[calebsewell]

If anyone knows what could be causing this pleeasseee gimme some feedback. I have got to have my computer for finals this weekend. It always tears up when i need it.anyways here is the problem.starting today my computer would freeze up at any given moment..... but after the 3rd time it did it.... when i restarted it it would start loading windows but then reset itself again and go to the screen asking if i wanted to load windows with best results,,, or safemode or watever the rest of the choises were. the only one that will work is safemode but that does me no good. No matter what other choice i pick.. it starts loading windows and poof back to the same screen again.Its realy getting to me... If anyone has any ideas pleease send em my way

[AuroraDizon]

So let me get this straight, safe mode doesn't work it still restarts back into the same screen?(which screen?)How long does your computer start up before it restarts?What are your computer specs, specific os_If you can get into safemode (with or without networking) type in msconfig, (if you can get networking then dl or get a disc from a friends computer with ccleaner on it, it has tools to edit your start up menu). Go to start up and remove anything that shouldn't be there, if your unsure, if its not a system process it should be ok to remove. (Have you recently installed/downloaded anything that could be causing your problems?)

[calebsewell]

Yes i can get to safemode... it will get me that far... but anything else it will bring up a Nvidea message saying that the SLI cards arent working together and the computer needs to restart..... and when it does it goes right back to that screen asking which way i want to start windows. I have windows xp pro... athlon precessor. dual 256mb Nvidea 7800GTX Geforce... 2 gigs DDR ram... I havent installed anything different. All i do is do my homework and play a couple games on it.

[AuroraDizon]

At least you can get into safe mode, maybe someone else can help you more on that specific issue, my best guess is to check your drivers. If no one happens to respond here is a nvidia forum you might want to try.

[smax013]

[quote name='calebsewell']Yes i can get to safemode... it will get me that far... but anything else it will bring up a Nvidea message saying that the SLI cards arent working together and the computer needs to restart..... and when it does it goes right back to that screen asking which way i want to start windows. I have windows xp pro... athlon precessor. dual 256mb Nvidea 7800GTX Geforce... 2 gigs DDR ram... I havent installed anything different. All i do is do my homework and play a couple games on it.Almost sounds like one of the NVidia cards is flankin'. You might try removing one of the cards and running in non-SLI mode and see it will work. If you remove one card and still have problems, then try again with only the other card (i.e. take the one card that your left in OUT and put the other card back in).

[AuroraDizon]

Yea I was thinking that too, but to be the bearer of bad news as you have a hardware problem lol.If your not comfortable with opening up your computer look around. Since your in college they usually have tech people to help you with computer problems.

[calebsewell]

Well earlier i took both cards loose and put them back,,, along with the ram sticks and kinda blew out the fans a bit got it all cleaned up.... ran msconfig and got rid of all the unnecessary startup items... and it worked ..... but once i shut it down it did the exact same thing so yeh im agreeing with u both. I think its a hardware thing now myself. Ill have to break down and take it somewhere i believe. What does safemode actually do? Im not familiar with it really. never had to use it in this way.

[AuroraDizon]

safemode is just basically what it sounds like, its safe it doesn't load anything but the essentials so you can fix whatever is wrong with your computer. Which are your 2 cards, is there anything unnecessary that you can remove in order to test what may be wrong?you may if your in desperate need of your computer, may be able to run things somewhat normally for writing term papers and such, even connect to the internet if you pick safemode with networking, just remember to load your firewalls if you do.I don't know if its a pure hardware problem, or a software in conflict with hardware, I would almost suggest trying to download ubuntu, but it may be more hassle then its worth.

[rgreen4]

From the postings on this situation, it is most likely either the second card, or the SLI drivers. I would remove the SLI bridge and the card furthest away from the CPU and then restart and see what the results are. If it works, just set the pieces to one side until you don't have a critical need for the machine.In your cleanup you may have removed a driver accidently, or a card could be going bad. I tend to think that since Safe Mode is working, and it has to use the primary card (with a default driver), that the card closest to the CPU is probably OK. (But I am not an SLI expert).

[mdwelsh]

Cold boot and immediately tap F2 which should state,"one-time setup..."Alt P to page 2 which is Boot Order.The following is a list which MUST BE IN EXACT ORDER starting from the top.Internal HDDCD/DVD/CD-RW DriveUSB Storage DeviceDiskette DriveModular Bay HDDCardbus NICOnboard NICOn the right you will note instructions and also on the bottom will indicate which arrows to use to "change values, change fields."You can use the spacebar which is also indicated in the instructions.Rearrange the boot order to the list provided above.Finally, there should be a HIGHLIGHTED ARROW on the left of the Internal HDD ONLY. This is also adjustable, just follow the instructions and not to worry you are not going to "destroy" anything!It is very simple just view the page for a bit and then you will understand how to perform these steps. Once completed push ESC and it will prompt you to "save changes and exit."Safe Boot is only a temporary tool for an issue which is creating problems and then you disable Safe Boot when the issue is resolved and reset to boot from the HDD.All instructions come from the HDD and run through a sequence until you reach the password window. Regardless of the computer, OS or CPU they ALL perform with this protocol. The only exception is if you use DOS, not MSDOS, and write your own programs.DOS and OS were the ultimate Operating Systems until the Devious Mr. Gates and Company outbid others for the rights for the current MSDOS and of course there is the "piece of fruit" OS.

