Random video banking on OC ASUS Commando

I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything "tests"
stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors or issues.

The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image blanking.
The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes back. It
may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or perhaps right
after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm running is the
browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may not do it for a
couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress or load because
it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load testing.

I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.

Machine specs:
E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
Commando MB Manual Config OC.
2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
STOCK SPEED on the video card.
PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
Mushkin 580W PSU
2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file for
performance)

Voltages:
CPU 1.4
SB vcore: 1.15
SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
FSB 1.41
DDRII 2.25
DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps this
voltage.
Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
hottest component in the machine.
Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.


So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
can spot something in the config that I'm missing.

Thanks in advance
JC

"John Caceres" <> wrote in message
news:0PudnQuf9Obt-...
>I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
>trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
>relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
>"tests" stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors or
>issues.
>
> The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image blanking.
> The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes back. It
> may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or perhaps right
> after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm running is the
> browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may not do it for a
> couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress or load because
> it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load testing.
>
> I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
> stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
> annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.
>
> Machine specs:
> E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
> Commando MB Manual Config OC.
> 2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
> Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
> STOCK SPEED on the video card.
> PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
> All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
> Mushkin 580W PSU
> 2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file
> for performance)
>
> Voltages:
> CPU 1.4
> SB vcore: 1.15
> SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
> FSB 1.41
> DDRII 2.25
> DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
> NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
> Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps
> this voltage.
> Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
> hottest component in the machine.
> Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
> Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.
>
>
> So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
> can spot something in the config that I'm missing.
>
> Thanks in advance
> JC
>
What OS? Vista, by any chance? I ask because I had a similar experience with
a new Conroe PC recently. I did, however, see a momentary error message to
the effect that the video drivers had stopped responding. Further testing
revealed that the issue was not the video drivers, but main memory
instability (using 4 1 Gig sticks - all same mfg and spec). Pulling one pair
rendered the system stable. So, what did you use to test your memory? Try
Prime 95 for several hours and see what it says.

"John Caceres" <> wrote in message
news:0PudnQuf9Obt-...
>I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
>trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
>relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
>"tests" stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors or
>issues.
>
> The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image blanking.
> The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes back. It
> may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or perhaps right
> after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm running is the
> browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may not do it for a
> couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress or load because
> it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load testing.
>
> I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
> stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
> annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.
>
> Machine specs:
> E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
> Commando MB Manual Config OC.
> 2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
> Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
> STOCK SPEED on the video card.
> PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
> All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
> Mushkin 580W PSU
> 2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file
> for performance)
>
> Voltages:
> CPU 1.4
> SB vcore: 1.15
> SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
> FSB 1.41
> DDRII 2.25
> DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
> NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
> Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps
> this voltage.
> Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
> hottest component in the machine.
> Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
> Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.
>
>
> So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
> can spot something in the config that I'm missing.
>
> Thanks in advance
> JC

The only thing that jumps out to me right away is the heatsink on the
GTS. You might try the stock HS assembly and see if it makes a difference. I
run 2 GTX cards with stock cooling (EVGA Superclocked) and they, like Asus,
use the Nvidia reference cooling which is not bad at all. The majority of
the heat is vented out the back and impact on case heat is minimal. Like I
said, this is only a shot in the dark as your problem is not one that is
very common.


Ed

"Peter van der Goes" <> wrote in message
news:Lluhi.1435$...
>
> "John Caceres" <> wrote in message
> news:0PudnQuf9Obt-...
>>I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
>>trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
>>relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
>>"tests" stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors
>>or issues.
>>
>> The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image
>> blanking. The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes
>> back. It may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or
>> perhaps right after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm
>> running is the browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may
>> not do it for a couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress
>> or load because it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load
>> testing.
>>
>> I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
>> stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
>> annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.
>>
>> Machine specs:
>> E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
>> Commando MB Manual Config OC.
>> 2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
>> Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
>> STOCK SPEED on the video card.
>> PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
>> All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
>> Mushkin 580W PSU
>> 2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file
>> for performance)
>>
>> Voltages:
>> CPU 1.4
>> SB vcore: 1.15
>> SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
>> FSB 1.41
>> DDRII 2.25
>> DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
>> NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
>> Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps
>> this voltage.
>> Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
>> hottest component in the machine.
>> Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
>> Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.
>>
>>
>> So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
>> can spot something in the config that I'm missing.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> JC
>>
> What OS? Vista, by any chance? I ask because I had a similar experience
> with a new Conroe PC recently. I did, however, see a momentary error
> message to the effect that the video drivers had stopped responding.
> Further testing revealed that the issue was not the video drivers, but
> main memory instability (using 4 1 Gig sticks - all same mfg and spec).
> Pulling one pair rendered the system stable. So, what did you use to test
> your memory? Try Prime 95 for several hours and see what it says.
>
>
Thanks for the quick reply.

