p4c800-e voltage problem?

Hello,

I have an older PC that's approaching it's fourth birthday. The original
video card in it was an ATI 9600, and when playing games ASUS Probe
would pop up and show that the 3.3v had dropped to ~3, even as low as
~2.8. I recklessly ignored this as my system remained stable and didn't
seem to have any problems. About a year later the video card burnt out;
I'm surprised it lasted so long, and that it took nothing else with it.

I replaced the 9600 with an ATI x1300, which required its own power
connection, and that worked perfectly fine for ~2 years. Not a single
voltage issue. Recently the x1300 was replaced with an 7600GT. All
seemed fine until a couple days after installing it I got ASUS Probe
popping up to tell me that the 3.3v was dropping as low as 2.8 again. I
ran some benchmarks/stress tests and discovered that the voltage will
drop under various kinds of loads that don't necessarily have anything
to do with video. Memory tests, for example, will drop the voltage. I've
since discovered that the 3.3v line commonly provides power for both AGP
and the memory. Makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is the fact that I had this problem when the PC
was first built, replaced the video card with a more powerful one, which
worked fine, and now with another video card, which may or may not be
more taxing--apparently their power requirements are relatively low, the
problem has come back. The obvious culprit would be the PSU, but the
specifics seem to suggest it might be worse than that. I did some more
googling using general terms and discovered a whole lot of people who
had the very same problem with ASUS motherboards, ones like mine and
others. It seems some of them can have various imperfections that result
in a failure to regulate the 3.3v correctly.

At this point I've pretty much decided to just start over and buy a
brand new PC, since this is pretty old, but I am curious about this
problem. Does anyone have any specific info or personal experience? What
are the chances, given the fact that the x1300 worked fine for 2 years,
that PSU replacement will make the problem go away? To me, it just feels
like it's the motherboard. If so, it's a shame, since the machine
otherwise suits my purposes reasonably well.

Anyway, thoughts/advice appreciated.

Jeremiah wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have an older PC that's approaching it's fourth birthday. The original
> video card in it was an ATI 9600, and when playing games ASUS Probe
> would pop up and show that the 3.3v had dropped to ~3, even as low as
> ~2.8. I recklessly ignored this as my system remained stable and didn't
> seem to have any problems. About a year later the video card burnt out;
> I'm surprised it lasted so long, and that it took nothing else with it.
>
> I replaced the 9600 with an ATI x1300, which required its own power
> connection, and that worked perfectly fine for ~2 years. Not a single
> voltage issue. Recently the x1300 was replaced with an 7600GT. All
> seemed fine until a couple days after installing it I got ASUS Probe
> popping up to tell me that the 3.3v was dropping as low as 2.8 again. I
> ran some benchmarks/stress tests and discovered that the voltage will
> drop under various kinds of loads that don't necessarily have anything
> to do with video. Memory tests, for example, will drop the voltage. I've
> since discovered that the 3.3v line commonly provides power for both AGP
> and the memory. Makes sense.
>
> What doesn't make sense is the fact that I had this problem when the PC
> was first built, replaced the video card with a more powerful one, which
> worked fine, and now with another video card, which may or may not be
> more taxing--apparently their power requirements are relatively low, the
> problem has come back. The obvious culprit would be the PSU, but the
> specifics seem to suggest it might be worse than that. I did some more
> googling using general terms and discovered a whole lot of people who
> had the very same problem with ASUS motherboards, ones like mine and
> others. It seems some of them can have various imperfections that result
> in a failure to regulate the 3.3v correctly.
>
> At this point I've pretty much decided to just start over and buy a
> brand new PC, since this is pretty old, but I am curious about this
> problem. Does anyone have any specific info or personal experience? What
> are the chances, given the fact that the x1300 worked fine for 2 years,
> that PSU replacement will make the problem go away? To me, it just feels
> like it's the motherboard. If so, it's a shame, since the machine
> otherwise suits my purposes reasonably well.
>
> Anyway, thoughts/advice appreciated.

The 3.3V has a fair load on it. My measurements are at the bottom of this
posting.

http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.co...1?dmode=source

Unplug the computer, then pull the main power connector and examine the
pins. The symptoms suggest maybe a bad connection at the main connector.
If the connector pins are all bright and shiny, not discolored, then
the other place it could be is the PSU itself. But because the 3.3V
rail typically has closed loop feedback (one of the 3.3V pins on the
main connector, has a second wire to sense the voltage), the 3.3V
really shouldn't drop under load.

You should verify the voltages with a multimeter, as the device on
the motherboard is not always the best for the job. Its
purpose is to serve a warning, and then other equipment can be
used to verify that a problem exists.

Paul

I still use on of those MBs.
At one stage I had a similar problem, though it was quite a while ago.
I remember it locking the PC up.
Rebooting the pc was insufficient because it would only boot after
physically removing and replacing the video card.
It was so long ago that I cannot remember how I got rid of the problem. I
think it may be b/c I'm running a different video card now?.

Besides this it has been a good MB. You've reminded me how old it is!.
I'm interested in the X38 chipset boards that are supposed to be launched
this month - hopefully they'll provide ECC support.
The P4C800-E Deluxe supports ECC memory. I have 2Gb of Samsung DDR400 w/
ECC running under Win XP.


"Jeremiah" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hello,
>
> I have an older PC that's approaching it's fourth birthday. The original
> video card in it was an ATI 9600, and when playing games ASUS Probe
> would pop up and show that the 3.3v had dropped to ~3, even as low as
> ~2.8. I recklessly ignored this as my system remained stable and didn't
> seem to have any problems. About a year later the video card burnt out;
> I'm surprised it lasted so long, and that it took nothing else with it.
>
> I replaced the 9600 with an ATI x1300, which required its own power
> connection, and that worked perfectly fine for ~2 years. Not a single
> voltage issue. Recently the x1300 was replaced with an 7600GT. All
> seemed fine until a couple days after installing it I got ASUS Probe
> popping up to tell me that the 3.3v was dropping as low as 2.8 again. I
> ran some benchmarks/stress tests and discovered that the voltage will
> drop under various kinds of loads that don't necessarily have anything
> to do with video. Memory tests, for example, will drop the voltage. I've
> since discovered that the 3.3v line commonly provides power for both AGP
> and the memory. Makes sense.
>
> What doesn't make sense is the fact that I had this problem when the PC
> was first built, replaced the video card with a more powerful one, which
> worked fine, and now with another video card, which may or may not be
> more taxing--apparently their power requirements are relatively low, the
> problem has come back. The obvious culprit would be the PSU, but the
> specifics seem to suggest it might be worse than that. I did some more
> googling using general terms and discovered a whole lot of people who
> had the very same problem with ASUS motherboards, ones like mine and
> others. It seems some of them can have various imperfections that result
> in a failure to regulate the 3.3v correctly.
>
> At this point I've pretty much decided to just start over and buy a
> brand new PC, since this is pretty old, but I am curious about this
> problem. Does anyone have any specific info or personal experience? What
> are the chances, given the fact that the x1300 worked fine for 2 years,
> that PSU replacement will make the problem go away? To me, it just feels
> like it's the motherboard. If so, it's a shame, since the machine
> otherwise suits my purposes reasonably well.
>
> Anyway, thoughts/advice appreciated.