OCZSpeedJunky
10-24-2006, 03:45 PM
Ok, here's the deal. I recently, last week, was dinking around upgrading my system, again lol. Well, I out in a new X2 4800+ CPU, which works great, hits beyond 3ghz, so I can't complain. After I installed the CPU, I spent the week tweaking and testing it to get it overclocked, and everything worked great, settled on a happy 3ghz speed with the RAM at 1000mhz. Everything worked great. But, now for some reason, ever since 2 nights ago I have been having these annoying issues with the system POSTing and other things.
I first assumed, "ok, maybe it decided it doesn't like the clock speeds, so I immediately dropped it back to stock, no change. So currently, everything is running totally stock, and still the same issues.
What happened first was, I went to reboot my system before running a new game I was going to install, and for some reason, it got to the XP loading screen, and hung there. So, I hit the reset button. Upon doing that, it booted just fine. Then, when I went to bed, I decided to shut down my PC. When I got up the next day and booted the system, it wouldn't even make it to the XP loading screen, it would go to the screen where it says the RAID volume is healthy, yadda yadda, then go to a blank screen and sit. So, I again hit the reset button, and it booted fine. Later on, I went to reboot again, and it came up with an error saying that one of the MBR files was missing or corrupted, so I thought I musta had a MBR problem, and would check it out and if needed repair the files. Upon rebooting, it loaded to the desktop fine again. Kinda odd.
So, later after that, I went to reboot, and it started to hang again after it would show the RAID was healthy, from there it has progressively gotten worse. After hitting the reset again, it has since continued to hang many many times while POSTing, which it did approximately 20 times, so I opened my case, hit the switch on the PSU to shut down the power, and made sure I had good connections and such. After checking everything, I hit the switch on the PSU, and booted the system, and it booted fine. Again, kinda odd.
Now, since, everytime I try to reboot the system, it will beep like it's gonna POST, then hang on the first POST screen displaying the CPU, RAM, etc., you all know, the very first POST screen. So, when it did this, I immediately reset it and went to the BIOS, everything was set ok, voltages were ok(12v @ 12.08, 5v @ 4.87, 3.3v @ 2.83), and all the temps were fine. After saving and leaving the BIOS, it will not boot, it will beep like it wants to POST, then hang with a blank screen, and upon hitting reset, it might sometimes make it to the first POST screen, and hang there.
For some reason now, every single time I go into the BIOS, it will not POST after exiting. Also, for some reason, when it does hang and I try to reboot & reset it, it will continue to beep once, then attempt to POST, beep once, then attempt to POST, over and over. The only way it will successfully POST and boot fine, is if I completely shut down the system, and turn it back on. Is it the MB, maybe the RAM, or the PSU?? I can run any and every single test on the MB, and it passes them with flying colors, no problem. With the RAM, it will also pass any possible test, EXCEPT, if I run the "CheckIt Utility" that is found with Norton System Works 2005, and run the RAM test, it fails the RAM immediately. But, any other RAM test I run, it passes fine. It creates a big problem with it not POSTing whenever I go into the BIOS, 'cuz with the MB's CPR function, if it doesn't POST properly, it will revert back to the previous BIOS settings, so I can't test the RAM with Memtest86, or change anything now in the BIOS, 'cuz it hangs when I leave the BIOS.
So, anyone have any ideas?? I am thinking it's either the MB's BIOS chip failing, or, the RAM. I had called OCZ to ask them about the RAM before, how it will say in CPU-Z that it's PC2-6400 when it's actually supposed to be PC2-7200, and they thought maybe it had been programmed with the wrong SPD info. but, when I spent last week overclocking and benching the system, the RAM never had a single issue, nothing did. So I am stumped here. I, as most people, would like to avoid yanking and RMA'ing the MB if possible, which is why I am looking at the RAM and PSU to make sure they are ok before I yank the MB.
If someone could shed some more light on this for me, it'd be great. And as a side note, once the system boots into WinXP, it works perfect, no crashing, no BSOD, nothing, I can play online Poker, FEAR, Company of Heros, anything for hours and it works fine. It just seems to be having big time issues when it needs to POST and reboot, or boot up. Is it probable that it's the BIOS chip?? This is what I am leaning towards, and of course, when I call Asus, they take my name and number, and tell me a tech will call me, and they never call back. Explaining why I am asking for opinions here. So, if someone has any other ideas, please, let me know. In the meantime, I will keep trying to contact Asus. If needed, my system specs are all in my sig. Thanks in advance guys.
