System build - recommend me the details.

[Gilly]

all that should do is fully discharge the line capactors in the PSU, CPU voltage phases etc. Unless there is some very strange capacitance issue with the said motherboard at the memory stage VRM, there should be no reason why the RAM would act funny depending how often/ recently it had power.

Just to throw something else into the mix, if this is the case...

the motherboard could be dodgy, as in having a fault/ design flaw with this RAM

I supose it is possible the CPU memory controller for that channel of RAM could be funny, which might mean a new CPU (although I think this one is very unlikely).

The only way you can diagnose is to swap the RAM sticks around, and see how the problem re-manifests itself.

You are right, you do have 2 years to fix it.

But I would want that monster to be working asap :P You seem very relaxed about your fault finding :P

[Gecko]

[quote]there is no way the power bar or overloaded circuitry would cause this problem, the load he is running would not cause it to excede the ratings

I second that & the rest of his post.

ho and by the way
when estimating max input current take max rated Wattage & divide by efficiency
so 750W with an efficiency of 80% (for example) means a draw of 937W

You guys are in Europe, whole different game. As I stated, it's an unlikely cause anyway, and my knowledge of your power grid/circuits is limited. In USA/Canada, it's not uncommon to have a regular 15-amp circuit heavily pre-loaded with just room lighting and other basics. You can have up to 12 devices/outlets on a single circuit. I've had a vacuum cleaner blow a breaker when the room lights were on. We also have some dodgy power grids in some cities with brownouts in urban areas, which can compound the issue. Modern electronics can be very sensitive to power requirements, it pays to check the basics - that is all I am saying. I've lost 2 PCs to surges, both of which went right through the cheap surge bars I was using. I now only use high-end bars with built-in breakers. I believe I already stated a couple of times that this was an unlikely cause, but worth verifying anyway, IMO.

I would still suspect faulty PSU or RAM as the primary cause.

[X-Warrior]

The only way you can diagnose is to swap the RAM sticks around, and see how the problem re-manifests itself.

Already done. Currently waiting for the next failure. It did not fail today.

You are right, you do have 2 years to fix it.

But I would want that monster to be working asap :P You seem very relaxed about your fault finding :P

Part of being relaxed about it is the fact that it is working. There's just this small glitch most users would never even notice (how many people unplug a rig like this for 2 days?). Does make me wonder whether it's not secretly a more widespread issue...


I have this story in some slightly different form on another forum, and someone's pointing at the CMOS battery, and its proximity to the PCIe slot. Much like I've read in this thread as well, that the battery might be dodgy. Indeed, it could be the culprit, but formally speaking, that would make it a faulty motherboard, which it is part of. Anyway, I do think it's something to consider...

[whismerhill]

all that should do is fully discharge the line capactors in the PSU, CPU voltage phases etc. Unless there is some very strange capacitance issue with the said motherboard at the memory stage VRM, there should be no reason why the RAM would act funny depending how often/ recently it had power.

yeah I kind of agree with you, I said that because it's the only thing that I could think of which could relate to the length of time the computer was without power like it seems to happen for him...

I experienced computers both mine & clients not boot up or act strangely when subject to such "power issues"

ho and thanks for the technical details, I'm not used to talking about that in english ;)

[X-Warrior]

Yesterday it went straight to 6GB. But today, it was 4 GB once more! Good good good.

But now... which channel was it?

I'll tell you: channel B. That's right, same DIMM once more. This DIMM has failed Memtest, failed in channel C, and failed in channel B.

What are the chances that something else is bugging the system now?

[Paradigm Shifter]

What are the chances that something else is bugging the system now?

So slim they're probably not worth considering. :(

Sucks you get a bad stick. :( I've had one bad stick of RAM in the last... oh... 80 sticks that have been through my hands? (System builds not necessarily for me...)

