System can't hold an OC anymore...wtf?

[996GT2]

I've had my MSI K9N Platinum mobo for about a year now, and have kept it up to date with all of the new BIOS releases. About 3 months ago, I upgraded from an A64 3500+ @ 2.8 GHz with OCZ Gold to an AX2 3600+ with G.Skill HZs. However, while the X2 initially held a 2.5-2.6 GHz OC without any problems, that all went downhill yesterday. I tried to flash to the latest 1.7 BIOS version, and everything went well, but when I tried to reboot with a 264 HTT like I had before, it wouldn't start and only gave me the "overclocking failed" message. After about 50 reboots, I finally gave up. I have double, triple, and quadruple checked voltages and HT multi settings, and I'm sure that nothing has been changed. I then tried to flash back to my V1.5 BIOS that worked, and now the system can't even hold a 2.2 GHz OC and boot properly every time. I still get the "failed" message after 3 failed reboots (MSI's built-in recovery). I have reset CMOS multiple times and even re-flashed the BIOS with no success. How come my old OC that was 12 hr Orthos stable now won't even POST with the exact same BIOS and voltage settings?

I would REALLY appreciate any good advice. Running at 1.9 GHz with my HZs underclocked really kinda sucks.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Just a guess, but I'm betting you have overlooked something in bios that was reset to default when you flashed the bios. Recheck power management settings, ram divider and settings, HT multi, DDR volts etc.. etc....

 

[996GT2]

I did...I took pics of the BIOS screens and double checked to make sure EVERYTHING was the same...that's why I'm so frustrated atm

 

[rmed64]

Just to state my setup, I have to run 1.45 cpu volts to get to 2.8Ghz, and my RAM has to be raised to 2.1 from 1.95 to run orthos stable.

If the only thing you changed was the bios, I would go back to the older bios.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see you tried that already

 

[ArchAngel777]

Lose faith in AMD? How is this AMD's fault? You are not supposed to be overclocking anyway, frmo their viewpoint. Anyway, lets refrain some irrational statements like that.

Same thing happened to me when I got the bright idea of flashing my BIOS when it came time to install my new X-2. Turns out one of my memory sticks needed a certain voltaged to boot up, I had forgotten about that. Another thing is that I disabled the floppy disk controller and it turns out, that kills overclocking on my board. Fortunately, for me, google had that answer. I never imagined that something so unrelated could halt any FSB overclock. I couldn't even run 201Mhz with the FDD controller disabled. Once I enabled it, I was able to O/C to 280fsb.

Good luck! But, again, don't blame this on AMD.

 

[996GT2]

Yeah my bad. It's easy to get frustrated when things aren't working, like now...hopefully I'll get it sorted out though.

 

[darkfalz]

LOL the perils of choosing AMD

 

[ArchAngel777]

Yeah, I know how frustrating it can be man... But here is some advice form one tech to another... Only flash your BIOS if you absolutely need too. In most of the cases where I have had the trouble you are speaking of, I didn't need to flash it, but I just thought I would because why not stay up to date, like I do with Windows? Well... The problem with BIOS updates is that they often break one thing to fix another (perhaps that is way to generalized). So, only flash if you really need too, it just isn't worth it.

I really hope you get your system back up and running again!

 

[996GT2]

I managed to get everything working again...turns out that I had to manually disable the PCIe and SATA Spread Spectrum for it to come back to life...I don't know why that wasn't a problem before when I had the SS enabled, but I guess it's all good now. Currently have it at 290x9 for 2.6 GHz, and so far it's good with SuperPi 32M dual...going to ORTHOS tonight and see.

I did lose C&C to the multiplier lowering...but I'm beyond caring much about temps And they are in the low 40s for the most part so it's all good

 

[Lord Banshee]

I used be able to OC to 2.6 with some volts now it is impossible.. i wonder if i a setting like that set that needs to be change... I'll have to check

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: darkfalz
LOL the perils of choosing AMD

yes, because intel is so much more consistent. Take me, for example. swethan has a g0 quad that is stable at 1.43 v in bios at 9x400. I need 1.56v in bios to get 8x450 on my e6750, and it took me two bios updates to get that high. I'm not complaining b/c 3.6 is still 3.6, but it'd sure be nice to have it on 4 cores at a decent vcore instead of 2 at an insanely high vcore.