Re: need motherboard recommendation
* Stan Hoeppner <stan@hardwarefreak.com> [101228 00:28]:
> The line artifacts you describe, if you are indeed describing them
> accurately, are nearly always caused by static stray magnetic fields.
> Something as innocuous as a small decorative refrigerator magnet stuck
> to the PC case can cause things like this.
>
> I can almost guarantee you from knowledge and experience that if you
> have the same line artifacts with two different mobo models or two
> different vid cards that it's not the mobos or vid cards causing the
> problem.
Ah-so! Now I see your point of confusion. At the start of the
thread, I mentioned two motherboards -- a P5Q-EM and a M3A78-T. With
the M3A78-T there were line artifacts. But with the P5Q-EM, the
problem was simply that the display went blank when X started; there
were no line artifacts.
The X problem began with the installation of Lenny (stable); it was
not present in Etch, and it disappeared once I installed Squeeze
(testing).
The line artifacts problem has persisted with multiple monitors (each
with its own cable), multiple physical locations, and three trips back
to the US Asus facility. Moreover, I have no external video card; the
problem is in the on-board graphics of the M3A78-T. The only thing in
common was the chassis and an Asus power supply.
> Did you ever actually bench test your components? I highly doubt you
> did or you'd have already discovered the boards aren't the problem. You
> have not described any detailed troubleshooting or bench testing
> procedures, only anecdotal evidence.
>
> For instance, if you are doing all your mobo testing inside the case,
> then you haven't followed proper thorough testing procedure. You need
> to eliminate _every_ component, including "inert components" of the
> system, including the case itself.
I understand what you are saying; but from my perspective, life is too
short and components are too inexpensive to spend hours and days with
this, when there is a work-around. I replaced the M3A78-T with
another motherboard, using the same chassis and power supply, and
there is no problem with line artifacts. The M3A78-T obviously is
defective.
RLH
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