Major PC Trouble Please Help

Me and a friend built my computer I have an AMP XP 3200+, with an Asus A7V880, a 9800pro, and 2 WD 250GB serial drives. When we first got it running it would not run for long then it would lock up. We change a couple of setting and I don't remember what they where but we got it to run fine. Now 5 months later my graphics card start to make a lot of noises and then on the same cable it melts the plastic ends of the power supply. So I take it out fix the ends and now it is doing what it did before because I had to reset my CMOS because I did not know my password. I had a cheap power supply from when I built it sitting around so I put that in so nothing would happen to my good one. Still could not get it to run properly when I would play doom 3 it would begin to lock up and glitch then tell me I had any error. Do you think my whole problem from the beginning was the graphics card? Please help


If u need more info please let me know

 

Your graphics card may be over heating, your PSU may not be powerful enough, it may be too hot overall....

Do you have any intake/exhaust fans... Your computer is like a personal heater...

 

Sorry I was not able to promptly reply back I was not able to get on for a while. Yes I have 2 fans in my case including the power supply fans. It does the same thing even I take a desktop fan and open both side panels and point the fan at my graphics card. Like I said when I first built my PC it did the same thing and me and my friend changed a couple of settings but we also had to increase the core volts which made the CPU run hotter. When this problem started again it only did it when I was playing a game. I could use my computer for an hour if I was not playing a game and it would work fine then the screen would freeze and the graphics card felt very very hot, to the point it would burn you. If I restarted it would do the same thing in a much shorter amount of time, unless I let it sit for a while then I could get about and hour out of it again.

My guess was that the graphics card was drawing to much volts and that is why my core volts had to be so high. Over time this just fried the graphics card until it was not able to work worth a bean at all. When I turned down the core volts and the AGP volt is would run stable for a while and the CPU would run supper cool until the graphics card would heat up then it would freeze again. My power supply is plenty because 2 of my friends have the same exact computer and they are running a ton of lights and 4 hard drives and they only have a 550watt power supply, just like I do. We built our computers almost identical other then; I have a newer Motherboard and a 9800pro instead of a 9700pro. I looked online and there is not much if any power difference between them.

Do you think my problem from the beginning was a bad graphics card?

 

I'd try another video card in your system and see if you have the same problems. Then you will know for sure. If it still acts strange you'll know it's not the card.IMHO I'd have to go with the bad card theory though.

 

Well I was able to send the power supply and the graphics card back and they are sending me a new one. So I will be able to tell if it is the graphics card or not. I am hopping that that is the problem. If not then I need to do some digging, quickly, before the warranty is up on every thing. If any one has any other suggestions as to what else could be the problem. If you need any more info just let me know. Man I sure hope that is the problem, because not being able to play games really sucks. I wish I had the money to built another computer, because the chance of both of them going bad at the same time should not happen, but it could; with my bad luck.

 

Steve where do I start ,Dont under any circumstances increase your agp voltage,the extra current is soaked up in your video card mosfets,it will just make your card run hotter and also your northbridge,the only practical use for AGP volts is to get a higher overclock when you are being restricted by your northbridge

also running higher voltage on your cpu is again a bad idea unless you are overclocking and have some serious cooling on it.

hopefully you havnt damaged anything,how high did you push up your agp and cpu voltage and could you post what temperatures did the two reached?,I'm not sure what caused the sporadic lockups before or why they were fixed,but you need to start at the beginning,reset your cmos again before you get your new parts and let everything auto detect and set,from there check your temperature,system about 35,cpu about 40-45 in bios depending on the weather,check your vcore 1.35 I think on a 3200 and your voltages are about around thier marks"not dead on "

Then check your mobo manufactures site for any bios updates that pertain to your mobo and if your lucky the problems your having,could you also post the spec of the power supply make and model.

 

Ok i got all of my parts back and put them back into my computer. They where the power supply and the graphics card. I can play games such as doom 3 and it does not lock up but as soon as i try to transefer files then it locks up.

if any one can help me please help me ASAP. this is what happened when i first put my computer together and me and my friend changed a coupel of settings in the bios and also had to increase the core volts if any one knows what could be wrong or need any more information please let me know.

 

I had a similar problem with the computer in my sig,the problem on mine was 2 funky sata ports,I just changed over ports until it was fixed with a bios update,so try a different sata cable and sata port,are you running the drives in a raid?

 

yes they are using RAID but how do i change the SATA ports the are on the MOBO

 

If you have 2 spare sata ports,use those,I would try backing up all your data and starting a fresh install on just one of your drives,also do you have the latest via hyperion drivers for your chipset/sata controllers and the latest bios for your board?

 

Yes i just updated my BIOs thinking that would solve the problem but it did not. The BIOs version is 1009. I tried different cables and i only have 2 SATA ports and i tried both. I cleared one of my hard drives and reinstalled but it does the same thing. Where do i get via hyperion drivers. I don't know much about SATA. The problem with backing up is my PC locks up when ever i try to transfer files. Another Question that i have is some one told be that i don't have to install RAID inorder to use my SATA HDD as the HDD with my OS. Is that true? Because when ever i install XP i have to use a VIARAID driver inorder for windows to even see my SATA HDD. You know what i mean when you install widnows right as you get to the first blue screen you have to press F6 is you have any RAIS/SCSI Drives.

I don't think this problem has anythign to do with my PS, GC, or my CPU, because i just replace my Graphics card and CPU. I dont think it is my CPU because i ran toast for 30min and it did not crash. So it has to be my MOBO or my HDD but i don't know what or if it can be fixed with out having to send them in. I kind of don't think it is my HDDs becuase i have 2 SATA WD2500JD and what is the odds of 2 bad drives from 2 different stores.

Please help if you can.

 

ok i installed the VIA hyperion drivers from my CD and when i restarted i got the blue screen of death. So i had to restart. After the second restart i tried to transfer files and the same thign happened so i am going to try the newest drivers from their web sight

 

well i just installed the newest VIS drivers and yet still no luck. When it foze i got the blue screen of death when i restarted. Does that mean we are gettign close to the problem or did it just creat another problem.

 

Just a little while ago i did a RAM test a couple of times and i get alot of errors and then it locks up do u think my whole problem could be bad RAM

 

I am going to try a RAM swap. If the RAM swap works do you think that this CORSAIR CMX512-3200C2 RAM would be better then that Kingston Value RAM.

 

Well i did a RAM swap and i put my RAM into his computer a visa versa and it does the same thing.

Another friend his computer did the smae thing until he increase the RAM volts. Any time i try to increase the volts either with the CVolts or the AGP volts or the RAM volts it will not ever start up it will get past the BIOs and then crash.

If we try to underclock or overclock it crashes. Do you think my problem is my motherboard then or what.

Please some one help me. I need my Computer for school.

 

help please

 

all else has failed get another board cant hurt at this point