Mystical System Instability

[Cratzky]

WALL OF TEXT

Interesting .

However, if P5Q tends to overvolt, what would be the cause if i actually use 1.8v in bios, my computer freezes right after i enter windows?

But with 1.9v in bios, my computer works in windows.
That is, what i think, a voltage related problem. And it speaks for undervolting, not overvolting.

Maybe its just my motherboard, but my friend has a P5 SLI mobo with nforce 650i chipset from asus aswell and that motherboard does the exact same thing.. undervolting, he use 2.25v on he's corsair memory (where default is supposed to be 1.8v according to manufacturer) , if he dont use 2.25v, he's computer locks up with random freezes and bsods...

As i stated before... Asus seems to be doin a shit job with all this issues since it appears to be related to almost all asus motherboards using the p5 series...

i do not support the overvolt theory, and i do not support the undervolt theory, i just making conclusions from my own experiences and it seems undervolting is the case (Memory, Northbridge) on the p5 mobos

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Interesting .

However, if P5Q tends to overvolt, what would be the cause if i actually use 1.8v in bios, my computer freezes right after i enter windows?

But with 1.9v in bios, my computer works in windows.
That is, what i think, a voltage related problem. And it speaks for undervolting, not overvolting.

Maybe its just my motherboard, but my friend has a P5 SLI mobo with nforce 650i chipset from asus aswell and that motherboard does the exact same thing.. undervolting, he use 2.25v on he's corsair memory (where default is supposed to be 1.8v according to manufacturer) , if he dont use 2.25v, he's computer locks up with random freezes and bsods...

As i stated before... Asus seems to be doin a shit job with all this issues since it appears to be related to almost all asus motherboards using the p5 series...

i do not support the overvolt theory, and i do not support the undervolt theory, i just making conclusions from my own experiences and it seems undervolting is the case (Memory, Northbridge) on the p5 mobos

Well, I was specificlly referring to the Deluxe and Pro. I have no experience with the Turbo. If you don't believe me check XS and all of the users in that long P5Q Deluxe thread who have checked this out on most earlier bios' with a DMM. You are just making guesses and I'm running my ram at stock speeds with a decent overclock on my Quad fully stable. If it had anything to do with vDIMM you would also need the same voltage with only two sticks installed. Your board acts differently with four occupied dimms. It puts more stress on the NB and FSB. You need to have the correct relationship between VTT, vDIMM, vNB, and GTLs. How do you know that you need more vDIMM if you haven't tried tweeking anything else?

Asus is doing a great job with these boards, as shown by the constant bios updates. You will see the same issues with Gigabyte's UD3P. Try running a quad with more than two occupied dimms on a tpower and tell me how much you like it. Honestly if you expect to be able to throw whatever you want on your board and expect stability without tweeking and a little research then you are best off buying a Dell.

 

[Coops]

My RAM is rated for 2.1V @ 1066MHz on 5-5-5-15.

Defaults at 800MHz are 5-5-5-18 1.8V.

I've tried my RAM at 1.9-2.15V 1066MHz both 5-5-5-18 and 5-5-5-18 and the system will crash, reset or blue screen at random, including with the NB set to 1.3V.

 

[Mussels]

My RAM is rated for 2.1V @ 1066MHz on 5-5-5-15.

Defaults at 800MHz are 5-5-5-18 1.8V.

I've tried my RAM at 1.9-2.15V 1066MHz both 5-5-5-18 and 5-5-5-18 and the system will crash, reset or blue screen at random, including with the NB set to 1.3V.

thanks for the summary.


Unfortunately, this is a common problem - 1066Mhz DDR2 just doesnt work well with 4 sticks in many boards.

I've seen this in P35, P45, x48 and several AMD (hell, the entire athlon I and phenom I series cant do it.)

sometimes voltage + TRFC fixes it, sometimes not. Theres good reason i went 4x2GB of 800Mhz CL4 with my system!

 

[Coops]

thanks for the summary.


Unfortunately, this is a common problem - 1066Mhz DDR2 just doesnt work well with 4 sticks in many boards.

