A8N-VM CSM S-Video Problems (Signal Loss)

[MilkmanCDN]

I recently purchased an Asus A8N-VM CSM (GeForce 6150) motherboard with a Athlon 64 3000+ core to run as a client PC. I'm using a Silverstone LC11 case with 240W powersupply (the 300W supply is on order). FYI, you can purchase the S-Video bracket from the online store at the Asus web-site. I've set this up and everything works fine except for a momentary video loss that occurs now and then.

I can best describe this problem as a complete loss of signal (I know this because my TV's OSD pops up when the screen goes black) for about 1/2 a second. The signal then returns to normal. The problem occurs intermittantly. It occurs more frequently (every 4-5 seconds) when there are black bars on the screen (i.e. 16x9 movie mode) and less frequently when there is a bright 4x3 picture displayed. If I pause the video on a screen with black bars, signal loss occurs on a very steady time interval (4-5 seconds).

It's not a software problem as it occurs when both SageTV and Nero Showtime are running in full screen mode. Yes, I have installed the latest Nvidia graphics drivers.

Has anyone else had this problem with the A8N-VM CSM or any other motherboard? Any ideas how to fix it? I've been beating my head against the wall for about 3 days now and I can't seem to think of anything other than I purchased a bad mobo that needs to be returned.

Help...

[gplasky]

AVS Forum Thread

Read all 28 pages for all the trials and tribulations of all the 6100/6150 boards. The link is directly related to your issue.

Gerry

[MilkmanCDN]

Yeeeesh.. I've finally finished reading through all 28 pages. The problem that you pointed out was not a video signal loss out of the 6150 GPU; but, rather a dim output.

I too have experienced this problem; but, I corrected for it by cranking up the brightness and contrast on the output of the 6150 overlay (accessed through the nVidia control panel). Regardless, I'm still not happy with the resulting picture and I believe that my only option now is to use an off-board graphics card.

I'm debating between the eVGA 6200TC or eVGA 6600 cards, both of which are passively cooled. I've also looked at the newer 7600GS passively cooled card; but, I've read that it runs crazy hot. Not good seeing as how my htpc is in an enclosed area.

[MilkmanCDN]

I've been wrestling with this problem for about a week now.

I've tried upgraing the power supply to the 300W version. Didn't work.
I added a large heatsink to the southbridge. Didn't work.
I've replaced the heatsink on the northbridge (figured it might be a heat issue) with a much larger heatsink (Zalman NB-47J I think). Didn't work.

I replaced added an external graphics card (eVGA 6600 passive version). Works like a champ.

FYI, upon removing the northbridge heatsink, I noticed that the silicon underneath was chipped considerably around the edges. I can only attribute this to poor handling at the assembly location. Perhaps the cracked NB caused the signal loss problem, perhaps not. Either way, I hope that Asus fixes this assembly issue pronto.

For those of you who are thinking about purchasing the A8N-VM CSM, I would advise you to do some research. The board is a nice little board and the only uATX, socket-939 board that will fit inside the silverstone LC11 case (with the included riser card) on the market. Every other motherboard places the PCIe and PCI slots in the wrong location. Unfortunately, I would not recommend the on-board video if you are planning on using the S-Video output. Not only was the S-video output dim, the signal dropped out frequently.

I know that the dim s-video output was a problem on other 6150 based mobo's, and MSI managed to fix that problem with a BIOS upgrade. I haven't found anyone else having the signal drop out problem though.

FWIW, the picture on the eVGA 6600 S-Video output is amazing.