The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[Tuvoc]

Basically your system is fine in single channel not dual channel ? This problem has certainly occurred on many other boards in the past. Try 2T if you're not running that already, and if that doesn't work, relax the timings - what are they now ?

 

[aikideshi2000]

so you can run any game without freezing by forcing the RAM to not act as dualchannel memory?


and if so......doesnt that kinda kill your performance....or is that just a rumor?

 

[Tuvoc]

single channel is likely to kill performance.
2T only really kills performance in synthetic benchmarks. In real world use you are unlikely to ever notice the difference. Sometimes this board needs 2T for stability. aikideshi2000 you should check also if 2T helps you

 

[aikideshi2000]

will try 2T tonight after work.....ill let you know what happened tomorrow....thanks again dude

 

[aikideshi2000]

cant get it to work.....selling it on ebay.....not worth anymore of my time........................thanks for your time

 

[noelbuela]

hey guys i found a guy that actually used the enzotech cooler on his SB heres the pic

 

[Bolero]

So I've got an interesting problem. Here's the Specs:

Ahanix MCE701 HTPC Case (which is a damn good case for the coin, I was going to write about it in the HT section)
Apeva 500w Power Supply
Intel C2D 1.86GHZ 4MB E6320
Arctic Freezer 7
Asus P5N-E SLI (obviously) Shipped with BIOS 0505
2x1GB Adata 800mhz PC6400
Radeon X1950 Pro
2x400GB Seagate SATA 16MB RAID Stripe
Active Cooler on the northbridge & southbridge chips with Arctic Silver 5

Problem: Have my system setup, it boots, POST, change BIOS settings, setup RAID, install Vista 32bit, no problems. Go to boot vista for the first time, hangs at the loading bar, for hours. Reboot, same. Reinstall Vista, same. Ok. Adjust voltages, BIOS settings, until head hurts, nothing. Disable all non-essentials in BIOS, nothing. Still hangs. So, go to ASUS website, see shiny new 0703 BIOS, and download. Make a floppy boot disk with DR-DOS from here (http://www.biosmods.com/download.php) copy over AWDflash from BIOSMods site and the 0703 file, and plug into new machine. Thanks for getting this far, here's where it goes nuts....

I boot to floppy, and type 'awdflash 0703.bin' and viola. Press 'Y' to make a backup, then AWDFlash says it's not an award bios, and exits. Strange, I reboot, and nothing, no POST, no beeps if I remove Video card or RAM, nothing. Powers on, and nothing. Son of a b****. Clear CMOS, pull battery, hold power button, pull power supply, nothing. Return said motherboard for a new one, and so begins part two.

Get new motherboard installed with 0505 BIOS, boots, POST, installed Vista, hangs at boot same thing. Being a creature of habit, I still think it needs a BIOS upgrade, I use the same floppy disk, only this time, use the AWDflash from ASUS site, and the 0703 bios. It boots to floppy, It asks if I want to backup the old BIOS, and instead of putting in 'yes' or 'no' I exit. Just to see if this awdflash or boot disk is the problem, and I reboot. Viola, dead BIOS ---- AGAIN. Nothing brings it back and I'm freaking dead again, two boards.

Tomorrow I'm off to return the 2nd board, and try yet again. I have a current P5N-E SLI board running currently, with a different case, psu & GSkill memory, but otherwise exactly the same, and no problems installing vista, or otherwise.

Any idea's or strain of bad/stupid luck?

Much appreciated!
-Andrew

 

[JustaGeek]

Personally, I would not touch the BIOS (in terms of updating) until/unless the system was somewhat stable.

You might have memory or other problems, so if you can't install Windows, you surely can't install the BIOS.

I believe that you've corrupted 2 BIOS installations.

Next time (if there is a next time...) try using only 1 memory module, and do not do anything before being able to install the OS and test your components.

Good luck!

 

[balefire]

Originally posted by: MaxisOne
Jkcheng122

If you have the OCZ revision 2 2gig dual channel that can do 4-4-4-15 default then you cannot do 1t Timings as yet (we are all waiting for a bios update) .. You also are required to manually set the memory to 4-4-4-12 and leave the rest at auto as these OCZ sticks have a looser default spd for autodetect.... something like 5-5-5-15 (not the motherboards fault). You are also required to provide at minimum 2.08 (as seen on the P5N-E SLI)volts or as close to 2.1 volts as you can get in order to have the memory be stable as stated on the requirements.

