Glad I found this place. Definately seems like more available help than the standard Asus forums.

Specs:

Asus A8N-SLI Motherboard
480 Watt Thermaltake X Silent Purepower
76k Raptor WD HD
2 512 Ram sticks. (unsure on type or manufacturer, will pull those shortly. Installed in A1-A2 slots)
Nvideo 6800 GT graphics card
2 DVD-RW drives/1 floppy--only USB device in use is a mouse

Problem:

The system will start up followed by one long, than two short beeps, with nothing appearing on the monitor (remains in powersave mode. Have -*test*-('")ed other monitors, same result. And this monitor works on other computers). Light on the MB is green. All fans work properly. HD and other devices sound and appear to work as normal. I even hear the appropriate Windows startup sounds and the proper HD grinding/fan speedups as various startup software programs are loaded. A single press of the power button on the case will even send Windows into the proper shutdown/turn off (with accompanying windows shutdown sound). But no display of anything on the screen.

History:

I've had this computer with the same hardware setup for I'd say 3 years now. Up until about 3-5 months ago, it worked fine. Than some of my games started running slightly slower than usual. (from loadup times to basic running) Civ 4 and Europa Universalis 3 were the main games. (haven't played much else at the time). The problem get progressively worse until there would be periodic 'freezes' in game that would last anywhere from a few to 10-20 seconds. The mouse icon would still move around freely during this and pressing the 'start' button on the keyboard would minimize the game window and return me to windows with no problem. When I would bring the game back up, it would run fine.

These freezeups became progressively worse. Soon I got new freezes in addition to the ones described. These would freeze all keyboard and mouse functions (sometimes the mouse would move an inch or two every few seconds). Pressing the 'start' button would, sometimes and after a significant delay, return me to the Windows screen (game minimized) and allow me to bring the game back up with no problem. Othertimes the computer would crash with a blue screen error message/memory dump (it'd flash and restart too quickly for me to get any of the info on it down)

If the computer restarted, sometimes windows would pop on fine. Sometimes the startup would proceed normally but go blank (or the screen is loaded with vertical multi-colored lines), and other times it'd start in the lowest resolution setting and any attempts to upgrade it would kill my display (monitor to powersave mode, screen blank).

Finally it got to the point where I'm at now, bad beeps and no display. I opened the box, vacuumed out 3 years worth of dust on just about every component. Cleaned fans, connection points, etc. Tried to turn it back on...nothing, same problem. A few hours later I returned and everything worked fine. Games running better than they ever had, no freeze ups, no dumps.

About a week later the problems started occuring again. (though never as frequently). Similar startup problems that progressed to what I described above once more. Waited a day, tried to restart...worked fine. That lasted until I played my first game (Got several hours in), than the same blue screen crash. That puts me where I am today.


Attempted solutions:

I know just enough about BIOS to know that I don't know enough about it to screw with it. So I've been reluctant to try to CMOS jumper/flash/clear thingie. I've read about 40+ pages of ASUS techhelp forum, trouble-shooting, etc...and from the similarly described problems I've discovered that this could be...

A power problem
A graphics card problem
A ram problem
A motherboard problem
Or a problem with any of the wires or connections to these devices.

I'd -*test*-('") my individual components on other computers, but the only other ones in the house are 6+ year old dells. I doubt they could handle half the stuff I have in mind. Assuming it follows the past pattern (wait a day, things work fine until next game/restart) I'll definately run Mem-*test*-('") and whatever other diagnostics, but those aren't an option at the moment.

So...any suggestions? From my reading I've gathered a few -*test*-('")s/solutions for various problems. I've read that its likely (due to the beeps) that I have a graphics card issue, but so far I've not read of any graphics cards solution. (aka, if it is the GC...is my only real solution to buy another? Please god say no.)

Anyway, any help or suggestions are definately appreciated. Thanks in advance. Just a bit of background, I'm just an average PC user. I don't build or regularly purchase any parts. I'm pretty much trying to teach myself all of this stuff on the fly to fix the problem. I bought the computer from a builder on E-bay. (he actually helped me with a few problems early on, including some software issues of my own making, so a good guy. But his 'personal warranty' to fix everything lasted only a year, so no help there)

First off welcome to the forum.

I believe you have it pegged, sounds as the video card is the issue. 1 long beep followed by 2 short ones is the indicator. There could be a remote chance its the mobo, but I'd bet on the vid card. Ideally for -*test*-('")ing, you'd need a different vid card to try in your system, or install yours elsewhere.

