possible solution for(some) nforce2 ultra problems

[Shad0hawK]

hopefully some of this will help!

at the computer store i work at we have had MAJOR problems with the MSI k7n2delta. out of 8 boards we ordered 5 have come back, with one very irate customer understandably upset after the RMA replacement has the same problems he orginally exchanged his mobo for!

we have had issues with the gigabyte board based on the same chipset as well, though not as severe. here is what i have been able to find out so far with the brand of ram used.(OS was winXP Pro)

on the gigabyte board(GA-7N400 PRO) ram that is single sided with eight chips(http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT3264Z265&cat=RAM) will not run correctly in dual channel mode when installed as per the manual's instructions. the resulting problems include serious instability when running either D3D or openGL applications, occasional spontaneous reboot, and failure to boot on rare occasions (but it does post) but in single channel mode the same chips run stable.

single sided ram that has 4 chips(this is crucial too but i did not see it on thier website) per side will run stably in dual channel mode, also pc 2100 ram that is double sided will run in dual channel mode correctly.(http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT6464Z265&cat=RAM)


pc2700(http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT6464X335&cat=RAM) will frequently(almost always) boot to a blue screen. the rare times windows will start up simply waiting a few seconds rewards you with a spontaneous reboot, as for applications i do not know how they will run as windows using this ram configuration never ran long enough for me to start any.

on the msi boards i have not yet had much time to tinker with them, however the same ram that ran stable(crucial 512mb pc2100) in DC mode on the gigabyte board did not run stable on the MSI board that came in at the end of the work day today. i will post further results in a day or 2 on the msi board. also thinking it may be a ram speed issue on the gigabyte board, i clocked the 266 ram to 333 and it ran fine. but i am sure the ram timings were different than the chip designed to run at 333mhz, since the bios on the gigabyte board does not let me adjust the timings i am not 100 percent sure of this.

 

[carpenter]

I am having problems with a GA 400Pro that I just got about two weeks ago. It's been rebooting, not detecting the hard drives, just hasn't been stable at all. When it did run, it ran great. But the next time I started it up, it wouldn't detect the hard drives again. I'm running 2 sticks of Corsair Pc2700C2LL - 512. They are a matched set. I'm also running XP Pro. I thought the hard drive might be bad, or a cable. But the more I'm hearing about the other issues others are having, I'm starting to wonder. Should I take this board back and try another one?

 

[3sixes]

Shad0hawK


Dude, you need to do the following:

Once at the main bios scrn, hit ctrl+f1, now look at all the categories and you will see the hidden options in each area including memory timings.

I have the 7n400 pro w\corsair (2) 256 XMS C2, it does run dual channel slots 1&3, 200 fsb and beyond.

I have run this memory at 5.2.2.2 , 6.2.2.2 , but currently at 11.2.2.2.5 and for whatever is different about the nforce2 chipset, you will find if you do the sandra mem bench or aida, that the looser timing, ie 11.2.2.2 is faster and produces a higher bandwith.

I am running a dual boot of win me, and win xp home, In fact I was able to setup the dual boot, and install xp and all updates and sp1 with the system overclocked from xp1700speed to xp2700 speed, 11x200=2205.

All in all I find this board to be super solid and stable, some are having issues with the raid speed, and lack of mounting holes for different hsf, none of those were issues for me, I was looking for the ability to add more ide dirves, and dual bios, some reviews have stated that the board and gigabyte boards in general are not very overclockable, and might have a point if everyone is trying to have insanely high fsb at the risk of stability, a quick look around shows alot of barton xp2500 being clocked to xp3200 speeds with little or no difficulty.

Anyway ctrl+f1 for bios options, by the way new bios was released this afternoon, cheers

 

[carpenter]

Thanks 3sixes, I'm putting the hard drive back in and giving it another shot. I just read about the looser timings being faster. Gona try it. Before I shut this thing down and tore it back apart it was beeping like mad at me. And was very hard to get into the bios screen. I have been in the advanced bios screen setting up. Did you use the new updates? From what I have read, I think when I get this board set up right, it will be a good one.

 

[3sixes]

No im still running the f8 bios that shipped with my board, have had absolutely no problems with it.

By the way are you aware that there is a modded f10a bios avail, as well as the official f10 that just came out today.

In case it helps you set up, my settings are xp1700@1.85,
sys perf: expert
fsb: 200
cpu interface: aggressive
memory timings: expert 11.2.2.2.5
agp freq: I locked it at 66
I disabled fastwrites
I disabled thermal throttling
I turned off all of the monitoring in pc health( I have much air cooling, not concerned about cooling)

vcore +10
dim +0.2
agp +0.2
cpu voltage 1.85

All of this 24/7 everything i want to throw at it, really is an impressive board if set up properly.

You might try just one stick of ram to get bios stable, and play with ram timings and voltages.

 

[Shad0hawK]

thanks for the info!

other than being picky about the ram, so far i have no complaints about this gigabyte board. i dont know why some reviewers say this board is not a good overclocker(i guess being able to adjust the fsb to 300 in bios is not enough for some...), it is funny you should mention the 2500, i have an xp2500 booting up as an xp3000 at stock fsb and a multiplier of 13 @ mostly stable at 1.7V and rock solid at 1.725V, running 3dmark demo in loop mode overnight with a cpu temp holding steady at 112F idling below 100F. that satisfies me! i also did a winxp install while overclocked with no problems.


i might try my ram out in dual channel with the new bios(you never know).

THX again for the info, this is the first gigabyte MB i have owned another thing that impesses me is the fact the bloody cpu socket is turned the right way!


just a last thought, the 2 sticks of ram i have runs fine in single channel, it only give me a problem in dual channel. since this ram is crucial's "inexpensive" ram (i wont call what they make "cheap" because out of all the ram we have sold made by them we have never had to RMA any) so aggressive timings may make it unstable, but i will tinker with them.

 

[carpenter]

I'm going to try single channel just to get it to boot and try both your suggestions plus some other things I want to check. Let you know later tonight how it goes. Thanks for the input.