Unforeseen consequences with my Q6600 OC.

[Salatheon]

Hey fellas

I recently upgraded my E6420 to a Q6600 and dabbled in overclocking and easily managed to run 333MHz FSB to have it at 3Ghz, that was with the voltage at just above stock, no issues at all.

Well I also got another 2Gb RAM at the same time and after upgrading to 64-bit vista finally managed to stop my BSOD's with a BIOS update to my ASUS P5N32-E Sli (680i), went from BIOS 1004 to 1403. So after the RAM problems were sorted I wanted to go back and set my CPU to at least 3GHz again, this is where things get strange.

In my BIOS I have noticed it acting a little strange like changing options only to have them change back to default, and things being greyed out and then after arrowing down to them they light up, and when I change my vcore it doesn't actually change it until I go to at least 1.29v. Also when I am changing my FSB it changes my RAM speeds even though it is set to unlinked.

And lastly, the main problem, whenever I do the smallest overlock, even up to 1100, up from 1066, the OS bluescreens as soon as it finishes loading (and once it yellow screened and it kinda freaked me out ).

Kind of a long post, but thanks for reading, I would appreciate any insight into the problems I am having, I was thinking about reflashing my BIOS to a slightly older version and seeing if that helps.

 

[Idontcare]

After you flashed your BIOS did you unplug the computer from the wall, remove the backup battery from the mobo, and jumper your BIOS to clear it for a good 30 seconds?

If you don't properly flash your BIOS (which includes doing the above steps) then you are begging for all kinds of wierdness afterwards.

If you had already done this then you are 99% liekly to be looking at having a bad motherboard. Maybe it got ESD (static shocked) from you working on it with all the parts changing out and the likes (it happens). RMA time.

 

[TheJian]

Originally posted by: Salatheon
Hey fellas

I recently upgraded my E6420 to a Q6600 and dabbled in overclocking and easily managed to run 333MHz FSB to have it at 3Ghz, that was with the voltage at just above stock, no issues at all.

Well I also got another 2Gb RAM at the same time and after upgrading to 64-bit vista finally managed to stop my BSOD's with a BIOS update to my ASUS P5N32-E Sli (680i), went from BIOS 1004 to 1403. So after the RAM problems were sorted I wanted to go back and set my CPU to at least 3GHz again, this is where things get strange.

In my BIOS I have noticed it acting a little strange like changing options only to have them change back to default, and things being greyed out and then after arrowing down to them they light up, and when I change my vcore it doesn't actually change it until I go to at least 1.29v. Also when I am changing my FSB it changes my RAM speeds even though it is set to unlinked.

And lastly, the main problem, whenever I do the smallest overlock, even up to 1100, up from 1066, the OS bluescreens as soon as it finishes loading (and once it yellow screened and it kinda freaked me out ).

Kind of a long post, but thanks for reading, I would appreciate any insight into the problems I am having, I was thinking about reflashing my BIOS to a slightly older version and seeing if that helps.

Whoa...No where near an RMA yet. Do you have the Vista 4GB+ patch in yet? This could be one problem. Bios problems are another story. There is no need for a wall unplug after a bios flash. Loading setup defaults after reboot is all thats needed, then reboot and set your stuff back up. I'm thinking you may have a bad module. But some troubleshooting is needed here not RMA yet.

Yank the 2 modules. and go back to default cpu speed/voltage on this new bios. Are the problems solved? NO? Go back to old bios, are problems solved (again with original modules)?

I've seen instances where an OS freaked after a chip changing, and I had to re-install the OS. I've even seen a few chips that couldn't install overclocked (AMD's) but were fine once I got the OS on and THEN overclocked them. Mind you it was prime stable, something just kept hanging the OS at install. Weird, installing isn't taxing at all. Something about how it identified the chip. If you're aware of ESD and used a ground strap through all of this that's a non issue. If I was in your shoes, and as an A+ certified tech with over a 1000 builds (owned a pc business for 8yrs and I WAS the tech) the word RMA would not even be in my vocab knowing all your parts were good before starting this. I'd start with the ram and work my way back, but make sure you have the 4GB OS fix too. I think we're looking at two problems, one software, one hardware. But I'm not saying BAD hardware yet.