What brand of 6800 GT is it, as it might still be covered by a warranty.

Good news is that if you do need to replace it, prices have gone down quite a bit and getting an improvement to what you have now would be very affordable.

Also it might be a good idea to flash your bios to the la-*test*-('") version (if you havn't already). As this probably won't fix the video card issue, newer bios versions have a lot of fixes to them.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Thanks for the advice vegasr. At the moment I've cleared off the dinner table, laid some cardboard, and have set aside my day to some open-heart surgery on my computer. Before I go out and purchase any new hardware, gonna try a few things. 1st on the list.

1. Moving the Ram chips to B1-B2. If that doesn't work, trying just one chip in B1.

1. CMOS Reset. I found the jumper and know to move it from the first two pins to the last two. Let it set for 10 minutes. (one poster here said he let it set like that for several hours and that solved his problem) It also says something about removing the battery as well. Does this mean the huge 480 watt power supply in the box. (which looks like it'd be a pain to unscrew and remove) Or is there some other battery they're talking about?

I guess the general questions are...

Memory -*test*-('")er for the ram, where can I find one? (saw the mem-*test*-('")86, but not sure if that's what everyone is using)

Anything else I'm missing on the CMOS reset? Should I have any extensive BIOS knowledge before I touch that or should reverting to defaults be 'good enough'?

Gonna try the memory thing now and see if things work. I'll keep you updated. Thanks.

Edit: The Graphics card is a GeForce, I'm looking for any warranty papers/handbooks at the moment.

Forgot to add to the initial post that I'm running an AMD Athlon 3500 processor.

The battery that some talk about removing is located close to the cmos jumpers which is quarter shaped in size.

Mem-*test*-('")86+ is correct.

Having a general knowledge of the bios is always good. Default settings usual work fine but there are some minor changes/tweaks that are most common. We can get to that if your wanting to.

Main goal here is to isolate the issue, which should be the vid card. I wouldn't do too much that wouldn't have any effect validating this. However everything you are doing is great, and will rule out any other related problems.

For a person with a self confessed lack of expertise with computers you are doing great so far, a slow analytical approach to rule out components in finding faults. If I was a betting man I'd put a few bucks down on the card being borked im afraid..

Is the fan spinning on the card at all?...

You could check to see if the heatsink is still tight on the vid card.

Is the heatsink those rows of quarter inch (or so) tall black plastic 'spikes' (dull ones)? If so, its on fine so far as I can tell. Actually took apart every 'take-apartable' portion of the Graphics card, vacuumed out some dust from those ridges of 'spikes', same from the fan area. Didn't see anything on the exterior anywhere that's smudged, scratched, broken, or in anyway unclear....not that that means much at all. Fan is spinning fine on it though.

Tried each individual Ram chip in B1, same problems on booting so I figure its not those.

Contemplating whether to do the CMOS reboot thingie. Think its worth it? Cause right now I honestly have no idea what settings the BIOS is at or how to optimize what I do have. Since its been 3 years or so, i doubt the E-bay guy I bought it from has a record either.

Manufacturers warranty on the Graphics card says 1 year labor/repair/replacement and I'm well past that. Think I'll still shoot an e-mail their way to see if they have any tech advice.

It looks like it'll probably come down to what you guys suggest (New card). So, any suggestions out there? Obviously looking for something with AT LEAST the current power and capability of what I currently have. Since i haven't glanced at new hardware developments in 3 years or so (when I purchased the computer, I made myself a temporary pseudo-amatuer-expert on what was out there. Browsed everything on the net comp. related for weeks. Would like to avoid that process again), I have no idea what's good. I assume that NVidia's still work better with this particular motherboard? And I'll do some browsing around NewEgg and elsewhere myself. (Just to add, I'm not in near the good financial state I was when I bought this thing. Returned to school/quit job/quite broke, so I definately can't pay what I did than...Ideally I'd like a $200 or so upper limit if that's possible)

Anyway, thanks one more. And off to do a bit of searching.

Thank you.

(was looking for a weeping icon...didn't find one)

One long and two short beeps in AMIBios indicates a video problem, which your other symptoms point to also. It doesn't sound like you can -*test*-('") the card in another system. If you have a pci video card laying around in one of those old Dells, you might try that. Dells from that era would either have an AGP or a pci video card - most likely AGP which you couldn't -*test*-('") in your system.

