Is motherboard failing? low volts

[Chris]

Hello, just want peoples opinion on if they think this is a Motherboard
issue or not. Many thanks.

My system:

AV8 3rd eye K8T800 Pro AGP
AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ 2200MHZ
2X CORSAIR 512DDR SDRAM
BFG 6800 ULTRA OC AGP
WINXP HOME

Problem:
All was fine for 12months then games started freezing up for a good few
seconds after several hours play. Its got worse with time, after several
weeks they started freezing up after 20 mins play. shutting down my system
for a few mins would give me another 20 mins play and so on. Now its got to
stage where i can play for 5 mins then it freezes up for good so i dont
bother playing.

I first thought it was drivers so i updated all but no fix.
I then discovered online that several other people had similiar problems
with the BFG card, so I assumed it was that and gave BFG tech a call.
The tech support told me to download "PC Wizard 2006' let it scan the system
and then click the bottom left icon "Voltage, temperature and Fans"
They said under item '+12v Voltage' i need to have between 11.8 and 12.4,
but mine is only 6.54v
They told me its a power supply issue then, you need a new PSU.
So i went out and got a 500watt PSU and replaced my 480watt one.
The games still freeze and the pc wizard reading still gives 6.xx volts!.

Does this mean my motherboard is failing as it now does not seem to be the
PSU?
How can i test the motherboard?

I tried the PC wizard program on other PC's around the house and they all
have a voltage of around 12, whereas mine is 6.

Many thanks for any help, advice

Chris

 

[Newfdog]

Hello, just want peoples opinion on if they think this is a Motherboard
issue or not. Many thanks.

My system:

AV8 3rd eye K8T800 Pro AGP
AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ 2200MHZ
2X CORSAIR 512DDR SDRAM
BFG 6800 ULTRA OC AGP
WINXP HOME

Problem:
All was fine for 12months then games started freezing up for a good few
seconds after several hours play. Its got worse with time, after several
weeks they started freezing up after 20 mins play. shutting down my system
for a few mins would give me another 20 mins play and so on. Now its got to
stage where i can play for 5 mins then it freezes up for good so i dont
bother playing.

I first thought it was drivers so i updated all but no fix.
I then discovered online that several other people had similiar problems
with the BFG card, so I assumed it was that and gave BFG tech a call.
The tech support told me to download "PC Wizard 2006' let it scan the system
and then click the bottom left icon "Voltage, temperature and Fans"
They said under item '+12v Voltage' i need to have between 11.8 and 12.4,
but mine is only 6.54v
They told me its a power supply issue then, you need a new PSU.
So i went out and got a 500watt PSU and replaced my 480watt one.
The games still freeze and the pc wizard reading still gives 6.xx volts!.

Does this mean my motherboard is failing as it now does not seem to be the
PSU?
How can i test the motherboard?

I tried the PC wizard program on other PC's around the house and they all
have a voltage of around 12, whereas mine is 6.

Many thanks for any help, advice

Chris

Hey Chris....... something is dragging down your 12v line. Start
troubleshooting by unplugging your harddrives and optical drives and see
if the voltage comes up. You will have to check it with a multimeter as
you won't have access to your software. If if fails to return to normal
now then likely your MB is bad.

Newfdog

 

[kony]

Hello, just want peoples opinion on if they think this is a Motherboard
issue or not. Many thanks.

My system:

AV8 3rd eye K8T800 Pro AGP
AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ 2200MHZ
2X CORSAIR 512DDR SDRAM
BFG 6800 ULTRA OC AGP
WINXP HOME

Problem:
All was fine for 12months then games started freezing up for a good few
seconds after several hours play. Its got worse with time, after several
weeks they started freezing up after 20 mins play. shutting down my system
for a few mins would give me another 20 mins play and so on. Now its got to
stage where i can play for 5 mins then it freezes up for good so i dont
bother playing.

It sounds most like the video card is overheating.
Is your case ventilation good?
Try taking the side off the case and pointing a fan at it,
then repeat a similar gaming sequence to see if it pauses
again. Also check the case for dust obstructions and that
the video card fan is running properly, not failing.

