instability with asus p4p800

[shattr1d]

i have an asus p4p800 motherboard and i got it not to long ago. its a very powerful board and i love it but im getting abnormal instability problems during certain games. with my last motherboard setup i had not one problem at all. everything from my last setup is the same except motherboard and ram. when i play games like counter-strike its unstable but games like warcraft3 of unreal tournament 2k* its fine. it will either lockup and crash to the desktop with ati's vpu recover recovering it or it will just blackout makign a screetching noise to my headphones and i have to manually restart it. if anyone will be able to help me out here i will greatly appreciate it.

cpu: 2.4b 533fsb
motherboard: asus p4p800
video card: ati radeon 9700pro BBA
ram: 2 X 256MB pc3500 centon advanced ddr
sound: audigy2
power supply: eg365p-ve(fca)

 

[boshuter]

Your problem may not be the motherboard. When I first got my P4P800 I was running a 9700pro AIW and I had a lot of instability problems, I switched to a non-AIW 9700pro and still had the problem. From a lot of research I found that the 9700pro's had a lot of problems with certain mb's. To make a long story short, I bought a 9800pro and haven't had a glitch since. This is very likely if you have one of the earlier version 9700pro's. If this is your problem, or to see if it may be....... turn off "fast writes" in the ATI control panel and run the card at AGP 4X. If this helps, the problem is probably the video card.

 

[Slammy1]

The VPU recovery indicates it's almost certainly VPU related, but the connection may not be as direct as stated. I run a 9700AIW on the P4P800-D, and the only real problem is with the TiVo functionality and one game (KoTOR). Driver installation is critical boith in the install order and catalyst version. Some versions just really FUBAR'd my system, but going back and installing them on a new Windows install fixed them. I've come to avoid jumping on the latest greatest bandwagon for driver updates in general, preferring a stable setup to the fastest and simply doing without certain functionality. When I install XP, I'll proceed in this order which seems to minimize issues:

1. XP itself
2. Chipset utilities and application accelerator if applicable (latest versions)
3. DirectX
4. Video drivers (again, latest).
5. Other hardware drivers
6. Sound drivers

The thing about the P4P800 is you have to work around the balance issue. It's easy to get a trickle down effect when you update core drivers that upsets others leading to an unstable install. Some drivers can be updated without reinstalling like the iTouch software and Mouseware, but any core drivers like chipset utilities, IAA, or video drivers I've learned to update on installing windows only. I'm getting quite good at reinstalls (though I haven't done one in a bit), and have the dual Raptors for speedier installs. Your A2 may also cause probs if not installed in the right order. You might even consider not installing the card untill all other drivers are installed then installing the A2 and its drivers.

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums shattr1d If the memory voltage is set to Auto, you might also want to try boosting it just a little, to 2.6-2.7 volts, if the other suggestions aren't resolving the problem.

Also, since you're using the Audigy 2, disable the motherboard's onboard audio, MIDI, Gameport and Firewire in the BIOS, and try the Audigy 2 in PCI slot 4 (#1 is the top one).

 

[shattr1d]

Im sorry i couldnt get back to this forum in time. the forum seemed to be down for maintenence. i will try everything you guys say. i thank you guys for all the help and hope something works. if there is anymore information i can give you guys to further help me just name it. i might be able to try my friends 9800pro and see what happens in my computer to see if it is the video card.

 

[shattr1d]

Also i was wondering how do i see what revision of my 9700 Pro that i have. i wanted to see if it was an early version. this theory does make sense because it worked perfectly in my last motherboard which was an asus p4t533-c which was fairly old but hauled balls with this card and processor in it with the rambus and all.

 

[Uclagamer_99]

i have a 9700 pro in this same mobo and have no issues.

however the fact that there is a section on 9700/9800 pros in the asus section probably means there have been others with this issue

Asus FAQ

 

[shattr1d]

it had to be my video card. i put it in agp 4x like boshuter said and it calmed the crashing. i dont have to much money ut im saving for a 9800pro because i need it for proper agp 8x(not like games can utilize all of its bandwidth now) but i want a card thats fully supported by my board and its beefy.