The A8N-SLI has two pcie slots. If you try the video card in the other pcie slot and get the same result, you've almost surely ruled out the MB having a bad pcie slot, since it's very unlikely they'd both be bad. And ... if it fails in pcie slot #2, you can also be sure with a high degree of probability that the video card is bad.

Once you're confident it's a bad card, I'd recommend either of these evga cards, evga has the best best warranty in graphics cards - lifetime - and has an excellent RMA program if you register right away.

This nviida 8600 GTS which is about half as fast as today's highest end cards for 1/4 the price - and about twice as fast as your 6800.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130084

You could also consider an overclocked version of the 8600 GTS, which is still within you budget, and would give you about 10% more speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130086

I agree with CC as either of those would be a huge improvement.

If you were able to spend alittle more, then this would be a nice step up from those:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130082


Evga has a great warranty as well, so would be a good investment which ever card you get of theirs.

Vegasr is right, the evga 8800 GTS is a great card. I have it myself.

I didn't put it down because it's pricier than your stated limit ($259 after rebate), But, if you could justify the extra, with this card, you'd be running at about 80% - 85% of the speed of the highest-end card - the 8800 GTX - and about 50% faster than the 8600 GTS.

Heh...sooo tempting just to toss those few extra dollars into a graphics card purchase. Hell, thats how I prodded myself towards my initial 6800 GT purchase. (back when those were going for what a top end 88 is today.)

Definately appreciate the suggestions and I'm sitting here wondering if I should take the leap to Dx10 with the 8 series, or spend a bit less on a 7 while I wait.

Was looking hard at This One , which doesn't give me all the newest toys, but appears to have some power at a very friendly price.

I know I'm going a bit beyond the typical tech help area, but does anyone know anything about that card? Or how it'd compare 'percentage'-wise to mine or the others mentioned?

Leaving to try the Graphics card in the second slot now.

Looks like 3DM05 benches on that card are about 80% of the 8600 GTS.

Windows XP does not support DX10. DX10 will require an operating system upgrade to Windows Vista.

Video card comparison tables:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

Two quick questions before I dive into the breach and buy a new graphics card. Finally found a card to -*test*-('"), but its an AGP.

Will an AGP 8 (pretty sure) card work in a PCI interface?

Just to remind you, I'm using a Asus A8N-SLI Motherboard. The SLI selector chip that's set flat between the two graphics cards. (if I ran two of them). The chip that needs to be flipped upside down and reinserted for SLI mode. The 'latch' on the bottom left corner of it does not close. As such, its not held down completely flat against the board. (The right side latch works fine and keeps that end down). Could that have an effect? (I did a -*test*-('") pressing it straight down against the board, where it would be if properly latched, and got the same results so I'll assume no.)

Also, I'm not sure if its properly or fully inserted. The handbook on the motherboard makes specific mention of the 'goldteeth' on this one, but doesn't say much more. How far upwards does this chip need to be to be fully inserted? (don't want to break the thing). Do the 'goldteeth' on the end that's being inserted need to be totally covered, or are part of them visible even if properly inserted? Right now i've got a part of those teeeth visible, but since things have worked with it in this position before, I don't know if I can really point at that as the problem. Anyone know for sure?

Thanks again.

pop ups cant ype


man i got hammered with malware this install, didn't wanna activate right away until i made sure it was a good install so couldn't do the win updates.
btw, installing and using vista is like pulling your bottom lip over your head!

would not see my sata drives, so installed it OVER XP which sux and it's like, where did all the toolbars go?

POS!

is win xp 64 bit made for dual cores and more stable, better performance with a rig like mine?

Nope ... you can't run an AGP card in a pci or a pcie slot. It won't fit anyway.

If you held the SLI flip-switch all the way down while -*test*-('")ing the card, that would be sufficient to rule out that being a problem. When you are NOT holding down the flip switch on the side with the broken latch, whether that's a problem or not depends on whether the latch on one side keeps it down enough, or whether there needs to be force applied on both sides.

When a card is properly seated you may see just the very top of the gold teeth, sometimes not at all. If you see significantly more of the tops of the gold teeth at one end of the slot than the other, it's not properly seated.

Did you trying -*test*-('")ing your 6800 in the other pcie slot?