Bios Hangs on my CUSL2

[WishMaster]

Whenever I Restart my computer, it will load up bios and while its going through the memory check it will just stop loading everything else, and sit there forever. So i just restart it, and it will do the same thing. It takes alot of tries to get it to finally work. I am running Bios revision 1002, btw. Hope someone can help me. restarting is something i fear now

 

[TuffGuy]

is your processor overclocked?

 

[WishMaster]

yea, 700@875. Its stable...and i've tried lowering it and that didnt help the bios at all.

 

[fxsts]

Check your memory speed setting. If you are running PC100 CAS 3 memory stick(s) at 125Mhz CAS2, you might get some problem like that. Try it with only one memory stick if you are using more than one.

 

[AndyHui]

Try setting your RAM to SPD settings. Depending on the amount of RAM that you have, you may also wish to set SDRAM Data Driving Strength to Strong

I would suggest going with the latest BIOSes, either 1003 Final or 1005 Beta 007.

 

[WishMaster]

im running 128 of Kingston PC133 at CAS2, ill try a that SDRAM setting u suggested too

 

[Rebels7]

My be the "cold boot" problem which is common to this board.

 

[Octoberblue]

I haven't heard of a cold boot problem with this board. I've heard that with some VIA boards. What is the cold boot problem? The memory you're running shouldn't cause a problem. In any case, go with the latest BIOS from Asus like AndyHui said. They support intel products out the wazoo and they do a great job with their BIOS updates.

 

[WishMaster]

hm....cold boot? like the processor is too cold to boot up ur saying? Becuase i have CPU Ducting with a 80mm fan blowing on my FOP32..., and i have noticed that i can not run at the defualt MHZ, which is 700. :-/

 

[AndyHui]

The cold boot problem on the CUSL2 results where a processor cannot start at an overclocked speed at default voltage. Some processors need more than their default voltage, ie 1.65 volts, to start at an overclocked speed, ie 700@933. The CUSL2 does not load user selected voltages until after POST has completed. This results in some systems that work perfectly fine at overclocked speed on a warm boot, but won't dance on cold boot.

 

[ColdBrew]

I am also having this problem. And I've had it on two different systems. Both using the cusl2 mother board.

At first I was running my system at 933 OC'ed from 700. But I didn't have any pc133 memory so I ran it at pc100 speed. I never had any pauses and things were good.

I later built a system for my father in law using the same model memory chip and motherboard, but I purchased him some pc133 memory. It was the cheap stuff, but it worked fine. But I noticed that his system would pause at the very same spot (right before the memory check) you describe. Actually I always thought it was hung, but it turns out that if you wait long enough it will start to boot like normal. I thought it was a heat problem until...

I bought two sticks of the mushkin rev 3 memory that they had on special a few days back. Now that I have my memory running at pc133 instead of pc100, my system now pauses on boot!!!! And the higher I push the speed of the memory and cpu the longer the pause is at boot time. If I go all the way to 149 mhz bus speed (it is stable at this speed at 1.9v) then it can take 5-10 minutes before it will go past the memory check part of the startup! At 1 gig (143 cpu and memory bus speed) it can take from 5 seconds to 2 minutes to boot.

At 933 and 1 ghz I do not need to increase my voltage above the default of 1.7v (cco steping). My cpu is at 90 deg at idle and only gets to 105 under a full load. those temptures are all fine.

It has something to do with the memory speed. memory at 100 mhz all is good, memory at 133 and pauses on boot.

Sorry I don't have an answer, but I need one also. But this is not a heat problem, it is something else.

Someone please help!

 

[AndyHui]

ColdBrew: as stated in one of my posts above, try setting SDRAM Data Driving Strength to Strong in the BIOS.

 

[ColdBrew]

Sorry, I missed that!
I've also read that disabling USB might help, but I'm not willing to go that far even if it does fix it.

 

[WishMaster]

yea, mine will hang during the memory check(ie, will load about half the memory and then just stop) and it will complete memory check, but will not continue to load after that. Im gonna try out Andy's suggestion now

 

[ColdBrew]

Well, after getting home yestarday and trying the above changes, disabling the USB controller or removing all the USB devices does fix the problem. But, I must say that is not an option I can live with. The memory changes didn't seem to have any effect on the pausing before the memory check. It seems that ASUS should release a bios to fix this problem. I know that this must be a universal problem with OCing and USB devices. Everyone I know personally that has the CUSL2 is having this problem. I talked to another friend after posting this message and he also stated he had the same problem.

 

[AndyHui]

ColdBrew: again, try the links in my post above for BIOSes.

 

[WishMaster]

the SDRAM Data Driving strenth to strong tip seemed to help, i havent tested it out a bunch yet, but when i put it on it worked nice and good thanks for the tip . also is there any side effects with this?

 

[Rebels7]

According to Asus, setting the SDRAM Data Driving strenth to strong should only be done if there are at least two memory slots filled.

 

[ColdBrew]

Last night I installed a MS Natural Internet Pro keyboard with the two USB ports on the back of it. When I moved the explorer mouse USB connector to the back of the keyboard, it seems to have either stoped the pausing or at least made the pause much quicker. Go figure. The mother board is checking for USB devices during the pause, thats for sure. You can watch the LED light on the back of the mouse and tell that it is sort of scanning the USB devices.

 

[WonderfulDuff]

Try disabling USB legacy support only. This means you won't be able to use your USB devices in safe mode or when doing a clean windows install but otherwise USB devices should work.