ASUS P5WDG2 WS Pro/E6600 Core 2 Duo issues

[Shadarak]

I recently picked up the following package from NewEgg:

Asus P5WDG2 WS Pro mb
Intel E6600
Crucial 2x1g PC2-6400 Ballistix ram
BFG 8800 GTS oc @ 640mb (just 1)

(Salvaged some parts from my old system
Viewsonic VX2025wm LCD
Windows XP Home edition (32 bit with sp2)
OCZ 520w Powerstream PS
CoolerMaster Stacker case
36g Raptor (as Boot disk 1)
40g IDE WD (as Boot disk2)

Got it all together but I can't seem to get the memory running at the 6400. Wants to not post and go back to 5300. Other than this and the boot sequence all settings are default factory setting on the mb. I'll come back to this a little later.

The graphics card is recognizing VGA monitors with a VGA/Digital adapter but wont recognize a straight digital cable...no signal to the monitor. This doesn't seem to matter what port I'm using on the card or what PCIe slot the card is set into.

After trying it seems everything imaginable, I still cant get the signal to work and note that everytime I moved or disconnected the card or the cable going to the card I usually had to clear CMOS and reset the BIOS after default to get it to boot. I've done it so many times now that after clearing CMOS and resetting the settings (ie. boot disk sequence) sometimes I just get a screen that says "WAIT..." (I've waited up to 30 mins for this screen to clear but it never does). I don't have a good feeling about that.

The LCD works on my old 6800ultra digital to digital just fine but nothing with the 8800.

I had the mb set on "Performance" but now it doesn't want to post even with the memory running at 4600 so now its up and running with the mb set to "Stable" but my cpu mhz is down to 1600mhz.

I talked to Crucials tech support and they told me I can get 6400 out of the RAM if I up the voltage to it to 2.2v. I did and it posted ok but then windows crashed on booting and I had to clear CMOS in order to be able to post again...

This should be a rocking system even stock with no oc but I am having an issue getting even stock speeds out of it, any ideas?

I also wanna know if you think the ram issue is in any way tied to the graphics card failure to recognize a digital signal. I talked to BFG and they said that because its a hardware issue I'll probably need to RMA the card back to NewEgg...

I'm also wondering if the PS might be an issue. When I talked to the Crucial and BFG techs they said that the PS should be more than fine with the set up I have if I'm just running at stock speeds but idk...

Is there any chance someone else thats running the same config with this board, cpu and RAM can post there POST settings and voltages?

Its been a week now of being on the phone with techs researching sites, and installing and removing things to the MB after waiting the 5-10 secs after clearing the CMOS jumper...any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Shadarak]

Update:
I can get the mb to recognize the DDR2 800 RAM if I only install 1 stick. If I try to install both sticks of the matched pair it usually wont boot (and definatly wont boot 2x in a row). When I'm only using one stick everything boots up fine, time and time again. I've tried using both sticks in each RAM slot individually with almost no probs (slot 2 seems to want to reset the RAM to 5300 mHz at first but will take the post setting and boot normally after that at the 6400 speed). Is this a mb issue and does anyone know if theres a BIOS fix for this? Or is it a bad mb?

Another issue when the system boots into windows with the 1 stick is the processor speed wants to settle to 1600 mHz after the startup programs are installed. While its installing them its doing it at 24oo mHz. I've disabled the Speedstep feature but its still happening. Is this normal?

 

[Shadarak]

I turned off the Enhanced C1 Control and I was able to see the 2400 MHz when in idle. I went ahead and turned it back on since I know thats working like it should now.

I set the timings to 5-5-5-15 but was still unable to get the system to post with the second stick of RAM. Right now I have it running at the 'DDR2-800 MHz' frequency.

Here's a rundown of the settings I have listed in the ADVANCED-JUMPERFREE CONFIG submenu:

AI Overclocking Manual
CPU Frequency 266
DRAM Frequency DDR2-800 MHz

Performance Mode Standard
PCI Express Frequency Auto
PCI Clock Synch Mode Auto
CPU Clock Spread Spectrum Disabled
PCIE Clock Spread Specrum Disabled

Mem Voltage 2.20v
CPU vCore Voltage Auto
FSB Termination Voltage Auto
MCH Chipset Voltage Auto
ICH Chipset Voltage Auto


Under the ADVANCED-CHIPSET submenu:

Configure DRAM Timings By SPD Disabled
DRAM CAS# Latency 5
DRAM RAS# Precharge 5
DRAM RAS# TO CAS# Delay 5
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precha 15
DRAM Write Recovery Time 5
DRAM Read Only Auto
DRAM ECC Mode Disabled
Hyper Path 3 Disabled
DRAM Throttling Threshold Auto
Boot Graphic Adapter Priority PCIE/PCI
PEG Buffer Length Auto
Link Latency Auto
PEG Root Control Auto
PEG Link Mode Auto
Slot Power Auto
High Priority Port Select Disabled

Anyone see anything in this that would explain why I cant get the second memory module to work?

 

[Shadarak]

If I jump the voltage on the RAM to 2.3v does anyone think this will help the MB to recognize the second stick? I called Asus and they told me that its faulty RAM. It could be but since I can get the MB to recognize each stick individually on each of the slots but can't seem to get them both to be recognized I'm not to sure of their assesment.

Does anyone know what hte voltage tolerances of the DDR2-800 PC2-6400 Crucial Ballistix RAM is? Crucial says 2.2v is what I should have for this RAM.

 

[orion23]

I use to run the same setup a while ago...

Have you tried updating the bios?

First, enter the bios, then load the setup defaults. Restart

Then change the RAM Voltage to 2.2V. Restart

Leave timings under AUTO

Go into the bios and start the bios update program. (USE A FLOPPY)

Try again!