P5K Premium issue

Hey people!

I already posted this message, but it was somehow buried into the P5K Premium testing report, and as I'm quite stuck with those issues, I prefered to open a new thread instead.

So, the problem is I keep getting errors. Not that often, but it's annoying. Most of the time, the computer slows down, and here are the errors showing up in the Event Viewer:

1. "The device, \Device\Ide\iaStor0, did not respond within the timeout period."
2. "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation." (usually shows up 5 to 10 times at once)


Sometimes, the computer just makes a BSOD instead of slowing down. After the BSODs, here's what the Event Viewer tells me:

1. "Error code 00000077, parameter1 00000001, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 a44d1d24." (after first BSOD)
2. "Error code 00008086, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000." (after second BSOD)


All of those errors and BSODs happened while I was copying/moving large files from one partition/drive to another.


Here's my actual setup:
- P5K Premium (BIOS 0402 beta, rev 2.00g)
- Core 2 Quad Q6600 (G0)
- Corsair DDR2-8500C5D (2x 1GB)
- Seasonic S12+ 550w PSU
- SEAGATE 7200.10 320GB (x2 - model ST3320620AS - SATA2 enabled) in AHCI mode

OS: Windows XP Pro w/SP2
Intel Chispet Driver version installed is: 8.3.1.1009
Intel Matrix Storage version installed is: 7.6.0.1011


What I already did:
- checked that the mobo's BIOS was updated correctly.
- ran SeaTools on both harddrives: both of them passed all tests (except destructive ones, which I didn't run).
- ran Memtest 1.70, made 22 passes successfully.
- disabled LPM technology by renaming its registry key, didn't make any change [EDIT]
- activated Marvell Yukon LAN adapter in Windows, didn't make any change [EDIT]
- disabled the Marvell Yukon LAN adapter in the BIOS, no effect [EDIT]
- upped the RAM voltage a bit to the spec voltage (2.1v), didn't help [EDIT]


I don't know what's wrong. If any of you have an idea on how to fix this problems or at least how to point at the defective part, that would be great :)

Thanks!

Btw, Sesdave pointed out a possible fix by disabling "LPM".
Didn't try it yet, but will do soon.

The known S-ATA Bug ? I thought with the latest bios most HD issues were resolved just the Samsung still had some issues :( Hope the LPM solves it

Well, unfortunately, it seems that disabling the LPM didn't fix the issue.

The Event Viewer didn't show any iaStor error this time, but still I had a BSOD while trying to move a large file from one HDD to another.


(BSOD error code is "Error code 00008086, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000.")

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

Well, unfortunately, it seems that disabling the LPM didn't fix the issue.

The Event Viewer didn't show any iaStor error this time, but still I had a BSOD while trying to move a large file from one HDD to another.


(BSOD error code is "Error code 00008086, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 00000000, parameter3 00000000, parameter4 00000000.")

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You are not alone by the way - a google finds a host of others with similar problems . The common factor is use of ICHxR controller and either AHCI or RAID e.g http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/cont...c/12946/?o=480
Well at least the iastor message has gone. Was it the lastest AHCI sata driver you loaded when you installed XP?. Try running in IDE and see if it goes as an interim measure until the cause is found - it may be driver related. Did you add any additional card to your machine or usb drive about the time this started happening - It would be prudent to get a higher spec PSU e.g 700w -especially as u a running a q6600 and 8800GTX with this MB and the 550w probably hasnt got a future MB life.

Whenever I get BSOD or screen lockups, resetting the ram to default Cas timings (5-5-5-18) and/or upping the vDimm a notch, solved the problem...even though it passed MemTest before.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sesdave

You are not alone by the way - a google finds a host of others with similar problems . The common factor is use of ICHxR controller and either AHCI or RAID e.g http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/cont...c/12946/?o=480
Well at least the iastor message has gone. Was it the lastest AHCI sata driver you loaded when you installed XP?. Try running in IDE and see if it goes as an interim measure until the cause is found - it may be driver related. Did you add any additional card to your machine or usb drive about the time this started happening - It would be prudent to get a higher spec PSU e.g 700w -especially as u a running a q6600 and 8800GTX with this MB and the 550w probably hasnt got a future MB life.

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Yeah, I guess I'm not alone. What I'm trying to figure out is if my P5K Premium is the source of my issues or if something else is.

