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Aaaagh! PC Down. Suggestions?


Fidcal

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Take out the second GTX580, the one nearest the bottom of the case. So you will an empty space as per the image on post #36.

 

Do do that first remove the little SLi ribbon cable that bridged the two cards, then remove the screw at the left hand side of the card. Then depress the release latch at the bottom right of the card and then remove the card etc.

 

You should then be able to see both the bios and windows etc, once windows has detected the hardware config change, wait a few minutes for it to settle down and then reboot the pc. once windows has finished loading again wait a minute or two and then shutdown the PC.

 

Then finally re-install the second card, the ribbon etc but leave the video cable from your monitor connected to the first card.

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Woohoo! Finally fixed this. First, I tried your idea. Removed second card and plugged into 1st. Booted up OK - I got bios AND I got Windows. Rebooted again to make sure. Thinking that I had fixed it I then put back the second card, kept the plug in the 1st card and booted up. BIOS but no Windows as before. Damn!

 

So I figured there must be a setting one can change. Google. Found someone with similar problem but the guy who answered posted a snapshot of the Nvidia Control Panel where you can set the default card. This is absent from my Control Panel so I was wondering whether to search for old Nvidia drivers.

 

I searched my Nvidia control panel but there was nothing like setting the default card. There was a setting for which card to use for PhysX but I'm guessing that's for number crunching. It was set to auto.

 

In the end I disabled SLI in the control panel AND I set PhysX to Card 1 then rebooted. That fixed it! I get both BIOS and I get Windows.

 

So next I restored SLI to enabled and PhysX to auto and rebooted - still OK. So looks like I'm good to go and only 14 hours wasted in total thank you Mr. Acer for not putting decent instructions with your machine and no warning not to plug into the wrong card.

 

Thanks Biker, anyway - I learned how to get the graphics card out. I had to use pliers on some flanges on the tower case to make room to get out because the hard drive block was in the way and no clearance but there wasn't too much blood. Also I snapped off the little lever on the card slot with my corkscrew then put my corkscrew through a little plastic pipe but I evaporated all the water with a fan heater on hot so it should be all right. I am now a fully qualified computer engineer. ;D

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[...]there wasn't too much blood. Also I snapped off the little lever on the card slot with my corkscrew then put my corkscrew through a little plastic pipe but I evaporated all the water with a fan heater on hot so it should be all right. I am now a fully qualified computer engineer. ;D

 

:laugh::laugh::laugh: I can totally see a potential for a "I am now a fully qualified computer engineer" meme evolving out of this, lol!

 

on a related note, wish me luck on a similar endeavor. I'm taking my 220-702 exam towards A+ certification in like 3 hours! I passed the 701 with a 900/900 but I'm still worried bout this one.

Edited by ungoliant
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If you're going to be a design engineer then hope you encourage others to put more space in there for fingers, etc. Oh yeah - and is black plastic cheaper than other colours? Why are all these plugs and sockets black - hard to see exactly what goes where. Oh yeah - and shaped and funnelled plugs and sockets would be good so its obvious which way in they go without fiddling - so you can slip in a plug down the side of a tower on the floor in a dark corner without struggling with a torch in your mouth.

 

Latest problem is my audio stopped after this morning. I've tried my plug in about 4 sockets and I know it worked before. At least these plugs/sockets are coloured.

 

Biker - I do have the latest Nvidia drivers - I updated them within days of getting this pc on the net.

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on a related note, wish me luck on a similar endeavor. I'm taking my 220-702 exam towards A+ certification in like 3 hours! I passed the 701 with a 900/900 but I'm still worried bout this one.

Good luck mista, you have earned it!

 

Biker - I do have the latest Nvidia drivers - I updated them within days of getting this pc on the net.

Ah ok Fids, good man.

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Oh dear guys, please help! My laptop is broken :(

 

I had Win 7 on it running pretty good for nearly two years now. Suddenly today when it boots into Windows the screen gets many colourful stripes and points, after this nothing happens and all freezes. I runned it in Windows Safe Mode pretty good and could even save my data. I checked the RAM (there are two RAM cards in it) and still got the same error. Now I even installed Win8 to see if it works better. The setup ran pretty good after formatting the hard drive, but then when I first logged into Win8 it's all the same sh*t <_<

 

Someone got experience with stained lines and dots on the screen and the pc freezing?