[X-Warrior]

Well, I'm glad it's the RAM. Because it's the easiest part to replace. I don't even have to move my pc from it's place to do so.
Were it to be the MoBo, I'd have to disassemble everything. So I'm quite relieved now actually. It'll be a few days without pc, but I'll live. Always have my Wii and my 50D to play with ;)

Incidentally, I might just put the old rig together again and reinstall WinXP on it. And check out the X-Fi, whether it's working at all. If there's life in the card still, it will work in there.

Yep, time to call tech support to see if there's any final objections from their side and then it's RMA time tomorrow.

Edit: the tech had little to add to the story. I'm sending the RAM back tomorrow.

[X-Warrior]

The RAM has been sent over yonder. With luck they'll receive it tomorrow and send the replacement on Monday, so I'll be back online with the new rig on Tuesday. Basically that would leave me with just tomorrow to cover. Monday evenings I don't usually have much time for using it, other than some quick browsing, which the one I'm using now will suffice for.

I've freshly installed the old rig. And now it's running once more. And boy, was it making those annoying fan noises before the new one? They do sound familiar, heh... I suppose the new one wasn't half bad then.

Of course, since I was installing it anyway, I figured I might as well try out the X-Fi.
And although Windows did detect some 'media device' on the PCI port, the drivers would not detect it. Therefore I have concluded that the X-Fi card is knackered. Which is kind of a relief, because it sets the new motherboard free of all charges.

All it should take now is to receive good memory DIMMs, install them and run the new pc happily ever after.

[Gilly]

awesome sauce!

[X-Warrior]

I sent it on Friday. But since the local mail only does recorded deliveries on Monday-Friday, it was delivered yesterday. Apparently, since the track&trace site still hasn't updated from 'underway' to 'delivered'. But I've been sent the replacement by the vendor already, so I'll just assume it arrived :roll:

The rig should be up and running again tomorrow. Hopefully problem free now.

[X-Warrior]

The rig is up and running again :D

6GB straight at the first boot. Well, it has been off for quite some time, so if there's any time it would've failed, it's now, and it didn't. Happy :)

While I was at it I ripped the USB hub from the back of my old pc and put it in here. Had a free USB slot on the MoBo, and all 8 others are pretty much taken. So I figured I could use another 2 :)


Let's hope that's the end of everything I didn't hope for.

[Paradigm Shifter]

I'll keep my fingers crossed, mate. :)

[packerfan]

Same here... I really hope this doesn't happen as I will possibly be building a similar system for myself or my sister (for architecture programs)...

[Yui]

This thread was so long ago and the current posts are not related to the main topic. Maybe it's time to delete?

[g00seberry]

This thread was so long ago and the current posts are not related to the main topic. Maybe it's time to delete?

Never!

It started off as a thread about X-Warrior's new system, and it is still on topic of his new system 8)

Good news it's working. Troubleshooting hardware problems can be pretty demoralising at times if you have no replacements on hand!

[X-Warrior]

Never!

It started off as a thread about X-Warrior's new system, and it is still on topic of his new system 8)

I agree ;)

Good news it's working. Troubleshooting hardware problems can be pretty demoralising at times if you have no replacements on hand!

Indeed. On the other hand, it works the other way around if it can be solved in the end. Like I did now. I have gained experience (Level up! :P). This is a long term positive effect. The negative bit was (should be) temporary. No, that doesn't mean I'd sign for trouble next time. I'm just being positive here :)


Maybe I should give a shot at calling Creative whether they have some replacement card available at a discount. I already have the bells and whistles, don't need those new. Or maybe they could fix it, who knows (that would probably be more expensive than a good new card though)... there's something fishy about the thing. I have the impression that it's not actually 'broken' physically, but it's having some kind of firmware issue. Oh well, not something to dwell on too much.