My issue might - I guess - be the infamous issue that many P5K Premium users are experiencing. Although Seagate users usually don't have that issue with the P5K Premium, which is why I really can't be sure about it. Unfortunately, I ain't got the money to buy another motherboard, swap with my P5K Premium and see if the problem goes away.

I installed latest AHCI drivers from Intel's website when installing Windows XP, yes.

The issue started after I installed my new P5K Premium and reinstalled WindowsXP with it. The harddrives were bright new as well. Nothing else changed in my hardware.

Changing the PSU is one of the last options I might consider, since most test and reviews I read said 550w should be enough for about any configuration... as long as there's no SLI/CrossFire.

I'll try switching from AHCI mode to IDE, at least to see if it fixes the problem or not. May I do that without reinstalling Windows XP, btw?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xvys

Whenever I get BSOD or screen lockups, resetting the ram to default Cas timings (5-5-5-18) and/or upping the vDimm a notch, solved the problem...even though it passed MemTest before.

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Thanks Xvys.
Actually, the RAM is already on default timings (5-5-5-15 @ 800MHz - it's supposed to work at 5-5-5-15 @ 1066MHz). I might try upping the RAM voltage a bit, though, think it's on auto right now.

I also read an article about problems of the same type encountered on 965P motherboards with the Marvell Yukon onboard LAN adapter, which is the same on the more recent P5K Premium.

Users that had that problem did update the firmware of the Yukon adapter to fix the problem, or simply activated the adapter under windows (looks like it was causing problems mainly when disabled). I tried activating it, since I had it disabled since day one: doesn't change anything.

Now, the messages about this problem related to Yukon's adapter were from months ago, so I guess this problem has been fixed by now, and I can't find any firmware upgrade to this adapter anymore...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

I also read an article about problems of the same type encountered on 965P motherboards with the Marvell Yukon onboard LAN adapter, which is the same on the more recent P5K Premium.

Users that had that problem did update the firmware of the Yukon adapter to fix the problem, or simply activated the adapter under windows (looks like it was causing problems mainly when disabled). I tried activating it, since I had it disabled since day one: doesn't change anything.

Now, the messages about this problem related to Yukon's adapter were from months ago, so I guess this problem has been fixed by now, and I can't find any firmware upgrade to this adapter anymore...

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Found a suggestion to try attaching to port sata 3-5. http://www.flyingnerd.com/intel-raid...windows-vista/ The thread author also suggests the problems is mainly with maxtorr/seagate drives attached to the controller - cant think why that would be the case ! I know this mainly refers to vista but if you read the whole post there are people with Winxp having the same problem. There is one 'Dissapointed Asus user' exact same propblems on a premium -always works in IDE mode okay but that means no AHCI or RAID -ever..
Time to consider an RMA of the board on the basis it has a spurious controller fault because whilst there are a lot of people encountering these problems - there are a lot more who arent. You know your drives, memory and CPU are okay - that only leaves the board cotroller. May be a duff batch We are all using the same drivers so there is no aurgument. So why should you have to find a workaround or have a drive restriction - you could try changing your drives as some have done but why should you if the work okay. RMA my friend!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sesdave

Found a suggestion to try attaching to port sata 3-5. http://www.flyingnerd.com/intel-raid...windows-vista/ The thread author also suggests the problems is mainly with maxtorr/seagate drives attached to the controller - cant think why that would be the case ! I know this mainly refers to vista but if you read the whole post there are people with Winxp having the same problem. There is one 'Dissapointed Asus user' exact same propblems on a premium -always works in IDE mode okay but that means no AHCI or RAID -ever..
Time to consider an RMA of the board on the basis it has a spurious controller fault because whilst there are a lot of people encountering these problems - there are a lot more who arent. You know your drives, memory and CPU are okay - that only leaves the board cotroller. May be a duff batch We are all using the same drivers so there is no aurgument. So why should you have to find a workaround or have a drive restriction - you could try changing your drives as some have done but why should you if the work okay. RMA my friend!

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Hey!

Soooo, I also tried disabling the Marvell Yukon LAN adapter completely in the BIOS, since I read there could be problems with -probably old- firmwares of it resulting in the same errors as I get. That didn't help.

I also tried upping a bit the RAM voltage to 2.1v, which is the spec voltage, didn't help neither.

The last time I had the errors, which is five minutes ago, no iaStor error showed up, but still 18 (no typo here, 18) warnings saying "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation"...

I guess those warnings are not normal neither, and shouldn't be happening.




