ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 - Socket 939 with PCI-E and real AGP and Socket AM2 upgrade path

[professor1942]

So much for my speaker theory, it crashed again after 16 hours. Ran memtest immediately after and it checked out fine.

I'm definitely seeing a pattern emerging here - It's always fine all morning then becomes unstable in the afternoon/early evening. Seems so much like a heat issue, yet temps are always very low (cpu 25-35, board 28) except for one called "Remote" in Speedfan which gets a bit higher (40-50). Anyone know what that is?

I've unplugged all USB devices and my DVD drive now to see if they have anything to do with it. Next steps will be an ATI video card and a PCI NIC... then a different PSU...

I'm getting pretty close now to declaring this board a POS.

 

[hclarkjr]

has anybody tried to run a DVD-RW via SATA adapter on the this board? thinking about trying it. does the sata port on this board support ATAPI?

 

[imported_Imp]

Well, it has been a POS for me since it first started not seeing my HD. As far as I can see, my DVD drive is definately screwy. Tried the DVD that crashed me in a regular DVD player, works fine; it even worked fine the night before. Tried a different DVD, crashes again. Tried 3 others, no problem. So I don't know, this is really sad, I'm actually hoping it crashes now so I can tell what's wrong. Anyways, if it is busted, I blame this POS mobo for making me tip the case over 30+ times ripping wires out.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: jacktackle
Sorry for not reading the thread much, but will ASrock ever release a bios that allowed for higher voltage? I wanna get this thing past 3 ghz and i'm too lazy/shaky handed to do the volt mod.

If you want to try and get >3.0GHz off a 146, then why in the hell are you using a $70 board? You won't see any major changes in future BIOS updates such as increased Vcore or Vdimm, or higher allowed HTT's.

If you want extreme OC's, then buy an OC'ing board.

 

[fustercluck]

Originally posted by: Ike0069

Originally posted by: jacktackle
Sorry for not reading the thread much, but will ASrock ever release a bios that allowed for higher voltage? I wanna get this thing past 3 ghz and i'm too lazy/shaky handed to do the volt mod.

If you want to try and get >3.0GHz off a 146, then why in the hell are you using a $70 board? You won't see any major changes in future BIOS updates such as increased Vcore or Vdimm, or higher allowed HTT's.

If you want extreme OC's, then buy an OC'ing board.

Because i've seen other people do it. I've seen 3+ ghz on a 146 many times on an ASrock. Plus i don't 'need' to get over 3ghz, i just wanna see how far it will go.

 

[imported_Seer]

I ordered this board from Newegg. It should arrive tomorrow (later today actually, its 1:20 am here). I will report back after I start assembling!

 

[professor1942]

Well, the POS was kind enough to crash on me enough times that I could rule out a whole whack of things:

DVD drive
TV card
USB devices
RAM (single channel vs. dual)
onboard LAN
sound card

I unplugged my secondary SATA HDD and it hasn't crashed since then, so I'll see how that goes...
[edit] crashed

secondary SATA HDD

lol

 

[imported_Seer]

Everything is up and running, and I'm getting ready to install windows. I haven't run a full mem test, but every time, the Memory speed shows up as 129 MHz. Maybe this is just a display issue. For reference, the CPU <> Memory speed, reported by memtext, is ~1300 MB/s. I am using Kngston Value Ram, 2x1GB @ 3-3-3-8. Same thing happens at 1T/2T, and even when I tell the mobo to lower the speed down to 166 Mhz, it still shows up as 128 in memtest. Anyone know what's up?

Other than that, perfect! I'm excited : D

 

[professor1942]

Sounds like you have flexibility option enabled...

 

[hclarkjr]

which ULI integrated driver is best to use for WINXP SP2? are their any problems using them?

 

[imported_Seer]

So I disabled the flexibility option and bumped up the mem speed to 210 MHz, 3-3-3-8 1T, and it passed memtest 10 times overnight.

My memory is only showing up as 1 GB in windows. What's wrong?

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
which ULI integrated driver is best to use for WINXP SP2? are their any problems using them?

I used the latest ones from the web and have had zero issues with this board.

 

[imported_Seer]

Has anyone else had this memory issue?

 

[hclarkjr]

has anybody had problems with USB 2.0 and this motherboard?

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: Seer
So I disabled the flexibility option and bumped up the mem speed to 210 MHz, 3-3-3-8 1T, and it passed memtest 10 times overnight.

My memory is only showing up as 1 GB in windows. What's wrong?

What does CPU-Z show for memory?

 

[imported_Seer]

Problem Fixed. I changed the AGP Aperture size from 256 MB to 128 MB, that seems to fix the entire problem. But for reference, CPU-Z showed 1 GB of memory, yet two sticks of 1 GB each, and dual channel mode. Very contradictory.

RE USB 2.0:
Install the USB 2.0 drivers that are on the ASRock website, then let XP go through the "Automatically Install New Hardware." It will show the new hardware as a "USB 2.0 Root Hub." I'm 90% sure it would still work even if you didn't have XP.

(THIS IS ASSUMING that your problem is the same as mine, hehe. Some of my USB ports weren't working, and the ones that were were coming up as non hi speed.)

 

[kb9nvh]

Wait, aren't the usb2 drivers for win98 only???

Originally posted by: Seer
Problem Fixed. I changed the AGP Aperture size from 256 MB to 128 MB, that seems to fix the entire problem. But for reference, CPU-Z showed 1 GB of memory, yet two sticks of 1 GB each, and dual channel mode. Very contradictory.

