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[Deleted member 325805]

Yup. If you upgraded to Win10 then use a key finder to find your Win10 key, it's separate from the existing Win8.1 key, before you roll back.

OK I have my key, but it has been over a month, will that be an issue? I've been having awful issues and I'm trying to rule out everything, and OS is next on the list.

 

[Joeku]

Repost for a new page. TLDR: Sent video card in for RMA, came back borked exactly the same way, worth trying again or what?

What up TechSupportGAF. I could use some only slightly tangentially-related advice.

Long story short (deep breath):
Got a Gigabyte 970 at the start of the year. Had minor issues I figured I'd deal with but they escalated severely (constant crashing in video games under certain engines or from certain devs, like, Witcher 3 works great but Blizzard games are constantly giving me TDRs) to the point where I was a getting a crash to white in anything after updating the firmware on the card.

So I finally do the obvious thing: RMA the piece of crap. Send it off (from Canada to the US, nearly $40 CDN later...) and get it back a few weeks later. My hope was they would just replace it after noticing the issue, but it had the same serial number. I try it out and it is exhibiting exactly the same problems it had before: crashing in Blizzard stuff, Dontnod stuff, 3DMark, Evolve, Deadcore, not letting me run audio through HDMI, etc, problems I had spent what amounted to weeks and months trying to fix before I had sent it in.

Now, this all said, what are my expectations if I send the thing back to Gigabyte again? I really don't want to keep dropping money and wasting time on shipping RMAs back for the same problems over and over. Has anyone had RMA'd cards come back this way, and if so, would customer support give enough of a shit to just replace it if I explained this to them, or do I have to suffer through this bullshit forever?

I had a weirdly good time putting my old 6850 back into my PC and being obligated to go through my backlog of 2011-2012 stuff. Not a single problem whatsoever. Human Revolution is the bomb.

 

[Uriah]

Ensure the firmware on the drive is up to date, if the manufacture offers diagnostic utilities you may want to try them as well.

Also ensure your boot priority is set correctly and your not using any special features such as the built-in raid controller in you bios.

(I'm assuming it's connected via Sata cable, correct?)

The latest firmware is installed. The strange thing is that sometimes when I check the bios sometimes it cant find the drive. It can find my HDD fine though.

 

[racketpunch]

OK I have my key, but it has been over a month, will that be an issue? I've been having awful issues and I'm trying to rule out everything, and OS is next on the list.

It shouldn't be. Once you have the key then you're good to go. You'll be able to uninstall/install any time. It doesn't expire.

 

[oneran]

Repost for a new page. TLDR: Sent video card in for RMA, came back borked exactly the same way, worth trying again or what?

Have you tried contacting them and asking what exactly they actually did too the card?

You can also try (politely) explaining the situation and that you were unsatisfied with the "repair" and you would also like them to send you a shipping label as you already incurred the cost the first time.

Also do you have another machine in which you can test the card? because it's very strange that only a few games/programs would give you trouble and normally points to software/driver problem.

The latest firmware is installed. The strange thing is that sometimes when I check the bios sometimes it cant find the drive. It can find my HDD fine though.

Are there any diagnostic utilities for the drive? Normally they have a screen with smart info/allow you run a smart test check that and see if it raises any red flags.

I know you said that you double checked the connections, but if you haven't try re-seating the sata connector or swap/try it with another sata cable.

i got my pc back from best buy geek squad, apparently they found nothing wrong, apparently the could replicate the issue with my pc turning off

(I'm gonna assume you meant they couldn't)
Is it still not shutting down?

General advise- Is your Pc connected to surge protector? If not I recommend investing in a cheap surge protector (Power strips are not surge protectors, ensure it actually says surge protector and gives you a wattage/joule rating)

 

[Uriah]

Have you tried contacting them and asking what exactly they actually did too the card?

You can also try (politely) explaining the situation and that you were unsatisfied with the "repair" and you would also like them to send you a shipping label as you already incurred the cost the first time.

Also do you have another machine in which you can test the card? because it's very strange that only a few games/programs would give you trouble and normally points to software/driver problem.



Are there any diagnostic utilities for the drive? Normally they have a screen with smart info/allow you run a smart test check that and see if it raises any red flags.

I know you said that you double checked the connections, but if you haven't try re-seating the sata connector or swap/try it with another sata cable.



(I'm gonna assume you meant they couldn't)
Is it still not shutting down?

