Testing / comparing : Intel D975XBX2 / Asus P5B DX ***56K WARNING***

[likewhoa]

Actually its 4x2gb, and i had top bump the northbridge to 1.65, and lower my fsb to 356. May try bumping the volts to 1.7, and return my 378fsb, and see what happens... Played BF2 for 2 hours straight, so i'm thinkin its gonna be ok.....

I'm running a QX6700 @ 347x10 1.45v vCore,1.45v,1.6v & 4x2gb Mushkin EM2-6400 RAM @ 1.96v = 870Mhz 266/667 5-5-5-12 8hours+ Prime Blend.

[LoneWolf]

Slightly OT guys, but not straying too far --I have a problem that I could use help on.

I built a system a year back for family, centered around an Intel D975XBX board. I built it with stability, sturdiness, and solid cooling in mind, since it was going to be used in a tropical climate.

Fast forward --they had to send the system back to me for repairs. The video card (ATI AIW 2006) failed; I have temporarily replace that, and the system now boots fine. However, I have another problem --Windows XP MCE cannot find the onboard Sigmatel audio. I have updated the BIOS, gone back to an earlier revision, and then updated again. I have made sure the audio is enabled in BIOS. I've checked the registry --there isn't even an old entry in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI, nor any "splatted" devices in Device Manager. Attempting to install the latest Intel drivers errors out in the middle with a "device not found" message.

I'm thinking the board is defective, but wanted to know if anyone else had this problem and fixed it before I start the RMA process with Intel. I don't have long to get it back to them (I have to send the system with visiting family or it can cost $300 just to ship it) --does anyone know what Intel's turnaround-time usually is for RMA? I'd rather replace the board than get a sound card, since the front-panel audio connector works well with the Antec P180 case it's installed in.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

[JZX100]

Slightly OT guys, but not straying too far --I have a problem that I could use help on.

I built a system a year back for family, centered around an Intel D975XBX board. I built it with stability, sturdiness, and solid cooling in mind, since it was going to be used in a tropical climate.

Fast forward --they had to send the system back to me for repairs. The video card (ATI AIW 2006) failed; I have temporarily replace that, and the system now boots fine. However, I have another problem --Windows XP MCE cannot find the onboard Sigmatel audio. I have updated the BIOS, gone back to an earlier revision, and then updated again. I have made sure the audio is enabled in BIOS. I've checked the registry --there isn't even an old entry in HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI, nor any "splatted" devices in Device Manager. Attempting to install the latest Intel drivers errors out in the middle with a "device not found" message.

I'm thinking the board is defective, but wanted to know if anyone else had this problem and fixed it before I start the RMA process with Intel. I don't have long to get it back to them (I have to send the system with visiting family or it can cost $300 just to ship it) --does anyone know what Intel's turnaround-time usually is for RMA? I'd rather replace the board than get a sound card, since the front-panel audio connector works well with the Antec P180 case it's installed in.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide.

I have the same problem.
It happens if you go to stand by mode and come back to normal.
Sometimes it happens when you reboot your system.

Try to turn off your system and turn on it after a few seconds. It should work but you have to do it again and again everytime it happen.

But, better look for a good soundcard. I'm using an audigy 2 ZS now and i almost forgot this annoying thing.

Sorry for my english

[likewhoa]

Anyone know if we are gonna be able to use the upcoming Q9450 CPUS on this board?

[screwtech02]

Anyone know if we are gonna be able to use the upcoming Q9450 CPUS on this board?

Good luck with that....

[likewhoa]

Good luck with that....

no , i find out now as i get home.

[jmpage2]

Hi guys,

Haven't been in the thread for a while, but as the BX2 owners hang here thought I'd post my problem and see if anyone has any ideas.

I've been running on Overclocked BX2 with some 1033mhz OCZ RAM for the past year and it's been pretty stable. I do get windows errors from Vista 32 when exiting games or other physics engine type stuff, but the system has tested with benchmarks as being totally stable.

We had a power failure today and my UPS drained before I even got home. The PC had been forcefully powered off and now won't boot.

When booted up with the two RAM sticks it will give 3 beeps. Booting up with one stick still gives the three beeps but booting up with the other one gives zero beeps.

