Motherboard Upgrade Issues! Send Halp!

[Cortexian]

So I go my new motherboard today (eVGA nForce 780i SLI FTW Edition) and just got it installed. I go to power up my system and everything seems alright... However upon closer inspection I notice that all of the things on my PC that "light up", such as my fans and cold cathode tube, happen to be "flickering" at a fairly high interval. It was almost like seeing a florescent tube flicker or and extremely fast strobe light. It also sounded like all of my fans were cutting in and out at the same interval... Sounds like some kind of power issue.


The motherboards onboard indicator was outputting the "FF" code, which means "Boot" in the manual... Apparently this is a good thing, and simply means that the system is working. However I get absolutely no graphics signal output.

I assume there's a bad connection somewhere, but I've checked and rechecked all of my connections. Everything is fine... Has anyone seen anything like this before?

[Warsaw]

Are all your standoffs in place (AKA, are any of the pins on the back making contact with the case)?

It could be you just got a lemon board. Or your graphics card is messed.

[Cortexian]

Are all your standoffs in place (AKA, are any of the pins on the back making contact with the case)?

It could be you just got a lemon board. Or your graphics card is messed.
All of the motherboard risers or w/e are installed and screwed in. There's nothing behind the motherboard making any contact with anything. However... I am missing a screw... *looks*

Graphics card was fine on my Striker Extreme... I'm hoping it was a lemon board, because my history with motherboards usually ends up with that being the case (my original Striker was FUBAR from the store).

[Warsaw]

Seein as everything else worked before the new motherboard, I'm going to have to say it's a lemon board for sure. Especially because it's an eVGA board (they don't have as long of a history in motherboards as ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI, and all those other big names).

[legionaire45]

If your motherboard has a voltage monitoring utility built in, check it and see if your voltages are fluctuating at all. This sounds more like a power supply issue than a motherboard issue. GameXStreams are known to have slight power rippling across the 12v rail; Mine usually jumps between 12.00v and 12.34v depending. That might be causing it.

[Cortexian]

Seein as everything else worked before the new motherboard, I'm going to have to say it's a lemon board for sure. Especially because it's an eVGA board (they don't have as long of a history in motherboards as ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, DFI, and all those other big names).
Yea, looks that way, removed the screw that had indeed fallen behind the motherboard and the problem persists.


If your motherboard has a voltage monitoring utility built in, check it and see if your voltages are fluctuating at all. This sounds more like a power supply issue than a motherboard issue. GameXStreams are known to have slight power rippling across the 12v rail; Mine usually jumps between 12.00v and 12.34v depending. That might be causing it.
I can't get to the BIOS...

[legionaire45]

Oh, sorry, missed that part.

Sounds more like a motherboard issue then. If you can, get another board (use your old board, borrow one, whichev) and plug your components into it to make sure that the motherboard is the thing at fault.

[Cortexian]

God... I hate swapping motherboards... Takes so damn long...

[itszutak]

God... I hate swapping motherboards... Takes so damn long...
Welcome to my world!

I went through 3 mobos before I found one that worked. And that last one was a mATX I bought out of desperation.

Anyhow, I'd send it back and get another one. It looks like a nice mobo.

[Cortexian]

Okay so I'm back on my Striker setup.. Ended up having about the same level of cable management even after ripping apart my rig to test the system... Anyways, I did the whole "test the motherboard sitting on the desk with different hardware" thing... It seems that if ANYTHING except for the motherboard is plugged into my PSU it does the previously describer flickering and sputtering. I did the exact same tests with my Striker and it had absolutely no issues, so I'm going to assume that I got a lemon MoBo... Which is kind of ironic since when I first got my Striker for this build, it was DoA as well...

[itszutak]

Okay so I'm back on my Striker setup.. Ended up having about the same level of cable management even after ripping apart my rig to test the system... Anyways, I did the whole "test the motherboard sitting on the desk with different hardware" thing... It seems that if ANYTHING except for the motherboard is plugged into my PSU it does the previously describer flickering and sputtering. I did the exact same tests with my Striker and it had absolutely no issues, so I'm going to assume that I got a lemon MoBo... Which is kind of ironic since when I first got my Striker for this build, it was DoA as well...
I'm starting to think that mobos in general are shit quality and the process needs a serious revamp. It's not right that a $250+ mobo should just be dead-- what happened to qc?

[Cortexian]

I'm starting to think that mobos in general are shit quality and the process needs a serious revamp. It's not right that a $250+ mobo should just be dead-- what happened to qc?
inorite?

I'm on the path to believing the same thing.