ASUS P5N32-E SLI Issue (Stumped)

[CrazyCrusher]

Ok guys this one is a strange one for me, My wife bought me ASUS P5N32-e SLI motherboard for Christmas (which was an awesome gift mind you) anyway I put the board into my system that morning and turned it one without any issue, I was just using DDR2 667 at the time 3 GB, the next day the motherboard had problems coming out of sleep mode using windows Vista 32 bit, so i figured it was a freak thing, the computer ran fine for one more day then it would not come out of sleep mode and no Video output. I tested the Video (8800 GTS 640 MB EVGA) card in a different system and it worked fine, so I thought well maybe its the PSU, I went to bestbuy and bought a 700 Watt PSU and installed it with the same problems system turns on with no post beep and no Video, so I returned the PSU, I removed the baord and tested it outside the case and still the same issue, so I got some other memory DDR800 G-Skill which is listed on neweggs site as being compatiable with this board and yet I still had the same problem so I returned the board and got a bran new one from new egg just the other day and installed it and here I am again with the exact same issue using the DDR800 G-Skill.

I see a bios update but can't do it because I am unable to get the system to push out Video, Im lost on this one and hope this makes some sense to someone in here. Thanks Guys

[CrazyCrusher]

Any taker's? before I call ASUS when I get home....

[Shoreguy]

You're clearing the CMOS each time?

[CrazyCrusher]

Yep each time I removed some hardware I cleared the CMOS :( Im doing it one part of hardware at a time.

[Shoreguy]

try a different video card...lower specs if possible. there may be an issue with the onboard ram of the 8800 that the p5n is finding that the other board didn't. are you only installing the cpu, ram, vc, keyboard, monitor? all psu connections snug? have you tried multiple power points to the 8800? if the psu connection isn't native (sli power), have you tried different adapters? one loose/flakey pin could cause that. might be time to whip out the meter to make sure you're getting proper readings.

[Midknyte]

I know that some 8800GTS had some PCIe compatibility issues. gotta go look that up again.

try another video card, even PCI, just so you can update the MB bios.

[CrazyCrusher]

Did every thing above, I installed a 7600GT still the same no Video, installed a PCI video card no Video, Im not getting any post beeps, I checked neweggs site the memory I have is meant to work with it, but even now I have removed the memory Im still not getting any post codes. if I put the old board back in which is a GIGEBYTE SLI with the memory and Pentuim D and the Video card every thing works fine, I had a freind of mine take the processor to work and test it and that was fine.

[Midknyte]

you tested cpu, ram, video, and psu, so there isn't much else left. I'm guessing you tried your DDR667 already.

if you swapped out everything else, the only thing left is the MB.

[CrazyCrusher]

Yep tried my DDR 667 and I did that on my first board and it worked for like 2 days then the no video start and having problems coming out of Sleep mode,,I mean whats the chances of getting two boards like that. It cant be my PSU, Im stumped ha,,,2 boards, guess its time to rethink and get a different board eh,,,got any suggestions lol.

[Midknyte]

Maybe you want to look at one of the 680i boards instead? The 780i is coming soon, if it's not available yet

[CrazyCrusher]

This board is 680I, The 780I is out EVGA has one or two on neweggs site, kinda pricey though.

[Midknyte]

oops. for some reason, i thought it was a 650.

[CrazyCrusher]

Think I may have found the problem I removed the board from the case and found that there was one monting screw alone right under the north bridge pressing on the board there wasnt a hole for it so I may have missed it when i removed my older board, maybe it shorted this board out and the other one eh?

[Midknyte]

yup, extra standoffs can short out boards.

i thought you tested the board outside the case?

[CrazyCrusher]

Ye I did after I tried it inside the case. when i first got the board I put it in the case and it did the no video thing, so I may have shorted it out when I did that.

[gamer113]

Do you have an update on this i have same problem

i have all hardware working in a ASUS COMMANDO now so all hardware is working i get not video from p5n32-e-sli

my rig
q6600
p5n32-e-sli
2gb ocz platinum rev 2 pc2ddr2 6400
maxtor 250 gb hd
7600gt

[CrazyCrusher]

I ended up going through 2 boards and both has the same issue, I never got it fixed as I switched board but from what I have been told its the BIOS, you need to flash it and that makes it kinda hard when you have no video.

[Caronbot]

The BIOs flash may not actually help all users. For instance, I was having the same problem, only my MB was extremely sporadic and would sometimes pump out video. I managed to flash the BIOs to the latest version and it didn't fix the problem at all.

My series of problems went this way:

1. Installed the new board, it booted to XP 64, everything works but my LAN. "No problem," I think to myself, try to get to device manager, *poof* cpu shuts down. It attempts to reboot. Ta-da, the no-video problem.

2. System won't post. I run all the same tests CC does, only in my case, SOMETIMES it will post. I get to situations where I can get it to consistently load up BIOs. For example, I put in a 6600 GT and ran it with a single stick of RAM (corsair ddr2 800) and it would regularly get to bios. The problem is, the instant I stick in another DIMM it will no longer post. So I figure I can take that DIMM out and since I'd be returning to all previous conditions it would post again. Nope. This occurs over and over again, and always the conditions in which it will post are different. The only constant: it never posts with RAM in dual-channel configuration.

3. One time I figured, "ok, I just want to see if it will boot to windows" in those rare instances I get it consistently posting. I'll remind everyone that those instances wherein it posts I have no idea why. Seriously, it is random; I've spent hours screwing around with this thing--duplicating conditions, etc.--it is random. Anyway, so I let it continue after it loads the post screen. It gets to where XP should load and then the system reboots. It will continue in a loop. I can load certain Linux OSs (Gnome) from CDROM, but Knopix 4.0 will not load.

I'm stumped, I figure bad board? The unfortunate thing is that this is the 2nd bad board (P5N32 E-SLI). Is there another, comparable board I can get? Because though this board is basically terrific specs wise, I just can't seem to get a good one...

[CrazyCrusher]

Well I agree with you the board is great, the specs are anyway, but considering I went through two boards with the same issue on both, I wouldn't bother with it, now I did go with the board listed in my Sig, it was $220 on newegg and I got $100 mail in rebate. and this one had issues out of the box until which was due to a bad BIOS that was shipped with all the boards. I new it would have problems out of the box as posted by allot of other people who didn't know what the problem was or didn't know what to do, So I bought and flashed it to a 1.4 BIOS and it works perfect now. that was pretty much the fix. well worth 120 bucks thats for sure.

[mobo57]

Had a similar problem a while back with my P5W DH. Before an updated bios was available, it just had problems with certain memory sticks. Had to initially boot with 1 good stick, go into bios and manually set the vdimm and settings for the sticks. Also, due to vdroop, had to set the vdimm +.1 over memory manufacturers recommended. After that no problems, that is until I went with 4 gigs of OCZ Plat rev 2. Had to go back to Auto for the timings and +.2 vdimm.