P5B Deluxe boot problem w/OCZ FLX

[harvshark]

Been having a problem with OCing my QX6700/P5B Deluxe using the OCZ2FX11502GK ram I bought. When this P5B is powered down or I change ram timings and the NB has to reset, it refuses to boot at all with this ram.
I have to remove the ram, put in a stick of OCZ2P1000512 from another rig, and it boots every time. After a couple of boot cycles with the slower ram, I can then put the new faster ram back in and boot again.
I know the P5B can get a bit quirky about ram, but why will it boot from a confused bios state using the slower ram but not the faster ram? This even works when I have the timings set faster than the slow ram will work at, but it will always at least boot into bios, and then I can put the faster ram back in and take off.
Does this have something to do with the SPD programmed into the faster ram? I think this stuff is all based on the same chips (Micron, I believe). I am starting to believe that the problem is what SPD is telling the bios to boot at before the manual ram settings take over.

QX6700, 428fsb x 8, 1712cpu bus.
Right now, ram settings are 428mhz, 4-4-4-10 timings, but I have had it running as high as the 642mhz setting with 5-5-5-18 timings, but not real stable.

The problem is no boot when the bios tries to save new settings (resets the NB, I think).

Would reprogramming the SPD help this at all?

[mat8861]

mmm it does that also on my p5b with gskill 800 ....had to set on default and use asus oc fm windows. Didnt try my ocz pc9200 that boot fine on as p5w, guess it's a mobo/bios issue?

[harvshark]

Gonna have to try to work something out with OCZ on this ram. Just won't cut it. Works great if you can get the stuff to boot. Now one of the stick won't boot in any of my rigs at any setting. Got a pair of Corsair Dominator sticks on the way to see if they fair better. Hate to do it, never thought that highly of Corsair. I have had great results with the OCZ I have used up until now. Mebbe they will swap me for a pair of the new PC8500 heat pipe jobs they show on their website. They are rated at 2.1v instead of 2.35 for the PC9200 FLX. That might do the trick.
OCZ gurus...any thoughts?

[RyderOCZ]

I doubt changing the SPD will have any affect, have you gotten any further with this problem?

[itznfb]

have you updated the BIOS on the P5B?

[harvshark]

Sorry I have not been back to this thread for a while.
The P5B bios had been updated to the most recent as of a few weeks ago, no change in the problem.
The P5B-D finally died (no power to the cpu) and I bought a Commando, very similar board to the P5B-D and had the same problems I was having before. Updated to the most recent Commando bios. Same problems.
I finally broke down and bought a pair of Corsair Dominator PC9136 (TWIN2X2048-9136C5D) after having been using only OCZ on most of my rigs.
Problem is GONE! I can try whatever bios settings I want now, and if I go beyond what cpu/ram/nb will run at, I can power down and always get a boot into bios to change the settings and try again.
I am currently running the Corsair at 532mhz(1064) with 4-4-4-10-30 timings. Had to bump the volts on the ram to 2.475v to get from 5-5-5 to 4-4-4, but if the rig crashes, I can still always boot back into bios.
I think the problem may be with the minimum volts the ram will initialize at on boot. Stock volts on the OCZ PC9200 is 2.3v, the Corsair PC9136 is 2.1v.
I am not saying the OCZ is bad ram!! On the few occaisions that I could get all the settings right, it would run silly fast! But having to swap a slower stick of ram into the rig to kick start it whenever the nb wanted to restrap or such was a real drag. Think I almost wore out the ram sockets on that P5B before it died. And I would imagine that the newer SLI boards may not have this problem with it. I have not gone that route yet, but they seem to be optimized for faster ram speeds.
As far as OCZ is concerned, I still give them very high marks for customer service. Although they were not able to come up with a solution to the problems I was having on the P5B or Commando, they have agreed to RMA them back and ship me in return a pair of their new PC8500 Raptor ram. The Raptor ram is rated at 2.1v, so I am hoping that it will be happy on the Asus 965 shipset mobos.
I thank OCZ for their help, and I am sure I will be buying more OCZ ram in the future.

[mat8861]

Yes update the bios still the same prob

[harvshark]

I will try to post once I get the new Raptor ram and have a bit of time to play with it in a week or so to let you know if it has the same problems or not.

[andyOCZ]

I'm happy we took good care of you.

Let us know.

[harvshark]

The new Reaper ram has solved my problems with boot lockup on my QX6700/Commando or P5B-D rig. The following email I sent to Kyle Chang at OCZ says it all.....

Kyle.....
Took a while, but I got the new Raptor ram yesterday and installed it in my OCd QX6700 rig. It has solved all of the problems!!!! No more problems with the system booting into bios. Even if I try some ram settings that are too aggressive for the system to boot into Windows, I can still power down and back up to get back into the bios to change to more relaxed timings. No more bios lockup.
I currently have it running at 1065mhz , 2.35v, with 4-4-4-8-25 timings. This is the OCZ ram I know and love!! I bought some Corsair Dominator PC9136 ram to try before my new ram came from you, and it fixed the boot issues, but it would not run this speed at CL4, would only do CL5. It's getting RMAd back to Newegg, and I'm gonna buy another pair of these Raptors (Newegg is stocking them now)!! Less money and better perfomance!
Thank You again for your excellent support, and I can guarantee you that I will continue to buy only OCZ ram in the future.
Mark.

BTW, It's Reaper, not Raptor. Oooops.

EDIT....In my earlier post, I listed CL4 timings for the Corsair. It did not run at that speed very long, ram crashed and corrupted a bunch of stuff. The Reaper is doing just great at CL4.