RE USB 2.0:
Install the USB 2.0 drivers that are on the ASRock website, then let XP go through the "Automatically Install New Hardware." It will show the new hardware as a "USB 2.0 Root Hub." I'm 90% sure it would still work even if you didn't have XP.

(THIS IS ASSUMING that your problem is the same as mine, hehe. Some of my USB ports weren't working, and the ones that were were coming up as non hi speed.)

 

[imported_Seer]

Yea, you're not supposed to need to install the USB drivers on XP SP1 or SP2. But its working perfect now, and previously, none of my ports were coming up as high speed, and some wouldn't even work.

 

[Spatulator]

I finally got my agp Nvidia 6800gt, and my pcie ATI x800gto to coexist last night after alot of struggling with different combinations of drivers, bios options and monitor configurations. I tried to find some info on how to get this to work before the whole trial and error session but after scouring forums and manufacturer's sites, the little information I could find didn't seem to work for my setup.

I have read conflicting accounts of how to set this up, and I can only conclude that with different video cards your setup may have to be completely different than mine so take this with a grain of salt. I would say if you have an nvidia agp card and an ati pcie card this is a pretty safe bet.

1. Uninstall drivers for both video cards
2. Install both of them in their respective slots
3. Connect your main display up to the agp card (nvidia in this case)
4. On boot up, go into the bios and make sure agp is selected as the primary graphics adapter
5. In windows, install latest nvidia driver
6. Reboot then in windows install the latest ati driver, but make sure you ONLY install the driver, no hydravision, no catalyst control panel
7. Reboot and youre done. You can now extend your desktop to the ati card through display properties.

With this configuration I cannot do any direct3d stuff on the ati card so its not perfect but its the best I could do. If anyone else has an idea about how to get direct 3d to work Im all ears. Installing ati drivers first, or installing catalyst/hydravision causes the nvidia card to either display nothing, or it will only display 640x480 16 colors with this setup

 

[stockriderman]

For those who have an x2 on this board,what setting would you recommend. I am running auto at the moment
Everything is stock. I'd like maybe 2.4ghz. nothing crazy.

 

[Arkham]

I have 3 PCI cards and an X800XT Platinum -- do you think everything will fit? I'm not sure if the gfx card's cooler is going to block my slots.

I just bought a sweet NEC-chipped USB card and an Intel Pro Gigabit card, so I'm hoping to use them and bypass the on-board USB/ethernet.

 

[Double Echo]

Originally posted by: Arkham
I have 3 PCI cards and an X800XT Platinum -- do you think everything will fit? I'm not sure if the gfx card's cooler is going to block my slots.

I just bought a sweet NEC-chipped USB card and an Intel Pro Gigabit card, so I'm hoping to use them and bypass the on-board USB/ethernet.

Is the X800XT AGP or PCI? (I'm not sure if they made an AGP set for that model). If it's PCI-E you should be ok, but I'd make sure you have a good way to vent it. I just RMA'd a ATI 9800 Pro AGP card because it burned up. It looks like having a sound card right under it didn't allow for decent cooling, even with fans on the side panel, rear, and top of the case providing good airflow. The card started acting flaky after I got this board, and when I took it out over the weekend the card was hot to the touch (not just the heatsink, the whole damn card!). The card had a nice aroma of burnt electronics too, and the card has never been overclocked.

Just keep that in mind with so many cards in there; Get an air duct for the slot below the PCI-E card if you can, or if it's AGP, find some good way to vent it.

 

[Arkham]

Originally posted by: Double Echo

Originally posted by: Arkham
I have 3 PCI cards and an X800XT Platinum -- do you think everything will fit? I'm not sure if the gfx card's cooler is going to block my slots.

I just bought a sweet NEC-chipped USB card and an Intel Pro Gigabit card, so I'm hoping to use them and bypass the on-board USB/ethernet.

Is the X800XT AGP or PCI? (I'm not sure if they made an AGP set for that model). If it's PCI-E you should be ok, but I'd make sure you have a good way to vent it.
<snip>
Just keep that in mind with so many cards in there; Get an air duct for the slot below the PCI-E card if you can, or if it's AGP, find some good way to vent it.

Thanks for the reply! The x800xt is an AGP card, actually. Do you think that's going to interfere with the PCI slots? I don't think the blower on this model is as big as previous ones.

 

[Spatulator]

Thats 2 pci cards by my count. You will definitely have access to 2 slots. Also you have a higher bandwidth pcie x1 slot. Siig makes some inexpensive pcie cards for many common pci devices.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Arkham

Originally posted by: Double Echo

Originally posted by: Arkham
I have 3 PCI cards and an X800XT Platinum -- do you think everything will fit? I'm not sure if the gfx card's cooler is going to block my slots.

I just bought a sweet NEC-chipped USB card and an Intel Pro Gigabit card, so I'm hoping to use them and bypass the on-board USB/ethernet.

Is the X800XT AGP or PCI? (I'm not sure if they made an AGP set for that model). If it's PCI-E you should be ok, but I'd make sure you have a good way to vent it.
<snip>
Just keep that in mind with so many cards in there; Get an air duct for the slot below the PCI-E card if you can, or if it's AGP, find some good way to vent it.

Thanks for the reply! The x800xt is an AGP card, actually. Do you think that's going to interfere with the PCI slots? I don't think the blower on this model is as big as previous ones.

Is the X800XT's cooler a single or double slot cooler? My 6800GT (AGP) has a single slot cooler and I'm running it next to three PCI cards just fine - though it is an extremely tight fit between the card's heatsink and my HDTV tuner (like 2mm or less). If it's a single slot cooler you can access all 3 slots; if it's dual-slot then you can only use two.