I have the same memory and i have no probs running 4-4-4-12 2T @2.08 volts
You will run into problems getting 1T. It will post but it is HIGHLY unstable and you risk currupting windows startup files if you keep trying to make it work. Wait for the bios update and see how it pans out.

The following comments have been based on my experience with the mainboard for the last week or 2 with it .

Hope it helps somewhat

Cheers

hey guys, I'm having problems with stability, and i've narrowed it down to my memory. using crappy 5-5-5-31 memory, all auto settings, my system is stable. however, using this ocz 4-4-4-15 platinum 2 x 1 gb memory, its not stable. current settings:

P5N-E, bios 0703, E6750 (not OCing until this memory issue resolves)
OCZ2P800R22GK (2 x 1gb, same as quoted user) installed on black banks
timing 4-4-4-15 2T
volts all set to auto

System runs fine initially, no errors on memtest for 3 hours. But several hours later, the system hangs. Changing the mem voltage to 2.0 had the same effects. Ran fine for several hours followed by a freeze. I'm now trying

nb voltage 1.39

If this doesn't work, should I try upping the nb more? should I change my timing to 4-4-4-12, 2T. Any ideas?

 

[JustaGeek]

I would try adding an active cooling solution (a fan) to the NB, and the Southbridge heatsink.

Then try the NB voltage set on Auto.

If Auto doesn't work, try 1.56V for the NB. But add the NB fan and the SB heatsink first.

Good luck!

 

[Lokan]

Originally posted by: balefire

Originally posted by: MaxisOne
Jkcheng122

If you have the OCZ revision 2 2gig dual channel that can do 4-4-4-15 default then you cannot do 1t Timings as yet (we are all waiting for a bios update) .. You also are required to manually set the memory to 4-4-4-12 and leave the rest at auto as these OCZ sticks have a looser default spd for autodetect.... something like 5-5-5-15 (not the motherboards fault). You are also required to provide at minimum 2.08 (as seen on the P5N-E SLI)volts or as close to 2.1 volts as you can get in order to have the memory be stable as stated on the requirements.

I have the same memory and i have no probs running 4-4-4-12 2T @2.08 volts
You will run into problems getting 1T. It will post but it is HIGHLY unstable and you risk currupting windows startup files if you keep trying to make it work. Wait for the bios update and see how it pans out.

The following comments have been based on my experience with the mainboard for the last week or 2 with it .

Hope it helps somewhat

Cheers

hey guys, I'm having problems with stability, and i've narrowed it down to my memory. using crappy 5-5-5-31 memory, all auto settings, my system is stable. however, using this ocz 4-4-4-15 platinum 2 x 1 gb memory, its not stable. current settings:

P5N-E, bios 0703, E6750 (not OCing until this memory issue resolves)
OCZ2P800R22GK (2 x 1gb, same as quoted user) installed on black banks
timing 4-4-4-15 2T
volts all set to auto

System runs fine initially, no errors on memtest for 3 hours. But several hours later, the system hangs. Changing the mem voltage to 2.0 had the same effects. Ran fine for several hours followed by a freeze. I'm now trying

nb voltage 1.39

If this doesn't work, should I try upping the nb more? should I change my timing to 4-4-4-12, 2T. Any ideas?

I've read some mixed reviews about OCZ's ram, especially the ones that say they require 2.1v but in actuality, require 2.3v. I no longer have the link to reference for you, but if you google OCZ ram stability, you'll most likely find some problems. I would relax the timings from 4-4-4-15 to 5-5-5-31 2T on the OCZ to see if that helps. If you know the generic ram is stable at that speed, try the OCZ. Also, run memtest on the OCZ and ensure the dimm's are good.

 

[Jeremyczu]

I'm having a horrible time with mine. I just got a replacement C2D 6750 in the mail and the system with the new chip is acting up just as much as with the old one. I've got two sticks of Corsair 1gb PC 6400 ram, and memtest has completed one pass. I've tested everything from ram to hard drives to replacing the CPU with an exact copy, and at this point, all I can say is that this board does not truly support 1333 bus chips. Nice try, but no. Maybe next bios. Update it soon Asus, or I'll never come back.