General advise- Is your Pc connected to surge protector? If not I recommend investing in a cheap surge protector (Power strips are not surge protectors, ensure it actually says surge protector and gives you a wattage/joule rating)

There is a SMART screen and it says the drive is in good health. I don't see an option to check for errors though. Thanks for the reply.

 

[paskowitz]

Ok GAF, I may have killed my CPU during the deliding process. Right now I am in the troubleshooting phase and could use some advice.

While I was very careful (gloves, towels, incremental pressure, etc) deliding is an inherently dangerous process and since my computer was working fine before, it is likely the culprit. I also used CL liquid ultra as the TIM. Again, I was careful, but there is always a chance some of it escaped the heatspreader.

My computer turns on and then turns off a second later. I disconnected the ram, GPU all sata connections, USB cable, etc. All that is left in the system is my mobo power, cpu power, case headers, and fans. Under this configuration, I get the same 1 second boot then shut off. There are no post codes other than 00 shown.

Is there anything else left I can do to try to determine what the problem is? I have another mobo and PSU I am going to try. If those don't work, I guess it is safe to assume I lost my CPU?

 

[oneran]

Ok GAF, I may have killed my CPU during the deliding process. Right now I am in the troubleshooting phase and could use some advice.

While I was very careful (gloves, towels, incremental pressure, etc) deliding is an inherently dangerous process and since my computer was working fine before, it is likely the culprit. I also used CL liquid ultra as the TIM. Again, I was careful, but there is always a chance some of it escaped the heatspreader.

My computer turns on and then turns off a second later. I disconnected the ram, GPU all sata connections, USB cable, etc. All that is left in the system is my mobo power, cpu power, case headers, and fans. Under this configuration, I get the same 1 second boot then shut off. There are no post codes other than 00 shown.

Is there anything else left I can do to try to determine what the problem is? I have another mobo and PSU I am going to try. If those don't work, I guess it is safe to assume I lost my CPU?

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said deliding is an extremely dangerous process(for the processor), and is the most likely the cause of your problem. You can try re-seating the CPU and checking the socket for any bent pins, also trying another motherboard and PSU is a good step.

I don't mean to lecture but, Intel manufactures their processors in a clean room with specialized tools for a very good reason because they're very sensitive pieces of equipment.

 

[paskowitz]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said deliding is an extremely dangerous process(for the processor), and is the most likely the cause of your problem. You can try re-seating the CPU and checking the socket for any bent pins, also trying another motherboard and PSU is a good step.

I don't mean to lecture but, Intel manufactures their processors in a clean room with specialized tools for a very good reason because they're very sensitive pieces of equipment.

I guess my only question is what could I have done to break the CPU? Only part of the whole process that seemed dangerous was the pressure from the vice. The heat spreader came off slowly. Could the pressure of the CPU cooler have cracked the chip due to improper setting of the heat spreader?

 

[oneran]

I guess my only question is what could I have done to break the CPU? Only part of the whole process that seemed dangerous was the pressure from the vice. The heat spreader came off slowly. Could the pressure of the CPU cooler have cracked the chip due to improper setting of the heat spreader?

I would never try something like this so the only thing I have to go by is what I've seen in videos, but a few things that I can think of off the top of my head:

Did you rap the vice claps with electrical tape before inserting the processor? and ensured the voltage regulator was facing away from you.

How much force did you use to separate heat spreader?, and generally speaking hitting your CPU with a blunt object is fairly risky.

Before applying the thermal paste did you clean both the heat spreader and the CPU of the original thermal paste using an anti-static swab/cloth.

Also if you got rubbing alcohol/removal solution on any of the components and didn't give it time to properly dry you could have potentially created an electrical short.

While applying the thermal paste did you have the processor situated on a clean anti-static mat/bag. (You also may want to check the CPU connectors for scratches/dirt)

There are numerous things that could have gone wrong while attempting it.

 

[paskowitz]

I would never try something like this so the only thing I have to go by is what I've seen in videos, but a few things that I can think of off the top of my head:

Did you rap the vice claps with electrical tape before inserting the processor? and ensured the voltage regulator was facing away from you.

(YES)

How much force did you use to separate heat spreader?, and generally speaking hitting your CPU with a blunt object is fairly risky.

(Didn't hit with a hammer, I used the wedge vice method. IE put one part of the vice on the PCB the other on the heat spreader. But I had to apply a lot of force. IMO this was likely the killer.)

Before applying the thermal paste did you clean both the heat spreader and the CPU of the original thermal paste using an anti-static swab/cloth.

(No idea if it was antistatic. I used microfiber and alcohol, but yes, I cleaned everything very thoroughly)

Also if you got rubbing alcohol/removal solution on any of the components and didn't give it time to properly dry you could have potentially created an electrical short.

