Hardware issue with ASUS Striker II NSE POST pulse 5830s

[hmblm1245]

So i have a problem with an Asus Striker II NSE POSTing but only after 8 what seem to like pulses.

Some background info:
I built this system about two years ago or more and it has been running fine with a 4850. No problems at all.

I slap a 5830 in and i am unable to POST quickly. The symptoms are it pulses 8 times then loads the bios splash screen and boots to windows 7. The GPU and CPU fans spin to 100 percent and then down to near off then back up to 100 and then off 8 times, every time i power cycle it (hard or soft restart or power off)
If i swap the 5830 with the 4850 it boots quickly. So i concluded that the 5830 was the problem; however, i have 4 5830s, 2 5850s, and 2 6950s, tried them all, and all of them end up with the same pulsing like behavior. Anything above a 4850 causes this pulse.

Troubleshooting:
I swapped the PSU with a 1000watt that i have been using in another working 4 card miner with the same result.
I swapped the HDD with one that passed 2 HDD tests, same result.
I swapped the ram with my main rig stable for over 3 months, same result.

Here is my hardware list:
Asus Striker II NSE
Core 2 Duo Extreme
OCZ DDR3-1066 2x4GB
single 5400 RPM HDD
2x5830s
Corsair 850watt PSU

I don't really no whats happening with these 8 pulses. Are the cards pulling more from the PCIE slots then what the board can handle? once it boots it has been stable in the past but in the last day or so it will not boot and stay into windows.

Any thoughts would be great

[phorensic]

My first thought was immediately PSU related.  Then you say you already tried another PSU.  Have you tried resetting BIOS back to full factory defaults?

[oldDirty]

My experience with Ati/Amd VGA is, that if you change a card ( 48xx to just another ati/amd ) you need to reinstall the driver complete.
No idea if this fits your prob.

[hmblm1245]

My first thought was immediately PSU related.  Then you say you already tried another PSU.  Have you tried resetting BIOS back to full factory defaults?

 yes i have reset the bios to defaults but i don't remember when i last tried. i do that again.

This is before windows loads so i am not sure if a drive would help. Its almost like its checking the system during post and getting an error and trying again. Kinda like network time outs but with hardware.

[phorensic]

My first thought was immediately PSU related.  Then you say you already tried another PSU.  Have you tried resetting BIOS back to full factory defaults?

 yes i have reset the bios to defaults but i don't remember when i last tried. i do that again.

This is before windows loads so i am not sure if a drive would help. Its almost like its checking the system during post and getting an error and trying again. Kinda like network time outs but with hardware.

Yes this doesn't have to do with the driver.  The driver isn't loaded until very far into the Windows splash screen.  During POST the video card relies on a pre-programmed section of its own BIOS that tells it to initialize, spin the fans up to 100% briefly, check core and mem temps, set initial clock speeds, etc etc.  From your descriptions it sounds like the video card *is* initializing properly, however the motherboard is rebooting over and over and your only indication is by listening the video card fan spin up and down.  If the clock speeds for the *CPU* and memory are off, the motherboard will sometimes reset itself and go back to default speeds for everything.  Also, if the CPU is indicating that it is overheating the motherboard will immediately shut everything off.  For example, you have a faulty thermistor on the board, or the built in temp sensor in the CPU is bad.  It may POST at 180C and go "OH CRAP, SHUT OFF" but it takes 8 POSTs before it registers properly at ~25C.  It only takes a few milliseconds to burn up a modern CPU that has a problem such as the heatsink not being attached properly, so it has to react very fast to protect everything.  I'm just throwing out possible problems here.  Did you ever try a different CPU?

[phorensic]

Oh I forgot to add. My Asus board has this stupid MemOK feature.  If you insert new memory or you try to set the memory speed to high it will POST and reset something like 10 times over and over until it finds the right speed for the memory.  Maybe your board is doing that to find the right memory speed?  Do you have X.M.P. certified memory?  If so, you can set an option in your BIOS to use the X.M.P. profile of your memory, which is what the recommended setting should be (but isn't turned on by default) and maybe that will fix the problem.