I've seen this in P35, P45, x48 and several AMD (hell, the entire athlon I and phenom I series cant do it.)

sometimes voltage + TRFC fixes it, sometimes not. Theres good reason i went 4x2GB of 800Mhz CL4 with my system!

Thanks Mussles,

I've never quite had the unique expereince of filling all four slots with 1066 on those chipsets. Usually if I was building a system with that much, I was using highger end nVidia based boards, back a couple years in my computer store days.

I'm glad I never bothered to buy into DDR2 1200!

 

[Mussels]

Thanks Mussles,

I've never quite had the unique expereince of filling all four slots with 1066 on those chipsets. Usually if I was building a system with that much, I was using highger end nVidia based boards, back a couple years in my computer store days.

I'm glad I never bothered to buy into DDR2 1200!

ever since DDR 400, i've learned the lesson that filling every slot in a board with the boards maximum speed is usually a bad idea.

3x512 on nforce 2 hampered OC, 4x1GB on 939 crippled OC, 4x2GB on most DDR2 boards cant even run 1066 ('stock' on many of these boards)

its always been that way - and its always sucked.


I tend to find things work better, if you get low voltage ram. Like 1066Mhz ram that runs at 1.8-1.9v seems to work more often than 2.0-2.1v ram, in my personal experience

 

[Coops]

I'm thinking it might be power supply now.

So far nothing has been a major catastrophe. I even took the performance timings off my RAM and let my mobo auto on that.

I can play WoW for hours on end, but half the time I have IE crash at random.

I used a voltage monitor program that says my +5v is at 6V. Asus PC Probe says it's at 4.97V so I'm not sure which one is right.

Anyone have an idea of an accurate monitoring suite?


Either way I think I'm going to search out a nice 600W PS with higher amperage on the PCI-E connections.

I'm looking for reasonable price, but not super cheap. Willing to go around $100. I know the PS in this machine right now (Antec EarthWatts 500) is worth around the $80 or so.

Thx all!

 

[Mussels]

there is no such this as accurate voltage monitoring software. use a multimeter, or guess.

 

[Cratzky]

Yoo coops!

I managed to get my system stable atlast, running with 4 memory sticks.

Take a look at my thread->

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=111547

Hope it helps!

 

[Coops]

Update:

System has been a tiny bit unstable even running DDR-II 800, so I did the powersupply replacement.

Bought a Corsair CMPSU-650TX, 52A on the 12V I figured would allow me to kick it to DDR-II 1066 and keep it stable.

System is completely stable at 800. Been running loads of tests and no crashing.

Ramped up to 1066, and the system is unstable. Kind of maddening, but whatever

 

[Cratzky]

Have you tried using 2 sticks on 1066mhz instead of 4 with the new PSU ?

 

[Coops]

Have you tried using 2 sticks on 1066mhz instead of 4 with the new PSU ?

Oh of course, I can run 2 sticks fine. My only issue is with all 4, and sometimes (although I had it stable for 2 weeks) 3 sticks.

Once I run 1066 it flatlines.

I run the RAM at 2.10v and the NB at 1.40V. Any other voltages someone could suggest hard setting?

 

[Coops]

Running 3 sticks at 1066 5-5-5-15 timings.

Have been running it for 12 hours now with perfect stability.

I'm wondering, could it be specific brand (model) that isn't compatible?

Either way, 3GB at full speed is alright for me

 

[Cratzky]

Running 3 sticks at 1066 5-5-5-15 timings.

Have been running it for 12 hours now with perfect stability.

I'm wondering, could it be specific brand (model) that isn't compatible?

Either way, 3GB at full speed is alright for me

Maybe the last memory slot on ur MB is defect or not working as it should

That memory u are using should be able to run just fine on that MB...

Personally, i would look at the last slot and try figure out if its faulty and in that case, change the MB gl!

 

[Coops]

Maybe the last memory slot on ur MB is defect or not working as it should

That memory u are using should be able to run just fine on that MB...

