CPU Frequency Problems - P4 2.53 533 bus and Asus P4T533-C

[quantumgoo]

I recently decided to put together a new computer, and purchased a P4 2.53 (533 fsb) and Asus P4T533-C. After assembling all the components, I'm having some problems. Intially, in the bios I set the clock speed to 2533 (I was given three options: 2533, 1900, and 'manual'). Upon shutting down and rebooting for the first time however, my system hung at bootup. When restarting again, I was taken directly to the bios, with an error message that the system had hung due to an incorrect clock speed.

I then tried setting the clock speed to 1900 just to see what would happen. With this setting, everything appeared stable - no crashes, no error messages. (note that I only used the default settings the card provided - I haven't tried setting anything manually as I'm unfamiliar with the frequency multipier, etc.)

I've been trying to diagnose my problem, but am not making much progress - is it a bad motherboard, CPU (my guess), or something else entirely? If anyone could give me some help here, it would be very much appreciate it! It's really been frustrating to spend all this money, only to have a computer that does not work correctly.

 

[Scipionix]

Hey, I'm working on the same system right now except with a 1.8A. It ran fine initially and I think the BIOS was set to manual. I tried changing the FSB from 100 to 133 to run the CPU at 2.4 GHz and after saving and exiting I got the overclock error message. After turning the power off and on again it worked but again it would fail after saving and exiting from BIOS. I don't think I had any problems with the automatic 2400 setting. I suggest that if the auto 2533 isn;t working you switch to manual and set the FSB to 133/33. Try both the manual and auto settings a few times. Or you could just have a bad chip for all I know.

 

[Scipionix]

I forgot to add that if changing BIOS settings doesn't work, you could try setting the multiplier and frequency on the motherboard. Change jumper JEN from 2-3 to 1-2 and set dip swithes 1-4 to off, off, on, off and set switches 6-10 to on, off, on, on, off. It's all in the manual, pp. 22-24.

 

[Bozo Galora]

scopionix: your situation is different - you ARE overclocking

quantumgoo: set clock in bios manual - 19 multiplier and 133 bus
I dont know why the defaults on latest AMD and Intel dont seem to work - at least at first bootups.
It cant be wrong chip - there is no 1.9 right?

 

[Bozo Galora]

I just checked - there is a 1.9 socket 478. (19X100)
Is there a jumper to switch from jumpers to bios mode?

 

[Scipionix]

Yeah, jumper JEN, right next to the switches

I would have trouble believing that a boxed Intel processer would be mispacked, but if all else fails, you might as well check.

 

[Scipionix]

Bozo: It's set to jumper-free by default.

 

[Bozo Galora]

50% of 2.53's on pricewatch are oem's ($100 cheaper)
keep trying to get manual from asus site - still not there

time to look up spec numbers

I would also like to know vendor purchased from

 

[Scipionix]

There's no manual on the site as far as I know. What do you need to know?

 

[Bozo Galora]

I just want to see it, nothing special.
I'm waiting for P4T533 (no "C")

 

[Scipionix]

Isn't it the same except that you have to buy Asus's special 232 pin, dual channel RIMMs? Sounds like paying more for an inconvenience that provides no performance benefit.

 

[Bozo Galora]

I really dont want to get sucked into a debate here, so let me just say RDRIMM 4200 32 bit is faster than PC1066 and the P4T533 is suposed to be more overclocking friendly. To me this means possibly a 166 top end (or higher) and more dividers.
But we wont know until it comes out, will we?
CRIMMS are an inconvenience, not RD4200

 

[Scipionix]

You may be right; I don't know enough about memory to say otherwise. The bandwidth of PC1066 and these new 32 bit RIMMs are both 4.2GB/s on paper, so presumably the new Asus board is supposed to be more convenient rather than faster. But yes, we will have to wait and see.

 

[quantumgoo]

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately though, I still haven't had any luck - after manually changing the settings, I still get the same error. It was mentioned to me in another forum though that it might be the memory, so I'm going to replace it and see if that does the trick (which is going to be fun, since Mushkin is backordered on all PC1066 memory!).

 

[Bozo Galora]

uh, you did put in 2 sticks and their crimm's, right?


Edit

 

[THUGSROOK]

whats the highest FSB available on the P4T533-C?

 

[jbond04]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
whats the highest FSB available on the P4T533-C?

Only 150MHz FSB.

I'm hoping that someone out there knows how to hack a BIOS to fix this to something more reasonable, like 166MHz or even 200MHz.

Quantumgoo, I have some questions for you:

1. Is your processor retail?
2. Exactly what kind of RAM do you have? (Brand/Speed/Latency/Model Number)
3. Which error message does the Asus Post Reporter give you?

I should be able to help you, since I have a 2.53GHz P4 running on the P4T533-C.

 

[THUGSROOK]

scratch another moboard off my list

 

[Zarach]

Quantumgoo,

I am in exactly the same boat you are:

I purchased the p4T533-C and a 2.4GHz/533mhz.
I have (2) 256MB PC1066 made by Kingston (Non ECC) For a total of 512MB. I am using the C-RIMM chips in RIMMA2 and RIMMB2 as explained on page 16 of the manual.

