(FIXED) Seeking PC help from system building gurus

[redrumloa]

@actung
The power supply has a lead for PCI-E GFX card, but the HIS HD 5670 does not use this. The power supply has three 12V rails with 16A each. HIS only specifies 400W or greater recommend, not 12V rail amperage. It does not act like a power supply issue to me, but I could borrow my 1000W monster from this box to test just in case.

[pyrre]

What started as a simple upgrade has turned into a nightmare. I got a GeForce GT430 for my youngest 2 boys for Christmas and the problems began. Here was the setup.

Asus A8S-X
AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800 (2Ghz)
Geforce GT430 (Started with Geforce 8400GS)
2GB PC2700 DDR
Windows XP 32bit (legal, registered)

Upon installing the GT430 one of the CPU cores went up to 100% load even when idle, even though System idle shows 99%. Games performed terribly, so the load was there. I checked all the usual stuff, latest bios, latest drivers etc, all proper. I figured the card was probably incompatible with the oldish(relative term) motherboard. I returned it for a HIS Radeon HD 5670.

No help... Install the 5670 and same problem. I figured to reinstall XP for the heck of it. What I found was interesting. When I installed XP and SP2, the driver seems to work like a champ. When I installed SP3, everything went pear shaped again. So, I figure it must be an OS issue and XP is EOL so I went out and got Windows 7.

Even worse... I installed Windows 7 and with the VGA driver, it looks great. When I download and install the latest ATI driver, the system locks up badly upon reboot. If I wait long enough I can move the mouse pointer but clicking on anything the screen takes forever to update (like 1-2 minutes). CPU load shows zero or near zero.

So what are my options? Installing XP with only SP2? Buying a new MB? I'd essentially have to build a whole new PC. Have any of you experienced any of this? There HAS to be a work around? The A8S-X is an older MB, but not prehistoric.

Anyone?

1 download the proper AMD dualcore drivers here

2 Try running "memtest86" (reseat memory modules...)

3 Try disabling "cool'n quiet"...

Hope it solves your problem.
I cant seem to find any information on your specific problem. but those that had lockup problems have tried some of these steps.... (you may choose order yourself)

[redrumloa]

Yep, again everything was fine with SP2 and as soon as I install SP3 I get phantom CPU load.




This system is freshly booted and idle with no HD activity and no programs running.

[redrumloa]

Here is the culprit, hardware interrupts...

[redrumloa]

ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead!!!!

Micrsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio is causing the problem. It is disabled and I have no high cpu load due to interrupts. Now to see if I can use sound with that disabled or if I can get the hotfix out of Micro$loth.

:banana::banana::banana::banana:

[Terminills]

try disabling one of your soundcards ... the newer video cards have an hdmi audio driver.

[redrumloa]

ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch is dead!!!!

Micrsoft UAA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio is causing the problem. It is disabled and I have no high cpu load due to interrupts. Now to see if I can use sound with that disabled or if I can get the hotfix out of Micro$loth.

:banana::banana::banana::banana:

After reboot this disabled driver keeps re-enabling itself. I found the file and deleted it. So far, so good. I am using a PCI sound card and not missing any sound. Idle CPU load is about 0%-1%, hardware interrupts not causing any load. YAAA!!! I've only been at this for 4 days...:madashell:

[Trev]

Good find. AMD (ATI) would have to provide a custom driver or work with Microsoft to update theirs. At least Microsoft hints at compatibility issues [1]:

Version 1.0a of the UAA High Definition Audio class driver does not work on High Definition Audio implementations that were disclosed to Microsoft after August 1, 2004.

That's the version of the driver included with Service Pack 3.

1. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888111

[Retro_71]

Hence why I always say boot into safe mode and see if you have any problems and work your way from there. Also installing all MB drivers from the CD or Website never trust MS Drivers fully. I am glad you were able to find it and hope you fix it soon.

[Zac67]

PSU is ample for that machine. I'm running a 340W Chieftec w/ Athlon IIx4 95W, 3 GB, 4 HDDs, GTS450 (106W) + some PCI cards -- full load (synthetic) on GPU and CPU makes the PSU buzz a little but the system's stable.

Now that you seem to have found the problem: didn't you try with disable sound before? :elvis:

[redrumloa]

PSU is ample for that machine. I'm running a 340W Chieftec w/ Athlon IIx4 95W, 3 GB, 4 HDDs, GTS450 (106W) + some PCI cards -- full load (synthetic) on GPU and CPU makes the PSU buzz a little but the system's stable.
 
Now that you seem to have found the problem: didn't you try with disable sound before? :elvis:

Yes, this driver is NOT the sound card driver for the sound card I am using. Disabling the actual sound card did not help. Look under "System Devices" in Device manager, you will see it. I don't know what that is for, but it does not appear to have an effect on my system since I deleted the actual file and the computer works fine with all sound.

[Trev]

@redrumloa

It's probably the sound driver for the HDMI output on the display adapter, as Terminills said.

@Retro_71

Microsoft tests (by way of the WHQL process) and distributes drivers developed by OEMs, i.e. Microsoft's Nvidia drivers were developed by Nvidia. Why wouldn't you trust them? I don't usually recommend installing drivers from a CD as they're usually seriously out of date. I only used boxed drivers if I need an HBA driver during installation. Even then, I'll use the latest WHQL driver if I can download it on another computer. (The only other exception would be using something like HP's SmartStart, PSP, or firmware CDs to install bits, as most firms standardize on a particular CD release.)

[ElPolloDiabl]

No surprise it was an MS screw up. The config files are all swept under the carpet and they probably don't even know how it all works anymore. The Wintel Golden Age is over. Thankfully Linux with Directx is coming up next.

[Trev]

No surprise it was an MS screw up.

How did you come to that conclusion? With respect to Windows XP, the operating system is nine years old and no longer supported. Regardless, AMD couldn't be bothered to write a proper driver for either Windows XP or Windows 7. (Nvidia's drivers come with audio support, so that card might have worked under Windows 7 without issues.) I'm not sure how Microsoft is at fault here.

Thankfully Linux with Directx is coming up next.

A little hypocrisy never hurt anyone. ;-)

[redrumloa]

@redrumloa
 
It's probably the sound driver for the HDMI output on the display adapter, as Terminills said.

 
I don't know abount that, the driver's date was 2001. My early 00's business dell laptop with XP has this driver showing under Device Manager, System Devices. This driver is not specific to the ATI Radeon HD 5670 video card. If you mean it should allow sound to be passed through the HDMI, that is possible and likley. I have never done this, the speakers are hooked directly to the PCI sound card.

[motrucker]

Sorry I didn't see this until the problem was found. Glad you found the issue though...