Hello, peeps. So I finally baught myself a new system on April 15th. I was expecting tons of things to go wrong in the process of building it, OCing it, etc. Much to my surprise, things went almost perfectly for 3 weeks. I had reached the border of my OCs and was experimenting with different FSB settings and such. I was happy with my new system and considered it as proof that putting up with gossipy co-workers pays off. Everything was peachy... untill late last night when I got home...
The what:
E6420 with Zalman 9700 @ 3.5 Ghz, 1.45 vcore
Asus P5B Deluxe @ 435 FSB, NB 1.45, SB 1.5
G.Skill 6700 dual kit memory 2x1GB sticks @ 1080 Mhz 5-5-5-12-2T, 2.4v
EVGA 8800 GTS 320 MB @ 1620 GPU, 816 Memory
Corsair HX 620W
Win XP 32bit
The when:
I leave my comps on 24/7 as was the case lastnight when I got home. No one had touched my PC since I last did early that day when it was working fine. I jump on and try to run a game that I usually play and right away I get a software critical error crash. So I figure it doesn't like my OC settings and reboot to change it. As the comp is shutting down, I get a BSOD right at the end of the process. Hmm..
I lower the memory timings a bit and try to load Windows. As Windows is loading, I get a BSOD right before the Windows splash screen ends. Strange indeed.
So I go back into BIOS, lower the FSB a bit and lower the vcore to 1.4 and memory from 2.4v to 2.3v because I had them raised higher than necessary to give myself room to OC. I save and exit BIOS and that's when the chaos starts. My system no longer posts. OK, remain calm, I must.
The how:
Unfortunately, I have no other similar/compatible system to test parts on and don't have acess to one either (I won't trust comp shops after what I've seen/been through with them).
After doing some research and combined with my own knowledge, here is everything I've tried, to no success:
1) I reset CMOS pretty much every way possible. I reset jumper several times. I took out the battery several times. I even had the battery out and power plug disconnected 3 hours lastnight and even tried taking out the battery, putting jumper on clear CMOS and hitting the power switch because I read these suggestions somewhere and everyone knows everything on the internet is true. None of this worked for me, however.
2) I went barebones, of course. Laid the mobo out on the mobo box with the anti static bag in between. With no RAM the mobo makes the long, short short - long short, short beep pattern. OK, mobo seems fine.
a) With 1-2 stick/s of RAM the beeping stops. I put the vid card back on and TADA... no progress. I did notice that even after a few minute of being on, the area under the CPU never got considerably warm. In fact, it grew at the same temp rate as the rest of the mobo. Hmm!
b) This lead me to believe my CPU was the culpurit and I decided to try and check it out and reseat it just for kicks. It looked and smelled fine so I reseated it and put the HSF back on. With 1 RAM, vid card, and CPU I went ahead and tried to post. IT POSTED! It quickly went by the POST screens and to the bootable device is missing screen. This is where I screwed up and turned the switch on the PSU off to connect my KB, because after that it never POSTed again. I tried redoing everything I did and still won't POST again no matter what I try. I shouldve connected the KB and tried resetting when it POSTed that one time! Arrrrgh!.
The why:
So... the CPU seems fine, right? Then perhaps it's the motherboard? I read others had similar problems with Asus P5s not POSTing for no particular reason.
Thankfully I still can return the CPU to Sparco for a few more days for a replacement. Same for the other parts at Newegg. But I want to be sure of what to RMA before I go all crazy and just RMA half the system, haha.
If you've read this far... well, you deserve some sort of nobel prize. Seriously though, I sure hope some of you more knowledgable folks out there can lend me some advice while I still maintain some sort of sanity.
Cheers.
The what:
E6420 with Zalman 9700 @ 3.5 Ghz, 1.45 vcore
Asus P5B Deluxe @ 435 FSB, NB 1.45, SB 1.5
G.Skill 6700 dual kit memory 2x1GB sticks @ 1080 Mhz 5-5-5-12-2T, 2.4v
EVGA 8800 GTS 320 MB @ 1620 GPU, 816 Memory
Corsair HX 620W
Win XP 32bit
The when:
I leave my comps on 24/7 as was the case lastnight when I got home. No one had touched my PC since I last did early that day when it was working fine. I jump on and try to run a game that I usually play and right away I get a software critical error crash. So I figure it doesn't like my OC settings and reboot to change it. As the comp is shutting down, I get a BSOD right at the end of the process. Hmm..
I lower the memory timings a bit and try to load Windows. As Windows is loading, I get a BSOD right before the Windows splash screen ends. Strange indeed.
So I go back into BIOS, lower the FSB a bit and lower the vcore to 1.4 and memory from 2.4v to 2.3v because I had them raised higher than necessary to give myself room to OC. I save and exit BIOS and that's when the chaos starts. My system no longer posts. OK, remain calm, I must.
The how:
Unfortunately, I have no other similar/compatible system to test parts on and don't have acess to one either (I won't trust comp shops after what I've seen/been through with them).
After doing some research and combined with my own knowledge, here is everything I've tried, to no success:
1) I reset CMOS pretty much every way possible. I reset jumper several times. I took out the battery several times. I even had the battery out and power plug disconnected 3 hours lastnight and even tried taking out the battery, putting jumper on clear CMOS and hitting the power switch because I read these suggestions somewhere and everyone knows everything on the internet is true. None of this worked for me, however.
2) I went barebones, of course. Laid the mobo out on the mobo box with the anti static bag in between. With no RAM the mobo makes the long, short short - long short, short beep pattern. OK, mobo seems fine.
a) With 1-2 stick/s of RAM the beeping stops. I put the vid card back on and TADA... no progress. I did notice that even after a few minute of being on, the area under the CPU never got considerably warm. In fact, it grew at the same temp rate as the rest of the mobo. Hmm!
b) This lead me to believe my CPU was the culpurit and I decided to try and check it out and reseat it just for kicks. It looked and smelled fine so I reseated it and put the HSF back on. With 1 RAM, vid card, and CPU I went ahead and tried to post. IT POSTED! It quickly went by the POST screens and to the bootable device is missing screen. This is where I screwed up and turned the switch on the PSU off to connect my KB, because after that it never POSTed again. I tried redoing everything I did and still won't POST again no matter what I try. I shouldve connected the KB and tried resetting when it POSTed that one time! Arrrrgh!.
The why:
So... the CPU seems fine, right? Then perhaps it's the motherboard? I read others had similar problems with Asus P5s not POSTing for no particular reason.
Thankfully I still can return the CPU to Sparco for a few more days for a replacement. Same for the other parts at Newegg. But I want to be sure of what to RMA before I go all crazy and just RMA half the system, haha.
If you've read this far... well, you deserve some sort of nobel prize. Seriously though, I sure hope some of you more knowledgable folks out there can lend me some advice while I still maintain some sort of sanity.
Cheers.