Video never comes on and the board doesn't seem to POST. I've tried the BIOS reset trick (which I've had to do in the past after overclocking exploits went horribly wrong) but it's not working now. The machine always starts up, and then the fans kick on to high and no video output.

I don't have any spare parts for this box to swap around so I'm wondering if there's anything I missed. Any secret tricks to getting the sucker to boot up before I have to start stealing parts from the office?

Thanks!

Oh ya, I was thinking of going up to 4GB with this board, does it support 2X2GB or only 4X1GB? I'm only asking in the event the board is not cooked.

[likewhoa]

We had a power failure today and my UPS drained before I even got home. The PC had been forcefully powered off and now won't boot.

When booted up with the two RAM sticks it will give 3 beeps. Booting up with one stick still gives the three beeps but booting up with the other one gives zero beeps.

Seems like you broke one of your RAM sticks, try to test them on another board so you can't rule out the board. time to steal your bosses pc for testing.

Oh ya, I was thinking of going up to 4GB with this board, does it support 2X2GB or only 4X1GB? I'm only asking in the event the board is not cooked.

It supports up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM. I run it with 4x2GB DDR2 PC2-8000 RAM

[jmpage2]

Seems like you broke one of your RAM sticks, try to test them on another board so you can't rule out the board. time to steal your bosses pc for testing.



It supports up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM. I run it with 4x2GB DDR2 PC2-8000 RAM

I took the CMOS battery out over night and it still won't POST. Hopefully it's just the memory that's tanked, I'd hate to have to replace my BX2.

I will have to see if I can scrounge a stick of low speed 1.8V RAM to test with. In the event that I have to buy new RAM which 2GB modules are compatible with the BX2? There are a lot of posts around the Internet that indicate many/most 2GB modules are not compatible with this board. I might just go the 4X1GB route if that's easier to run. I am running 32 bit Vista and won't be able to address more than 3.x GB of RAM in any event.

[jmpage2]

Turns out Mushkin is local to me (I'm in the greater Denver area) and they are going to set me up with some 2 X 2GB 1.8V DDR2-800 sticks that they say should work with the BX2. Will be running out to get them in the next hour or two.

[screwtech02]

I took the CMOS battery out over night and it still won't POST. Hopefully it's just the memory that's tanked, I'd hate to have to replace my BX2.

I will have to see if I can scrounge a stick of low speed 1.8V RAM to test with. In the event that I have to buy new RAM which 2GB modules are compatible with the BX2? There are a lot of posts around the Internet that indicate many/most 2GB modules are not compatible with this board. I might just go the 4X1GB route if that's easier to run. I am running 32 bit Vista and won't be able to address more than 3.x GB of RAM in any event.

You try getting into "maint" mode with the jumper??? I also had issues with my board with a physics card installed, after a power loss, it would only boot after i removed it from a pci slot... You may want to try and remove any pci cards and see if it boots.... I actually sent my board back for a RMA untill i found this issue out....

[jmpage2]

You try getting into "maint" mode with the jumper??? I also had issues with my board with a physics card installed, after a power loss, it would only boot after i removed it from a pci slot... You may want to try and remove any pci cards and see if it boots.... I actually sent my board back for a RMA untill i found this issue out....

Ya, I've tried the jumper in the 2,3 position as well as removed. Never get video or anything that tells me the board has POST'd successfully. Since I'm getting the memory error beeps that's been the direction I've been looking at.

I was thinking of getting new RAM anyway so I will try these new Mushkin sticks later this afternoon and if still getting nowhere I'll tear the board down to minimal config with just the video, mobo, cpu and ram and see where I get to.

Thanks for the advice.

[wa2000]

Ya, I've tried the jumper in the 2,3 position as well as removed. Never get video or anything that tells me the board has POST'd successfully. Since I'm getting the memory error beeps that's been the direction I've been looking at.

I was thinking of getting new RAM anyway so I will try these new Mushkin sticks later this afternoon and if still getting nowhere I'll tear the board down to minimal config with just the video, mobo, cpu and ram and see where I get to.

Thanks for the advice.

Do you have a spare video card?

Try to change the video card, the board may able to boot again once you put another video card in it.

[jmpage2]

The OCZ memory was apparently the culprit (thank God).

I bought the 2X2GB DDR800 Mushkin kit and no problem getting into recovery with these 1.8-2.0V Mushkin sticks.

