Ijust built my first AMD 64 system and it ran awesome for first 3 days. Now it has started doing 2 odd things. First, my second SATA hard drive does not show up in Windows (My computer) although it does show in CMOS setup and if you go into Device Manager it also shows it. Second, my computer goes to black screen and monitor flashes "no Signal" and I cannot do anything until I reboot. At this time the computer is still running but no input on mouse or keyboard does anything. When I say still running I mean the harddrives are still whirring. I did notice that the SLI chip fan was inop and wiggling the connector brought it back to life but not sure if this will cause this issue or not. I first noticed it would drop to black screen when I would attempt to logoff one screen name in order to switch to another. Soon it would do it for no reason at all. I tried reinstalling my MB drivers but no change and also video card drivers also. I have not tried reinstalling Windows. I cant say for certain if both issues are related but they sure did seem to start at same time. As for equipment: MB: Biostar Tforce4SLI version 1.0 RAM: Kingston PC3200 512mbx2 Video: Albatron Gforce 6600 SLI (only using 1 card atm) HD: Seagate 160GB x2 SATA DVD: NEC 3550 x2 Power Supply: Antec 450w and case Bios: Up to current version OS: Windows XP pro Any ideas greatly appreciated.
Troubleshooting First, i think we should concentrate on the HDD problem. For arguments sake, we should troubleshoot in this order: 1. If you enter your drive letter in the Windows explorer address bar, can you access the drive? 2. Does the 'Safely remove hardware' icon show up in the taskbar? 3.If you remove the HDD from Device Manager and the perform the add new hardware wizard, does the drive reappear? 4. If you carefully unplug the SATA connector while the computer is on and re-insert it, can you then access the drive? On a side note: Are you using the SP2 version of XP?
This is probably what's causing the no input signal you're getting. If the fan is not operational, then the graphics cards will overheat. Try replacing the fan on it, or send your graphics card back (RMA it to whereever you bought it). It shouldn't be doing that at all.
Thanks for your time in this by the way. First, i think we should concentrate on the HDD problem. For arguments sake, we should troubleshoot in this order: 1. If you enter your drive letter in the Windows explorer address bar, can you access the drive? 2. Does the 'Safely remove hardware' icon show up in the taskbar? 3.If you remove the HDD from Device Manager and the perform the add new hardware wizard, does the drive reappear? 4. If you carefully unplug the SATA connector while the computer is on and re-insert it, can you then access the drive? On a side note: Are you using the SP2 version of XP? Entering the drive letter results in cannot find the drive. In the safe to remove hardware box it is listed. I can uninstall it and then scan, the system finds it and then reinstalls it even says it is ready for use. However still does not show up in MY Computer. If I unplug it while system is running is drops from the safe to remove hardware area and shows back up in the same section once I plug it back in. I am running up to date on all XP updates so yes on the SP2. As for the inoperative fan (now running) it is not the fan on the video card, but the on one on the sli chip that is part of the motherboard. I believe this is related to the graphics as this MB allows me to run 2 SLI video cards. Hope this info helps. Possible windows issue? I will try to see if the drive shows up on my friends system just to be sure it isnt the drive issue or is that possible? Thanks again Gary
At this point in time, i'd say it's a Windows problem. A reinstall should overcome this. Let us know how it goes
Well I think I may have jumped the gun just a bit. The inoperative cooling fan sitting on top of the SLI MB chip seems to have fixed the video drop out. The hard drive I also fixed my right clicking MY COMPUTER and using the manage command to get it assigned a drive letter and format it also. I am sorry if I have wasted anyones time. Thanks for the ideas Gary