I first thought it was drivers so i updated all but no fix.
I then discovered online that several other people had similiar problems
with the BFG card, so I assumed it was that and gave BFG tech a call.
The tech support told me to download "PC Wizard 2006' let it scan the system
and then click the bottom left icon "Voltage, temperature and Fans"
They said under item '+12v Voltage' i need to have between 11.8 and 12.4,
but mine is only 6.54v

That is such a low reading I don't think it's possible to be
right. At that low of a voltage your system fans might not
work properly and the hard drives may not either. That the
system was running and even gaming at all is strong evidence
that your 12V was not at 6.54V. Actually the PSU should
have already shut itself off if it were that low, whole
system would not run at all.

You need a multimeter or other software to check the 12V
voltage.

What make and model of power supply is in the system? Why,
when it seemed a power problem did you not list the PSU in
above items?

They told me its a power supply issue then, you need a new PSU.
So i went out and got a 500watt PSU and replaced my 480watt one.

What makes and models of BOTH?

If they're both generics, you may indeed have a power
problem, or even two problems, power and heat though only
one may be the immediate cause of the pauses... usually
that's heat.

The games still freeze and the pc wizard reading still gives 6.xx volts!.

Sure, as mentioned above it couldn't be a correct reading or
report.

Does this mean my motherboard is failing as it now does not seem to be the
PSU?
How can i test the motherboard?

No, odds are it is not failing... at least, that does not
appear to be the problem now. Pointing a fan at the open
system is a good start. You might also try using
"Coolbits2" (google will find it), merging that into your
registry to reveal the clock speed settings in Display
Properties and lowering your card's GPU speed a little.
That would be a temporary solution until you determine how
to permanently keep it cooler (if, assuming it's running too
hot).

I tried the PC wizard program on other PC's around the house and they all
have a voltage of around 12, whereas mine is 6.

I think it's just an error in PC Wizard, that it's reading
another voltage rail plus an offset to that.

Surely your bios shows voltages?
This is an Abit board, yes? How about uGuru? Try that,
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/d...wnloads/utilities/uguru/2.126/uguru_v2126.exe

.... still think it's overheating though, try a fan.

 

[Paul]

Hello, just want peoples opinion on if they think this is a Motherboard
issue or not. Many thanks.

My system:

AV8 3rd eye K8T800 Pro AGP
AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ 2200MHZ
2X CORSAIR 512DDR SDRAM
BFG 6800 ULTRA OC AGP
WINXP HOME

Problem:
All was fine for 12months then games started freezing up for a good few
seconds after several hours play. Its got worse with time, after several
weeks they started freezing up after 20 mins play. shutting down my system
for a few mins would give me another 20 mins play and so on. Now its got to
stage where i can play for 5 mins then it freezes up for good so i dont
bother playing.

I first thought it was drivers so i updated all but no fix.
I then discovered online that several other people had similiar problems
with the BFG card, so I assumed it was that and gave BFG tech a call.
The tech support told me to download "PC Wizard 2006' let it scan the system
and then click the bottom left icon "Voltage, temperature and Fans"
They said under item '+12v Voltage' i need to have between 11.8 and 12.4,
but mine is only 6.54v
They told me its a power supply issue then, you need a new PSU.
So i went out and got a 500watt PSU and replaced my 480watt one.
The games still freeze and the pc wizard reading still gives 6.xx volts!.

Does this mean my motherboard is failing as it now does not seem to be the
PSU?
How can i test the motherboard?

I tried the PC wizard program on other PC's around the house and they all
have a voltage of around 12, whereas mine is 6.

Many thanks for any help, advice

Chris

Are you certain Abit doesn't provide a utility for reading
temperatures and voltages ? How do you know that the PC Wizard
works properly ? A cheap multimeter can be used to measure voltages
as an independent means of verifying what is happening.

If the voltage was truly 6.54V, your hard drive would refuse to
spin.

Are all the fans in the computer functional ?

What are the odds that the BFG video card is overheating,
or the video card itself has develped a defect ?

To test the processor and memory, get a copy of Prime95 from
mersenne.org . There is an option in there called the "Torture
Test", and that test will concentrate on the processor and
memory. If you can run Prime95 for hours without an error, and
yet you are freezing in games, that would point more towards the
video card.

When running any of these tests, you should use whatever utility
Abit ships for their board, to measure temperatures and voltages.
While demanding tests like Prime95 torture test or 3DMark benchmark
are running, observe the temperatures and voltages and see if they
are what you would expect for a normal system.

