I recently built two identical 16 camera systems. The priority is live viewing on two 24” monitors with 16 cameras each (sitting right next to each other). Both systems will also record on motion detect. I’ve used GV-1480 cards (PCI) in the past successfully. This time I used GV-1480 PCI-E cards with some strange problems.

System specs:
Case: Generic 4U Rackmount Chasis with 2x 120mm fans + 2x 80mm fans
Mobo: ASUS P5K-E
Hard Drive: 2 x WD 750GB Caviar (no raid)
Video Card: eVGA 8800 GTS PCI-E x16
RAM: 4GB Crucial Ballistix 800MHz
Processor: Intel Q6600 Quad Core

* A couple things to note:
- I could only install the 1480 card in the second PCI-E x16 slot. It won’t fit in the PCI-E x1 slots because it was too long and would hit the RAM.
- Heat is not an issue. Fans keep it cool, but I have also experimented without the cover on.
- All equipment (including GV cards) was purchased by reputable companies and complete OEM equipment
- The server is stand alone for DVR only. There are no other programs which run on it during recording.

Here’s what’s going on.

System build was smooth and easy. I did a clean install XP Professional SP2 on one of the two hard drives (no raid). Installed all updates and all drivers. Also installed GV drivers and system. Plugged in my cameras and everything works 100% perfect.

Around 4 days later the system crashed. Both with reboot loops when windows loads and with blue crash screens with different error types. It also will do a reboot loop and crash in safe mode. Both servers did this.

I did a full re-install of XP, and again 3-7 days later (after everything was working great again) both systems crashed. Two identical system configurations crashing lead me to think that there is a hardware conflict.

I used one of the servers as a guinea pig and started to experiment with different equipment. Different video card, different hard drives, and different RAM. I also tried installing with Vista (my complete nemesis) and after a clean install, I shutdown, installed the GV card, booted up and Vista would instantly crash after it reached the desktop. I thought maybe the GV card going into a PCI x16 slot might be a problem… so I bought a ASUS P5K SE board and installed the card in one of the PCI x1 slots. Today it crashed in XP after working for 5 days perfectly (just like with the P5K-E board).

I can only assume I narrowed it down to my GV-1480 card right? Is it possible that both cards are bad? Any ideas on why they would work great and then after 3-7 days my system would crash like this?

did u figured out the reasons you getting the BSOD ?
I always disable the auto reboot option in the event of BSOD to see what the problem, as hard as it is to figure MS 000000000xe8 crap....
(Right click My Computer>Properties>Advanced> look down for 'Startup and recovery' , click Setting> uncheck the box 'Automatically restart'

I assume both systems have identical hardware, and GV could be the reason for the crashes, but u should confirm its not memory issues or other incompitable hardware first.

Also, check the even log for any system errors. sometimes it can be something really stupid cause way too big deal.

My first bet is that ur RAM is not for your MOBO, but I didnt even checked from ur list, just my guess.

Good luck :)

Thanks for the reply sinbad.

Both systems are identical. The RAM should match to the motherboard, but I did mix and match with other types with the sme results. My error screens after disabling the "auto restart" were strangly various. Sometimes they would be memory errors, other times write errors, other times just generic system hardware errors.

It's puzzling to me why after a few days will I crash. If my GV card is defective, I'd have to assume it would be DOA from the get go.
-poker_fish

did u check windows Event Viewer?
did u try running the machines without the GV cards and see if they crash?

I doubt you got DOA cards because u say it happens on both rigs....

also your board expects (if this is the one) either 1333/1066MHz FSB sticks, and ur sticks are

so I'll stick to my first bet with RAM issues ;)