(A couple hours should have been enough time)

While applying the thermal paste did you have the processor situated on a clean anti-static mat/bag. (You also may want to check the CPU connectors for scratches/dirt)

(It was on a glass surface, My feet where on a plastic floor. No scratches from what I could see.)

There are numerous things that could have gone wrong while attempting it.

Answers in bold.

EDIT:

 

[oneran]

That pic is a bit blurry but I assume you mean the charred edge on the bottom corner of the dye. Something probably shorted and the chip then fell victim to thermal runaway, sorry dude and my condolences to your bank account.

 

[paskowitz]

That is just my head.

 

[paskowitz]

My apologies for two double posts in a row.

It seems that both my PSU and mobo have bit the dust (confirmed after troubleshooting with custom service). Since there is so much going wrong at once here it is hard to determine what is causing what. EVGA said that more often than not, the PSU kills other parts and not the other way around.

However, I can't rule out deliding killing the mobo. Regardless, in the matter of 2 days I have lost a mobo, PSU and CPU. At least the first two have active warranties.

 

[oneran]

My apologies for two double posts in a row.

It seems that both my PSU and mobo have bit the dust (confirmed after troubleshooting with custom service). Since there is so much going wrong at once here it is hard to determine what is causing what. EVGA said that more often than not, the PSU kills other parts and not the other way around.

However, I can't rule out deliding killing the mobo. Regardless, in the matter of 2 days I have lost a mobo, PSU and CPU. At least the first two have active warranties.

I could see the motherboard but the power supply is a bit strange, did you get a new processor to try it out with?

Just out of curiosity how old was the system and did you put it together yourself?

Anyway if their still under warranty, just go through the rma process and I would advise against mentioning anything about the deliding or they could claim you used the product(s) beyond their intended use.

 

[paskowitz]

I could see the motherboard but the power supply is a bit strange, did you get a new processor to try it out with?

Just out of curiosity how old was the system and did you put it together yourself?

Anyway if their still under warranty, just go through the rma process and I would advise against mentioning anything about the deliding or they could claim you used the product(s) beyond their intended use.

New cpu.

All parts are >1yr old. Most practically brand new.

Obviously.

 

[Seraph_Nicholas]

Got a weird issue...

My crappy PSU tends to starve my APU and crash my computer, so I've been looking for stopgaps until I can get a new PSU. I downclocked to 75%, but that sucks, so I decided to disable my onboard R7 in hopes of reducing power draw. Open display manager, R7, disable. Cool.

And now Win 10 is detecting a nonexistant 'Generic Non-PnP monitor'. Even better, it thinks it's monitor 1. Since I use dual monitors, this is pretty fucked. Catalyst doesn't see it. Disabling/uninstalling the monitor in device manager doesn't make it go away. In Advanced Display Settings, no resolution is displayed, and clicking 'display adapter properties' does nothing. I set my main screen to be the only display for now, but I'd like a more permanent solution.

 

[ElyrionX]

Hi GAF. My PC is 2500K running on an Asus mobo (can't remember which model) with 8GB RAM and a MSI 560Ti. Recently, I've been getting random screen blackouts on both monitors that lasts for a couple of seconds in the Win 7 environment. Most of the time, my display would come back after a few seconds with no problems. However, sometimes, the screen would blackout and my PC would auto reset itself and other times, the screen would blackout permanently, forcing me to hard reset the PC. Occasionally, my Win 7 screen would come back and I'd get a taskbar popup saying that my graphics driver had stopped working.

I updated to the latest Nvidia driver but the problem still exists. Is it my GPU dying or could it possibly be my mobo or something else?

 

[Spladam]

Repost here for new page:

So i bought a secondhand R9 285 and it's running stable during games and furmark etc but i'm having this weird issue..

During the intial startup of the computer the very first screen is showing artifacting (I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be the screen that gives a bunch of info and has stuff on it like ''American Megatrends''.

However after this screen passes there appear to be no problems at all, not during windows startup and not during windows itself.

Any idea what is causing the issue and should i be worried?

Any help would be appreciated.

I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about, are you using any kind of adapter or converter between the video out on your GPU (DVI/HDMI/Display port) and the video input on your monitor?

