Nasty System Hangs when Radeon X850XT PE is installed

Below is the support ticket I've recently opened w/ ATI:

Anyone have any more ideas?

Thanks!

 

The POST has completed at the point your photo is taken. The PC should be looking for the Master Boot Record on the hard drive at that point.

I would check your BIOS to look for anything called "reset ESCD data" or "reset extended system configuration data" or "reset ACPI data". If you can't find that, then discharge your CMOS.

Next I would use a Windows CD and boot to the recovery console and run "fixmbr" to rewrite the master boot record. This assumes you do not have a dual boot system with Linux or Windows 4 (95/98/ME).

 

Thank you. I've cleared my BIOS, once again, but the hang still remains. Thus, I can not get to the point of booting to a Floppy or CD.

Why is it that changing a Video Card would mess w/ the MBR? Remember, I can but in other cards and Windows will boot fine. I did find a slightly newer mobo BIOS flash that I'll try next.

Is there any chance that Windows XP x64 may be the cause?

Also, here's my specs:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester 939 (2.2 GHz) OverClock Pending --- Thermalright XP-120 Cooler w/ Arctic Silver 5
Motherboard: ABIT AV8 - Socket 939 (VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset)
Memory: 1GB (2 x 512MB) Corsair XMS PC-4000/DDR500 RAM
Video Card: ATi Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition (256MB RAM) OverClock Pending
Hard Drive 1: 74GB SATA 150 WD740GD Western Digital Raptor (8MB Buffer - 10,000RPM)
Hard Drive 2: 80GB ATA 100 Western Digital SE (8MB Buffer - 7,200RPM) w/ABIT "Serillel 2" SATA Converter
DVD-ROM Drive: Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1612 (16x DVD/48x CD-ROM)
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
NIC: On-Board VIA VT6122 10/100/1000Mbps LAN
Monitor: Gateway (Mitsubishi Diamontron) VX1120 22"
Power Supply Unit: Antec 550W TruePower
Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP2, x64 (Custom nLite install)
Speaker System: Logitech X-530 5.1

 

Oh, I agree that the MBR should have nothing to do with it. I'm just trying to work with where the error is occuring, and there's not much that could be problematic where the freeze occurs.

So, wait. You can't boot to removable media, either? Hm. If that is the case it can't be the MBR, and it shouldn't be the ESCD data either if you've cleared the CMOS. I really doubt that it is Windows XP 64-bit in this case, too; the error would be occuring before the OS kernel is even accessed.

Try removing the sound card? Maybe that's conflicting.

Are you overclocking? Try setting your BIOS to "Safe" settings.

 

system might hang at that point if the FSB for memory/core are set wrong. Sometimes the DEFAULT setting puts the wrong multiplier.

 

No, while I'm troubleshooting, there is no overclocking. I've dbl checked all settings to insure all are "safe" and default. I've tried removing all PCI cards when I was having this problem w/ the other two cards. I will remove the SC again.

It's so freakin' odd that I have this issue w/ the 850 chipset. I'm to the point where it would be most cost efficient to try a new motherboard as the video restocking fees are nearly the same price as a new mobo.

If I can provide any additinal info that may help, please let me know. In the mean-time, I may look into a new mobo around town.

Right now, the system's working fine w/ my old video card.

 

I'd be more apt to thing there's something wrong with the X850 than the motherboard, because at least the mobo works fine with another card. Can you try the X850 in a different PC?

 

Try switching round the molex you use to power it,see if you can get it on its own rail and make sure no other component is powered between the power supply and the xt and after the xt.

 

This is my 3rd X850 card. Two diff brand makes.

 

hmm. I've tried this and, so-far (after two boots), it's working. I'll do some gaming to see what happends.

Thanks for the nice idea. Is it possible that this is all a power issue?

 

Nevermind. It's back to doing the same 'ol...

 

Ah, yes. You did say that in the 1st post. Sorry.

Wow... yeah. So unless you want to reformat and reinstall just to check that it's Windows (and if you can't boot removable media, then it's not Windows) then you've probably cot a mobo that incompatible with the card for some reason.

 

I think I may have found the issue: that damn little SATA-PATA adapter from Abit. When I don't have it on, the system seems to be fine. With it on...

I sat and rewired and pretty much re-bult my system today thinking it may have been some short somewhere. So, after trying damn near everything I could think of to fix this, I decided to unplug the adapter and try a normal IDE cable. Sure 'nuf, boots right up. But, I'm not in the clear yet. I need at least three-five days of testing to be sure.

Thanks again.

 

lol i was gonna say you have a second hard drive, and CD/DVD rom so what on earth slot did you put them on as they are not appearing in your POST no Primary Slave, No secondary Master/Slave lol

 

Actually, my hard drives where being controlled by my SATA controller. Thus, only my DVD drive would show up in the "normal" POST screen. My HDD's DO show up in the SATA/RAID screen.

Anyway, I spoke too soon, last night. Of course, my video card (or the X850 chipset at all) just doesn't wish to co-op w/ my system. I've ordered a new PSU to see what happens. If this doesn't fix anything, I may just send the card back (again), pay the ridicules re-stock fee, and start building a PCI-E system. I was gonna wait a bit to jump on the PCI-E fad, but now's the best time as any, I guess.

Of course, if there are more ideas, let 'em rip!