ASUS P5W DH - Problems + Fixes Thread

[OneyedK]

OneyedK, why did you change to the P5WDG2? Isn't that a much older board? I'd like to hear your impressions of it, as I'm considering purchasing a different board entirely.

It was easier to sell the entire setup that ran 24/7 folding @ 3200MHz than to sell the E6400 and 5400UL's separately...

And a friend of mine had a P5WDG2 WS Pro he wanted to get rid of (he decided to run a dual opteron rig after he bought the P5WDG2, so it's practically a virgin )

The following topic made me want to give that board a try:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ghlight=P5WDG2

1st impressions:
bad onboard sound (AD) compared to the P5W DH (Realtek)
refused to boot with more than one stick of OCZ Platinum Alpha VX2 PC8000
vCore rather good, waiting for my Scythe to arrive to test droop
vMCH and vMEM are clearly undervolting, you can correct that with higher settings in bios, but it doesn't do you any good after a bios flash :s
I'll correct it with a pencil mod, waiting for a new Tagan to arrive
Finish of the coolers on the motherboard is much better than the ones on P5W DH, no need to lap them... I simply cleaned them and applied AS5...
Added a 40mm fan to the NB...
Staying @ 333fsb until the new cooler arrives and BSEL-mod for 1333fsb on the cpu is done (will get silver conductive paint tomorrow).

Sorry if this is a bit OT, but I think it's good to know that a P5W DH is a great board.
(after reading all the posts in this topic, people might come to the wrong conclusions)

[Skerlnik]

...refused to boot with more than one stick of OCZ Platinum Alpha VX2 PC8000...

...Staying @ 333fsb until the new cooler arrives and BSEL-mod for 1333fsb on the cpu is done (will get silver conductive paint tomorrow)...

Sorry if this is a bit OT, but I think it's good to know that a P5W DH is a great board.
(after reading all the posts in this topic, people might come to the wrong conclusions)

Interesting. It's good to know that your P5WDG2 hates OCZ Alpha's as much as my P5W DH. Memory voltages are just too low on cold boots it seems. It sounds like you relish getting your hands dirty with all kinds of mods before settling on just *using* your pc You really need a mod to run @ 1333fsb? I never had the guts to attempt the pencil mod considering how unstable my board has been.

I am now leaning towards the Intel D975XBX2, and as far away from Asus as I possibly can. I have nothing against their company, but I have small praise for the P5W DH. Mine has been quirky and very unpredictable since the beginning.

The Intel board is a 975X with the ICH7R also, do you think it can read my RAID-0 (on the ICH7R in the Asus now)? What concerns me most is if the Intel board can read either of my EZ-Backup Raid-1 drives Has anyone out there moved their drives to another MB?

Regards,
Sker

[OneyedK]

You don't "need" a cpu-mod to run fsb1333 ;-)
But, since the chipset will be strapped to 1333 instead of 1066, I hope to see an increase of OC.
read more: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=132900
My P5W DH/E6400 were limited to 440MHz fsb.
Hope to see some more with P5WDG2 WS Pro/E6600.

I use badaxes @ work, really nice boards, but I can't get used to the Intel-bios. Yes, they allow you to change almost everything, but when something goes wrong, it's hell to get them back on line...

You have a 99.99% chance that a raid-0 setup migrated to another system is unreadable, so I wouldn't even bother trying.
Datarecovery from a single drive coming from a raid-1 setup is possible most of the time.
Migrating a full raid-1 set to a new board is much more difficult, even with off-board controllers, sometimes things go wrong.

[Skerlnik]

I use badaxes @ work, really nice boards, but I can't get used to the Intel-bios. Yes, they allow you to change almost everything, but when something goes wrong, it's hell to get them back on line...

You have a 99.99% chance that a raid-0 setup migrated to another system is unreadable, so I wouldn't even bother trying.
Datarecovery from a single drive coming from a raid-1 setup is possible most of the time.
Migrating a full raid-1 set to a new board is much more difficult, even with off-board controllers, sometimes things go wrong.

Yeah, I hear you need to move "recovery" jumper when you have a bad OC on the BadAxe's. Small price to pay if the board offers any kind of stability though I've never been so frustrated with a MB (re: P5W)!