 

[Spladam]

Hi GAF. My PC is 2500K running on an Asus mobo (can't remember which model) with 8GB RAM and a MSI 560Ti. Recently, I've been getting random screen blackouts on both monitors that lasts for a couple of seconds in the Win 7 environment. Most of the time, my display would come back after a few seconds with no problems. However, sometimes, the screen would blackout and my PC would auto reset itself and other times, the screen would blackout permanently, forcing me to hard reset the PC. Occasionally, my Win 7 screen would come back and I'd get a taskbar popup saying that my graphics driver had stopped working.

I updated to the latest Nvidia driver but the problem still exists. Is it my GPU dying or could it possibly be my mobo or something else?

Try using this, unistall the NVIDIA drivers the normal way, reboot in safe mode, run app and clean the driver, then re-install the latest build from NVIDIA. Also make sure the connections on your GPU and Monitors are solid.

 

[Foly Huck]

My PC won't stay off. After shutting down my computer for the night, my pc will either turn back on immediately or turn on some time later. I've seen it turn back on at 1 am and when I turn it off again and wake up the next day it's powered on again. It doesn't randomly turn on during daytimes. Help.

 

[rtcn63]

My PC won't stay off. After shutting down my computer for the night, my pc will either turn back on immediately or turn on some time later. I've seen it turn back on at 1 am and when I turn it off again and wake up the next day it's powered on again. It doesn't randomly turn on during daytimes. Help.

Like it's turned off or in sleep mode? If it's the latter, check to see if something isn't waking it up, like a USB device, the internet connection, or a scheduled windows task. (Check Device Manager/Network Settings etc.)

Sometimes it's just Windows being weird, and a restart usually fixes it. For awhile.

 

[Spladam]

My PC won't stay off. After shutting down my computer for the night, my pc will either turn back on immediately or turn on some time later. I've seen it turn back on at 1 am and when I turn it off again and wake up the next day it's powered on again. It doesn't randomly turn on during daytimes. Help.

Ghost in the Machine.

Are you putting your machine to sleep or turning it off? Do you have a switch on the back of your machine on the power supply? Check this.

 

[Martal]

I have a problem.
Upgraded to Win 10 last night. Before that I was away from my PC for 3 months. Someone tried to use it in the meantime (with permission) and said it was "broken". When I returned I found out the boot order had gotten mixed up in some way. Changed it around, all good.

Had a watchdog error, read that it might be the SSD (which is the Samsung EVO 840, which had the performance issue), updated that, good.

Now, Win 10 is on the machine and I'm getting either hangs or restarts or both. Constantly. Sometimes before I manage to sign in, sometimes in 5 minutes.
Whats weird is that it lets me run benchmarks. I tried Prime95, OCCT and Memtest. Each for about an hour. No issues.
Took hardware out, put it back in, still restarts and hangs.
Cleaned GPU drivers, put in newest ones, same.
Currently resetting windows. Wiping everything.

EDIT - Updates!

Reset was a büst. It got stuck and failed. After it came back on it didnt recognize any OS. By now I've managed to do a clean install of Windows 10, only to find the same probleem.

I took out 1 ram module, read that I could increase the voltage and am currently giving it a try. So far works like a charm. I guess that means I have a faulty stick of ram?

Can anyone help? :/ I'm super stumped.

 

[lustrate]

I'm part of the IT staff for a school district. I've been tasked with ensuring a lab of 30 iMacs is compliant with a scholarship program that provides STEM curricula. To do this, I'll need to deploy a Boot Camp image along with my Mac OS one. Is there a preferred way of doing this? From what I've read online WinClone, DeployStudio, and Windows 7 seems to be the easiest way to go about this.

I'm open to any suggestions as my district is mostly Windows and Chrome OS.

 

[paskowitz]

YES! It turns out I did not kill my CPU through deliding!

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[Spladam]

Dear tech support GAF,

Audio out through HDMI has stopped working for me. Not sure exactly when it happened. It used to work fine, no hardware has changed. Video card (Radeon 6850), TV (Samsung plasma) and even the cable and port it is plugged into all the same.

I'm on Windows 8.1. I've tried removing my drivers and rolling back to an earlier version. Installing/uninstalling Realtek drivers (including the old ATI HDMI audio RealTek driver) all to no avail. Any ideas?

EDIT: Oh, and it Catalyst Control Center under Audio it lists my TV but says "Your displays do not support audio."

Have you checked the audio settings on your TV for changes?

 

[Spladam]

I have a problem.
Upgraded to Win 10 last night. Before that I was away from my PC for 3 months. Someone tried to use it in the meantime (with permission) and said it was "broken". When I returned I found out the boot order had gotten mixed up in some way. Changed it around, all good.

Had a watchdog error, read that it might be the SSD (which is the Samsung EVO 840, which had the performance issue), updated that, good.