Personally, i would look at the last slot and try figure out if its faulty and in that case, change the MB gl!

Heh,

I just replaced an Asus P5QL-E for the P5Q Pro Turbo because I thought that.

Exact same issues. So in a sense I wated $130 on a new motherboard cause it didn't fix anything.

The only thing I can even consider is MAYBE the Linksys wireless NIC I have has some kind of strange compatability issue within Windows 7. I have yet to actually remove that card and try, only because I really dont think taking it out would all of a sudden let me run 4 sticks at 1066.

I honestly don't know what it is. OH and previously on the P5QL-E I was using, I had tried 4x Crucial Ballistix (with the LED lights) and that gave me the same issues.

Usually what happens is I run 4 sticks at 1066, system crashes and if I run a memory diag, the RAM shows tons of failure. Take all of the sticks out, and use 1-3 sticks, run the memory test again and it runs fine.

I honestly have never experienced such a strange issue.

 

[Cratzky]

Heh,

I just replaced an Asus P5QL-E for the P5Q Pro Turbo because I thought that.

Exact same issues. So in a sense I wated $130 on a new motherboard cause it didn't fix anything.

The only thing I can even consider is MAYBE the Linksys wireless NIC I have has some kind of strange compatability issue within Windows 7. I have yet to actually remove that card and try, only because I really dont think taking it out would all of a sudden let me run 4 sticks at 1066.

I honestly don't know what it is. OH and previously on the P5QL-E I was using, I had tried 4x Crucial Ballistix (with the LED lights) and that gave me the same issues.

Usually what happens is I run 4 sticks at 1066, system crashes and if I run a memory diag, the RAM shows tons of failure. Take all of the sticks out, and use 1-3 sticks, run the memory test again and it runs fine.

I honestly have never experienced such a strange issue.

Whoah, i dont know what to say really..erhm..... but if u havent tried removing that wireless card... try doin that something is clearly causing an instability and it seems its not the motherboard itself then or the memory.... and not the PSU either cuz u just changed that... then u have 2 options left... CPU and that wireless card....
GL !

 

[Coops]

OK. So I havent been on my computer since yesterday morning. Woke up this morning to a blue screen.

Reset computer, and another blue screen. Got into safe mode, reboot into normal and could login but just had a black screen.

Now can't even get in through safe mode.

Here is a summary of the blue screens I have had running this system at DDR-II 800 on 5-5-5-15 and 5-5-5-18 timings.

I'm literally going to shoot myself, I'm not paying $300 to replace the CPU, so the only thing to try is pulling this wireless card I had mentioned.


I will have to post the codes later as it looks like I didn't bring the paper with me.... UGH.

I don't even know what to do anymore. There were a few suggestions but nothing has held so far.

 

[Cratzky]

OK. So I havent been on my computer since yesterday morning. Woke up this morning to a blue screen.

Reset computer, and another blue screen. Got into safe mode, reboot into normal and could login but just had a black screen.

Now can't even get in through safe mode.

Here is a summary of the blue screens I have had running this system at DDR-II 800 on 5-5-5-15 and 5-5-5-18 timings.

I'm literally going to shoot myself, I'm not paying $300 to replace the CPU, so the only thing to try is pulling this wireless card I had mentioned.


I will have to post the codes later as it looks like I didn't bring the paper with me.... UGH.

I don't even know what to do anymore. There were a few suggestions but nothing has held so far.

This is really really interesting....

I recently updated my bios via the asus update in windows, worked like a charm, i downloaded Ket's modded bios, and it works terrific, im running Everything on AUTO now (yeah, u readed right), and it has been extremely stable. Havent had a bluescreen/lockup or anything since that.