With this hardware, effectively my motherboard should detect my bus speed as 133mhz and my multiplier as 18. When I first boot the computer, it goes into the default bios screen, I have the option for 1800 or 2400. I of course chose 2400. The computer appeared to run fine until I turned the power off. Once I turned it back on, I got the typical "memory problem beep" that you may have heard with other computers (beep...beep...beep...beep nonstop). I did a CMOS clear, and the computer booted right back up. (initially I figured it was a loose RIMM chip and after fiddling around with the chips, I decided to start from scratch)

Like you, I decided to try the lower CPU speed setting of 1800 (100bus X 18) and the system booted at 1800 and stayed stable. I turned off the system, and it immediately came back up.

I decided to play with the dipswitches a bit so I put the board into jumper mode. I set the bus at 133 and the multiplier at 18 manually and the system would not even boot. I bumped the bus speed down to 100 on the dip switches, and it immediately came up at 1800 again. Gave up on that attempt and went back to jumper free mode (on my 4th hour of troubleshooting)

I noticed the motherboard has their "EZ_PLUG" for backward compatibility with older power supplies (I have a power supply with the correct 4 pin connector instead) so I tried an older 300W ATX power supply that I had laying around and had the same problem. (I have had similar odd problems with bad power supplys in the past, so I had to rule this out)

Judging that we are both having the EXACT same problem and assuming we are both running different manufacturer 1066 RIMM's, I would have to say that this is the issue. Tomorrow I will be calling ASUS and grilling them about what may be different about a Kingston 256MB 1066 RIMM VS their boasted Samsung 128MB 1066 RIMM. (According to page 18 of the manual, the board has only been tested with Samsung MR16R0828BN1-CM9 PC1066 128MB chips, which from what I can tell will not be available until July)

Also, I am going to be testing the system with some PC800 RIMM's tomorrow because right now my system is all over in pieces

I am glad someone else is experiencing the same issue's here since I was about to tear my hair out over this and begin replacing everything in the damn system piece by piece. I'm hoping to have more info for you later.

Please post any new info you might have as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Scipionix]

Sorry to hear about the troubles you guys are having. My board works fine with 2x256 Kingston PC1066 modules and a 1.8A at 2.4 GHz. There is an easy way to check if the memory is not stable at the higher bus speed. Set the FSB to 133/33 and then set the RDRAM/FSB frequency ratio to 3x. I think it may run at 3x by default, but you should try this.

 

[Scipionix]

Zarach and Quantumgoo, you didn't buy your parts from the same place, did you?

 

[Bozo Galora]

Quantumgoo:
make sure your chip says SL682 or SL685 spec number (2.53)
or use WCPUID

2.4 400 SL67R SL65R
2.4 533 SL67Z

 

[Zarach]

I bought my RAM at googlegear (they were the only ones I could find with it in stock, www.googlegear.com)

My motherboard came from techdata (my company is a reseller)

My processor came from Insight who ordered it through Ingram Micro

Hope that helps!

 

[jbond04]

Originally posted by: Zarach
I purchased the p4T533-C and a 2.4GHz/533mhz.
I have (2) 256MB PC1066 made by Kingston (Non ECC) For a total of 512MB.

With this hardware, effectively my motherboard should detect my bus speed as 133mhz and my multiplier as 18. When I first boot the computer, it goes into the default bios screen, I have the option for 1800 or 2400. I of course chose 2400. The computer appeared to run fine until I turned the power off. Once I turned it back on, I got the typical "memory problem beep" that you may have heard with other computers (beep...beep...beep...beep nonstop).

Judging that we are both having the EXACT same problem and assuming we are both running different manufacturer 1066 RIMM's, I would have to say that this is the issue. Tomorrow I will be calling ASUS and grilling them about what may be different about a Kingston 256MB 1066 RIMM VS their boasted Samsung 128MB 1066 RIMM. (According to page 18 of the manual, the board has only been tested with Samsung MR16R0828BN1-CM9 PC1066 128MB chips, which from what I can tell will not be available until July)

Please post any new info you might have as well.

Thanks in advance.

This sounds really strange. As I mentioned earlier, I have a 2.53GHz P4, and Asus P4T533-C, and 1GB of 32ns Kingston PC1066 RDRAM, and I have had absolutely no problems with the setup!

Zarach, are you using the Asus Post Reporter to turn those beeps into some actual speech? I don't know any beep codes for the P4T533-C, but if you enable the Post Reporter in the BIOS (make sure your external speakers are hooked up and on), it will actually tell you the problem in plain English. Call me stupid, but that may help us pinpoint the problem better. Also, when you booted, what exactly did you change in the BIOS? The first time I booted, I told it my CPU speed (2533MHz), I set my RDRAM multiplier (4x), and I turned on RDRAM "Turbo" mode. It booted like a charm.

Since then, I've probably booted my computer 50 times (trying to overclock), and I still have yet to have a problem at default speed. Could you post the model number of your RIMMs? (They should be something like KVR1066-8/256). I don't remember what my modules model numbers are, but when I get home tonight I'll post some more. This problem sounds really strange...

 

[Scipionix]

Zarach and Quantumgoo, I just wanted to see if you bought anything from the same dealer because if you had, it might suggest that someone is selling shoddy parts.