Please Help, A8N-SLI Deluxe wont boot when 1T

[gixxer]

original post:

I recently just updated to an AMD 3800 X2 and a 7800 GTX. I updated to the 1015 bios since it was the latest released bios.

The problem that I discovered while trying to overclock the CPU is that whenever I try to change the DRAM configuration to manual and turn on 1T the system wont boot. I get the BSOD, reboot to bios, or will start to post into windows XP but then reboot. When I had my old 3200 winchester I could run at 1T without a problem (as far as the board would let me.. 220?)

I have nice OCZ ram so I don?t know what the issue is?

I have tried the following:
an earlier bios ? 1013 (this is the current one installed)
updated chipset drivers to 6.70 for AMD
ran memtest 86 and it passed.
Upped ram voltage to 2.85

Any advice as to what my problem could be????

Please help!!!

Thanks,

Gixxer

Follow up info:

I have been using the default timings (auto) which go to 2.5, 3, 3, 5. My RAM is rated at 2, 2, 2, 5 1T.

The divider is currently set to 1:1 (200 auto default) while i try to figure this issue out.

Any other ideas???

I paid a premium for this memory in the hopes I could get some good 1T timings and overclocks. It was doing ok before with the older components in my signature below (I haven't updated it yet..) so i am not sure what it causing this behavior?

Could it be a windows XP issue with dual cores? Is there any special program or driver I am supposed to install in XP after installing a dual core CPU?

Thanks,

Gixxer

the ram is set to 200.. basically the system will not post with 1t turned on at any speed.



P.S. This post was originally in the CPU forum because i thought it might be an AMD X2 issue but i did not get much feedback. so i copied my original post and follow up feedback here in the hopes of getting more information/help.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1733871&enterthread=y

 

[wanderer27]

I see you mentioned 2 GB of Valueselect RAM in the other thread so I have to ask, are you using four sticks ? If you are, then you're not going to run at 1T.

 

[gixxer]

no, I am only using 2 sticks of half gig for a total of one gig of ram. My comment about 2 gigs of ram was in reference to the waste of money I spent for "premium" ram that would run at 1T whereas I could have bought 2 gigs of value ram instead if the system wont run at 1T.

Gixxer

 

[wanderer27]

Okay, just wanted to make sure I was understanding everything.

The is a patch from what I understand for the Dual Cores, though I seriously doubt it's going to affect the 1T/2T issue.

There seem to be quite a few people that have similar problems using the X2's, but generally that is with the older ones (Memory Controller). I would think that if you just got yours (new or used ?) that you shouldn't be having the issue.

At least you're getting DDR400, alot of others can only get DDR333 to work. Can you get tighter timings to work (even at 2T) ? May be something to experiment with.

Silly question - what slots are you running them in ? If not in true Dual Channel configuration, that could possible cause this problem. You may also want to try running them in different slots - maybe there is an issue with one you're using.

 

[gixxer]

Update/Status?

Well I am not sure what happened. The planets aligned, full moon, who knows..

It was suggested that I try one ram dimm at a time to see if it was one of the ram dimms that was causing the problem. Well I did that and the first dimm booted up ok at 1T timings. (I have been using loose timing just to try and get the system to boot. 2.5, 3, 3, 5 versus the rated 2,2,2,5.) I even did some quick overclocking and jumped up to 220 HTT at 1:1 ratio and everything seemed ok. (running two sessions of prime95 for 10-15 minutes). I then swapped out the other dimm. Initially it gave me a bunch of errors inside of windows. I ran memtest86 on this sim and got no errors. The only thing I then changed was plugging back in my network connection. Then tried rebooting and this time it worked. So I proceeded to overclock to 220 like above and everything worked out great..

While the system was running at 1T, I decided to see how much I could overclock the new 3800 x2. I was able to get to 245 prime95 stable overnight with the voltage set to 1.45 volts in the bios and reporting 1.39 ? 1.42 with asus probe II and CPU-Z. I was able to get 250 HTT stable but I had to up the voltage in the bios to 1.5 volts. When I did this, asus probe II reported 1.50 ? 1.52 volts. (I am not sure why I can?t seem to actually get 1.45 volts. It is either too low, 1.45 = 1.4, or a little high, 1.5 = 1.52) I think I could probably run it at 1.5 volts at 250 HTT without any problem since the load temps never even hit 50° C but I have read in a few places that it is not good for the X2?s to go over 1.45 volts for long.

Now the big test. Putting both dimms back in and praying I can boot up at 1T. I put both dimms back in, set them to 1T 2.5, 3, 3, 5, 4X HTT, 200 HTT, 1:1, crossed my fingers and hit the power button??. It booted up.. no BSOD. YES!!! Ok, lets press my luck. I proceeded to overclock the system buy upping the HTT in 5 mhz. I wound up stopping at 245!!! (since I knew from earlier testing that I would have to bump up the voltage to go much higher.) I ran two instances of prime95 for 25 minutes so far with no errors using small FFT. However it would error out if I used the other tests that test the ram as well. I tried to run 3Dmark2003 and 2005 at 245 HHT but it would crash the system. I had to drop down to 238 HHT before 3Dmark2005 would finish.

It looks like the 1T issue with the A8N-SLI deluxe may not be as much of an issue anymore.

The only thing left is to see if I will get better results running at higher HHT with a memory divider that will put my ram at around 220 and cpu around 245.

But here are my test results with the following settings:
238 HHT, 1:1 ratio, 1T 2.5, 3, 3, 5, 1.45 cpu volts, 1.8 volts set in Bios.
AMD 3800 X2, BFG 7800 GTX (with stock OC speeds), everything else is in my signature below.

3Dmark2003 ? 17683 cpu ? 1257
3Dmark2005 ? 8356 cpu ? 6980

Thanks for everyone?s help.

Gixxer