(ST)DarkHorse

Hello all, this is my first post.

I've run out of ideas with this particular problem, and was hoping someone might give me some advice.

I've just built a new PC:

Abit AN8 Fatal1ty SLi motherboard
2GB Corsair PC3500LL RAM (2x1GB)
2 X XFX GeForce 7800GTX graphics cards (SLi mode)
Athlon 4000+ San Diego
Seasonic S12 SLi certified 600W PSU
Abit AudioMAX soundcard - supplied with MoBo
Sony DRU-800A DVD-RW
Samsung 160GB SATA HDD
Mitsumi 7 in 1 media and floppy drive
Windows XP Home SP2

The PC runs fine in everyday tasks, and ran through 3DMark05 with no problems, scoring 11,500ish.

When I play resource-hungry games - Far Cry, F.E.A.R. demo, Half Life 2 - the rig will get so far into a game and just freeze up. There is no lag, no performance drop prior to the crash - it just instantly freezes, the sound goes like a stuck CD, and there's no way out other than the reset switch.

It happens even at less-than-maximum video settings in these games - though it does seem to run Call of Duty:UO without any problems.

I have done many 'test runs' to identify the problem, and cannot pin it down.

The problem is not:

Temperatures. CPU temps and GPU temps are well within manufacturer's recommendations, even at the times of the crashes.

Drivers. All device drivers are up-to-date as of today.

BIOS. Motherboard BIOS is current.

Bad connections. All connections are good, and all cards are seated properly.

The crashes occur with SLi mode enabled AND disabled. One thing I have noted is that the lower I have the video settings in a game, the longer it runs without crashing. (Usually.)

Does anyone have any ideas how I can pinpoint the problem?

:-(

Compumaniac12

Check bios for Dual channel ram, Raid settings, sli settings.

my friend had a similar problem and it occurs when the second part kicks in, for example having dual channel for ram and 1 of the cards in the wrong slot.
so basicly... once he passed 512mb it crashed

if its not that it could be your powersupply, sli certified should mean that it runs 2 cards well, 7800gtx might be too much for it tho...

JagdPanther

Yeah, I have the same problem as you do. I cannot pin down the problem, either.

My rig is:

ASUS A8N SLi nForce4
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4800+
2 eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX 256MB DDR3 (SLi mode)
4 GB Corsair DDR (400) 3200 (4 sticks of 1 gig)
Creative SB Audigy 4
Western Digital 160GB 10,000 RPM (RAID Array)
WD 320GB 7200 RPM
2 Lite-On DVDRW
Thermaltake W0049 680W PSU
Windows XP Pro x64

For me, if my PC has been on for a while (at least an hour) prior to playing something intensive, like HL2 or BF2, it MIGHT freeze during the course of play. It does the same thing to me. It just freezes, no warning. It can only be remedied by a reset. Now, if I try to play a game if the PC has been on for, say, 3 hours or more, then it's almost a given it'll lock within the first 3-5 minutes of the game being on. Same effects, same method of restart. (I played BF2 for a good while last night without any problems, but I started playing as soon as I booted up).

Now, when I restart, I have to immediately shut down and let it sit for a while. That's why I believe it has something to do with overheating, despite the fact that I'm within acceptable ranges. If I try to do something right after a reset, I could be, you know, in Word or turning on the 'net and it'll lock. I have to let it sit for a while before I use it again.

One problem that is REALLY concerning me is that sometimes (only started yesterday) when I come back from the reset the PC tells me at the desktop when I come to it that SLi has been disabled due to the removal or moving of one of the two video cards. That's highly confusing. Obviously I didn't move it. I have to shut down, take the case apart and jiggle the bridge and cards, restart, and hope it works. Today I had it happen and I couldn't get the PC to recognize the second card for about an hour.

At one point I actually took the second card out for a complete cycle (start up, shut down) and when I plugged it back in and I restarted, the PC not only recognized the card, but it had already enabled Dual-SLi (you know how when you install it, it asks you to enable SLi THEN restart again). A short while later it locked (I was in Mozilla reading a wire service article on Yahoo!. Wow, that's grapic-intensive). When I restarted, hey, guess what, I apparently had removed that pesky 2nd card again! I fixed it again, restarted, enabled SLi, restarted and it worked. Turned off the PC, went to a meeting, came back, turned it on, didn't get the message so I am assuming the 2 video cards are getting along again (for now, at least). I guarantee I'll turn it on tomorrow morning and it'll say the card isn't installed.

I was discussing the problem with a friend of mine and my dad and we figured that one possible explanation is that due to heat expansion, the bridge may be working itself loose during high usage of the card. I have the restrictor bar keeping the bridge on, but maybe it allows just enough room to break the connection.

All I know is that I am confused, and both nVidia and Monarch Computers are getting angry phone calls if it continues. I didn't pay what I did to have only 1 video card work. If it's faulty cards I may just cry.

-=carlos=-

I've had the same lockup problems myself recently, not with SLI but all temps were also within range...turns out a replacement PSU of good quality sorted the problem.

JagdPanther

I'm sincerely hoping my PSU isn't the problem. At 670W it sure as heck shouldn't be, unless it's deffective.

walrus

ok not sure if this helps you but i have registered here to make a post so here goes
I am getting the same problems as you are and I am in the process of going through the Microsoft help
and I'm thinking there may be a problem on my system with the direct x
as direct x isnt win64 compatable.
But when i installed call of duty i think i installed dorect x onto my system.
apparently there is a sdk version that supports win x64
so i am going to try that
to save time i have worked out that running 3dmark 03 free version will guarrentee a crash for me
so i will run it when i get the new sdk direct x and let you know if it helped me
my system is
AMD X2 Duelcore 4400+ CPU
4x MAtched corsair 512Mb ddr400 ram
GE-Force 7800GTX 256Mg GPU
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe M/Board
2X Maxtor 250Gb 16mg SATA H/drives
600w PSU
running on windows xp professional x64 O/S
Hopefully this will fix it for me but i'll let you know....

Grandmaster_Z

I had a problem like this a while ago, games locking up. It ended up being defective ram, because I replaced the stick I was using, and never had the problem again.

It sucks when you spend alot of money to build a nice system and then it doesnt work properly. Try each ram stick 1 at a time and try to play the games and see if it crashes.

walrus

Ok well after looking and doing many things I have still not found what is wrong with my system...
I have even reformatted and gone back to 32bit windows just in case....
but now I have a feeling I am getting somewhere close.
I forgot at the time but while pulling my compy apart to check connections I realised that the connector that plugs into my m/board from my psu is a 20 pin plaug yet the m/board is 24 pin at the time it fit into the top part and left the bottom 4 out and the system booted and runs fine so I did not worry about it.
by the time i ran my first game I had forgotten all about the connector...
Could this be the problem and if so would an adaptor fix the problem i have found adaptors that will turn a 20 ppin into a 24 pin but will that work or will it not have enough power due to the fact that it just bridges the wires across.... Ie a proper psu would have it on a seperate bank...
any help would be much appreciated.
if it wont probably help getting the adaptor I could take it back to where i got it as they sold me both the psu and M/board and should of sold me the right one that would fit....
any help would be appreciated

gamerman0203

Disable cool n quiet and FANEQ controls in the BIOS. Those can make system unstable in SLI mode. Worth a try...don't know if you did yet. I've got very similar set up and I had to do that.