Now, the problem is that the shop where I bought the mobo doesn't want to exchange it for another P5K Premium. As they have a lot of problems with these, the only thing they offer is to swap it for a P5K-E, which isn't as good in overclocking (which I planned to do after the issues are resolved). So, I don't know what to do.


I'll also try to connect the harddrives to ports 3 to 5 on the mobo, change SATA cables, eventually try limiting the drives to SATA1 to see if it works better or not. In any case, I agree that I shouldn't have those problems with such a high-end board...

I also noticed the iaStor error were mainly showing up if I keep on surfing the web while a large file is being copied/moved from one drive/partition to another... yeah, talk about multi-tasking.

Well, I still have to try using SATA ports 3-5 before giving up, but I'm beginning to wonder which mobo I could buy to replace this P5K Premium.

I'm doing multimedia work as well as games with this computer, I'd like to overclock my Q6600 (G0), and I'm using single-GFX card configuration and do not plan on using CrossFire or SLI. I need RAID capabilities.

I guess my choices are:
- Asus P5K Premium (and hope it'll be better?)
- Asus P5K-E /Wifi-AP
- Abit IP35-Pro
- Gigabyte P35-DQ6
- Gigabyte P35-DS4
- or a X38 board instead?


I just saw many shops here in here Belgium aren't selling the Gigabyte P35-DQ6 anymore... any obvious reason for that?

Any advice would be welcome here. :)

They just replace them with X38, also I ordered a P5K DLX for friend , my shop never could get it ( Cloetens main importer doesn't even have them on the list anymore)...

Also I'm pretty happy with my Maximus formula (1.02G there is already a 1.03G), apparently the P5E is practically the same board with less voltage control/temp readout and not the extra bling the Maximus has...but it clocks as good as. Secondly I wouldn'ty go for P35 as the X38 boards are almost the same in price...and on par in performance, just the biosses need to mature a bit more...

I just build a rig with a P35DS4 rev2.0 (other heatpipe design & bios F7 out of the box) , very nice board goes easily up to 400FSB, but I wouldn't go higher on that one for longterm stability... seems a bit less build ( less power mosfets and co) as the DQ6 and Asus DLX boards

Groetjes vanuit Limburg...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

Hey!

Soooo, I also tried disabling the Marvell Yukon LAN adapter completely in the BIOS, since I read there could be problems with -probably old- firmwares of it resulting in the same errors as I get. That didn't help.

I also tried upping a bit the RAM voltage to 2.1v, which is the spec voltage, didn't help neither.

The last time I had the errors, which is five minutes ago, no iaStor error showed up, but still 18 (no typo here, 18) warnings saying "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation"...

I guess those warnings are not normal neither, and shouldn't be happening.




Now, the problem is that the shop where I bought the mobo doesn't want to exchange it for another P5K Premium. As they have a lot of problems with these, the only thing they offer is to swap it for a P5K-E, which isn't as good in overclocking (which I planned to do after the issues are resolved). So, I don't know what to do.


I'll also try to connect the harddrives to ports 3 to 5 on the mobo, change SATA cables, eventually try limiting the drives to SATA1 to see if it works better or not. In any case, I agree that I shouldn't have those problems with such a high-end board...

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Before switching to SATA 1 try switching to IDE as previously mentioned. I wouldn't have thought that you would see that much of a performance difference with IDE against AHCI on your drives.. AHCI and especially RAID 0 look great in HD tune/TACH tests but I have read numerous reports that they make little difference to IDE in real world application loading speeds. ANANDTECH state that there is no benefit from using RAID on the desktop. And since I setup matrix raid0/1 a week ago I have had to do a Vista repair/restore on corrupt registry on RAid 0 and RAID 1 is doing its 3rd verify/repair as I write this. I will probably go back to using seperate SATA drives in IDE myself once I buy a new USB backup drive to copy my data off because it never gave me any problems -ever!.

i'm going to try the asus rma system

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Leeghoofd

They just replace them with X38, also I ordered a P5K DLX for friend , my shop never could get it ( Cloetens main importer doesn't even have them on the list anymore)...

(...)

Groetjes vanuit Limburg...

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Well, yeah, X38 looks good too.
Though, I read that the X38 chipset wasn't as good an overclocker as the P35, and what makes me hesitate even more is that Intel already plans on replacing the X38 in something like 3 months... :/

Concerning the P5K Deluxe, my usual computer shop told me the Deluxe was actually getting replaced by the Premium. That would be the reason why the Deluxe is disappearing from the vendor's shelves.