[hmblm1245]

I have reset the bios and it does the same thing. i found on asus's site this but its for the Extreme version not NSE and will not let me load the bin (not that its a good idea to load an incorrect model bios anyway) i am on the latest version 0901

Version  1402   
Description   Striker II Extreme BIOS 1402
Fix it might take long time to recognize ATI 5850 VGA card at POST
File Size   
762,92 (KBytes)   2010.02.10  update
Download from   
 Global (DLM)      Global         

It might be the temps and no i have not had any other CPU then the x6800 in it. I would guess the same, but if i swap a 4850 it loads into windows without delay. I start mining with the 4850 and it freezes again (this might be a drive issue going to try with bamt for this problem).

[phorensic]

Oh wow, it looks like ASUS recognizes the problem.  If there is one BIOS update for a motherboard even remotely related, you can be sure it is a big issue for your board.  I would look around a little harder for the newest version of the BIOS for your exact model.  The trick is that they will not list the same problem in the release notes, but its probably in the patch anyway.

[hmblm1245]

So with bamt it is unstable. just freezes in general. i asked Asus if they have a newer bios but it looks like they only kept up with the Extreme version of the 790 chipset and left the NSE behind on version 0901.

I am not the only one with this issue which means its not bad hardware.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20100420134859390&board_id=1&model=Striker+II+NSE&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

I'll try this procedure this evening.

[phorensic]

I just looked that board up - Oh shit, that's an nvidia chipset board? Get rid of that thing.  Of course they aren't doing developments for it.  Get yourself the cheapest ASUS with an Intel chipset you can find.  If you are like me, you are losing profits every hour you aren't mining, so it's worth it to sling a hundred bucks to get going again.

[hmblm1245]

I just looked that board up - Oh shit, that's an nvidia chipset board? Get rid of that thing.  Of course they aren't doing developments for it.  Get yourself the cheapest ASUS with an Intel chipset you can find.  If you are like me, you are losing profits every hour you aren't mining, so it's worth it to sling a hundred bucks to get going again.

HAHA yes i looked at the intel chipset and the only socket 775 boards are a g41 chipset which are almost always micro for my x6800. the ones that aren't micro only have 1 or 2 pcie slots.

I'm down 4 cards or so on warranty and have other boxes i can place the gpus when they come in so i'm not really out anything ATM.

[phorensic]

I had a Core2Duo setup mining away until I was super drunk and spilled my soda all over the motherboard and fried it.  I looked for a replacement motherboard and yeah there was nothing.  There were some listings for like $400 because the supply is literally gone.  I ended up having to re-build with a Sandy Bridge, ASUS P6z68-v/gen3, DDR3, etc.  I feel your pain.

[hmblm1245]

It sucks bc as far as duel core goes the core 2 duo were/are bad ass. I just switched off my x6800 to a 1100 thuban last weekend and when i was running with the x6800 it played every game and did anything i wanted without delay. i only needed to upgrade b/c i started working with premier 5.5 and it crushed my tiny 2 core.

[oldDirty]

I got 2 nVidia 775 Boards in the past, and all two had a Bios Death. Both are from Asus, one did crush at flash and the other just exhale his life just trying to oc the CPU with moderate settings.
Never ever again a nVidia Chipset. I bought the last, because i want to enable SLI with GTX460, but i change my plan over to the good old 5850 CF and looking for a nice Intel/Intel Board.

[TheHarbinger]

Should be able to pick up a 775 board on ebay for pretty cheap since they are outdated and the majority are updating.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Motherboards-/1244/i.html?rt=nc&Socket%2520Type=LGA%2520775%252FSocket%2520T&_dmpt=Motherboards&_fln=1&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1539

[hmblm1245]

Should be able to pick up a 775 board on ebay for pretty cheap since they are outdated and the majority are updating.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Motherboards-/1244/i.html?rt=nc&Socket%2520Type=LGA%2520775%252FSocket%2520T&_dmpt=Motherboards&_fln=1&_ssov=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1539

Yes but few have more than 2/3 PCIE slots. this one has 5 total PCIE slots.

Update: i have successfully updated to the latest bios for the Striker Extreme as per http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20100420134859390&board_id=1&model=Striker+II+NSE&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

Been mining for about an hour so far win win7 cgminer so far so good.