Now, Win 10 is on the machine and I'm getting either hangs or restarts or both. Constantly. Sometimes before I manage to sign in, sometimes in 5 minutes.
Whats weird is that it lets me run benchmarks. I tried Prime95, OCCT and Memtest. Each for about an hour. No issues.
Took hardware out, put it back in, still restarts and hangs.
Cleaned GPU drivers, put in newest ones, same.
Currently resetting windows. Wiping everything.

EDIT - Updates!

Reset was a büst. It got stuck and failed. After it came back on it didnt recognize any OS. By now I've managed to do a clean install of Windows 10, only to find the same probleem.

I took out 1 ram module, read that I could increase the voltage and am currently giving it a try. So far works like a charm. I guess that means I have a faulty stick of ram?

Can anyone help? :/ I'm super stumped.

Have you done any memory diagnostics? Run this from a USB or use Windows built in memory diagnostic.

Be very very careful adjusting the voltage on your memory, do some reading on the internet before you do.

Note: the memory diagnostic, no matter which one you go with, will take a LONG time, sometimes an entire night. Be prepared. Make sure you make a note of which DIMM socket it notifies you of problems with when you run it. If you fail to do this, you can check on the test results from the windows memory diagnostic in Event Viewer by browsing to here: Microsoft>Windows>MemoryDiagnostics-Results

 

[Spladam]

I'm part of the IT staff for a school district. I've been tasked with ensuring a lab of 30 iMacs is compliant with a scholarship program that provides STEM curricula. To do this, I'll need to deploy a Boot Camp image along with my Mac OS one. Is there a preferred way of doing this? From what I've read online WinClone, DeployStudio, and Windows 7 seems to be the easiest way to go about this.

I'm open to any suggestions as my district is mostly Windows and Chrome OS.

There is no preferred method, and they are all not all that hard. You can do it from the iMac if your Windows install is on USB, or if you have an external optical drive using this method, but if they are paying just grab a Winclone licence and use it, it's super easy, and you'll have it for any future needs.

 

[Lucael]

Hi TechSupportGAF, I need your help.
Some days ago I bought a Carbide Air 540 High Airflow ATX and put everything in:

- i5-3350p
- MSI B75MA-P45
- Hyper 212 EVO
- GeForce GTX 970 4 GB
- Antec VP600P

I connected the three fan inside the Carbide, and the Hyper 212 fan as well.
Sometimes I get this sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3qsIWVLd-Q

I think it can be some fan-related problem, but there's no cables or stuff touching the fans. Any theory about this? Something is dieing inside the Carbide? Thanks for your help.

 

[Spladam]

Hi TechSupportGAF, I need your help.
Some days ago I bought a Carbide Air 540 High Airflow ATX and put everything in:

- i5-3350p
- MSI B75MA-P45
- Hyper 212 EVO
- GeForce GTX 970 4 GB
- Antec VP600P

I connected the three fan inside the Carbide, and the Hyper 212 fan as well.
Sometimes I get this sound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3qsIWVLd-Q

I think it can be some fan-related problem, but there's no cables or stuff touching the fans. Any theory about this? Something is dieing inside the Carbide? Thanks for your help.

I would guess the bearings in one of the fans is bad. Pull the power for each fan one at a time and run the machine, that case will cool fine with two of the three fans. I don't know how long or at what RPM's you are getting that noise, but if it's stops, you know it's the fan you pulled the power for.

If you can stand the noise, it's not a big issue, if one of the fan's does have bad bearings, it could run it's entire life without becoming worse, and the most sever side effect would be a fan rattle. Given that those fans don't get that hot, the sound is most likely all that will happen. Double check to make sure your 212 is secured tight as well.

Also, make sure the locks on your HD are secure and the disk is set tight. I'm pretty sure nothing is dying.

You can also wait until the noise starts, open the case, and pinpoint the noise with your ear. You can touch each fan (on the frame of course) to check for vibration, just make sure you put one hand on the case chassis to ground yourself so that you don't static shock anything. With one hand on the chassis (again, to ground yourself) lightly touch your HD mount to check for vibration. -Edit Just to be sure, do the same for your PSU fan, but be careful, as the PSU box can get real hot, simply touching the side lightly should alert you to any vibration.

-Edit: if you are not comfortable touching components with power on, you can also most likely set the fan speed (RPM) for each fan from the bios, bring down the RPM one at a time and running the machine to see if the noise stops. If it is one of the fans, you can get replacements for really cheap. Sans LED of course. Hell, you can get them cheap with LED.

