A8V Dlx Rev 2.0 => Cold Booting & Freezing problems ... am at my wits end ...

[Tillo]

Hello - my rig is as follows:-

- A8V Dlx Rev 2.0
- Brand new BIOS battery installed as a matter of course when doing the build
- Fully clean Slipstreamed WinXp SP2 install
- Via 4.55 Hyperion Loaded
- 2 x 512 DDR 500 Kingmax @ 2.8v
- 3200+ 939 @ 10 x 260 @ 2.6gig @ 1.575Vcore in BIOS - @ Load, Vcore never drops below 1.505v
- HTT @ 800mhz
- Memory @ 5:3 / 216.67mhz
- All other BIOS settings are a default / auto
- Zalman 7000 AlCu with AS3
- NB sink removed and cleaned and AS3 applied
- nVidia 64 meg AGP Video Card - Basic
- 1 x 80gig WD HDD 8mb cache
- 1 x DVD 16x ROM
- 1 x 52x CD Burner
- PS2 Optical Mouse
- PS2 K/B
- 1 x PCI Audio Card - Basic
- Various items running off USB 1.0 & 2.0 ports
- 2 x 120mm Fans
- Topower 420w Dual Fan "Gold" P/Supply
- 12v reading @ Load = 11.48v
- 5v @ Load = 4.999v
- 3.3v @ Load = 3.344v
- Running BIOS 1008


** THE GOOD NEWS **

- Rig is fully P95 stable over 24 hours
- Rig is fully CPU Burn stable for 24 hours
- Memory is fully stable @ Memtest 1.40 for 24 hours
- Temps are fine - never gets over 58'C, and when it does - which is usually after 3 - 4 hours, it stays there

** THE BAD NEWS **

- Every 3rd or 4th cold-boot up, it wont boot-up, and I have to press re-set and re-enter the BIOS settings etc.. because it says "Overclock Failed" ....

- Every now and then, when doing **non-load** stuff like email or word documents, it freezes / locks up on me - no mouse movement - no hdd - no keyboard etc .... I have to do a re-set to get it back and then re-enter the BIOS details

I have tried the BETA BIOS's up to and including 1009.005 - no difference.

I am at my wits end !!

I have built *many* systems before and NEVER had this sort of a problem.

Any suggestions would be ENORMOUSLY & very graciously appreciated.

Alex [Tillo] Itoni

 

[Tillo]

........... bump ......... [ my apologies ]

 

[Kovie]

Quite a lot of cold boot problems can be traced back to the power supply, not to mention that 12v rail is remarkably low.

 

[Tillo]

Hi Kovie

Thanks for you note.

I didnt think my 12v reading was so bad - according to AsusProbe, the tolerance is +/- %10, so I assumed that as long as it was no lower than 10.80v under load, it would be fine ?!?

Are you saying that in terms of stable O/C especially for a A64, 11.48 under full-sustained-load may be too low ?

Also, I can sort of understand how a "low" 12v could lead to cold-booting problems, but how does it come into play in terms of the random freezing up I am getting when the rig is doing basic, non-load stuff like word documents, yet when it is being hammered by P95 / SuperPi / CPUBurn for 24 hours at a time, it is fine / the 12v line does not come into play ?

Alex

 

[Kovie]

Systems tend to get tempermental when the voltage rails get too low. What is your idle readings?

 

[Tillo]

My 12v readings at idle and at full-stress-load are:-

idle @ stock 3200+ = 11.776
load @ stock 3200+ = 11.712 - steady

idle @ 2600 O/C = 11.776
load @ 2600 O/C = 11.712 - with occassional drop to 11.648

** in my original post, I accidently left out a " 6 " when entering my 12v @ Load reading - I put 11.48 when it should have beed 11.648

The 5v & 3.3v readings dont seem to change / fluctuate much at all



Alex

 

[Skoop]

Easy--you've exceeded the overclock threshold. Your system is unstable. Prime and Memtest are metrics, not guarantees. Dial it back a tad. You should not have to go to 2.8 on the RAM, either.

 

[mechBgon]

- Topower 420w Dual Fan "Gold" P/Supply

How about one of these: link

Not saying that's the only issue, but cheap PSUs are not what I'd choose for OC'ing with.

 

[Slug]

Also, your HTT is at 1040Mhz, possibly a problem. Up vlink voltage and/or cut HTT to 600(3X).

Good luck.

 

[Yourself]

When checking voltages, throw any software/bios readings out the window as they can be/usually are way off. Example:

My BIOS and Asus Probe claimed my 12v on my Antec 550 was at 11.5-11.6v. Once I checked with a multimeter at the ATX connector and a molex my reading was 11.98-12.02v.


Just a heads up...