I figured as much regarding the RAID-0... but I thought... maybe... just *maybe* it would work considering it's the same southbridge. So do you think I could read one of my single raid-1 drives just by configuring it as a normal drive or would I need to make it a member of another array? My ignorance clearly highlights the fact that I've never tried this before

- Sker

[OneyedK]

So do you think I could read one of my single raid-1 drives just by configuring it as a normal drive or would I need to make it a member of another array? My ignorance clearly highlights the fact that I've never tried this before

If you simply connect/configure one disk as a single drive, you can read the data.
Booting from it would be another question, it should be possible, but I never had the luck...

If you make it member of another array, the data will be erased... (worst case)

[Skerlnik]

If you simply connect/configure one disk as a single drive, you can read the data.
Booting from it would be another question, it should be possible, but I never had the luck...

If you make it member of another array, the data will be erased... (worst case)

I'll give that a try. Good to know I will be able to read from one of them. I am even going to attempt booting from the original RAID-0 (why the heck not?).

So I received my G.Skill HZ's today, tried them in the P5WDH... no go. The board is officially a paper weight. Turns on, but the video fan just runs at full speed, no video, or it shows the ASUS splash screen but locks up (can't even get into BIOS). Now I've got 6 sticks of wonderful memory, and no working MB's... haha. Great. Anyone need spare P5W parts?

I did order the Intel BX2, hopefully I'll have it sooner than later! Thanks for all of your help!

- Sker

[nickfd]

i have just about everything set at auto so could any 1 be kind enough to tell me wot settings i should/need to use for a lil 24/7 overclock and right mem settings my specs is in my sig thanks

sig paste:
Processor: Core 2 Duo E6400 cpu family 6 model f steping 6 rev 44
Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe (1901 Bios)
Graphics: ATI X1800 Crossfire Edition
Memory: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2
Power: Hiper Type M 580 Watts
Sound: OnBoard but it does for my needs
Optical Drives: 2x Samsung SH182M 18x Super-WriteMaster DVD Writer
Harddrives: WD Caviar SE16 250GB
Cooling: Thermaltake Big Typhoon 120 VX, Stock Crossfire Heatsink
Case: Nzxt Black Apollo
Display: Cibox 19" Widesceen TFT

Well since I'm pretty much at work every waking hour of the day lately, I don't have access to my board, nor do I remember all the settings since the big time I spent tweaking all my settings was around Thanksgiving. However, the least thing you can do is this:

Set your overclocking to manual so you have access to manipulate your settings. On this page you can set your FSB and various voltages. Looks like your memory can run max at 2.2vDIMM, so I'd do that. 1.65 vMCH is good to rule out any instabilities with your northbridge. For your vFSB, set the option that turns the number colour purple, not red.. On CPU, this really depends on the week of production, so unfortunately I can't help you here. Later weeks require less voltage than earlier ones. I'm at 1.60 vCore using watercooling, but for most people this would cause their chips to go up in a poof of smoke. With stock cpufan or decent air I would say you could go to 1.45-1.50, but watch your coretemps!

Memory looks like you have 4-4-4-15, so you can set that. Turn off all the auto options on that page in the first teir of options.

For CPU, turn on microcode update and multiplier modification and leave the rest off.

For fan settings, I disable them all; however some people say they run into problems when they turn off q-fan and related settings. Not sure what to tell you here other than the more you turn off, the less stress you put on your board and the better you're going to be able to overclock.

If you have specific questions about a setting, value, or temperature you receive, let us all know.

Thanks!

[OneyedK]

Turns on, but the video fan just runs at full speed, no video, or it shows the ASUS splash screen but locks up (can't even get into BIOS).

Right before you give up the board... Try re-seating the cpu...
Just in case

[stratos2004]

What fixes 1901 bios update?????

[lawrywild]

Version 1901 2007/02/09 update



Description P5W DH Deluxe BIOS 1901
Enhance compatibility between EZ-Flash II and USB Flash
Support new CPUs. Please refer to our website at: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx



File Size 692.36 (KBytes)

[nbraker]

I'm running Vista Ultimate on my rig. Verdict is, it's a great upgrade. There are some annoyances with the security windows.