Also, Nice case dude.

 

[Lucael]

I would guess the bearings in one of the fans is bad. Pull the power for each fan one at a time and run the machine, that case will cool fine with two of the three fans. I don't know how long or at what RPM's you are getting that noise, but if it's stops, you know it's the fan you pulled the power for.

If you can stand the noise, it's not a big issue, if one of the fan's does have bad bearings, it could run it's entire life without becoming worse, and the most sever side effect would be a fan rattle. Given that those fans don't get that hot, the sound is most likely all that happen. Double check to make sure your 212 is secured tight as well.

Also, make sure the locks on your HD are secure and the disk is set tight. I'm pretty sure nothing is dying.

Also, Nice case dude.

Ok, thanks. I pulled the power of one fan attached to the motherboard and the 212 fan as well and the sound was still there, anyway the main culprit should be the fan that is directly connected with the PSU (still didn't try unplug that). Since my motherboard has two slot for fans and one for CPU fan, I had to connect one fan directly to the PSU. Strange thing is that that sound isn't there all the time.

Just another question, with a case like that and since I don't OC, is the 212 fan really useful? Then I would plug one of the fans to the CPU fan slot.

 

[Popstar]

.

 

[Martal]

Have you done any memory diagnostics? Run this from a USB or use Windows built in memory diagnostic.

Be very very careful adjusting the voltage on your memory, do some reading on the internet before you do.

Note: the memory diagnostic, no matter which one you go with, will take a LONG time, sometimes an entire night. Be prepared. Make sure you make a note of which DIMM socket it notifies you of problems with when you run it. If you fail to do this, you can check on the test results from the windows memory diagnostic in Event Viewer by browsing to here: Microsoft>Windows>MemoryDiagnostics-Results

hello sir!

Alright, so, completed the diagnostic. This is a second set of RAM, haven't tried the ones i'd actually like to use yet. Will do ASAP. This one completed with no errors. Can I assume my mobo's ram sockets are OK?

PC's been stable for a while. Getting a new case tomorrow, will give me an opportunity to re-check everything one last time and add on new harddrives. I hope it won't mess anything up.

 

[Spladam]

Ok, thanks. I pulled the power of one fan attached to the motherboard and the 212 fan as well and the sound was still there, anyway the main culprit should be the fan that is directly connected with the PSU (still didn't try unplug that). Since my motherboard has two slot for fans and one for CPU fan, I had to connect one fan directly to the PSU. Strange thing is that that sound isn't there all the time.

Just another question, with a case like that and since I don't OC, is the 212 fan really useful? Then I would plug one of the fans to the CPU fan slot.

Yes, absolutely, the ONE fan that you DO want connected is your CPU cooler fan, it would be the most important BY FAR. You do not want to remove or unpower the fan connected to the CPU heat sink, as even though you don't OC, CPU's are still expected to have heat drawn from the heat sink for efficient heat exchange, as your CPU even at stock clocks is going to get pretty hot. You have two fans in the front and one in the back with that case I believe, so if you have to disconnect a fan it would be one of the fans in the front.

The case itself is designed for efficient air flow, with air moving over the motherboard drawing heat from the components. I would suggest, if you have do disconnect one, that it be the fan at the top, as the fan at the bottom is going to be pulling air across your GPU.

I'm going to assume when you said you connected the third fan to the PSU you connected it to the four pin molex floppy power plug. This will cause that fan to move at max RPM the entire time which is not all that bad. It makes sense that the fan does not make this sound all the time, as bad (loose) bearings would cause the fan to rattle only part of the time if it's not sever, as it shakes itself in and out of smooth movement.

Two things though, make sure the fans are secured tight to the chassis, as your sound might be a micro rattle from a loose connection, and do as I suggested earlier and feel you HD mount for vibration, the one thing you want to make sure of is that the sound is not coming from your HD. I would suggest running the machine with the cover off for a while to try to locate where it is coming from, as in the front or the back of the case.

 

[Spladam]

hello sir!

Alright, so, completed the diagnostic. This is a second set of RAM, haven't tried the ones i'd actually like to use yet. Will do ASAP. This one completed with no errors. Can I assume my mobo's ram sockets are OK?

PC's been stable for a while. Getting a new case tomorrow, will give me an opportunity to re-check everything one last time and add on new harddrives. I hope it won't mess anything up.

Yes, normally it is safe to assume the DIMM sockets are fine, as a breach in the factory solder are almost unheard of, but failure in the RAM modules themselves would be MUCH more common by comparison.