It's just XP with SP2. I actually was given a free copy of Vista Business
and Office 2007 and haven't installed either of them yet. I was going to
dual boot Vista eventually, but wanted to assure there were no issues and I
had a stable platform first. That's why I got the second drive. I went
full tilt with the memory, the Mushkin enhanced 8500 are rated for 1066 at
5.5.4.12 at that speed. The OC I'm using has them only running at 800 with
the same timings, so I'm thinking I should be safe there. They're rated for
2.2 to 2.35 v. and I've got them in the middle range.

One thing I did just try for the hell of it, since Bios manual references
are cryptic at best. There's some apparently propriatary CGI setting (cross
graphics something) that's there for Cross Fire enhancements. I had that
set to auto, and I just disabled it. Since it's useless for a single nVidia
card. Let's see if that does anything.

JC

"Peter van der Goes" <> wrote in message
news:Lluhi.1435$...
>
> "John Caceres" <> wrote in message
> news:0PudnQuf9Obt-...
>>I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
>>trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
>>relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
>>"tests" stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors
>>or issues.
>>
>> The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image
>> blanking. The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes
>> back. It may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or
>> perhaps right after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm
>> running is the browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may
>> not do it for a couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress
>> or load because it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load
>> testing.
>>
>> I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
>> stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
>> annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.
>>
>> Machine specs:
>> E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
>> Commando MB Manual Config OC.
>> 2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
>> Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
>> STOCK SPEED on the video card.
>> PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
>> All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
>> Mushkin 580W PSU
>> 2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file
>> for performance)
>>
>> Voltages:
>> CPU 1.4
>> SB vcore: 1.15
>> SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
>> FSB 1.41
>> DDRII 2.25
>> DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
>> NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
>> Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps
>> this voltage.
>> Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
>> hottest component in the machine.
>> Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
>> Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.
>>
>>
>> So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
>> can spot something in the config that I'm missing.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> JC
>>
> What OS? Vista, by any chance? I ask because I had a similar experience
> with a new Conroe PC recently. I did, however, see a momentary error
> message to the effect that the video drivers had stopped responding.
> Further testing revealed that the issue was not the video drivers, but
> main memory instability (using 4 1 Gig sticks - all same mfg and spec).
> Pulling one pair rendered the system stable. So, what did you use to test
> your memory? Try Prime 95 for several hours and see what it says.
>
I forgot to answer the second part of your question... I've been using
Memtest + and Orthos.

JC

"Ed Medlin" <> wrote in message
news:iYuhi.16438$. net...
>
> "John Caceres" <> wrote in message
> news:0PudnQuf9Obt-...
>>I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
>>trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
>>relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
>>"tests" stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors
>>or issues.
>>
>> The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image
>> blanking. The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes
>> back. It may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or
>> perhaps right after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm
>> running is the browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may
>> not do it for a couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress
>> or load because it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load
>> testing.
>>
>> I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
>> stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
>> annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.
>>
>> Machine specs:
>> E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
>> Commando MB Manual Config OC.
>> 2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
>> Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
>> STOCK SPEED on the video card.
>> PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
>> All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
>> Mushkin 580W PSU
>> 2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file
>> for performance)
>>
>> Voltages:
>> CPU 1.4
>> SB vcore: 1.15
>> SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
>> FSB 1.41
>> DDRII 2.25
>> DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
>> NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
>> Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps
>> this voltage.
>> Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
>> hottest component in the machine.
>> Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
>> Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.
>>
>>
>> So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
>> can spot something in the config that I'm missing.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> JC
>
> The only thing that jumps out to me right away is the heatsink on the
> GTS. You might try the stock HS assembly and see if it makes a difference.
> I run 2 GTX cards with stock cooling (EVGA Superclocked) and they, like
> Asus, use the Nvidia reference cooling which is not bad at all. The
> majority of the heat is vented out the back and impact on case heat is
> minimal. Like I said, this is only a shot in the dark as your problem is
> not one that is very common.
>
>
> Ed
>

I'm still using the stock HS that comes on the ASUS 8800 GTS, I ordered a
thermalright cooler for the card just because the video card is by FAR the
hottest thing in the case. Temps reported by NVIDIA Monitor view for the GPU
are around 70c at idle with just a browser and email client running. I do
have 1680 by 1050 resolution monitor with 32 nit color, but 70c seems way
hight to me. It gets even worse if I try to OC the card at all. That's why
I've left everything on it at stock speeds.

In comparison, my CPU is running at 29C with a Thermalright 120 cooler and
the MB temps are 31C. Ambient about 23C.