Paul

 

[Chris]

Hi

Sorry for not posting it, the new PSU is made by Jeantech, its a JNP-500AP
and the old one is Antec Trueblue 480p

I have blown out any dust but it was all relatively clear, no mass build
ups. I will try pointing a fan in there tomorrow to see if it helps, but
because its been working fine for 12 months with the ventilation its got, I
dont see how it can be that.
I will also try the software you mentioned tomorrow and then keep you
posted.

Many thanks for your help. Much appreciated

Chris

 

[Chris]

HI

Many thanks for the info. Will try Prime95 tomorrow.
Yes, uguru came with the board but i never used it, just thought it was a
gimmick. Going to try and get my head round it tomorrow nad see what more I
can find out.
Thanks again


Latest pictures added:
http://www.picturesofengland.com/latest/pictures/

 

[Chris]

Thanks for the info.
Will get Prime95 tomrrow and test the cpu etc.
Yes Uguru came with the board but i never got to use it, just thought it was
a gimmick. Will try get my head around it tomorrow and see what more i can
find out from it.
Many thanks for the info
Chris

 

[John McGaw]

Hello, just want peoples opinion on if they think this is a Motherboard
issue or not. Many thanks.

My system:

AV8 3rd eye K8T800 Pro AGP
AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ 2200MHZ
2X CORSAIR 512DDR SDRAM
BFG 6800 ULTRA OC AGP
WINXP HOME

Problem:
All was fine for 12months then games started freezing up for a good few
seconds after several hours play. Its got worse with time, after several
weeks they started freezing up after 20 mins play. shutting down my system
for a few mins would give me another 20 mins play and so on. Now its got to
stage where i can play for 5 mins then it freezes up for good so i dont
bother playing.

I first thought it was drivers so i updated all but no fix.
I then discovered online that several other people had similiar problems
with the BFG card, so I assumed it was that and gave BFG tech a call.
The tech support told me to download "PC Wizard 2006' let it scan the system
and then click the bottom left icon "Voltage, temperature and Fans"
They said under item '+12v Voltage' i need to have between 11.8 and 12.4,
but mine is only 6.54v
They told me its a power supply issue then, you need a new PSU.
So i went out and got a 500watt PSU and replaced my 480watt one.
The games still freeze and the pc wizard reading still gives 6.xx volts!.

Does this mean my motherboard is failing as it now does not seem to be the
PSU?
How can i test the motherboard?

I tried the PC wizard program on other PC's around the house and they all
have a voltage of around 12, whereas mine is 6.

Many thanks for any help, advice

Chris

The way you describe the problem my first guess would have been an
overheating problem which slowly got worse as the CPU cooler got dirtier
and/or the thermal compound broke down.

 

[kony]

Hi

Sorry for not posting it, the new PSU is made by Jeantech, its a JNP-500AP
and the old one is Antec Trueblue 480p

I'd expect the Jeantech is a downgrade from the Antec, it
might not be suitable for the system. That doesnt'
"necessarily" mean the Antec is working properly, there is
an outside chance you first had a failing Antec and now an
insufficient Jeantech but because the problem is manifested
the same, and no other problems, it seems less likely.

In other words, after you get the problem resolved you might
put the Antec back in, even returning the Jeantech for some
$ back if possible (and you had no other need for it).

 

[Chris]

Turns out my bfg6800 card is overheating. I went into display
properties>advanced>geforce6800ultra and in there it allows me to monitor
the cards temp ( inever knew this before).
This was going up to 95c plus, and was then freezing up the game. After
minimizing the game, i could watch the temp drop down again on the card,
maximize and things would be ok but the temp would steadily rise again.
To cure the problem i have turned the ingame screen resolution down to
800x600 and a few other settings down and it steadies the temp at 70-80c and
i can play all night!
..
Why it is overheating i do not know. All the fans work as they always have
done (though they are limited). And i played the same games throughout the
summer without a problem.
Maybe I turned the cards settings up a few months ago but I would not have
thought it would cause it to overheat?, would have thought it would just
make the game struggle and slowed it down?

I'm going to get an additional fan as I only have 2 case fans, both
expelling air. I'll get one on the front blowing in across the cpu and card
etc.

Do you think the card is on its wayy out though, and therefore now starting
to overheat?

I set up the uguru that came with the board and the cpu temp rises too, when
playing a game, by about 10 degrees to around 30c. I removed the cpu fan and
got rid of the dust that was sat on the heatsink. Thought that might be
causing it but it wasnt.

