upgraded Asrock 939dual sata2 bios to 2.30 and can't overclock

[Sandan]

I just updated the bios from 1.50 to 2.30. With old bios I was overclocking at 2.4. With new bios I can't overclock at all. Tried 2.3 and 2.4 no luck. I noticed there are several more settings in the 2.30 bios. Please look at the following settings and see if any issues...or is there as setting in the newer 2.30 bios I need to add? Thanks.

Forgot to mention: When I set up the bios as shown below and try to boot at boot up the system shows 2.0 Ghz. Then I look in the bios and it shows I still have it set for 2.4G...Strange...I try again and same occurs. I can't figure out why it is resetting at boot up.

I have the x2 3800+ processor (Manchester core), Artic freezer pro 64 cooler, with 4 sticks of G.SKill PC3200 (512 each) memory.


Overclock mode CPU, PCIE Async
cpu 2400
PCIE Frequency 100
Boot Failure Guard Enabled
Spread Spectrum Disabled
Cool n Quiet Disabled
Dual Core Support Enabled

Processor 2000 x 10
Processor Voltage 1.400v

CPU-NB Link Speed 600 (ie, 3x)
CPU-NB Link width 16
NB-SB Link Speed 600 (ie, 3x)
NB-SB Link Width 16
HTTtoPCIBridgeDecodeScheme Subtractive
DRAM Voltage Auto

memory divider 166

 

[SynthDude2001]

I assume you can run stock with no issues? What are your memory timings (same page as the CPU overclocking stuff) set at? Also make sure you've explicitly set "MA Timing" to 2T with 4 sticks of RAM. Probably wouldn't hurt to bump DRAM Voltage up to "High" either (that gives about 2.75V on my board).

The resetting at boot comes after multiple failed boot attempts with your saved settings; it reverts to stock/default options although still displays your saved ones when you look in the BIOS (because that's what it'll still try to boot with next time).

If you could post the rest of your settings from the CPU page (mainly the bottom half dealing with memory), that would probably help expose any possible issues. I've spent a whole lot of time in my board's BIOS lately trying to tweak my new RAM

 

[Sandan]

OK....I have Cas 2.5, TRCD 3, Tras 6, Trp 3, I will try MA timing at 2T and DRAM volts up to high and let you know. I am wondering if I should flash the bios to another older one. 1.50 worked with all of these settings. Thank you.

 

[Sandan]

Weird...I added the ma timing to 2T and set Dram to high....When I booted it reverted back to 2Ghz again. I check in the bios and it said 2.4 and all the other settings showed up. So I booted again and it said 2Ghz so I let it go all the way into windows which was successful but only at 2Ghz...

 

[SynthDude2001]

Hmm...one thing I thought of, that caused me a lot of headaches when I was trying to find a good overclock for my new RAM lately - sometimes lower RAM dividers will not work even if you would expect them to at the effective speed.

For example, with 240x10 and a 166MHz divider, you would expect your RAM to run at exactly 200MHz (and in the absence of any evidence otherwise, go ahead and assume that it is). The problem comes in with the hidden memory timings that are not exposed in the BIOS. If you select a 166MHz divider, what is likely happening is that the board is reading the SPD timings for 166MHz off the chips - but then trying to run these timings at 200MHz, which is usually out of spec for the RAM. That would explain the no-boot condition and eventual resetting.

To test my theory, you can do one of two things. First, use A64tweaker in Windows to determine ALL of your memory timings (even the ones that you can't change in the BIOS). Do this at stock CPU speed once with a 200MHz RAM divider, and once with a 166MHz divider. If you compare the two sets of timings side by side, they will likely be different (the 166 timings will be tighter and probably won't work on your RAM at 200MHz).

The second way to test is to just remove the RAM from the equation completely (temporarily) by setting the Memory Flexibility Option to Enabled in the BIOS. This sets a 133MHz divider and less aggressive timings. I would be very surprised if you could not boot at 2.4GHz with that setting.

Assuming that does work, you then have to find a way to get reasonable timings with a lower memory divider. What I finally ended up doing was using a lower multiplier and higher HTT speed (300x9), and keep the Flexibility option enabled in the BIOS. This was really the only way I could stably boot with the RAM anywhere near 200MHz. Then once in Windows, I use A64tweaker/A64info to change my memory timings to the ones that are normally set with a 200MHz divider, and bump up the mem divider from 133 to 140 (192->208MHz effective RAM speed). It is somewhat of a pain in the ass, and of course your settings will be somewhat different, but this is a budget motherboard after all.

Let me know if you have any more questions. If you decide it's not worth the hassle and BIOS 1.50 actually worked with that overclock for you, then by all means maybe you should roll back - if that's the case, I assume that it's picking slightly less aggressive memory timings at lower dividers.

 

[Sandan]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will try then. One other thing to mention...I dual boot xp and Vista. I flashed the bios in XP. Don't think it should make a difference but do you know if Vista can do a windows bios flash with this board?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Sandan
Thanks for all your suggestions. I will try then. One other thing to mention...I dual boot xp and Vista. I flashed the bios in XP. Don't think it should make a difference but do you know if Vista can do a windows bios flash with this board?

While I haven't tried it myself, I would imagine it would work fine in 32-bit Vista. Something that low-level probably wouldn't work in x64 unless it were rewritten though (if I remember correctly, the winflash didn't work under XP x64 either).

 

[Sandan]

Well.....flashed to bios 2.20 but that didn't work..Couldn't overclock at all. Flashed back to 1.50 and I can now overclock. In each of the newer bios I used the same exact settings that work in 1.50. There must be some additional or different setting the newer bios wants due to updates. But I can't figure out what it is......So, I guess I will stay with 1.50... SynthDude thanks for your efforts and take care.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you guys can get 300MHz FSB running on these boards then I'm jealous.

 

[Antikristuseke]

mine was stable till 312 and benchable at 321. Cant remember the bios version i used. Everything else was the same as with the setup i have now exept for the mobo. For a cheap board theses are surprisingly good overclockers, though the lack of memory voltage beyond 2.75 sucks.

 

[Lemon law]

I have a asrock board but not that socket---and enabling memory flexibility was seriously bad news for me as it really down clocked the memory bus speeds.

And as I played with my board, it would not run right with stock timings---and what I set in the bios and what cpu-z reported the system running at being two different things.

Sometimes you have to just try trial and error---as long as you don't overvolt your memory you won't hurt anything---and even if its counterintuitive, you may hit a setting your computer will really like---worked for me.---but sure sounds like your new bios flash does not like the setting you are feeding it.

 

[Antikristuseke]

Yeah, as far as i noticed all that the memory flexibility option really did was increase the memory divider making the memory run slower, id check for what bios version i was using but iv allready sold the board so cant be of help.