Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 + ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA + ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[stixs]

Good morning,
I have a problem that someone maybe able to help me with.
ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA
Bios 2.39
4GB DDR2 ram
Installed a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
All fans are running.
Computer will now only boot to a black screen with a flashing square in upper left corner.
Any ideas what may be causing this? Any help is gratefully appreciated.
Ed


.

 

[doubleOseven]

Stixs-- try this... unplug computer. Then, open up the case and remove 1 stick of your RAM... then clear the cmos... (short out the pins near the battery)... then put your case together again, plug it in, and restart your computer with the default BIOS settings... does it work now? If so, maybe your computer is unstable with the 4gb of RAM (are you using the pctreiber custom 4gb RAM support bios?)... it can be flaky this board when running 4gb ram...

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Hi,
I bought a refurb 775-dualVSTA last month from 3btech.net (props to o1die) to replace an aging Athlon XP system & reuse old parts. It's working quite nicely so far. Transferred the old hard drives to the new system, and Win98SE & W2k Pro are up and running...though there doesn't appear to be Win98 sound drivers available for the Realtek onboard sound (may have to put in an old soundcard to remedy that, heh).

Specs:

Bios: v3.10 (board was already flashed to latest version)
C2D E4600 @ 2.4 (stock for now), cooled by stock Intel HS
1 GB (2x512) Mushkin DDR400 cas 2.5
Leadtek Geforce Ti4200 128MB AGP 8X
IDE drives: 1 - 6.4Gb, 1 - 40Gb
DVD drive (IDE)
old ATX case
Win98SE + W2k Pro (dual boot)
Antec Earthwatts 430 "D"

Gonna replace the DDR with 2GB of DDR2-533 soon, & perhaps install/fiddle with Win 7

Peace out
LP

 

[doubleOseven]

Lazlo, I'd rather suspect that neither of your operating systems (98SE and W2K Pro) will properly support running your C2D e4600 in dual core mode. Yeah, install Win 7 or at least XP to get your rig running better!

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

Lazlo, I'd rather suspect that neither of your operating systems (98SE and W2K Pro) will properly support running your C2D e4600 in dual core mode. Yeah, install Win 7 or at least XP to get your rig running better!

Actually, it was quite easy tweaking the HAL in W2K to get the O/S to see both cores: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234558

It was fun putting together this "Frankenputer".

 

[DaleyG]

For the ones interested in replacing their GPU,
I recently upgraded my gpu from a 7800AGP to ATI 4890, and its working good & stable.
Im using the latest official bios, no need to fiddle with anything.

*NOTE
The only problem is that it blocks the primary IDE port, the card sticks over it due its length, lol.
No big deal though.

This in combination with a e6600 @ 2.65 , 2gb. Asrock-4coreDualSata-2
ASRockSolid

 

[doubleOseven]

Actually, it was quite easy tweaking the HAL in W2K to get the O/S to see both cores: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234558

It was fun putting together this "Frankenputer".

Wow, I've learned something new today! I didn't know that W2K could be set up for multiple-core! That's pretty cool!!! Thanks Lazlo for the link.

 

[playah]

I just put together a 775-dualVSTA and it works fine with a 775 P4 and a e4300, I flashed the bios to two different custom bioses including the latest 319a and 313g to try to get a e5300 up and running, both times the board refused to boot leaving only a blank screen, any ideas on how to get this cpu running on the MB

 

[Lazlo Panaflex]

No problem, Mr. Bond

@Playah - did you try clearing the CMOS (by using a jumper or shorting the pins) after flashing?

 

[ryoken]

Yes I know now, but it isn't it weird that the processor boots and all without any warning ? It runs only on lower speed, 1066x8.5 instead of 1333x8.5.

I have the 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 with the official BIOS of 2.0. A few questions:

1) Does this support the Quad-core Yorkfield CPUs (e.g. Q9400) without BIOS upgrade? I'm happy if it runs stably at the slower 1066 FSB. Will this be detected automatically?

2) Does this support the Dual-core Wolfdale E7600 CPU without BIOS upgrade? According to the ASRock website, the v2.0 BIOS only supports up to E7300. So what happens if I put in E7600? Would it even POST? Can I do BIOS upgrade afterwards? I don't have spare P4 CPU unfortunately...

