I consult for a radio station group. They own 11 stations.

One of the stations had their on air computer go down. We had a spare, put it in place.

I have been working on the one that went down for almost 2 weeks.

The computer in question is a Dell R5400 Workstation. It was running Windows XP, pretty plain jane other than the automation software. Raid 1 on embedded intel raid controller. Dual 1TB WD RE4 drives. Nvidia Quadro NVS 290 video card.

While on location, the computer would come up in safe mode but would nothing else. We were planning to update to Windows 7 on this machine anyway. So I copied the necessary files over to the replacement machine and arranged to get the machine to my location.

When I got the computer, I checked it for the obvious problems, virus, disk errors, etc. Nothing. Would no longer come up in safe mode. Just displayed the Windows XP logo and eventually goes black and the monitor says "no signal". We run RDP and other remote access software on all our machines. The OS had never finished loading, as the computer was not accessible.

So I stopped fiddling with it and loaded Windows 7. Everything went ok during the install process, until you get to the point where Windows loads for the first time. I get the black screen of death again. No signal, etc. I didn't think to replace the video card at first. Windows XP running for 4 years 24x7 can get a little persnickity and I wrote it off as a failed update.

So I pop in a PNY Geforce 8400 GS card, boom, computer works just fine. I contact Dell for a replacement card. They ship one out. I get the new card and install it. Same thing happens again, black screen of death. I am thinking WTF. So I call Dell back, they assume that the card they shipped which was refurbished was probably bad and proceed to send me another one.

I get replacement card #2 and I get the same result, black screen of death.

I check the 2nd card that Dell sent in another machine works fine with Dell's driver and driver directly from nvidia.

So I do the normal stuff, the memory dance (machine requires ECC installed in pairs but can boot off of 1 in slot 1 for diagnostics) and everything checks out.

I contact Dell again. They decide to send a Tech and a Motherboard out.

The tech that showed up was completely worthless. Still wearing lunch on his shirt. Took him 3 hours to drive a route that only takes 1 hour and 45 minutes. He had no clue how to open the machine. Didn't know how to remove the riser cards or anything. And when we get to the heatsink on the CPU which has 4 screws holding it to the board he pulls out of his pocket.... a SWISS ARMY KNIFE. What kind of tech shows up with out any TOOLS?! So I loan him a screw driver and go back to my other duties. He can't get the motherboard out. I pop the last blue tab and slide the mobo right now. For anyone who is not familiar with Dell Servers & Work stations, they are almost 100% modular. They come apart so easily, a 6 year old child could do it.
He gets everything assembled brings the machine to me, and we fire it up. Same result, black screen of death.

He calls his boss and after listening to him babble on for 30 seconds trying to figure out which key is F12 or F8 I finally ask if I can talk to his boss. I get on the phone and give the boss the history on the machine. We try to boot in safe mode, vga 640 x 480 mode, nothing works.

The conversation ends with the guy on the phone telling me that the resolution is set too high on the video card and I need put it in another machine and set it for a lower res and then place it back in the Dell workstation. That confirmed for me that this guy was the king moron and now all I wanted to do was get him off the phone and get the other guy out of my office. However the guy who was onsite was told by the boss on the phone to call Dell. He did call Dell and got out of earshot from me so I couldn't hear what he was saying to Dell. He returned to my desk 10 minutes later telling me that Dell was sending a 3rd video card. I thanked him and sent him on his way.

3rd video card shows up and I pop it in the machine, same result. Black screen of death.

I call Dell again and they would like me to do some more testing. So I install Windows XP on a single 500GB drive, get the necessary drivers installed, then install the video driver. Machine works perfectly.
Installed Windows 7 on a single 500GB drive, same result, works fine.

Installed Windows XP on 2 500GB drives in raid 1, boom, black screen of death.

Installed Windows 7 on 2 500GB drives in raid 1, again, black screen of death.

Keep in mind that all the while, the machine runs normally with the nvidia geforce 8400 gs card.

