[steele7]

I've spent many, many hours attempting to fix my various issues. I've also spent many, many hours searching the internet for fixes. I've finally had enough.

I'm going to make this as organized and spiffy as possible for the helpers and the fellow help-needers. Any new edits will be in red. Anything solved will be in green with its solution below it.

HOURS WASTED:
70

SETUP
OS: Windows Vista x64
MB: Evga 780i SLI
CPU: q6600 @ OCed 3.2ghz
GPU: Two Evga GTX 260s
RAM: Four 2GB (8GB) A-DATA DDR2 800s
HDD: Two 1.5TB (3TB) 7200 Seagate Barracudas

-------------------------

MOST RECENT ISSUE
THE PROBLEM:
Random crashing. At no particularly unique point in time, the monitor will lose a signal and the computer will reboot. It seems more intensive things (ie. loading up a game) will guarantee an immediate crash/reboot.

WHAT I'VE TRIED
- Taking out all the RAM and testing each one on each slot.
- Uninstalling NVIDIA drivers and reinstalling them.
- Resetting clock and voltage on CPU.
- Changing the Power Settings from "Balanced" to "High Performance." This seemed to work for a moment, but went right back to rebooting.

I'll continue adding to this section as I try more and remember more that I've already tried.

-------------------------

VARIOUS OTHER ISSUES/WORKAROUNDS
These are issues that I used to have. I either no longer get them, or don't get to the point where I would get them because the current problem happens first. The following is in reverse-chronological order. The most recent issues are on top, while the first issue I had is on bottom.

THE PROBLEM:During various games, the game will either crash to the desktop (most often), or give me a BSOD. Sometimes it would happen after 2 hours, sometimes after 40 minutes, and sometimes after 10 minutes. It wouldn't get progressively more rapid, it would always be random.

THE WORKAROUND:
N/A

WHAT I HAD TRIED:
- Using beta NVIDIA drivers.

----

THE PROBLEM:
With SLI enabled, it shows two displays under Display Settings. During FarCry 2, I'll hear the sound of a display being connected. Nothing is immediately affected, but if I go back to the desktop (minimizing or quitting the game), the resolution has been set to a very low res (800x600 usually), and under Display Settings it shows that I am currently looking at monitor number 2. Also, whereas before one of the monitor's names would be Acer P224W, now there would only be a combination of "Generic PNP Monitor," "Generic non-PNP Monitor," and "Digital Display."

THE WORKAROUND:
Unplugging the monitor from the computer and using another HDMI adapter and plugging it back in would often fix the issue. Not immediately, however; often I'd need to do it multiple times (and use multiple inputs on my GPU).

WHAT I HAD TRIED:
- Using older NVIDIA drivers.
- Using beta NVIDIA drivers.
- Reinstalling Windows Vista (3 times).
- Uninstalling NVIDIA drivers and reinstalling them.

----

THE PROBLEM:
During Windows Vista x64 install, it would tell me it was unable to format the drive and things of that nature.

THE WORKAROUND
For the first install, I used my Windows XP disk to format the drive I wanted Vista on, then I went back to the Vista disk and installed. For the other installs, I got GParted and formatted the drives that way (far quicker and more efficient).

Edited by dsenette, 15 December 2008 - 08:43 AM.
Changed Topic Title

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This would appear to be hard drive or graphics card issues from what you've posed. If the situations continue after new installations it can only be hardware related. Have you tried replacing graphics/hard drive?

[Neil Jones]

This would appear to be hard drive or graphics card issues from what you've posed. If the situations continue after new installations it can only be hardware related. Have you tried replacing graphics/hard drive?

[Gel214th]

Have you checked your heat?

You mentioned a BSOD, what does the BSOD say? What Driver/Hardware is failing?

have you tried taking out one of the cards (being careful of static) and seeing if things work then?

[steele7]

Hey guys, sorry for the late reply.

The problem appears to be sort-of fixed if I turn my fans on full blast (including GPU fans, which are atrociously loud). I tried this multiple times before, but only the NVIDIA software seemed to work properly (?).

This is unfortunate, since I have 6 120mm case fans and I like to record music... but that's what I get for living in CA on a carpet.

Thanks!

Edited by steele7, 16 December 2008 - 10:21 PM.

[Gel214th]

Hey guys, sorry for the late reply.

The problem appears to be sort-of fixed if I turn my fans on full blast (including GPU fans, which are atrociously loud). I tried this multiple times before, but only the NVIDIA software seemed to work properly (?).

This is unfortunate, since I have 6 120mm case fans and I like to record music... but that's what I get for living in CA on a carpet.

Thanks!

HA! I was right! The Heat Monster strikes again!
But..errm..you have 6 fans? Do you really need all those...and need them ALL on at high in order to cool your system?
You might want to look at airflow with your case design, and your wiring.

[wannabe1]

I've run into this problem (same symptoms) twice now and both times I traced the problem to the EVGA mainboards...one a 680i and one a 780i. I switched to ASUS boards and haven't had any problems at all...even when using the same hardware with them that I used with the EVGA boards.

I don't know if the problem lies within the architecture of the EVGA boards or whether they may have had a bad run of boards during the manufacturing process, but I do know that I'll no longer be using their boards for my builds.