 

Oh dear... :unsure:

"Einen giftigen Trank aus Kräutern und Wurzeln für die närrischen Städter wollen wir brauen." - Text aus einem verlassenen Heidenlager

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Good luck mista, you have earned it!

Officially CompTIA certified. Passed with a 788/1000.

 

@ST that sounds like an overheating issue(?). I assume when you get all the freaky colors are just related to the actual lockup freeze/crashing. Does the Hard Drive light still flicker on and off when this happens? Also, on your Win8 did you fresh install, or did you upgrade? (could be a driver corruption issue, since you said it worked in safe mode)

Edited by ungoliant
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Can't believe what rotten luck I'm having these last couple of weeks. It looks like the sound device is dead. All I did was switch off and unplug everything out the back to replace the graphics card and when I plugged everything back it said there's nothing connected. Well I checked and the plug is in the right socket where it worked before.

 

Eventually uninstalled all sound drivers and got fresh ones and now it says there is no sound hardware at all. I've downloaded 4 different new drivers but they all say there is no sound device. I think it's not a plug in card but embedded. Looks like I'll have to shop around for a new sound card.

 

Meanwhile I thought I'd plug in a hdmi cable from the graphics card to tv/monitor. Well, I've got three sorts of cable but none fit! How many hdmi connectors are there? I have the 'normal' type that plug in the pc - sort of thin rectangle cross-section. Then I have a cable with that on one end and a more square connector the other. That didn't fit. next I borrowed one out my pvr - that more of an angled rectangle - didn't fit the nvidia card though.

 

Even if I got a cable, the tv monitor sound is crap and I never got to connect it out to my amp because it needs a glass fibre cable - and of course, an amp to take glass input <sigh>

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...so you can slip in a plug down the side of a tower on the floor in a dark corner without struggling with a torch in your mouth.

 

Isn't that a fire hazard? And that reads like the briefing to a new mission :D

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)

 

"Remember: If the game lets you do it, it's not cheating." -- Xarax

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Right - checked BIOS but it says onboard audio controller enabled.

 

I took the sound card out of my old pc and plugged it in this morning. Still nothing. No sound at all.

 

I ran Windows audio troubleshooter. Results below. Note that what it says about the peripheral not being plugged in is nonsense. I've got the green plug plugged into the green socket on the card I've just added (not the old embedded one.) Fact is, that Windows Device Manager doesn't even show either sound device. I can't help wondering if, when I uninstalled drivers yesterday to install new ones that I accidentally uninstalled lower level control software built into Windows, eg, the thing that handles the drivers or feeds to the drivers or something.

 

Question is, what do I do? No use buying a new sound card. The one I plugged in this morning worked fine in the old machine.

 

If I install drivers they say there is no device. For instance, I have Breakaway and when I run it to config it, it says to select a sound card from the list below - but no sound cards are listed at all.

 

I'm doubtful now that even an hdmi feed to the monitor will have sound but I can't test this because none of my three types of hdmi connector fit the NVIDIA socket.

 

Here's troubleshooter. Mean anything to you?.....

 

 

Playing Audio Publisher details

 

Issues found

The speaker, headset or headphone is unplugged

An audio device must be plugged in to play or record sound. Not fixed

Plug in the speaker, headset or headphone Informational

 

Potential issues that were checked

Check audio deviceCheck audio device

There might be a problem with your audio device. Issue not present

One or more audio service isn't running

Both the Windows Audio and the Windows Audio End Point Builder services must be running for audio to work correctly. At least one of these services isn't running. Issue not present

Audio device is disabledAudio device is disabled

The audio device you selected is currently turned off in Windows. Issue not present

 

Issues found Detection details

 

6 The speaker, headset or headphone is unplugged Not fixed

 

An audio device must be plugged in to play or record sound.

Plug in the speaker, headset or headphone Informational

 

The audio peripheral doesn't appear to be plugged in. Check the connection.

 

 

Potential issues that were checked Detection details

 

Check audio device Issue not present

 

There might be a problem with your audio device.

 

One or more audio service isn't running Issue not present

 

Both the Windows Audio and the Windows Audio End Point Builder services must be running for audio to work correctly. At least one of these services isn't running.