[spike]

[quote name='mdwelsh']Cold boot and immediately tap F2 which should state,"one-time setup..."> > Alt P to page 2 which is Boot Order.> > The following is a list which MUST BE IN EXACT ORDER starting from the top.> > Internal HDD> > CD/DVD/CD-RW Drive> > USB Storage Device> > Diskette Drive> > Modular Bay HDD> > Cardbus NIC> > Onboard NIC> > > > On the right you will note instructions and also on the bottom will indicate which arrows to use to "change values, change fields."> > > > You can use the spacebar which is also indicated in the instructions.> > > > Move the aforementioned boot order to arrange the sequence.> > > > Finally, there should be a HIGHLIGHTED ARROW on the left of the Internal HDD ONLY. This is also adjustable, just follow the instructions and not to worry you are not going to "destroy" anything!> > > > It is very simple just view the page for a bit and then you will understand how to perform these steps. Once completed push ESC and it will prompt you to "save changes and exit."> > > > Safe Boot is only a temporary tool for an issue which is creating problems and then you disable Safe Boot when the issue is resolved and reset to boot from the HDD.> > > > All instructions come from the HDD and run through a sequence until you reach the password window. Regardless of the computer, OS or CPU they ALL perform with this protocol. The only exception is if you use DOS, not MSDOS, and write your own programs.> > > > DOS and OS were the ultimate Operating Systems until the Devious Mr. Gates and Company outbid others for the rights for the current MSDOS and of course there is the "piece of fruit" OS.This is makeing a very wild assumption, that their BIOS is IDENTICAL to yoursIf had followed this procedure, on my PC, I wouldn't have accomplished any thing useful, ......just destructive

[calebsewell]

ok heres a lil update and by the way i appreciate all the help u guys are giving me. means alot.i just took out the video card furtherest (if thats a word) from the cpu. along with the bridge of course... turned it on worked fine.... shut it down and turned it back on.... worked fine.... restarted it.... and guess wat.. it worked fine!. I havent done anything with the drivers that i can recall in a long time so my question now is where should i go from here.. should i put the video card i took out back in? or wat.. im just not sure where to go from here

[mphenterprises]

If I may add my two cents. So far, you have determined that the one card is working perfectly. Now, counter that theory. Put the other card in and take the other card out. Do the same process. If this card give you the same problem, you have determined that the card is bad. However, if you do the same tests and the other card does not give you a problem, you have now determined that the cards are not the problem. Once you put both cards back in the computer, if you still have an issue, the problem could be the bridge itself.

[calebsewell]

ok new update againwhen i started removing the video cards heres wat i did.. i left the video card in the top slot and removed the one in the bottom. Computer ran fine....Second i replaced the video card in the bottom slot and took out the one in the top slot...Kept getting the same problem i had to begin with... so out of curiosity if maybe the slot itself was bad i....removed the one video card that was in the botom slot and put it in the top where the first video card worked... and the picture on my screen became extremely distorted and still gave me the screen of which way i wanted to enter windows... so that must mean that the video card itself is shot.... am i right?

[mphenterprises]

Seems like a logical conclusion. Hold off on getting rid of the card till more forum members can ring in as well.See, you have basically down all of the work yourself...and it seems like you have found your own problem. Doesn't that feel great? 8)

[calebsewell]

yeh it did until it hit me that i now have to fork out a nice 200 bucks almost for a new video card.. what im curious is why it went out cuz i sent it back for warranty work bout 3 or 4 months back.. and they replaced one of them so im clueless why it went out im kinda curious

[mphenterprises]

If I may ask, why do you have two cards anyway? Do you have a four monitor system or do you play very graphic intensive games? Those would be the main two reasons to have two video cards. Otherwise, you should be fine with one card....or one card that can support a multi-monitor setup.

[calebsewell]

i play quite a few games... and the new thing when i got it was sli so i wanted to try it i guess

[smax013]

Sounds like a problem with the second card.You mentioned warranty work on one of the cards. Do you know which card it was? Is it the card that is having problems? If so, then they potentially have a responsibility to fix it again even if it is not under warranty but is the same problem on the same card that was repaired before or if they created some other problem when fixing it. Sometimes repeat problems that are discovered originally under warranty cause the warranty to be "extended" in a sense.

[calebsewell]

so much for that working....... it is now doing the exact same dam thingi dunno whut to do