Dell and I have exhausted all reasonable trouble shooting at this point and they decide to ship me a replacement machine. Obviously this one is cursed, possessed, etc..

I get the brand spanking new R5500 (which replaces the R5400). It has pretty much all the same specs. Single Xeon processor, 3gb of ram, windows 7 pro 32bit, 2 250gb drives in raid 1. They send a new card with the machine, an NVS 295, but instead of having a DMS59 connector, this card has 2 display port connectors and 2 display port to dvi adapters. Since this company I work for is cheap as hell they don't have DVI connectors on their monitors where this machine is going. I've tried a display port to dvi to vga connector before and it doesn't work.

So I popped in the NVS 290 from other machine and tried to boot the machine...

Black screen of death.

I say f**k it and pop in the geforce 8400 gs (they just need dual monitor support).

So all I can figure out is that there is something keeping the machine from booting when using the intel raid controller and the nvs 290. I can't possibly imagine how this popped up out of the blue and affects 3 different display cards 2 different motherboards and 2 entirely different machines.

Figure that one out and you can have my 1st born.

 

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If I'm reading it right, the only time either machine works is when it has a single hard drive in it, put two in with a raid controller and both machines fail.


If, as I say, I'm reading it right then that would seem to point to the cause of your problem.


EDIT: I probably didn't read it right, given that it works with the two drives and raid controller when you put the different graphics card in, but it still seems to me that the raid controller/dual raid drive setup is what's causing the problem because there doesn't appear to be any fault with any of the graphics cards. If it was simply a compatibility issue between that setup and the NVS 290 then it would never have worked in the first place, which it clearly did before it all went belly-up. Ergo, there's a fault somewhere in that raid controller/dual drive setup.

It has a problem when he uses RAID and the NVS290 together.
He can use RAID and the 8400GS fine.
He can use a single HDD and the NVS290 fine.

For whatever reason RAID and the NVS290 cards suddenly stopped working in the old computer and the new replacement model is having the same issue.


Maybe play around with older driver versions for the RAID, video, or chipset?





LOL

During any of this did you update BIOS or flash the RAID controller? Might be worth a shot to either get the BIOS current, if it isn't, or roll it back an update or two.

 

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Yes, as per my earlier edit, so it isn't a hardware compatibility issue because they did work together originally. Something has changed software-wise, or a part of the hardware has developed a fault.

If they are using same PC setups in other places that do not have this issue I would kinda think they did not do a software updates regularly themselves. Think Lith would be the one doing that at set times, but who knows. If a driver had compatibility issue, then they would of lost other PCs too eventually. Also alittle odd but not outlandish that 2 versions of driver(s) would have same issue.

I would lean more to software issue if this is the only PC with this setup of hardware and it has on some form of auto-updates on for drivers.

 

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Power supply.

But it seems odd two different computers would have power supply issues and such a minor power difference as a second hard drive would push it over the limit.

The first machine was 4years old, I would assume if he tossed the original VC his personal machine it would work, if he tossed the 2 VC that they sent in his personal machine they would work...cause as far as I can tell DELL does not proprietary the VC's.


As a Computer PSU gets older, the wattage drops over time.


8400GS should use less wattage than a 290.


And dont laugh, but Ive had people move thier computers to another room that is not on the same power line (breaker) and finds that it works, so power supplied can be an issue.

NVS290: Power 21 W
8400 GS: Power 71 W

Not sure where you got the figures on which should use less power.

http://www3.pny.com/NVIDIA-Quadro-NVS-290-x16-for-DVI-and-VGA-P2533C364.aspx
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8400_Gs_faq.html

Also, while capacitor aging does change the power available, I have a hard time believing that's relevant in this case. The R5400 lists a 750w power supply.

I'm an i7 with a 6970 and have a UPS that I have my computer + a 27" monitor hooked up to it, and it lists the power draw as being 252w (couple browsers + netflix open atm). Power requirements tend to be VASTLY overstated IMO.