 

6 Audio device is disabled Issue not present

 

The audio device you selected is currently turned off in Windows.

Device state

State information about the audio device.

State: Unplugged

Status code: 8

Help link: http://msdn.microsof.../aa363230(VS.85).aspx

 

 

 

Detection details

 

Audio endpoint

Type of audio device being diagnosed.

Endpoint: Speakers

Headphones

Headset Earphone

 

Installed audio devices

This file contains the details stored in the registry for all installed audio devices.

File Name: Registry log.reg

 

Collection information

Computer Name: PC-3

Windows Version: 6.1

Architecture: amd64

Time: Friday, November 09, 2012 11:51:44 AM

 

Publisher details

 

Sound

Troubleshoot problems that prevent your computer from playing or recording sound.

Package Version: 1.0

Publisher: Microsoft Windows

Playing Audio

Play sounds and other audio such as music files.

Package Version: 1.0

Publisher: Microsoft Corporation

Hardware and Devices

Use hardware and access devices connected to your computer.

Package Version: 1.1

Publisher: Microsoft Windows

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if you have another soundcard installed, make sure you've disabled the on-board one in the bios. if you have been uninstalling things and are not sure if you may have screwed something up, refer to the driver installation disc / factory restore disc / whatever it was disc that came with that computer. somewhere on there is going to be all the necessary drivers for all the onboard stuff on the motherboard, including the onboard sound drivers. Check the Device Manager for anything related to sound, if it has a yellow exclamation mark thing next to it, it may tell you what hardware specifically is malfunctioning or is not playing well with its drivers.

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Don't know Biker. There may be a label on it but I'd have to gut the beast again to get at it so that'll have to be another day when I've got time. I thought it'd be plug and pray so I didn't take much notice. It's really depressing without sound. I can't even listen to my CD of people having a good time. ;)

 

I had no disk with this PC so I can't restore anything. I'll do a google to see if anyone has had similar problems.

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that sounds like an overheating issue(?). I assume when you get all the freaky colors are just related to the actual lockup freeze/crashing. Does the Hard Drive light still flicker on and off when this happens? Also, on your Win8 did you fresh install, or did you upgrade? (could be a driver corruption issue, since you said it worked in safe mode)

 

Hm no it even appears when I start the laptop in the morning when it isn't hot. The hard drive LED doesn't do a thing when it happens, no. But I had it once that Win 8 said (after two minutes of colorful lines or so) that I must be restarted because of an video error and the computer reseted. I did a fresh new clean install - no upgrade.

I guess it's GPU huh? And this isn't cheap to repair I think :-/

"Einen giftigen Trank aus Kräutern und Wurzeln für die närrischen Städter wollen wir brauen." - Text aus einem verlassenen Heidenlager

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@ST: I had this problem once, too

 

it where the shader units on my graphics card, but this problem only occured in games, not on desktop

 

I don't know if all those unnecessary windows eye-candy effects make use of shaders, but if so it would be an explaination for it working in safe mode if you should have the same problem

 

I don't know if it is possible to isolate and deactivate such a unit in this case via some tools or so, but if not (or if your problem is something else), I guess your only choice would be to replace the card :unsure:

 

but I'm not an expert, so maybe I'm wrong

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  • Don't know Biker. There may be a label on it but I'd have to gut the beast again
  • I had no disk with this PC so I can't restore anything. I'll do a google to see if anyone has had similar problems.

  • OK, a photo of said card would help. But I maybe able to take an educated guess.
  • But, you can make recovery disks. There should be a acer branded program for doing this - look in the start menu.

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Yes, I tried to make that recovery disk a day or two after I got it but a message came up and said it can no longer make a recovery disk because it says "it is important to create the disk before using the pc." If I try to proceed it says "Hard drive config not factory default - aborting." (this because I had partitioned the system how I wanted it. If it was so important why didn't they put a big sticker on the top saying so? "STOP! YOU MUST CREATE RECOVERY DISK AS SOON AS WINDOWS IS RUNNING!" I gave up on them after that but just looking now I see an option to back up drivers etc. Too late.

 

In any case, the problem doesn't seem to be the driver. There's a generic driver and my Breakaway that I bought last year to improve Movie speech volume and another freebie I downloaded and none of them get the sound working because Windows cannot detect the device itself - either the embedded one nor the card I plugged in.

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