Groetjes vanuit Brussels ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sesdave

Before switching to SATA 1 try switching to IDE as previously mentioned. I wouldn't have thought that you would see that much of a performance difference with IDE against AHCI on your drives.. AHCI and especially RAID 0 look great in HD tune/TACH tests but I have read numerous reports that they make little difference to IDE in real world application loading speeds.

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Yup, I know there's not much differences in usual real world applications.
Though, as this computer is also my workstation for professional multimedia works, I planned on using RAID 0 for media applications and treatment, and RAID 1 for sensitive data.

Even then... buying a RAID board which can't work in RAID mode... sounds disappointing :rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

Yup, I know there's not much differences in usual real world applications.
Though, as this computer is also my workstation for professional multimedia works, I planned on using RAID 0 for media applications and treatment, and RAID 1 for sensitive data.

Even then... buying a RAID board which can't work in RAID mode... sounds disappointing :rolleyes:

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Some suggestions
1-If you want to go RAID in future have you tried changing from AHCI and setting up matrix raid0/1 on your 2 drives now - the different driver might remove the problem
2- If problem still persists you could try connecting to the Jmicron controller
3- If problem still persists and you still want to keep the MB and get the best disk performance you could always invest in a PCI-E RAID card and forget using the ICH9R. It means more spend but at least its forward compatible with any MB. That would give you the overclocking capability of the MB and top disk performance.

Hey, thanks again for your advices sesdave :)


Actually, I thought a lot about my issues these last days, even if I didn't have a lot of time to test things out. Days are passing, and I think I should RMA this board.

It looks like it's quite a superb board when it's working, but as days are passing, it gets obvious that I can't get it to work here. That said, spending so much time *trying* to make it work without any guarantee that it will, isn't something I should have to do with a +200$ board.

Moreover, this board had issues since the day it was launched, particularly with its SATA Controller. A lot of people are still having problems with it right now, even after flashing BIOS to version 0402. Although, ASUS still didn't find a strong fix for this, neither did they communicate about it - at all. Trying to contact their technical support was vain for me: they first answered that they were not aware of any problems regarding this board, and then just didn't reply anymore to any of my mails.

So I'm almost sure now I will RMA it and buy another board.

I'm thinking about buying a Gigabyte X38-DQ6. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

Hey, thanks again for your advices sesdave :)


Actually, I thought a lot about my issues these last days, even if I didn't have a lot of time to test things out. Days are passing, and I think I should RMA this board.

It looks like it's quite a superb board when it's working, but as days are passing, it gets obvious that I can't get it to work here. That said, spending so much time *trying* to make it work without any guarantee that it will, isn't something I should have to do with a +200$ board.

Moreover, this board had issues since the day it was launched, particularly with its SATA Controller. A lot of people are still having problems with it right now, even after flashing BIOS to version 0402. Although, ASUS still didn't find a strong fix for this, neither did they communicate about it - at all. Trying to contact their technical support was vain for me: they first answered that they were not aware of any problems regarding this board, and then just didn't reply anymore to any of my mails.

So I'm almost sure now I will RMA it and buy another board.

I'm thinking about buying a Gigabyte X38-DQ6. :)

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Yes - I would have RMA'd it after about 2 days of trying to get it to work!.. You have tried everything and it seems its hit or miss if you get a premium that works (like mine-lol!) - This is a nice review of the Gigabyte against the maximus. http://sg.vr-zone.com/?i=5306 seem like a good board. From what I have read on the maximus seems pricey and has a lot of little bugs memory compatibility problems etc - needs the bios to mature - that remind you of another board-lol!

Thanks for the link. Indeed, it looks like quite a nice mobo.

I also read many things about the Maximus Formula, and it definitely seems to have a few bugs at the moment as well. The guy at my local computer store even told me the following: "if you don't want to have issues with your motherboard, just don't buy any Asus mobo at the moment".

Unfortunately, the more topics I read, the more I think that about every recent motherboard as problems and bugs... or needs to have a better BIOS. Reading the whole Gigabyte X38-DQ6 let's me think their BIOS isn't pretty mature or stable neither.

Looks like it's not the right time to buy a motherboard, actually - lol :)
Unfortunately, I don't have that choice: I need one!