 

[TaranScorp]

I'm running the Dual-core Wolfdale E7500 with the patched 2.17a bios at 3.2GHz for a couple of months now.

 

[ryoken]

the official 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 2.10 BIOS supports the Wolfdale E7500 - what is the advantage of running the patched 2.17a BIOS?

also, since i have a 2.00 BIOS, can i just plug in a E7500? will it even POST/boot? will it just come up as an unknown CPU but allow me to do a BIOS flash update?

 

[rubix]

is there anywhere that shows optimal settings for everything in the 4coredual-sata2 boards? right now i just have everything set to auto but i want to know more about what everything is and what others have set. not for overclocking, just best for regular use.

 

[JediJosh]

**NEED WALKTHROUGH ON BIOS SETTINGS**
On 6/27/2008 I purchased:

OCZ Gold Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667
2 x HITACHI Deskstar 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700
HIS 3850 Radeon AGP
RAIDMAX SMILODON case
BFG Tech 650w PS
IDE connected Optical drive

First thing I did, once all the components were put together, was set the 2 HDD's up in a RAID 0.
Installed my own sound card X-FI Extreme Music.
Installed Windows XP Pro
Installed BioShock and played it for a few minutes then the computer froze up and had to hard reboot.
CPU temp. was 40C so it wasn't a heating issue.
I messed around with the BIOS. Tried the game again and it crashed again, reset back to factory defaults.
Tried another game (I can't remember what it was, but it was one that came on the bonus CD with the video card) It played for a 5 min. then got really choppy then froze up and had to hard reboot.
Sound from the X-FI never worked right at all with anything, it sounded scratchy and choppy, so I just removed the X-FI sound card and used (re-enabled from BIOS) the onboard sound and the sound works fine.
I went and updated the BIOS to the current BIOS at that time, and installed Windows 7 RC. I then installed Mirror's Edge it played great for about 5 min before the whole system would lock up.... again hard reboot.
At this point I decided that this computer will be used for nothing but a media center. The latest BIOS was released 2.20 from ASRock so I updated along with Windows 7 Pro (Retail).
I wanted to try one last time with a game. So I recently installed Force Unleashed Sith Edition, and the game ran fine for 20 min. The fan on the graphics card was pegged out. Then the screen just went black. I thought that the graphics card was overheating so I opened up the case and stuck a massive house fan right beside opened tower to disperse heat. Tried the game again, after a hard reboot, and the game played for another 20 min. with the same black screen lock up.
I then found this post on this forum:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=27590819&postcount=2108
I followed those instructions and I could play the Star Wars game for about 30min before it crashed again. Any help would be great on resolving this. I know that this computer can do so much more than just being a media center.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ileader36]

That is the same issue I had after installing my system, screen going off to standby during games.
Could be that the Rialto PCIexpress to AGP Bridge IC on top of the card is getting too hot, a problem I did not have with the Video card in my old computer due to a weaker cpu unable to push the card to its limit.
I put a heatsink on it, not easy to do but I've never had the same issue again.

 

[JediJosh]

So what I am getting at is that it may not be a BIOS setting at all but a heating problem on the graphics card. I will try the heatsink on the graphics card.

FYI the computer doesn't lock up on games that do not require a lot of graphics rendering, such as World of Warcraft.

 

[TaranScorp]

I flashed to the patched 2.17a BIOS to get more ram. I have 4GB installed of which my system reads 3.5GB. The 2.17a bios also has more support for more GPU cards and CPU's.

 

[TaranScorp]

Does anybody know what the temp1 and temp2 are for when using SpeedFan on these boards?

 

[Ileader36]

Pretty certain Temp 1 is Motherboard temp, Temp 2 is cpu temp, as in not core 0 or 1.


JediJosh, it is the Rialto that has to convert pci-express data to AGP data so the mobo can understand it, these video cards are all native pci-express design, so require the rialto for conversion.
I would say that the reason we have not seen any more powerful AGP cards is because the rialto wasn't designed to handle this much hard work, it was originally designed for the x1900 series when they went agp.

Why ATI or the card manufacturers have not fitted a heatsink I have no idea, as it needs one.

Be extremely careful with it, as there are many tiny components underneath the heat pad that is on top of it. I used Sikkaflex to secure the heatsink and put a load of heavy coins on top for about 4 hours whilst the sikkaflex cured. make sure you use some heatsink paste between the layers, also I put some tape between the heatsink and IC so no short circuits could occur. I would say that do this and Your problems will be over.