You can test all of the RAM at the same time, it might save you some time as the only time you want to test one at a time is if you get errors when testing them all at the same time, otherwise you don't have to go through the entire ordeal four times. Remember to not touch the (as best you can manage) the copper connection on the bottom of the RAM module (the part that fits into the socket) as you can easily discharge static from you body into these, and RAM is one of the most static sensitive components on a PC.

When switching cases, it is very helpful to make yourself a clean workspace and carefully remove everything one step at a time laying the components down next to you in the order you remover them with the screws for each component separated (I fold paper into a little "dish" and place each set of screws in the paper next to the components.

Obviously, removing the motherboard itself should be done with the most care, as the screws are tiny, and if you have the protective anti-static sleeve the motherboard came in, place it on that to avoid static discharge, If not, then try to place it on a surface such as wood that is not a conductor of static electricity.

When you place the components back into the new case, just reverse the order in which you removed them and everything should go in nicely. Remember if you use a screwdriver with a magnetic head be careful what you touch with the head, and always try to keep one hand on the chassis of the case to keep yourself electrically grounded.

Take your time and everything will go fine, it's not as complicated as most would make it seem (or as I make it sound Good luck.

 

[Spladam]

Yes. Also, one of monitors has builtin speakers and supports audio over Displayport and that is no longer working either.

Probably time for a fresh reinstall. sigh.

Yeah, sorry to hear that. If you are re-installing the video driver after attempting to roll the drivers back and such, I would suggest purging the drivers completely (something that is not done by the drivers default un-install, and quite often makes roll backs and re-installs retain the same issues) using this program, which will remove all traces of the former install. Boot up in safe mode when using the driver remover to insure a clean removal.

 

[Popstar]

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[Spladam]

Just did a fresh install and still no go. I was planning on doing a fresh install anyways (in order to remove older versions of Visual Studio) so it wasn't a total waste. But I don't feel like going to back to Windows 7 just to get my audio working so I'm just going to give up on it.

Oh, you meant the fresh install of windows, not the driver. Well, you still have the 1/8 inch analog audio out on the motherboard audio adapter correct? You don't have to use the HDMI audio out, your TV should be able to run the HDMI video and analog audio at the same time. You just need a 1/8 inch to RCA stereo adapter. It's how I run my audio.

-Edit: Also, if you have a Realtek (like many OEM and off the shelf motherboards) audio adapter on your motherboard, catalyst control panel should support the Optical Digital out, your default windows Realtek audio driver supports it's configuration as well. Your Samsung plasma should support both RCA component and Optical inputs.

 

[Lucael]

Yes, absolutely, the ONE fan that you DO want connected is your CPU cooler fan, it would be the most important BY FAR. You do not want to remove or unpower the fan connected to the CPU heat sink, as even though you don't OC, CPU's are still expected to have heat drawn from the heat sink for efficient heat exchange, as your CPU even at stock clocks is going to get pretty hot. You have two fans in the front and one in the back with that case I believe, so if you have to disconnect a fan it would be one of the fans in the front.

The case itself is designed for efficient air flow, with air moving over the motherboard drawing heat from the components. I would suggest, if you have do disconnect one, that it be the fan at the top, as the fan at the bottom is going to be pulling air across your GPU.

I'm going to assume when you said you connected the third fan to the PSU you connected it to the four pin molex floppy power plug. This will cause that fan to move at max RPM the entire time which is not all that bad. It makes sense that the fan does not make this sound all the time, as bad (loose) bearings would cause the fan to rattle only part of the time if it's not sever, as it shakes itself in and out of smooth movement.

Two things though, make sure the fans are secured tight to the chassis, as your sound might be a micro rattle from a loose connection, and do as I suggested earlier and feel you HD mount for vibration, the one thing you want to make sure of is that the sound is not coming from your HD. I would suggest running the machine with the cover off for a while to try to locate where it is coming from, as in the front or the back of the case.

Thank you, I'll check all of these things. Still there's something that bothers me with the new case, and it's the fact that I managed to put only some screws to fix the motherboard, even if compatible the 540 it's supposed to mount an ATX but since I'm going to upgrade in the next weeks I'll replace the motherboard as well.

On a side note, even with the new case still the idle temperature of my GPU (Asus gtx970 strix) is still around 57-60. And I see no reason.

 

[Spladam]

Thank you, I'll check all of these things. Still there's something that bothers me with the new case, and it's the fact that I managed to put only some screws to fix the motherboard, even if compatible the 540 it's supposed to mount an ATX but since I'm going to upgrade in the next weeks I'll replace the motherboard as well.

