Intel 975XBX2 issues

Hello,

When it comes to standby, I have some problems with my Intel Bad Axe 2 mobo. These are not the only problems I have encountered but I will continue to add to this thread.
First, in XP SP2, when i switch to stanby, the hdds stop, but the video card fan and the case fans remain on. The case fans are connected to the mobo (front, rear and aux), while the CPU fan is connected through a std molex. Sometimes, when I resume from standby, the System process would keep one core busy (50% of the CPU) continuously, until I restart XP.
In Vista, standby works, and the fans stop. But after the resume, the System process would keep 50% of the CPU busy. Process Explorer reports that actually smss.exe under the System process is the culprit.
I use the latest released NVidia drivers and in BIOS ACPI is set to S3. All the mobo drivers were installed after installing the OS, starting with the chipset and ending with audio and video.
Does anyone know what's wrong and what is the solution for this?

I kept an eye on my temps and i found out the zone 2 temperature (between the DIMMs) goes up to 60C (room temp ~ 27C). Since there is not much space between the memory sockets and the video card I decided to look for a RAM cooler that might fit. However, my choices were limited because of the insufficient space. OCZ XTC Cooler looked like the right choice, but when i tried it, no luck. It does not fit and I did not want to bend the video card to make it fit.
Another thing that I wanted to try was to replace the case side panel with the new panel from Thermaltake which has a 25cm fan. However, my Noctua CPU heatsink is very tall, so I do not have the 30mm required clearance, not even inside the Armor case.
The solution I found to work is Zalman FB-123. Fortunately my case allows me to mount it almost anywhere I want. So now my DIMMs temp stays under 45C. Also NB gets some air movement too. I connected the fan to the mobo front fan and the speed is controlled by the motherboard. At ~1200rpm, the fan can be barely heard.
As you can see in the pictures, there is not too much space for a RAM cooler.

Hope it helps some1...

smss.exe = session manager subsystem, so it would seem to be a windows problem. Had a similar problem with Intel® Desktop Utilities, would hang and then one core would show 100% usage. Apparently it was a problem with monotoring utilities installed in the "wrong" order and smbios drivers conflicting with each other. Solved easily by uninstalling Intel® Desktop Utilities ;)

Btw, what stepping you got on your Xeon 3060, and by stock vcore do you mean 1.35 or just auto? what does everest/speed fan say your vcore is?

I did get some conflicts and IDU popped up some messages about CPU or a zone temp exceeding 110C, under load or at idle. I've been using Everest Ultimate 4 in parallel for a while and in its logs it did "confirm" a max 110C or other higher value for CPU or DIMM temp, with an average of 58 or 45.
I still get from IDU messages like "your system zone 1 temp exceeded it's recommended value of 32C" (the threshold is set to 55C).

My CPU is a step 6 rev B2 (L631F561). Vcore is set to auto (did not change any voltages in bios) and everest and cpuz report a range of 1.17(idle) to 1.29(load).

When the temps do that it's usually caused by a fight between monitoring programs. IDU and IDCC are not very friendly in that respect.

Could you tell me what Bios votage settings you use?

Im at 1.6 Vcore.
1.7 Vmch
1.4 Vfsb
2.44 Vdimm

Cant get pas 425x9 with 1066 strapp thoug.
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I'm at stock voltages:
FSB: 1.25
MCH: 1.525
PVcore: 1.325

As far as i know, 975XBX2 reaches its limits around FSB 425. Might be wrong though.

Another problem I encountered with 975XBX2 was that after installing the Geforce 8800 GTS card (which takes 2 slots) I have no access to the motherboard front audio panel connector anymore. My Armor case has USB and audio connectors on top and would have liked to use them.
I could move the video card to a different PCIe slot, but the first slot is the only one which supports electrical x16.
It's a shame that nobody thought of that, considering that 2 slots video cards aren't quite new.

what about the fans that continue to spin after initiating standby from xp? does anyone know the reason?

i use hibernate in Vista with Bad Axe 2 and it works very well. I do have to push case power button to bring out of hibernate but it is a very quick resume. The desktop is unchanged from prehibernation and it is ready to work with as soon as it is visible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kpax

Another problem I encountered with 975XBX2 was that after installing the Geforce 8800 GTS card (which takes 2 slots) I have no access to the motherboard front audio panel connector anymore. My Armor case has USB and audio connectors on top and would have liked to use them.
I could move the video card to a different PCIe slot, but the first slot is the only one which supports electrical x16.
It's a shame that nobody thought of that, considering that 2 slots video cards aren't quite new.

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I use the front audio panel connectors with a BFG GF 8800GTS 320MB OC with no problem, just a matter of hooking it up before the card and bending the cable a little.

As for the standby issue, I have the perfect solution :) Just leave the comp on always :)

Or you might try disabling all the fancontrol options in bios.

i had the same problem with the fan control disabled and with different fans with std molex power connectors.
yes, you are right, you can connect the front audio cable first; however, the card does not seem to fit right in the PCIe slot; anyway, glad to hear it works for you; i might give it a try

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kpax

what about the fans that continue to spin after initiating standby from xp? does anyone know the reason?

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Found the culprit. If you use USB keyboard or mouse, go to device manager, open the Power Management tab in the properties dialog and uncheck the "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby" checkbox. Do the same for keyboard and mouse. The system should standby properly.