Overclock causing read/write errors?

[PurdueRy]

I switched to a Venice architecture S754 3200+ processor in order to have some fun overclocking it.

The weird thing is I noticed a week into running my overclock that my Seagate hard drive(SATA) had switched into PIO mode because windows had detected CRC errors. So I started checking my computer to see what was wrong. I did tests on the hard drive and they came back that the hard drive was "healthy" using seagate's diagnostics tools. Also, I tried changing the SATA cable that I had just bought(shorter) to the older SATA cable. The problem persisted, after a little bit of time windows would switch the hard drive into PIO mode.

The only way I have been able to stop the error from occurring is to set everything back to factory default settings(no overclock). I don't quite understand this as the overclock was 100% stable(PRIME95 test) and even if I backed it off a little further, the problem still occurred.

Does anyone know anything I could try in order to stop this problem and maintain an overclock. My overclock wasn't anything astounding either.(2.2 GHz -> 2.57 GHz before it hit a "brick wall" even with more voltage)

Thanks all.

EDIT: I just noticed in the overclocking guide at the top of this page that it says that SATA 1 and 2 are often not locked. Was this true with older S754 boards as well? My motherboard is the MSI K8N neo Platinum. Another oddity is I can't lower the multiplier and still get this board to boot for some reason.

 

[Idontcare]

Sounds like your overclock was 100% stable provided you intended to run Prime95...stability means nothing except for the application of interest and if your application of interest involves expecting error-free hard-drive writes then I recommend employing that metric of success in your evaluation of what is a stable overclock for your computer.

I had my computer overclocked and "stable" per Orthos runs...but it would still do random reboots when under full load by the software application I actually use. The moral - define stable with respect to your applications needs.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yes, it's possible that some or all of the sata ports are unlocked. It's also possible that ram is causing the problem. Are you using a divider or overclocking your ram?

To find out if you PCI bus (sata ports) is locked you can download the correct version of clockgen for your board/chipset and it will show you the PCI clock speed

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Yes, it's possible that some or all of the sata ports are unlocked. It's also possible that ram is causing the problem. Are you using a divider or overclocking your ram?

To find out if you PCI bus (sata ports) is locked you can download the correct version of clockgen for your board/chipset and it will show you the PCI clock speed

I was running a Divider, the ram was technically underclocked

 

[theMan]

It is very common. I have ****ed up so many systems because of corrupted data. Make sure the PCI bus is locked. Some motherboards are notorious for having locks that do not work correctly.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
EDIT: I just noticed in the overclocking guide at the top of this page that it says that SATA 1 and 2 are often not locked. Was this true with older S754 boards as well? My motherboard is the MSI K8N neo Platinum. Another oddity is I can't lower the multiplier and still get this board to boot for some reason.

It was only true with nForce 3 chipsets, which your K8N Neo Platinum has. Only ports 3 & 4 are locked on that board. As far as why it won't boot with anything other than the stock cpu multiplier, I have no idea. Mine would boot at anything between 5x and 12x (the stock multiplier for the 3700 I had in it).

 

[cbuchach]

Yes, I have all sorts of weird issues with overclocking. Make sure to lock your buses if possible and test with as many different programs as you can. I always found the encoding a Divx movie to be about the most stressful thing for my system. I had my old P4 Prime95 stable and it would fail at encoding.

Also, as summer nears, your "winter overclocks" may not be stable with the summer heat. I had to clock my current system down a few pegs for the summer.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: PurdueRy
EDIT: I just noticed in the overclocking guide at the top of this page that it says that SATA 1 and 2 are often not locked. Was this true with older S754 boards as well? My motherboard is the MSI K8N neo Platinum. Another oddity is I can't lower the multiplier and still get this board to boot for some reason.

It was only true with nForce 3 chipsets, which your K8N Neo Platinum has. Only ports 3 & 4 are locked on that board. As far as why it won't boot with anything other than the stock cpu multiplier, I have no idea. Mine would boot at anything between 5x and 12x (the stock multiplier for the 3700 I had in it).

Thanks for that info. I was not aware that some motherboards didn't lock the PCI bus. I placed my SATA drives on SATA connectors 3 and 4(Whoever though of the positioning of those connectors should be shot ). We'll see if I get read and write errors with both all my sata drives on those channels.

Thanks again everyone

 

[PurdueRy]

Alright I have had it @ 2.55GHz for a day now and windows has not downgraded it to PIO mode. I might attempt to push it to 2600 and see if that was what was causing my errors at that point...I doubt it...but would be interesting to see.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: cbuchach
Also, as summer nears, your "winter overclocks" may not be stable with the summer heat...

WeRd!!!