JC

John Caceres wrote:
> "Ed Medlin" <> wrote in message
> news:iYuhi.16438$. net...
>> "John Caceres" <> wrote in message
>> news:0PudnQuf9Obt-...
>>> I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
>>> trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
>>> relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
>>> "tests" stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors
>>> or issues.
>>>
>>> The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image
>>> blanking. The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes
>>> back. It may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or
>>> perhaps right after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm
>>> running is the browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may
>>> not do it for a couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress
>>> or load because it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load
>>> testing.
>>>
>>> I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
>>> stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
>>> annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.
>>>
>>> Machine specs:
>>> E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
>>> Commando MB Manual Config OC.
>>> 2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
>>> Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
>>> STOCK SPEED on the video card.
>>> PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
>>> All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
>>> Mushkin 580W PSU
>>> 2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file
>>> for performance)
>>>
>>> Voltages:
>>> CPU 1.4
>>> SB vcore: 1.15
>>> SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
>>> FSB 1.41
>>> DDRII 2.25
>>> DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
>>> NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
>>> Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps
>>> this voltage.
>>> Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
>>> hottest component in the machine.
>>> Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
>>> Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.
>>>
>>>
>>> So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
>>> can spot something in the config that I'm missing.
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance
>>> JC
>> The only thing that jumps out to me right away is the heatsink on the
>> GTS. You might try the stock HS assembly and see if it makes a difference.
>> I run 2 GTX cards with stock cooling (EVGA Superclocked) and they, like
>> Asus, use the Nvidia reference cooling which is not bad at all. The
>> majority of the heat is vented out the back and impact on case heat is
>> minimal. Like I said, this is only a shot in the dark as your problem is
>> not one that is very common.
>>
>>
>> Ed
>>
>
> I'm still using the stock HS that comes on the ASUS 8800 GTS, I ordered a
> thermalright cooler for the card just because the video card is by FAR the
> hottest thing in the case. Temps reported by NVIDIA Monitor view for the GPU
> are around 70c at idle with just a browser and email client running. I do
> have 1680 by 1050 resolution monitor with 32 nit color, but 70c seems way
> hight to me. It gets even worse if I try to OC the card at all. That's why
> I've left everything on it at stock speeds.
>
> In comparison, my CPU is running at 29C with a Thermalright 120 cooler and
> the MB temps are 31C. Ambient about 23C.
>
> JC
>
>

Is your PCI Express link at standard speed ? Try setting it manually to
[100MHz].

Paul

'John Caceres' wrote, in party:
| I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
| trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
| relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
"tests"
| stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors or
issues.
|
| The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image blanking.
| The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes back. It
| may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or perhaps right
| after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm running is the
| browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may not do it for a
| couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress or load because
| it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load testing.
_____

Bad cable, bad monitor, bad connection, bad insertion of 8800 into PCI-E
socket?
Check and eliminate each of these possibilities.
Then download ATITool 0.26
from
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
or ATITool 0.27 b2
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=725 .
Run the 'Find Max Core' and 'Find Max Memory' in an attempt to cause the
problem.

To me the intermittent nature of the fault, evidently not connected to heat,
use level, or time, indicates a mechanical connection problem.

Phil Weldon

"John Caceres" <> wrote in message
news:0PudnQuf9Obt-...
|I hope someone's experience the following and can lead me down the right
| trouble shooting path. I have a couple of week old new rig, E6600 with a
| relatively modest OC to 3.2 GHz, on an ASUS Commando MB. Everything
"tests"
| stable as a rock and nothing I've thrown at it has caused errors or
issues.
|
| The problem though is, every once in a while I get a video image blanking.
| The screen momentarily goes black for about a second then comes back. It
| may do this someting when the machine is seemingly idle. Or perhaps right
| after I shut down Outlook, and the only other thing I'm running is the
| browser. It may do this twice within an hour, or it may not do it for a
| couple of days. It doesn't seem to be related to stress or load because
| it's never done it in the middle of gaming or full load testing.
|
| I have all top shelf equipment and kept the OC to a modest just to assure
| stability, and although things are stable this video issue is more of an
| annoyance esp since I haven't been able to figure it out.
|
| Machine specs:
| E6600 w 1.4 v @ 3.2
| Commando MB Manual Config OC.
| 2x 1 Gig sticks of Mushkin 8500 enhanced mem.
| Asus 8800 GTS (320 meg) current 158.22 forceware
| STOCK SPEED on the video card.
| PCIe @ 100 and PCI @ 33
| All of the standard OC bios settings and voltages.
| Mushkin 580W PSU
| 2 Samsung 321KJ Drives not in a Raid setup. (just sharing the swap file
for
| performance)
|
| Voltages:
| CPU 1.4
| SB vcore: 1.15
| SB (SATA and PCIE) 1.54
| FSB 1.41
| DDRII 2.25
| DDRII Term 1.14 (have no clue what this does)
| NB vcore 1.62 (seems to be locked on the ASUS commando)
| Nothing I do, even setting this to "auto" in a non OC enviroment keeps
this
| voltage.
| Heat isn't an issue on the CPU, but the Video card is deffinately the
| hottest component in the machine.
| Didn't want to OC this until I had the video bug resolved, and I put a
| Thermalright heatsink on the 8800.
|
|
| So that's it, I tried to be as descriptive as possible, hopefully someone
| can spot something in the config that I'm missing.
|
| Thanks in advance
| JC
|
|