Im thinking ur problem, whenver u actually changed MB or not, can be: the cpu (worst case scenario), fault ram memory (i would try run with 1 stick for 1week, and then put in another stick, and run it another week, and then the the 3rd stick and run for another week, and so on)
But before all that, i would unplug that wireless card u have, and make sure u have Plug and play OS on NO in bios
Happy hunting!
*hold my thumbs, hope its not the CPU*

/C


*EDIT*
Oh yeah, another thing!, this is very important since u are having bluescreens etc, it can mess up windows really bad with only 1 bluescreen due to the disc-cache thingy enabled (which it is by default in windows), u have to turn that off until u are entirely 100% sure that u will not have a bluescreen or random powercut again...
Otherwise, it can (and most likely will) damage some system files and u will have to reinstall windows.... (i had to reinstall maybe 4-5times before i managed to get my damn system stable)

 

[Mussels]

my guess is the ram, to be honest.

 

[Coops]

my guess is the ram, to be honest.

*Cry*

After everything I've done and tried I said screw it and tested the RAM all over again for the billionth time.

I tested with all four sticks to see errors ranging from 6.4MB, all the way up to 4600MB (I only have a total of 4GB)

I started testing each stick individually and one of my original sticks that Iv'e tested many times (and each one is marked, I've made charts and tracking sheets etc) finally came through with errors at 544.5MB and 637.6MB

Remember, these two sticks ran at 1066 fine for over a year. It really wasn't until I added the additional two where it didn't run at 1066, but worked fine at 800.


So it seeeeems, like everything is solved. Running at 1066 5-5-5-15 since last night. I've had Prime95 running for about 15 hours now.

So hopefully no blue screens this weekend and I'm willing to call it case closed.

I really appreciate everybodies feedback and comments.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

my guess is the ram, to be honest.

I had a couple of sets of those OCZ PC-8500 reapers that did not like each other at all. They ran fine when split up but together caused me quite a few headaches. They were binned a bit differently.

 

[Coops]

So after a day of no failure I boosted the CPU FSB from 333 to 400.

Everything hunky-dory until the next morning and a blue screen. MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

I believe this only had to do with the FSB overclock and not setting the CPU voltage.

I cut it back to 333 and am waiting to see what I find when I get home tonight. I also typically run Prime95 64-bit on all four cores 24/7.

BUT, running at 1066MHz @ 5-5-5-15 has caused no blue screens.

 

[Cratzky]

So after a day of no failure I boosted the CPU FSB from 333 to 400.

Everything hunky-dory until the next morning and a blue screen. MEMORY_MANAGEMENT

I believe this only had to do with the FSB overclock and not setting the CPU voltage.

I cut it back to 333 and am waiting to see what I find when I get home tonight. I also typically run Prime95 64-bit on all four cores 24/7.

BUT, running at 1066MHz @ 5-5-5-15 has caused no blue screens.

How did u fixed it? i managed to ramp my memory up to a 1003mhz at the best try, i had serious issues with 1066mhz, it just wouldnt post... very wierd, but anything lower then that worked... and im running 800mhz memory modules (x4) ... currently stock speeds and timings, but cpu is at 3.2ghz (fsb 400) and its been really stable since i updated my bios, not a single bluescreen yet

 

[Coops]

How did u fixed it? i managed to ramp my memory up to a 1003mhz at the best try, i had serious issues with 1066mhz, it just wouldnt post... very wierd, but anything lower then that worked... and im running 800mhz memory modules (x4) ... currently stock speeds and timings, but cpu is at 3.2ghz (fsb 400) and its been really stable since i updated my bios, not a single bluescreen yet

1 bad stick. I am now running 3x 1GB at 1066MHz, 2.10V, 5-5-5-15 timing.

I also have the NB set to 1.4V but I might but it back to Auto.

I'm waiting for have a week of no blue screens to confirm 100% the system is finally stable

 

[Cratzky]

1 bad stick. I am now running 3x 1GB at 1066MHz, 2.10V, 5-5-5-15 timing.

I also have the NB set to 1.4V but I might but it back to Auto.

I'm waiting for have a week of no blue screens to confirm 100% the system is finally stable

I would not set the NB to auto, but i would lower it to 1.3.
It might get a bit hot with 1.4 if u dont have really good cooling.
I noticed mine went so hot that i could almost burn my finger on it , and thats on 1.3