The current issues with Maximus Formula can easily be fixed by a BIOS upgrade. With so many new and old components out there, compatibility issues are inevitable.

On the other hand, the SATA-2 issues with P5K-Premium seem to be hardware related. The way I look at it, this problem was first reported in Asus forum in early August and this is still not fixed today tells me that this is not a simple BIOS fix. Imagine the number of RMA in the last few months and what this does to its good name.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

Thanks for the link. Indeed, it looks like quite a nice mobo.

I also read many things about the Maximus Formula, and it definitely seems to have a few bugs at the moment as well. The guy at my local computer store even told me the following: "if you don't want to have issues with your motherboard, just don't buy any Asus mobo at the moment".

Unfortunately, the more topics I read, the more I think that about every recent motherboard as problems and bugs... or needs to have a better BIOS. Reading the whole Gigabyte X38-DQ6 let's me think their BIOS isn't pretty mature or stable neither.

Looks like it's not the right time to buy a motherboard, actually - lol :)
Unfortunately, I don't have that choice: I need one!

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You could still get a cheap 2 port PCI-Ex1 RAID card so you can use the MB until the rest mature or next gen are launched - e.g. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CC-025-AD Use that for RAID 0 and you could either RAID 1 or IDE on the jmicron although you would have to buy esata to sata cables and run them in. I still think the ICH9 would be okay to run in IDE if you dont want raid 1.
If you dont want to use or trust these onboard controllers get a PCI-Ex4 4 port raid card e.g http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...tid=49&subcat= this is a cheap one and you can pay more for better but why bother - you arent running a critical server raid 5 setup -are you? This is MB transferable and should provide better performance than onboard. Hope u werent thinking of crossfire as a 4 port card needs the universal PCI-E slot(second one)

Indeed MIS3, the problem on P5K Premium seems to be hardware related. I guess lots of people would have appreciated Asus communicating about it. Unfortunately they didn't, and people who have issues with their mobo's - and even some of those who don't - feel like Asus isn't concerned enough about their customers.

Actually, that makes me wonder why I should buy another Asus card to replace my P5K Premium. Honestly, I'd really prefer to go for another brand. :/




Sesdave, thanks.
I might consider buying such a card while existing new mobo's are maturing a bit more. I'm still considering Gigabyte's X38-DQ6 though, but I didn't make any decision yet. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

Indeed MIS3, the problem on P5K Premium seems to be hardware related. I guess lots of people would have appreciated Asus communicating about it. Unfortunately they didn't, and people who have issues with their mobo's - and even some of those who don't - feel like Asus isn't concerned enough about their customers.

Actually, that makes me wonder why I should buy another Asus card to replace my P5K Premium. Honestly, I'd really prefer to go for another brand. :/




Sesdave, thanks.
I might consider buying such a card while existing new mobo's are maturing a bit more. I'm still considering Gigabyte's X38-DQ6 though, but I didn't make any decision yet. :)

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If you do end up buying the gigabyte make sure you still RMA the premium and sell the replacement on ebay as new- return of cash always eases the pain - lol!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thefiddler

Indeed MIS3, the problem on P5K Premium seems to be hardware related. I guess lots of people would have appreciated Asus communicating about it. Unfortunately they didn't, and people who have issues with their mobo's - and even some of those who don't - feel like Asus isn't concerned enough about their customers.

Actually, that makes me wonder why I should buy another Asus card to replace my P5K Premium. Honestly, I'd really prefer to go for another brand. :/




Sesdave, thanks.
I might consider buying such a card while existing new mobo's are maturing a bit more. I'm still considering Gigabyte's X38-DQ6 though, but I didn't make any decision yet. :)

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The problem is we really do not have much choices now.

Only Asus and Gigabyte came out with X38 boards so far and not even the whole lineup. For instance, I am thinking of Maximus Formula but the non-SE version did not come out yet. I do not plan to water-cool my PC and I am not sure if the SE version has adequate cooling in the North Bridge. The other good choice is Abit X38 QuadGT and this one has been delayed again and again.

Actually, I am really surprised of the lack of X38 boards from the other manufacturers. They should know that potential sales have been lost to Gigabyte and Asus because of the delay. Is it possible that all of them have production issues? Is it possible that they might skip X38 chipsets altogether and focus on X48? I read that the X48 chipsets is supposed to be available on Nov-4th from Intel (only the chipsets not the motherboard).

thefiddler: RMA your P5K-Premium when you still can. The fix may never come!