Thinking of getting the ASUS P4B533-E? Read this first!

[Karsten]

Originaly this was a support e-mail to ASUS send almost 3 weeks ago. It has yet to be answered.

PROBLEMS WITH P4B533-E

MEMORY ISSUES:

I have 3 MUSHKIN DDR 512MB PC-3000 sticks purchased new just for this system.
As long as I install only 2 everything works fine. If I add the third the system will not post. Meaning the front lights will come on, but the system will not boot. Voice boot up message says Memory error. I interchanged the memory (used all 3 sticks in different slots) to confirm they work.
I filled bank one, system works fine.
Filled bank 1 & 2, system works fine
Filled 1, 2 & 3, system will not work.
Filled Bank 1 & 3, system will work (So bank 3 does work)
Detail spec on the Memory:
System Memory. I am using MUSHKIN DDR 512MB PC-3000 333MHz FSB, Rated 2.5-3-3; 6ns DDR333; 6-Layer PCB; Unbuffered
The Information on ASUS Website is a little confusing as well. I printed the Website and highlighted the inconsistencies. Once it is talking about a Board with 2 Memory banks, once about 3 memory banks. I wonder if there is some design issues.

My conclusion:
The Motherboard does not like all 3 memory banks being filled. I can use bank one and two, or one and 3 fine. But as soon as stick 3 gets added the system will fail.
I waited for the newest Bios (P4B533-E BIOS version 1007) but that did not fix the issues.


Hard Drive Issues:

I have 3 drives. Two of them as Raid array and the third as single stand-alone drive.
2 Drives as Raid will work fine and the Raid controller finds them fine.
Attaching the third drive is a different story all together. If I install it as originally planed on the Raid Controller as a single drive it is not found.
(Not automatically and not manually going into the raid controller bios. Being in the Raid Bios and doing a new raid setup the drive is not found and the Raid Bios errors saying that no drive is attached. I have changed IDE cables and Power supply.)

If I attach the drive to the regular second IDE channel (Non-Raid) as a Master Hard drive the drive is not found by the Bios. Not going into the bios and trying to setup the drive, or having the setting at Auto detect. This would point to a defective drive, but I tested the drive in another system and it works fine. Also if I do attach it as mentioned (the drive not being found by the Bios) Windows XP will actually find the drive and it is fully functional. I have tested the drive and copied more then 80gb of files back and forth and everything works OK.
Simple fact is that the drive can only be seen in WinXP. I am wondering if there is a performance issue with the drive not showing up in the BIOS though.


Hard drive Model Used:
WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 120GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL
Specifications:
Size: 120 Gigabytes
Interface: IDE ULTRA ATA100
Seek time: 8.9ms
RPM:7200
Cache 8MB

 

[Athlon4all]

I am going to comment that the memory issues are no suprise. The 845 series only supports 4 banks of DDR (2 Sticks) all these mobo makers making 845 boards with 3 DIMM slots really shouldn't work, so its no suprise that 3 high-density modules (512MB) don't work. Maybe 2 256's and 1 128MB maybe, but 3 512's, no wayu

 

[zzzz]

yes, that ram problem would be there with every motherboard based on the same chipset. I can take the extra ram stick off your hands!
For the hard drive, try to set the jumpers as a single drive, rather than master/slave.

 

[Karsten]

Good catch on that! I just got of the phone with a local tech and he pointed that out as well.
The problem is the Chipset from Intel. You can use all 3 slots, but you can only use single sided DIMM's.
That would mean you can on;y get to the 2 gig of maximum Ram with two 1 gig DIMM's.

Best of all is... ASUS actually make a little footnote on that. Abit doesn't anywhere!

I will get a 1 to 1 replacement to find out what the issue on the HD BIOS problem is.
The guy I am building this for will have to just have one Gig of ram. Sad to see that Mushkin lay and take on dust

 

[Peter]

... in the 1st DIMM slot, you may use a double-sided DIMM. Slots 2 and 3 either take one single- or double-sided DIMM, or two single sided ones. This is a chipset limitation.

Then, I seriously doubt that at 166 MHz ("DDR333"), three DIMMs would be stable on _any_ chipset.

regards, Peter

 

[dbwillis]

If you underclock the ram to 133mhz (DDR266/PC2100) you can use all 3 slots..right? only 4 banks supported above DDR266

 

[Athlon4all]

Then, I seriously doubt that at 166 MHz ("DDR333"), three DIMMs would be stable on _any_ chipset.

Agreed