9100 power usage.

The 9100 has a pretty solid power supply with dual 12v rails providing 18A each or 30A combined, more than enough for a fully loaded tower. What kind of issues have you been having?

Most of the SMBIOS features in the 9100s BIOS are hidden from the user level access most programs try to use (typically OEM systems have a hidden "maintenance menu" in their BIOS, but it takes a specific set of keystrokes to access it). So you won't see any results from Speedfan or Everest by design, and part of this is to cut down on phone calls and part of it is that BIOS readings of these settings are pretty unreliable.

Message Edited by jonlbauer on 11-07-2005 01:20 PM

I don't know how to get in to maintenance mode, I got a replacement board from Dell once that had not been flasehd to a retail BIOS and saw it, but how to get in I could not tell you.

What driver version are you on? Also, play with the door off so you can rule out heat, the BTX layout on the 9100 is pretty efficient but the 6800GT is a hot card and the BFG OC even hotter.

With the optical drives connected, open Device Manager, go to Properties for Primary IDE channel and click on Advanced Settings tab. What's listed as "Current Transfer Mode" for device 0 and device 1? If it doesn't say Ultra DMA mode 2 for each device, that's part of the problem.

You might also want to open the case and carefully reseat the nvidia card in the PCI-e slot. Also make sure that any additional connectors to the video card are firmly seated at both ends too.

Ron

I doubt his DMS settings cause spontaneous reboots?

Device 0 was set to PIO Only and Device 1 was set to DMA if available.  Current transfer mode for 0 was PIO Mode and for Device 1 it was Ultra DMA Mode 4.  I changed the transfer mode for Device 0 to DMA if available and rebooted...

Will let you know what happens.

- Jon

After a reboot, Device 0 still came up as PIO Mode...

Hm.

- Jon

Jon,
Sounds like part of your problem. Download piotodma.exe from Dell:
http://ftp1.us.dell.com/fixes/

Run it and reboot. Then check if both devices are running in Ultra DMA mode. You may have to run piotodma.exe and reboot a couple of times before it 'sticks'. If it won't, you might want to check the connections between the optical drives and the IDE cables inside the case. And check the graphics card installation in its slot too while you're in there, if you haven't already done it. Let us know if that solves the problems.

If you continue to get '2 4' error code then I suspect your video card is defective. Grab free copy of Process Explorer from www.sysinternals.com and run it in background. When stuttering problem occurs, maximize PE and see what's using CPU time, aside from System Idle Process. If it's Deferred Procedure Calls, it's most likely a bad nvidia card that should be replaced.

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 11-08-2005 10:50 AM

I can tell that the video card isn't getting power as no LED illuminates and the fan doesn't spin when the "2 4" error condition occurs.

I'm in policy h_e_l_l right now.  I bought this card from NewEgg, and since more than 30 days has elapsed, they can only replace the card with an RMA, but I have to send the card to them first.  Bad solution for me as I have no backup video card.

Argh.

- Jon

Jon,
Yep, I'd ask for replacement video card at this point.

Open PE and on toolbar under Options select Always On Top. Reduce the window to a smaller size if necessary so you still monitor DPCs and run the game or whatever is causing the stutter in the window underneath PE. That way you can see both and watch those DPCs

Ron

If you got the card from newegg, didn't the system come with any video card from Dell?

I presume your system has integrated video. You'd have to turn on integrated video in BIOS, power down and move the monitor connections to the integrated video output and pull the nvidia card from the slot.

Good luck!

Ron

Message Edited by RoHe on 11-08-2005 11:56 AM

Jon,
Glad piotodma forced it into Ultra DMA mode. The higher the mode number, the faster the interface, so 4 is good. The mode number will probably depend on the device, so it's possible the other one is only capable of mode 2. Keep an eye on it to make sure both stay with Ultra DMA.

Why do you think graphics card isn't getting power some times? That could be either a bad graphics card or a bad motherboard so you want to resolve that while the system is still under warranty. Process Explorer will only tell you if the nvidia card is causing lots of DPCs when things lag, but won't tell you anything about the 2 4 error. But if DPCs are high, then get Dell to replace the nvidia card and see if that resolves the 2 4 errors too.

Keep us informed.

Ron