Edit: meh, they're not too fond of sharing their local phone number on their website. However, perhaps I should consider buying one of these instead: http://www.alternate.nl/html/product/Geluid/Creative/X-Fi_Titanium/-1074049/?tn=HARDWARE&l1=Geluid&l2=Kaarten. Comes with Dolby Digital Live software apparently, which would bring back the 5.1 gaming experience I had two pc builds ago, but lost due to the Digital DIN connector going obsolete. My speakers only have 2 line-in connectors, hence the normal 5.1 method doesn't work. I use the optical input. If Windows were to send a DD signal (it does now when watching movies, but not in applications like games), then I'm back into 5.1 through that cable. Also up for consideration: http://www.alternate.nl/html/product/Geluid/Creative/X-Fi_Titanium_-_Fatal1ty__Professional_Serie/-1070197/?tn=HARDWARE&l1=Geluid&l2=Kaarten, because it has some kind of casing, making it harder to break *cough* :roll:. Being PCIe cards, they would also go into somewhat more favourable positions on the motherboard (not blocking the GPU's airflow).

Any experiences with Dolby Digital Live, or any of the above cards? Suggestions? (Yep, we're back on the original topic :P)

[Paradigm Shifter]

The 'cases' are mostly eye-candy. Manufacturers make a case that is helps prevent EMI on the audio, but I couldn't tell the difference when I popped one in a mates machine.

[packerfan]

You probably need an oscilloscope or similar to notice the differences as you proceed to potentially run the signal from the nice shielded card unshielded out to your speakers/headphones anyway. But PS is right in that they are namely to avoid interference.

[Paradigm Shifter]

You probably need an oscilloscope or similar to notice the differences as you proceed to potentially run the signal from the nice shielded card unshielded out to your speakers/headphones anyway. But PS is right in that they are namely to avoid interference.

I'm still not sold on the idea. Particularly as some leave the back of the card uncovered.

[X-Warrior]

Update!

No, no, nothing wrong with the pc. Nothing at all it seems... except the keyboard being funny every now and then, but that seems to have been solved by disabling Legacy USB Support in the BIOS. And the side scrolling on the mouse failing is probably an Opera issue with its latest update, since IE does respond to it.
Yes, all is well.


Anyway, check out my latest post here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9546&start=2835

So the next upgrade for this pc isn't going to be a fresh sound card apparently. Oh no, it's going to be a display.

Although I find it rather annoying to have to forcibly (if I want to watch those BD's - I don't just want to send them back, even though I can), I did plan on something bigger from the moment I got the new PC, something Full HD, for the BluRays. Just didn't do it outright. Well, the time has apparently come sooner than anticipated.


My requirements:

- (S)IPS panel or better
- Large viewing angle (if it's IPS that shouldn't be an issue)
- 1920x1200, 23 or 24". Specifically not 1920x1080 because it's a wrong aspect for pc gaming. However, I do realise that my choice would be very limited by this, so if there's a very good screen which just so happens to be 1920x1080, do recommend it.
- HDCP compliant (well obviously, since that's the very reason I need a new display)
- DVI, HDMI and/or DP. Does DP come with HDCP? I suppose it'll have to, being a modern connection type. DP is preferred, just because it's new and cool, but DVI will do just fine.
- Height adjustable.

Would be nice features:

- Hardware calibration. This will probably bring it to a rather high price tag though. It may however be a decisive feature if the price is good. I'd love to get rid of extra software running just to have the right colours.
- Wide gamut. Although I've also read a lot about it being more trouble than it's worth. Only if it doesn't drive up the price too much please.
- USB hub.

Not important:

- Response time. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a >16ms screen these days.
- Built in speakers. They won't be used.


Budget is pretty much the same as the PC build. I can afford what I need, and I'm willing to pay for quality. But don't go too nuts - Eizo screens look very nice, but €800 and up is pushing it rather a bit.

NEC is very good, yes?
I love my Philips, and I'd buy another one of theirs, if it weren't for all their products being TN now as far as I've seen :(

I think I'll just browse a bit, it's been discussed plenty of times before.