Ryukin, Bios 2.20a supports the e7600

http://www.pctreiber.net/filebase.php?fileid=3507&lim=40

 

[ryoken]

Ryukin, Bios 2.20a supports the e7600

http://www.pctreiber.net/filebase.php?fileid=3507&lim=40

Will my computer boot with current BIOS v2.00 using e7600? stable enough to do BIOS update to 2.20a?

i havent bought any intel cpu yet, but i dont want to buy 2 cpus just so that i can flash it to a newer BIOS if u know what i mean...

 

[ryoken]

Hello people!

Like many we are lucky to find those forums just when something bad occours

As many here i did some economical update to my old PC with this components:

- ASROCK 4COREDUAL-SATA2 R2.0 - SOCKET LGA 775 PARA INTEL - CHIPSET VIA PT880 - ATX
- INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q8400 - 2,66 GHZ, CACHE L2 4 MB SOCKET LGA775
- SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY RADEON HD 3850 512 MB GDDR3 AGP
- CORSAIR Memory PC VALUE SELECT 4 GB (KIT 2 X 2 GB) DDR2-SDRAM PC 5300 CL5
- 2 HDD SATA 120Gb and 180Gb

This was perfectly performing until yesterday, well... almost..., i had some sort of issue after installing XP Pro, because shutdown of system hanged on "closing" screen even hearing the sound of it shuting down, then i had to push the button to go off, but all the UBS ports of the MB remain active, and that was strange!

...

/me wonders how this person got the yorkfield Q8400 working in the first place!! this isnt an officially supported cpu on this motherboard right?

i really want to know coz i want to get a yorkfield Q9505 or Q9400 working on the 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0.

 

[dash12561]

Good morning,
I have a problem that someone maybe able to help me with.
ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA
Bios 2.39
4GB DDR2 ram
Installed a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
All fans are running.
Computer will now only boot to a black screen with a flashing square in upper left corner.
Any ideas what may be causing this? Any help is gratefully appreciated.
Ed


.

Might be simplistic, but after flashing to Bios 2.2, when the default settings were used, the boot order was pointing to the wrong SATA drive--I simply had to change the order and no more black screen with cursor.

 

[dash12561]

Hello people!

Like many we are lucky to find those forums just when something bad occours

As many here i did some economical update to my old PC with this components:

- ASROCK 4COREDUAL-SATA2 R2.0 - SOCKET LGA 775 PARA INTEL - CHIPSET VIA PT880 - ATX
- INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q8400 - 2,66 GHZ, CACHE L2 4 MB SOCKET LGA775
- SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY RADEON HD 3850 512 MB GDDR3 AGP
- CORSAIR Memory PC VALUE SELECT 4 GB (KIT 2 X 2 GB) DDR2-SDRAM PC 5300 CL5
- 2 HDD SATA 120Gb and 180Gb

This was perfectly performing until yesterday, well... almost..., i had some sort of issue after installing XP Pro, because shutdown of system hanged on "closing" screen even hearing the sound of it shuting down, then i had to push the button to go off, but all the UBS ports of the MB remain active, and that was strange!

As i was caught by some sort of Virus that messed up XP i decided to reinstall the OS and my brilliant idea was to update MB BIOS to the latest to try to fix at liest the USB problem.

I used the Windows version of BIOS and all went exactly as expected, than a window appeared saying it was successful and i should restart my computer, i did and nothing happent since than!
I hear the sound of fans but screen remains black, and there is no sign of information to be received from PC to Display, even with graphic card fan and leds working fine.
No sound of Hard-disk starting, no sound of any beep.

I already cleared CMOS as indicated by manual, but nothing occours!

Do any of you know how to work around this problem?
How to revert to factory BIOS?

Check your boot order first--make sure it is pointing to the right drive-I had the same problem and this was the fix.

 

[TaranScorp]

Does anyone know where the sensor is located that tells you the motherboard temps?

 

[Ozlander]

Does anybody have more info on the System Panel Header (labeled on the board as PANEL 1)?
I assume the PWRBTN# is a momentary contact to GND to turn ON and OFF. Is that correct.
Since I only have one pushbutton, I assume the RESET# will go unused.
What connector will fit it?