RMA flies out of people far before they even start to troubleshoot. This is why Fry's is riddled with white labels from RMA's. The real PC techs there (they have a few..heh) find a lot that has been returned that is NOT BAD. It's just people not knowing how to troubleshoot at all. My vendor (ASI) used to rant about ENUinc.com in Oregon that acted like people buying at Fry's. Their techs ($8 guys...LOL if you could call them techs - 16yr old kids with no exp) would just yank a part at first problem on a build and RMA like crazy. Their idea of troubleshooting was change brand and if it works RMA the other brand. Not even thinking about flashing a vid card, board, updating drivers etc. But ENU sold tons of product so ASI didn't complain. IF you RMA that before troubleshooting they might just ship it back to you and charge you shipping for it. They'll nail you for wasting their time on top of it. So you pay $8-10 to ship to them, another exorbitant amount back (they generally slap $15 because they touched it) + an amount of $15-30 because of testing good sometimes. Be careful.

Sorry to step on someones toes, I didn't mean it to come out badly. I just don't know how else to word this. TROUBLESHOOT as it seems you're leaning towards anyway. I'll check later on what you come back with. Also you might check if you have some setting in the bios that prevents manual changing of the cpu. You set it, leave thinking it changed and saved when you really didn't accomplish anything. ASUS boards back a few years were famous for this. Dang speech reporter and another setting together would keep killing you (had a lot of buyers calling me all the time saying OCing wasn't sticking/working). I just can't remember the other setting, but if you don't have a speaker on your case you'll miss the reporter telling you "OC not successful" or some crap like that and revert to defaults without any visual mention. I've been Gigabyte/DFI/Epox (not epox anymore, an recently no DFI either...Gigabyte is just too good for overclockers - why aren't all boards SOLID CAPS etc?) for a few years for OCing so I'm not sure ASUS still does this. I'm not saying ASUS is bad they make great boards. Just caused inexperienced users to RMA to much to me for a while so I leaned elsewhere.

[EDIT]
One more thought, on a lot of motherboards 4 modules is pushing it. You have to raise the voltage to cover more dimms even though your memory is say 1.8v. You might need 1.9 or 2.0v to get it reliable with 4 dimms. Basically consider this vdroop but instead of it being on your cpu call it dimm vdroop It's more complicated than that but thats a nutshell for you. Most boards can do 4dimms today, but they may require extra volts on them. They used to make boards that couldn't even do 4 dimms stable (hence anand tests with 2 AND 4 now to be sure in reviews). Timings also need to be relaxed in some cases. So jump the volts .1-.2 on the mem (with all 4 in that is) and set Cas+1 perhaps temporarily to see if problems subside. Your board could be crapping because of memory and resetting your cpu settings to defaults because it interprets this memory thing as a cpu issue with overclocking. I hope that makes sense. If problems go away, then go back to normal cas. If they come back up .1v more on mem then your regular cas should be doable. That's a lot of testing I know, but it goes quick once done systematically. But we have to get back to KNOWN good stuff first. Original modules and default 2.4ghz speed/voltage. We need to prove it's all good again first.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

MINE EYEZ

 

[TheJian]

Originally posted by: gersson
MINE EYEZ

ROFL...are they bleeding yet?

Nobody ever accused me of not being thorough.

 

[markreflex]

Wow can't believe you said RMA the board so quick. How do you know it isn't the memory. Have you tested it with memtest?

Salatheon has changed the cpu and the memory and changed it back to default and changing the Bios, so alot has changed. The quad core take a different amount of voltage at 3gig and harder to overclock. You have to perfect everything more so now with quad core and you cant raise the voltage like you can on the dual core. Try using different slots and one stick. SO much you can try. It could be flashing the Bios, and the memory doesnt work good with that Bios. Theres lots of variables. Alot new bios are certainly not mature. It could be memory works on old Bios just the memory is detected wrongly voltage and timings. You have to persevere start off with an early bios.

 

[Salatheon]

After looking around some more, what I should have done but I was pretty irritated and wanted a quick fix.. I found at numerous places that the 1403 BIOS for my mobo is "bad".

Apparently a LOT of people have had issues with this BIOS, including the ones I listed, and the worst thing is Asus made it un-downgradeable, but there was a workaround that used DOS and AWDFLASH to reflash the BIOS back to 1203.

So after I done this I set the BIOS back up, all stock and it was reporting my RAM timings and voltages correctly, Vista was booting up fine so I went back to OC, and set it to 1333 with a mild voltage increase. So the CPU is running at 3Ghz, and it is stable (so far).

Thanks fellas for the suggestions, pays to look around but like I said I was after a quick fix.

Now to mess it around again by trying to achieve 3.5Ghz+...