Right now I'm running FSB at 266mhz, reference strap 266mhz and memory frequency 800 mhz with very loose timings 5-5-5-18 I think.

So far it's looking good. I will have to start testing and see if I can get back to the 3.2ghz cpu speed I was running with my 9X core duo cpu.

Thanks for the suggestions that people provided, it was definitely helpful!

PS, OCZ PC2-8500 Nvidia SLI sticks are junk. Don't buy them. I will be contacting OCZ for an RMA on these junk sticks and selling whatever they send me as a replacement on eBay.

[jmpage2]

OK, I need some more help if anyone is willing.

As part of trying to get things all nice and tidy I upgraded the system BIOS to the latest version.

Checked my settings but missed a rather important one. Changing the SATA controller mode from IDE to RAID (I run RAID 1 on my setup).

Windows booted but I noticed it was running super slow with lots of disc access. Shut it down and see that the controller is set wrong so I change it back to RAID mode.

When I then try to boot up, Windows complains about the boot file being missing and refuses to start and tells me to insert my installation CD and do a repair.

Is there any way to get this going again without having to reload or break/re-create the mirror?

//edit

OK, I got this figured out too. What a pain!! Fortunately the system still had the RAID driver installed in Vista. I was able to figure out which disc Vista had been booting off of. Turned RAID back on in the BIOS, booted on that disc successfully, then shut down, added back the old disc and let the RAID controller rebuild the disc.

This was successful but very scary. I make backups but reloading from even a 2 week old backup is still a major pain in the ass. Fortunately it didn't come to that.

[AndyM]

Shot in the dark question here...

I have an XBX2 with an Allendale (and whatever bios was supporting this in ~December). I'd like to drop the vcore below 1.2875 as the cpu I have looks happy at 3.0ghz @ 1.2875, but no lower vcore options seen. Does any newer bios have lower vcore options? Other ideas?

[LoneWolf]

I have the same problem.
It happens if you go to stand by mode and come back to normal.
Sometimes it happens when you reboot your system.

Try to turn off your system and turn on it after a few seconds. It should work but you have to do it again and again everytime it happen.

But, better look for a good soundcard. I'm using an audigy 2 ZS now and i almost forgot this annoying thing.

Sorry for my english

It didn't work, no matter what I did. And unfortunately, I didn't have time to RMA the board; the system had to go back out overseas to some of my family (3,000 miles away, halfway across the globe)within a 2-week time period. After playing around, I bought a used X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, and put that in, since I needed the front audio jacks to work on the system too.

Still waiting to see if anyone gets a Yorkfield CPU running on the XBX2.

[albertwesker]

I will test a QX9650 on monday or tuesday. The E8500 and E4700 G0 run great on the BX1 with 1463 Bios.

[down8]

I may be scoring a Q9450 from an Intel employee. If I do, it'll go right into my BA2 for testing. If it works, sweet. If not, I'll sell it and wait for Nehalem.

-bZj

[Blacklash]

The BX2 is PCI-e 8x|8x|4x, has anyone attempted Crossfire X in this mobo? I own two HD 3850s and was thinking about getting a HD 3870 since they are so cheap now. I was going to link them all together in Tri-fire :p

I've tried regular Crossfire with two cards in this mobo before and it worked great.

[Woland]

I will test a QX9650 on monday or tuesday. The E8500 and E4700 G0 run great on the BX1 with 1463 Bios.

Please let us know how it goes. Does it run, is it recognised correctly and most important of all does it OC on the xbx2?

[ArcticOC]

The C1E bug is gone in BIOS 2813

..and Intel said it could not be done at first

[albertwesker]

Please let us know how it goes. Does it run, is it recognised correctly and most important of all does it OC on the xbx2?

it's a no go ;(. The Board doesn't post with the QX9650 included, the E8500 works well.

[yu130960]

The OCZ memory was apparently the culprit (thank God).


PS, OCZ PC2-8500 Nvidia SLI sticks are junk. Don't buy them. I will be contacting OCZ for an RMA on these junk sticks and selling whatever they send me as a replacement on eBay.

I am now going to be on my second set. The OCZ Nvidia sticks have caused me nothing but heart ache. Can anyone recommend iron clad stable modules, I need to buy some today....

[doug goldberg]

Any suggestions for a decent cooler (air) for a Q6600 on the bx2?