 

[MadMurph]

Jeremy -- I've got mine up and running with basically the same setup. I've got a different gpu, and I'm running the Corsair C4 ram. It booted with the original 401 bios, but I've since updated to the latest revision. Did you clear your CMOS before attempting the recent installs? What board revision and bios release are you using? Are your ram sticks on the same channel? (A1,A2 -- not by color).

 

[Jeremyczu]

I've got 0608 for my bios and I did clear the CMOS... but as for the board revision, I'm not sure about that. I have my ram sticks arranged by color slots (tried both black and yellow) and Memtest still passes. I think the only thing left is my power supply... which I just ordered a new corsair 620 watt. I have 3 hard drives, a TV tuner, and a pair of 120mm fans. I'm guessing the 450 watt antec power supply that came with my Sonata II is junk anyway, so hopefully this upgrade fixes my crashing, otherwise I'm at a loss. If I still have freezes after the new power supply, I might buy new ram, or I might just move on to another board. I can't afford all this troubleshooting.

 

[JustaGeek]

I think you're right on the money - I believe that these chipsets require a lot of stable power, and a "cheap" (no offense) 450W PSU is not sufficient.

Good luck!

 

[MadMurph]

It may be nit-picking but, since you are having problems, it may be worth noting that the Corsair C6400 memory is not on ASUS's QVL for that board. Only the C6400C4 is on their list for that manufacturer. Also, I had to manually set the timings, since the bios wanted looser than manufacturer recommendation. Could be a starting point.

 

[Jeremyczu]

MadMurph... Thanks for the suggestion, but I actually had this ram in my board some time before I bought the E6750. I was building my system in pieces, and the CPU was one thing I let slide for a while. As I added more and more, everything was great, but the C2duo started causing random freezes. I thought the ram might have gone bad... but memtest says no. Hopefully my power supply gives me a solid system.

I really appreciate your suggestions though!

 

[MadMurph]

Originally posted by: Jeremyczu: but I actually had this ram in my board some time before I bought the E6750.

Right, but I assume that previous cpu wasn't running at 1333mhz fsb. IMHO, it's either a function of the RAM latencies or voltage, in trying to function at the new frequency. When your system boots, does it show 800 for the RAM speed? Always glad to help. Good luck. MM

 

[DarkMattr]

Hello, New member here... I see that a great number of you guys are not using the latest BIOS.. Is there a reason for this? I'm having a hell of a time getting my 6320 over 1450Mhz FSB and im wondering if there is an advantage to using an older bios?

 

[Jeremyczu]

Mad Murph, My ram speed is at 800 mhz and 5-5-5 31 timings (all auto settings in bios) I tried speeding up the 31 setting, which seemed really slow to me, but it didn't help. I've got the C6400 ram... but I'm holding out hope for it. My new power supply arrives tomorrow, I'll be back with results.... and hopefully some benchmarks

 

[DarkMattr]

Update : I installed the 0608 BIOS, and Long behold, Now not only is my system booted stable at 400Mhz FSB(1600x700), Highest I ever got it before was 1480.. and for the first time since I had this board it is running my RAM in Dual Channel.. What is going on with the newer bios?

 

[DarkMattr]

Jeremy - Forgive me if someone has already suggested this but why don't you try and Unlink your FSB/RAM and lower your DRAM speed?

 

[HexiumVII]

Does any of the new BIOSes help with Vista hibernation mode? My comp just hangs whenever i try it. I have ancient 0401 BIOS still.

 

[Jeremyczu]

DarkMattr..... thanks for the suggestion! I already gave it a shot last night and it worked! I had to drop my speed down to 666.something and it's rock solid now. I can leave my computer on all night without a freeze. Someone else suggested a timing issue, but I hadn't tried it until now. So now I'm left thinking, what ratio works best? 666.? is pretty low speed, but the performance hit doesn't seem too bad - Is it worth buying 1066mhz ram just to get an extra 400mhz in speed? For now, I'm just glad everything works. Thanks everybody!

 

[DarkMattr]

Normally I would say yea, but to spend a lot of money right now when your next motherboard will probably use DDR3.. Then again, your ram seems to be causing serious issues so.. If you can pick up a deal I would jump on it, it will allow you a considerable amount of flexibility when OCing..