Blinking to black in Skyrim

GasBandit · May 19, 2016

fade said:
Okay, tried the 4x slot, no crashes. Looks like the XFX guy may be right, dammit. I talked to Asus, and they actually agreed it was probably their mobo. So I'm RMAing it tonight. The board is right near the 3 year warranty mark, so I have to sneak it in. Still a popular selling board on Newegg, surprisingly.

I generally get good stuff from Asus, but anybody can have a bad board. It's odd that it manifests so specifically, but I suppose it happens.

PatrThom · May 19, 2016

Could still conceivably be some kind of BIOS setting thing, but better to get a new board under you while you still can.
Thanks for keeping us up to date.

--Patrick

fade · May 19, 2016

It's been 3 years. I've tried nearly every combination of BIOS settings, resets, updates, etc.

PatrThom · May 19, 2016

fade said:
It's been 3 years. I've tried nearly every combination of BIOS settings, resets, updates, etc.

I'm not saying you didn't do your due diligence. I just wonder if this isn't one of those "known" issues where "Oh, you're using a SSD on your ICH10 hub? You have to remember to leave SATA port #1 open so it doesn't steal the IRQ away from PCIe slot #2" or some bullshit like that.
A new board should definitely put the issue to rest.

--Patrick

fade · Jun 8, 2016

So, yeah, sent it into ASUS and they verified the mobo is bad.

Dammit.

Three years blaming the graphics card and the RAM and testing this and that, and generally avoiding the PC, and it turns out the motherboard of all things had a problem, and one that manifested as just about everything else. I'm pretty good with hardware, but this one got me.

PatrThom · Jun 8, 2016

fade said:
So, yeah, sent it into ASUS and they verified the mobo is bad.

Dammit.

Three years blaming the graphics card and the RAM and testing this and that, and generally avoiding the PC, and it turns out the motherboard of all things had a problem, and one that manifested as just about everything else. I'm pretty good with hardware, but this one got me.

They didn't happen to say where? VRMs? Caps?

--Patrick

fade · Jun 8, 2016

They didn't. I talked with phone support who just told me they verified an issue and it was in repair.

Bubble181 · Jun 9, 2016

fade said:
in repair.

You'd think it'd really be cheaper for them to just mail over a coupon to go pick up something similar or slightly newer from a nearby store. I can't imagine the man hours being worth it to repair a three year old mobo.

fade · Jun 9, 2016

Yeah you'd think. They do still sell this model, though. In fact, Newegg still lists it as one of their most popular motherboards.

fade · Jun 14, 2016

Nope. Got it back today. Same exact symptoms. No improvement whatsoever.

PatrThom · Jun 14, 2016

fade said:
Nope. Got it back today. Same exact symptoms. No improvement whatsoever.

Wat.

Is it the same motherboard, just repaired? Or is it a same-model replacement?

--Patrick

fade · Jun 15, 2016

It's the same board. I see no difference and there's no documentation. I don't think they did anything to it. Even if they did nothing is different. This pc continues to drive me crazy

fade · Jun 16, 2016

Oh well. It still works fine in the 4x slot, and I see no difference in speed. Only problem is that the 4x is near the PSU, and it runs the graphics card hotter.

PatrThom · Jun 16, 2016

fade said:
Oh well. It still works fine in the 4x slot, and I see no difference in speed. Only problem is that the 4x is near the PSU, and it runs the graphics card hotter.

Can you try taping off the card so it only runs in 4x mode, but in the main slot?
This is assuming you're still willing to try and chase this down, that is.

--Patrick

fade · Jul 27, 2016

Just one more update to this: no crashes whatsover since moving to the 4x slot. I think that more or less confirms the motherboard. Oh well. At least that's the cheapest part of the system.

PatrThom · Jul 27, 2016

Did you try taping it down to x8 or x4 in the x16 slot?

--Patrick