Is my X6800 DOA, or is it the P5W DH?

[InterMurph]

I got my X6800 from MicroCenter today. I think it is DOA.

I popped an old Pentium into my P5W DH Deluxe and upgraded its BIOS to version 0801. I then restarted and verified that the BIOS was upgraded successfully.

I pulled the Pentium and put my brand new Core 2 Duo X6800 in, and installed the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 heat sink/fan unit. I turned on the power, and got nothing.

I pulled it out and replaced the Pentium; boots fine. I put the X6800 back in, and it doesn't make a peep.

What could this be besides a DOA X6800?

Update: I got past this issue with a BIOS upgrade (to version 1101), and I have started a new thread detailing my further experiences.

 

[InterMurph]

PS I had a heck of a time upgrading the BIOS to 0801. I failed to get the Asus EZ Update utility to recognize my USB flash drive, even though it was definitely powered on.

I burned the BIOS upgrade file (P5WDH801.ROM) onto a CD. The EZ Update utility found the CD, but didn't recognize the file as a ROM upgrade, and wouldn't dispay it to me for selection.

I read somewhere that the file needed to be named P5WDH.ROM, so I burned another CD. No luck.

I finally created a boot CD with Nero, and put the AFUDOS.EXE program on it, along with the P5WDH801.ROM file. I booted from it, then ran "AFUDOS /iP5WDH801.ROM", and it worked.

It took 117 of the 120 minutes I had tonight to get that far.

 

[myocardia]

That means that you've got a DOA X6800. Of course, that's assuming you've got a powerful enough power supply to run that X6800. Do you have at least a 600 watt, name-brand power supply?

 

[CyborgNinja117]

doubt its a psu problem, X6800 uses less power than a p4 3.0ghz i think. pop back that pentium in, if it boots then its the conroe

 

[stevty2889]

Did you reset the cmos after updating the bios? It's very very very very rare to get a DOA cpu. Have you tried booting with the bare minimums while using the X6800?

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Did you reset the cmos after updating the bios? It's very very very very rare to get a DOA cpu. Have you tried booting with the bare minimums while using the X6800?

Yes, extremely rare, more so with premium parts like the XE/FX series

 

[InterMurph]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Did you reset the cmos after updating the bios? It's very very very very rare to get a DOA cpu. Have you tried booting with the bare minimums while using the X6800?

I did not reset the CMOS; I'll try that.

And I have a 380-watt Asus power supply (in my Asus P180 case), and it's only running the processor, a Radeon X1300 video card, a 10K RPM hard disk, and a CD-ROM. I'll try booting it again without the hard disk and the CD.

I realized this morning that I can also try the X6800 in the server that the Pentium 4 520 came out of. It's a Dell SC420; hopefully there is a BIOS available for it that will boot a Core 2 Duo.

Thanks.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: InterMurph
PS I had a heck of a time upgrading the BIOS to 0801. I failed to get the Asus EZ Update utility to recognize my USB flash drive, even though it was definitely powered on.

I burned the BIOS upgrade file (P5WDH801.ROM) onto a CD. The EZ Update utility found the CD, but didn't recognize the file as a ROM upgrade, and wouldn't dispay it to me for selection.

I read somewhere that the file needed to be named P5WDH.ROM, so I burned another CD. No luck.

I finally created a boot CD with Nero, and put the AFUDOS.EXE program on it, along with the P5WDH801.ROM file. I booted from it, then ran "AFUDOS /iP5WDH801.ROM", and it worked.

It took 117 of the 120 minutes I had tonight to get that far.

Even in todays PC's, never underestimate the importance of an 'ol floppy drive. This of course is me assuming the ASUS board does have a floppy connector and the BIOS and flash utility combined are less than 1.44MB.

 

[InterMurph]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Even in todays PC's, never underestimate the importance of an 'ol floppy drive. This of course is me assuming the ASUS board does have a floppy connector and the BIOS and flash utility combined are less than 1.44MB.

The ROM image is 1MB, and the update program is only 48K. So it would have fit on a floppy, if my system had one. But the CD ROM worked fine.

My real complaint was with the EZ Flash program built into the BIOS. It is the perfect solution to this problem, had it worked! It never recognized my USB flash drive, and although it did recognize the CD, it couldn't "find" the ROM image file. And it wouldn't let me type the name in; it only let me pick it from a filtered list. Which didn't show it, of course.

 

[InterMurph]

I found a repot elsewhere saying that my processor (x6800) requires version 0901 of the BIOS. I saw that version last night on the Asus web site, but it was marked as "beta".

Now that I need it, I can't find it on their web site any more!

Then I found this on the Asus web site:

CPU/Motherboard Selector

It says I need BIOS revision 1101. But when I click the "Go" button, it takes me to a download page that contains only the 0801 revision.

I guess I need to call Asus support...

 

[InterMurph]

I just got off the phone with a very knowledgable Asus tech-support guy. He said that I do want the 1101 BIOS.

He said that it's on the Asus web page he was looking at, but it wasn't on mine. So he emailed it to me!

 

[myocardia]

InterMurph, want to know what is by far the best thing about buying an Asus motherboard? You guessed it, their tech support. Glad you got your problems fixed.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Glad you got it figured out!

Now crank it, and spank it, and show us what it will do

 

[InterMurph]

I flashed the 1101 ROM, and now it boots! If anybody needs the 1101 flash file, please let me know.

I saw one message during POST that concerned me; it said that my memory was "PC2-5300 Dual Channel Interleaved", when it is in fact Corsair PC2-1067...

 

[InterMurph]

OK, so now that I got past this issue, I am starting a new thread detailing my experience:

New thread