Tony a.k.a. OCZ SpeedJunky
I first assumed, "ok, maybe it decided it doesn't like the clock speeds, so I immediately dropped it back to stock, no change. So currently, everything is running totally stock, and still the same issues.
What happened first was, I went to reboot my system before running a new game I was going to install, and for some reason, it got to the XP loading screen, and hung there. So, I hit the reset button. Upon doing that, it booted just fine. Then, when I went to bed, I decided to shut down my PC. When I got up the next day and booted the system, it wouldn't even make it to the XP loading screen, it would go to the screen where it says the RAID volume is healthy, yadda yadda, then go to a blank screen and sit. So, I again hit the reset button, and it booted fine. Later on, I went to reboot again, and it came up with an error saying that one of the MBR files was missing or corrupted, so I thought I musta had a MBR problem, and would check it out and if needed repair the files. Upon rebooting, it loaded to the desktop fine again. Kinda odd.
So, later after that, I went to reboot, and it started to hang again after it would show the RAID was healthy, from there it has progressively gotten worse. After hitting the reset again, it has since continued to hang many many times while POSTing, which it did approximately 20 times, so I opened my case, hit the switch on the PSU to shut down the power, and made sure I had good connections and such. After checking everything, I hit the switch on the PSU, and booted the system, and it booted fine. Again, kinda odd.
Now, since, everytime I try to reboot the system, it will beep like it's gonna POST, then hang on the first POST screen displaying the CPU, RAM, etc., you all know, the very first POST screen. So, when it did this, I immediately reset it and went to the BIOS, everything was set ok, voltages were ok(12v @ 12.08, 5v @ 4.87, 3.3v @ 2.83), and all the temps were fine. After saving and leaving the BIOS, it will not boot, it will beep like it wants to POST, then hang with a blank screen, and upon hitting reset, it might sometimes make it to the first POST screen, and hang there.
For some reason now, every single time I go into the BIOS, it will not POST after exiting. Also, for some reason, when it does hang and I try to reboot & reset it, it will continue to beep once, then attempt to POST, beep once, then attempt to POST, over and over. The only way it will successfully POST and boot fine, is if I completely shut down the system, and turn it back on. Is it the MB, maybe the RAM, or the PSU?? I can run any and every single test on the MB, and it passes them with flying colors, no problem. With the RAM, it will also pass any possible test, EXCEPT, if I run the "CheckIt Utility" that is found with Norton System Works 2005, and run the RAM test, it fails the RAM immediately. But, any other RAM test I run, it passes fine. It creates a big problem with it not POSTing whenever I go into the BIOS, 'cuz with the MB's CPR function, if it doesn't POST properly, it will revert back to the previous BIOS settings, so I can't test the RAM with Memtest86, or change anything now in the BIOS, 'cuz it hangs when I leave the BIOS.
So, anyone have any ideas?? I am thinking it's either the MB's BIOS chip failing, or, the RAM. I had called OCZ to ask them about the RAM before, how it will say in CPU-Z that it's PC2-6400 when it's actually supposed to be PC2-7200, and they thought maybe it had been programmed with the wrong SPD info. but, when I spent last week overclocking and benching the system, the RAM never had a single issue, nothing did. So I am stumped here. I, as most people, would like to avoid yanking and RMA'ing the MB if possible, which is why I am looking at the RAM and PSU to make sure they are ok before I yank the MB.
If someone could shed some more light on this for me, it'd be great. And as a side note, once the system boots into WinXP, it works perfect, no crashing, no BSOD, nothing, I can play online Poker, FEAR, Company of Heros, anything for hours and it works fine. It just seems to be having big time issues when it needs to POST and reboot, or boot up. Is it probable that it's the BIOS chip?? This is what I am leaning towards, and of course, when I call Asus, they take my name and number, and tell me a tech will call me, and they never call back. Explaining why I am asking for opinions here. So, if someone has any other ideas, please, let me know. In the meantime, I will keep trying to contact Asus. If needed, my system specs are all in my sig. Thanks in advance guys.
Tony a.k.a. OCZ SpeedJunky