On a side note, even with the new case still the idle temperature of my GPU (Asus gtx970 strix) is still around 57-60. And I see no reason.

Yeah, hahaha, a case that nice does deserve a better motherboard (not that there's anything wrong with yours, but you could use one with three fan headers and more PCI slots) which should also give you one or two more USB channels.

About your 970s temps, are you running stock clocks and are you running more then one display? Running more than one display increases idle temps by a good bit. I idle at 51* with two displays going.

-Edit: Never mind, the Strix has a zero decibel fan that does not activate until you hit 55-60* C. You can fix this by setting a custom fan curve in the Asus OEM software (Asus GPU Tweak), 15% idle fan speed should bring you down to about 40*C Depending on which Bios you have in the Strix the lowest you can set the idle curve might be 40%, as it is for some. If that is the case, set it at that and see if you can tolerate the fan noise, your awesome new case should do a decent job of suppressing some of the decibels.

And take your time putting that new mainboard in when you get it, check out my post in response to Martal above. Those screws are tough as they are so tiny, and lining up the board can be tedious sometimes. Patience is the key.

 

[Mozendo]

Heyo
So I switched from AMD to Intel today and I did a reformat abd I did the same thing I do every time I reformat, used ninite to install stuff and install my wifi and Nvidia drivers
After rebooting I went to do the Windows Experience Index test, but I can't complete it due to an error. It always crashes at the Direct3D 10 Batch Assessment part
Used two different Nvidia drivers still the same issues, also it seems whenever I have the Nvidia drivers installed Waterfox crashes before it opens but works fine when it's not.

I think the HD 4600 might be the reason why it's acting up but I think it's already disabled, I'm not sure but I can't find it in device manager.

Went from a FX 6300/MSI 970a-G43 to a 4690k/Asus Maximus 7 Hero.
Any tips on what I should do before I reformat again?

 

[Popstar]

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[Spladam]

Heyo
So I switched from AMD to Intel today and I did a reformat abd I did the same thing I do every time I reformat, used ninite to install stuff and install my wifi and Nvidia drivers
After rebooting I went to do the Windows Experience Index test, but I can't complete it due to an error. It always crashes at the Direct3D 10 Batch Assessment part
Used two different Nvidia drivers still the same issues, also it seems whenever I have the Nvidia drivers installed Waterfox crashes before it opens but works fine when it's not.

I think the HD 4600 might be the reason why it's acting up but I think it's already disabled, I'm not sure but I can't find it in device manager.

Went from a FX 6300/MSI 970a-G43 to a 4690k/Asus Maximus 7 Hero.
Any tips on what I should do before I reformat again?

You will have to disable the integrated graphics in the Bios, which you can access by hitting F2 or Del during the POST screen at the start of Boot-up.

 

[Spladam]

Yeah, a fresh install of Windows. I'd already completely removed my Radeon drivers and tried installing an old version. I tried several older versions actually.

I do have Realtek so I have optical out. The HMDI out audio worked for a long time however under Windows 7 before it broke under Windows 8 though. It's just annoying.

Yes, it is, I have a friend in Brazil that raves about the silly "apps" in 8 and gives me a hard time because I skipped it and stayed with 7, this is why That and I spend WAY too much time in the Steam forums helping people to get games like Fall Out New Vegas to run in Win 8, I don't want to break my games. Sadly, I will have to upgrade to 10 this year, so, yeah......

 

[oneran]

Yeah, a fresh install of Windows. I'd already completely removed my Radeon drivers and tried installing an old version. I tried several older versions actually.

I do have Realtek so I have optical out. The HMDI out audio worked for a long time however under Windows 7 before it broke under Windows 8 though. It's just annoying.

Dumb question but have you tried setting your hdmi out as your default audio device?
support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/GPU70NoAudiofromHDTV.aspx

While in the Playback tab you may want to check the properties on the output and ensure the levels aren't set to 0.

 

[Spladam]

Dumb question but have you tried setting your hdmi out as your default audio device?
support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/GPU70NoAudiofromHDTV.aspx

While in the Playback tab you may want to check the properties on the output and ensure the levels aren't set to 0.

Hehehe, NOT a dumb question.

 

[Popstar]

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[Mozendo]

You will have to disable the integrated graphics in the Bios, which you can access by hitting F2 or Del during the POST screen at the start of Boot-up.

Disabling by going into Advanced\System Agent Configuration\Graphics and setting the primary display to PCI-E, right?
After saving the keeps reverting to auto and the issue still remains :|