Has my GA-EP31-DS3L given up the ghost?

[esucky]

I built a nice PC at the beginning of this year with this spec:

GA-EP31-DS3L
ATI x1950
2gb Geil DDR2 800
Intel E6250
Seasonic S12II-430 (430 watts)

I decided that an ATI 4850 would give this PC a nice boost so i brought an ASUS 1gb 4850.

However since installing this card the PC would occasionally not POST, infact freezing before any screen output was displayed (ie pre POST / pre BIOS) and no power on beep from the bios was heard. When this happenend the PC would also not respond to the power or reset buttons, infact requireing the PSU to be powered off. It would usually boot fine directly after this.

I decided that this was probably the GFX card's fault and so swapped the x1950 back in, for testing purposes. This made the problem worse, infact the PC would not POST at all, with no beep and no display ever being produced. Wierdly the PC would respond to the front buttons, meaning I could hold the button down and it would power off.

I swapped the GFX cards a few more times to see if that helped, but it didn't. Now I never get a beep or display (or any HD activity) and the PC only responds to the front buttons with the X1950 installed.

I suspect the 4850 has toasted something on my MOBO, but does anyone with a little more knowledge than me have any ideas?

Thanks for your help!!!

[Lsdmeasap]

[esucky]

Re: Has my GA-EP31-DS3L given up the ghost?

Thanks for the reply LSDMEASAP

Regarding the PSU/power requirements, I thought that as well, but I just tried the system with a 550W Corsair unit, and I still have the same problem.

I am thinking that the 4850 is the cause of the problem, but now I don't really want to put it in any other systems incase it does a similar thing to them!

I will have to RMA both the card and the MOBO, very sad :(

[esucky]

Re: Has my GA-EP31-DS3L given up the ghost?

PS that PSU was fine for the X1950 for nearly a year, should have left it all alone!!

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Has my GA-EP31-DS3L given up the ghost?

Wow, that surprises me really about the X1950 being fine for a year with that PSU as the X1950 Is a Amp Hog for sure. I own a sapphire one X1950 PRO

Have you cleared the CMOS at all? If not try that and see if it helps as well as afterwards try with only one stick of ram in slot one. And another thing I would test before you decide to RMA is take the board out of the case and off the tray and inspect the back of the board and front for any burn marks and try the system again outside the case with only the CPU/Heatsink, one stick of ram, and the GXF card/cards and that is it. no hard drives or anything else.

This way you rule out most other components as a failure point. And I said to check for burn marks because maybe you shorted something behind the board when inserting the new card?

Just trying to think of things you can check before you decide you have to RMA. You could also test the card/cards and PSU with another board if you have one to be sure one of them is not bad

[esucky]

Re: Has my GA-EP31-DS3L given up the ghost?

Thanks for the comprehensive advice LSDMEASAP!

I tried clearing the CMOS, and trying each memory stick in each slot.

I also tried the system out of the chassis and with another CPU.

No beeps heard from bios > dead MOBO :(

I also had an X1950 Pro, for my old P4 AGP shuttle system, really made it quite contemporary in gaming performance. The only problem was that the shuttle had a 300W PSU, and those did tend to die after ~9 months!

[esucky]

Re: Has my GA-EP31-DS3L given up the ghost?

Oh and no burns marks found!

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Has my GA-EP31-DS3L given up the ghost?

Well, I dont know what else you can try! Sounds like you are going to have to RMA, if you need the official RMA page let me know. Otherwise just contact the place you purchased it from