Many thanks

Chris

 

[kony]

Turns out my bfg6800 card is overheating. I went into display
properties>advanced>geforce6800ultra and in there it allows me to monitor
the cards temp ( inever knew this before).
This was going up to 95c plus, and was then freezing up the game. After
minimizing the game, i could watch the temp drop down again on the card,
maximize and things would be ok but the temp would steadily rise again.
To cure the problem i have turned the ingame screen resolution down to
800x600 and a few other settings down and it steadies the temp at 70-80c and
i can play all night!

There are several things you can try;

- Take heatsink off and lightly lap it with very fine
sandpaper, then rub some thermal compound hard "into" the
area where it contacts the GPU. Wipe that off and then
reapply a fresh coat of decent thermal compound- not
silicone based (like generics or some branded products but
rather...), a synthetic (ester) based compound will not
degrate, separate as much over time on a small & hot core.
Arctic Silver, Alumina, and a few other brands/models are
available, it need not be Arctic Silver 5 over any other
synthetic type but AS5 and Alumina are two of the more
popular ones.

- If it is butted up against another card (in the next slot
below it) move the other card further away. If you "must"
put another card adjacent to it, make it the smallest card
you have.

- Remove the rear case bracket cover for that empty slot
below the card. This will cause passive airflow past the
face of the card, reducing recirculation.

- If all else fails, a low-RPM 80 or larger mm fan can be
attached via it's two left-side holes, mounted to the screws
which hole down the card brackets. Essentially you take a
couple of pieces of thick metal (aluminum is easier to work
with), bent them into a sort-of "Z" shape but not that sharp
an angle(s) and drill a hole at each end big enough for the
6-32 screw on the bracket and the fan screw on the other
end. The other alternative is to cut a hole in your case
side-panel, optimally positioning it such that around 2/3 of
the fan blows under the card but a little on the top side
may help too. Keep in mind that this may reduce air intake
through your HDD rack if it's passively (no front intake
fans) cooled.

- A slot-bracket mounted blower exhaust fan could be used
too or instead, but they generally have a higher
noise:flow-rate ratio. I'd try all the above things except
maybe cutting a hole in the side panel, before buying a
slot-bracket mounted blower.

Why it is overheating i do not know. All the fans work as they always have
done (though they are limited).

Limited? How so?
If your case has mostly obstructed fan intake or exhaust
areas, it may be necessary to cut out those areas for best
results. Unfortunately that usually means emptying the
whole system to be sure all metal debris is removed.

And i played the same games throughout the
summer without a problem.
Maybe I turned the cards settings up a few months ago but I would not have
thought it would cause it to overheat?, would have thought it would just
make the game struggle and slowed it down?

The thermal interface on the card 'sink may have degraded.
The fan may be wobbly due to running out of lubricant - if
that seems to be the case, put a single drop of high weight,
thick oil in it, for example gear oil (80wt) or higher would
be ideal. Thin oil will just leak out of the bearing,
particularly on a small horizontally mounted fan.

Turning up game settings will definitely increase the
processing done by the card and thus it will run hotter.
You can turn down settings to reduce heat some, though if
you had one of the other issues present that I"ve mentioned,
it would be good to address or try these things- I dont'
think you paid a pretty penny for that card just to run
games without the eyecandy.

I'm going to get an additional fan as I only have 2 case fans, both
expelling air. I'll get one on the front blowing in across the cpu and card
etc.

Do you think the card is on its wayy out though, and therefore now starting
to overheat?

No, a failing card will not get hotter. Getting hotter will
possible make a card fail faster though, or a failing fan
will make it hotter. Fans generally start making more noise
though, when the wear or RPM reduction is enough to be
significant. You might not notice it though, if your other
fans made a lot of noise already.

I set up the uguru that came with the board and the cpu temp rises too, when
playing a game, by about 10 degrees to around 30c. I removed the cpu fan and
got rid of the dust that was sat on the heatsink. Thought that might be
causing it but it wasnt.

It's good to clean out dust, but 30C is not even close to
too hot- but that temp seems a little too low for gaming, I
think it runs hotter then the moment you exist the game it's
cooling down again. If you run Prime95's Torture Test,
large in-place FFTs setting and leave it like that for a
half-hour, that should get you close enough to max temp to
assess the CPU cooling system. If it stays under 50-60C,
and you're not overclocking, it's not a problem.