Totally Lost - Ti4400 beeps during games. :P

PurpleHaze

I just built a computer, and used an old 128 ATI Rage Pro until I got this, a Leadtek Ti4400. First, it installed fine, nothing was wrong.....until I used the 3DMark test. Beeps ahoy! When it finished (which it did, w/ no signs of errors anyway and a 9300+ score), and the beeps stopped. Tried MOH:AA, same thing. Was alright until I started the actual game, then it was beeping like a mofo again. I've gone back, uninstalled ATI drivers (as in the uninstall guide - both pages), used old drivers and the new Dets, and I'm just lost. No clue why it'd only act up during intense stuff. Someone at a local store said I should try a slot fan.....considering the fans on this card, I don't think that'd do much. My CPU/Mobo temps are always in the 26-29C range. I think I've done more tinkering for this than when I built the whole computer. It does seem there's less beeping when I bring it down from 275/550 to 250/525. Any ideas would be appreciated. Until then, I'm just laying off the games and letting it sit, nothing but net/etc. BTW, my specs:

P4 2.0A (not OC'ed at the moment)
ASUS P4S8X mobo
384MB DDR 2100
WinXP Home
80 GB WD Special HD

Sourcer_2002

um...ok so the beeping is coming from the card itself or the installed PC speaker in the case or the amin speakers connected tot he sound card?

PurpleHaze

Case speaker.

digitalwanderer

Do you have any monitoring utilities running? ie. MBM or Asus Probe or something?

shuki

I've tried to help with my little bit of knowlege and just to let others know, we also tried upping the AGP voltage from BIOS and still beeped You might double check your video settings in BIOS. I mean check to make sure it's set to AGP and not PCI. Check to make sure AGP drive strength is at auto. And aperture size is 128 or higher. Enable fast writes for nvidia (if I remember correctly). Disable video shadowing.

Also, looks like you have 2 sticks of RAM. Try removing one of those and just testing with one or the other in. Test both sticks. And also test different DIMM slots.

Sourcer_2002

hell just unplug the stupid little speaker

digitalwanderer

"Put your sword away, you're supposed to untie the bloody knot!"

PurpleHaze

Yeah, I've got Probe going - doesn't tell me anything's up.

Originally tried the card w/ the original 256 stick of RAM, then added a 128 I had spare, didn't help.

Got a case fan on the side that's blowing virtually right on it, so that along w/ the awesome Leadtek HSF should eliminate overheating.

Only things left if Shuki's latest recommendations of checking the aperture and disabling shadowing (and I owe you man, you been helping a lot).

I'm about to go w/ the latest idea of just disabling the damn speaker.

shuki

right on!

though it'd still bug the snot out of me as to why it was beeping... even though it appearantly wasn't hurting anything...

also, try pulling the 128 stick and trying the 256 only in dimm slot 2. then dimm slot 3, etc... If still no go, try using ONLY the 128 stick in each dimm slot.

Matth

Could it be pulling too much current when busy?

It sounds like a BIOS hardware monitor alarm - possibly on a voltage out of range -
I had a power supply do that to me recently - the -12v was way high, and seemed to get worse if the system was being pushed at all.

Check the VOLTAGE monitor - and if any are borderline tolerance when idle, they may slip outside under load - I have a sneaking suspicion that some power supplies do not actually regulate the little-used -V lines, but just a system where they roughly follow - and loading one line may cause the others to drop or rise.

Current V's on my old (fan replaced) PSU, which miraculously survived the grilling it got when the fan died, are:
+3.36, +4.92 (dip), +12.46, -12.44, -5.29

I had to take back the Q-TEC 400w dual fan, as that was hopeless, the -12 was over -13, and the -5 read -6 (which surprisingly, it didn't gripe about!)

PurpleHaze

These are my settings when having just net/outlook exp./winamp/norton/MSN/YM going:

P4 2.0A@2.21
386MB DDR 2100 RAM
Asus P4S8X MB

CPU: 26C
MB: 26C
+12V: 12.16
+5V: 5.107
+3.3V: 3.008
VCore: 1.472

shuki

whoa, that 3.3V line could definitely be dropping out of spec when under a graphic intensive load! If you have a local PC shop with an in house technician(s), i'm sure they'd let you try out a better power supply to make sure that was the problem before buying. Of course, courtesy only demands that you then buy from them. Their time and help in trouble shooting wil be well worth the extra $15 you'd save buying online....

I'd still check the mem the way I described above too but that 3.3V rail is definitely on the low side of things... what PSU is it?

Ryoko

at first post voltage was on my mind... and 3.33 should never be under 3.15 or over 3.5.

wonkanoby

make sure your psu can give a quoted 200 watts combined 3.3 and 5 v

generally this means antec enermax over 400 watts total

PurpleHaze

So this could very well be all a weak PSU? Nothing to do w/ the mobo or anything else?

3.3v is still hovering around 3.04 - it's always been low though, even before I installed the 4400.....does that change anything?

wonkanoby

it should stay within 3 percent of 3.3 v at most 5 percent

the combined should be on the label or web site

Ryoko

ti 4400s are power hungry cards. you could probably get away with a reading of as low as 2.6 on, say, a tnt2 vanta.

shuki

it does change something. a weaker card does not draw as much power so a weaker 3.3 line would not be noticed. However, putting in a power hungry Ti4 series card would definitely show any weakness in your PSU. But before spending any money, take your box to your local pc shop (with some in store techs) and check out one of their PSU's (enermax or another good brand 400+W PSU). If by hooking up one of their stronger PSU's solves the problem, do them a favor and buy from them! If it doesn't help you're not out anything but a bit of time..