bad about reading directions (me in particular).

My first post, I hope it's not too long. I tend to be wordy!

 

[Slammin]

Bottom line - I should try out another graphics card? If it works, then my 6800 is nuked...? I will be making a stop at circuit city tomorrow. I can't RMA a broken card. If that is the case, my gfx card is broken ~ then what? If I put water back on my cpu will throttle 70c and I might **** another card up.

Bottom line is that you should stick to air.

You are not mounting your blocks correctly, even though you think you are. At least the air sinks fit correctly, so yu should stay there until you figure out how important it is to have a perfectly mated surface between your waterblocks and whatever they attach to.

You are not using probe sensors between your blocks and chips, by any chance are you?

 

[Otter]

Bottom line - I should try out another graphics card? If it works, then my 6800 is nuked...? I will be making a stop at circuit city tomorrow. I can't RMA a broken card. If that is the case, my gfx card is broken ~ then what? If I put water back on my cpu will throttle 70c and I might **** another card up.

Yes, if the store has a decent return policy, trying another card is a good idea. You might as well get another one like the one you've got it they have it and you can afford it. That'll save you a trip if it turns out your old card is a goner.

If the new card works, you might put in the old one again before giving up on it completely. It's a long shot, but I suppose the driver could have been corrupted by all those crashes. And if you installed the same driver for the new card, it would only take 10 min to check the old one.

I suggest not going back to watercooling the graphics card until you manage to successfully WC your CPU. Something is wrong with your setup, and from what the other Intel users are saying, your CPU can take care of itself as long as you don't leave it running with little or no cooling for too long. Once you figure out what's wrong with the cooling system and correct it, you'll probably know whether or not you want to pry the sink off another graphics card and try again.

 

[whozyodaddy]

I've got to ask, did you remember to use the acrylic block that came with the mounting kit on the underside of the GPU when mounting the Maze 4?

The reason that I am asking is because it is not shown in the Pdf version of the DD directions and I forgot to use it when I mounted mine last week. Without it you won't get good contact between the water block and the GPU. I bent the card so much that it wouldn't fit back into the slot until I loosened the nuts some. The 6600 would work but if I rebooted I would have no video unless I let things cool down beforehand. It got hot enough to leave the Nvidia logo imprinted on the water block. After I figured out my mistake and mounted the water block properly using the acrylic support, everything is working fine.

Just sharing, since it's already been pointed out that alot of us are bad about reading directions (me in particular).

My first post, I hope it's not too long. I tend to be wordy!

No, not at all. I did not use the acrylic block. I've read the instructions and even watch the videos for the maze 4 on www.dangerden.com. Didn't even mention it. Thanks for that info bro, do I use the white acrylic block and the black foam? If this is your first post, I certainly hope it is not your last. I will try it out and post results.

@Slammin: I aint givin up... I didn't shell out $450 on a water setup for letting it drop.

 

[Acurax]

I aint givin up... I didn't shell out $450 on a water setup for letting it drop.

Good man, keep at it.

 

[LV38_Eagle]

Just to add something to the confusion that is this thread, this sounds like a corrupt BIOS to me, flash the bios chip, or get someone else to flash it, and see if that helps.

 

[whozyodaddy]

Just to add something to the confusion that is this thread, this sounds like a corrupt BIOS to me, flash the bios chip, or get someone else to flash it, and see if that helps.

I assume your talking about the 6800 GT's bios, right?

 

[LV38_Eagle]

I was thinking Motherboard actually, a corrupt mobo BIOS will cause all manner of strange effects through the whole PC.

 

[SlipViper]

CJ-5, WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!! (awsome post too )

As for RMA-ing your 6800GT, what brand is it?? Sorry if it's been mentioned, long thread..lol.

If it is BFG, (or from what I've heard, eVGA) then you should have no problem RMA-ing it. BFG is Built For Gamers and their customer support is all guys like us, so they understand if it **** happens. The least you could do is call your cards manufacturer and ask, it wouldn't hurt!

(again, anybody around his area to help him out?)

EDIT: Just noticed it is eVGA, might help if I actually read the sig!...: Still, give'em a call and see if they can help you out. You never know till you ask!

 

[voigts]

This thread really underscores a core issue when it comes to computer problems- methodical process of elimination starting with the simplest solutions and working to the more complex if necessary.

First, you take a deep breathe before you get into anything. Remember that no matter what problem you run into, there is someone else out there who has run into the same problem.

In this situation where the watercooling is installed and it freaks out, you start by going back to the last know setup, which in this case is air. Your first concern here is getting the PC to be able to post into the BIOS. If it posts, then you have a Windows issue. If it works again on air, then there is merely a problem with the watercooling setup. Since you mentioned that it doesn't, Then you one by one work through your components while still on air trying to isolate which one is the problem. Remove any PCI and USB devices that are unneccessary (to include sound card, modem, etc.). Since you are getting graphic problems, it makes sense to try a different video card as that should be fairly easy to do. Even if your system is PCI-E, you can still plug in a cheap PCI video card just to see if that is the issue. If the video card fixes the issue, then you see if you can RMA your 6800GT with the original heatsink on it.

If it was me and this didn't fix it, then I would work through each component by plugging them into another system to see if they work properly or not. I would try the CPU in another system, then the RAM. If the CPU, RAM, and VC all work, then the MB must be the culprit. I would then re-flash the BIOS (as was also suggested). If I still had issues after isolating every other component, then I would know that it is the MB. Since you don't have another system, it would be wise to spend the money like another forum member suggested and pay a local Mom and Pop shop to tell you what is wrong before you start spending hundreds of dollars replacing perfectly good parts.

 

[Jas]

No, not at all. I did not use the acrylic block. I've read the instructions and even watch the videos for the maze 4 on www.dangerden.com. Didn't even mention it. Thanks for that info bro, do I use the white acrylic block and the black foam? If this is your first post, I certainly hope it is not your last. I will try it out and post results.

@Slammin: I aint givin up... I didn't shell out $450 on a water setup for letting it drop.

If you don't use the acylic back plate, then you can overly stress the board, or bend it out of line to the point that you no longer have proper contact with the core and M4 block. The bac king plate is there to help apply a more even pressure across the board when mounting, and to provide extra structural integrity to the card.

 

[CJ-5]

Use the rubber piece as well as the acrylic backing plate. It will keep spread the load around so the hard acrylic won't damage your cards circuitry.

Thanks for the welcome SlipViper, I appreciate it.