I'm using the 64 bit version and all my system drivers are available. ATI Crossfire included.

I miss iTunes as it does not work with my IPOD anymore under 64 bit. It 'might' work under 32 bit, haven't tried it. On second thought, I do not miss iTunes... sorry piece of software. I'm converting my music files and moving to another service.

[lawrywild]

I'm running Vista Ultimate on my rig. Verdict is, it's a great upgrade. There are some annoyances with the security windows.

Turn off UAC from the user accounts section in the control panel

[bullit]

Sorry guys, can anyone tell me the maximum stable fsb for a 6600?

[Zeus]

Sorry guys, can anyone tell me the maximum stable fsb for a 6600?

Noone can, every CPU is different but if you mean on this board, mine loses stabilty after ~430MHzwith 1.65Vmch, stock coler on NB with AS5 applied.

[lawrywild]

1901 seems to have fixed the super-slow vista installation problems btw

[Mr.X]

I have a problem with the sleep mode when my CPU is OC'd. Whenever I put my PC in sleep mode I can't restore it unless I completely shut it off and wait a few secs before I power it up again. This usually results in an overclocking failure.

Anyone else has this problem? It's really annoying.

[Mr.X]

bump

[S1mon-]

I'm seriously wondering what's going on with ASUS selling a enthusiat board that can not change the multiplier on the Xtreme chip... My board cannot go past 413 FSB stable I wanna have something else

[StimulatedBoy]

I'm seriously wondering what's going on with ASUS selling a enthusiat board that can not change the multiplier on the Xtreme chip... My board cannot go past 413 FSB stable I wanna have something else

Welcome to the club... sigh... Now that I have "upgraded" to BIOS 1901, it turns out that 1901 is even less FSB friendly than 1601 on my setup... BSOD as of 330 compared to 350-370 with 1601... I was about to let of some steam - rather emontional right now - but decided to pass as it probably would have resulted in warning / kick... sigh... But those guys over at ASSUS, I do wonder what the hell they are up to...

[OneyedK]

I was about to let of some steam - rather emontional right now - but decided to pass as it probably would have resulted in warning / kick...

It's very wise that you didn't...

But I have to say to all people who are stuck below 400MHz,
it's plain naïeve to think any bios update or downgrade would solve
your problem.

I fired this board up in august with bios 1201, stable up to 425MHz, beancheable up to 440MHz. I tried all bios versions up to 1707...
And yes, a few megahertz difference, but I think that was more cooling/voltage related than anything else.

So IF your cooling is ok (cpu, northbridge AND southbridge)
AND all voltages (measured with DMM) are ok
AND you still are not able to achieve high fsb,
you can conclude that there's something wrong with
your memory, cpu or motherboard.
Rule out wich of them causes the problem and rma
the damn thing.
A new bios will not solve anything for you

And yes, quality control of ALL MOTHERBOARD MAKERS (not only ASUS) is rather poor, the way I see it...
(so bashing on ASUS is NOT what this topic is all about)
I have a P5WDG2 WS Pro now, the funny guys at ASUS decided that if you put 1.325V vcore in bios,
you get an actual 1.28V idle and 1.27V loaded (droop is fine, but why the difference?).
If I ask 2.3V vdimm in bios, the board gives me 2.77V (better safe than sorry???).
--> It doesn't look so bad, but the lower voltage really makes it impossible to boot
the rig with two sticks after a biosflash...
They managed to get vMCH right, 1.5V in bios is 1.499V measured on the board.
--> good 'nuff to be rockstable with an E6600 @ 333MHz / 1.27V (Intel stock cooler atm)
One out of three ain't bad I guess :s

[Mr.X]

I have a problem with the sleep mode when my CPU is OC'd. Whenever I put my PC in sleep mode I can't restore it unless I completely shut it off and wait a few secs before I power it up again. This usually results in an overclocking failure.

Anyone else has this problem? It's really annoying.

(Message too short)

[OneyedK]

I have a problem with the sleep mode when my CPU is OC'd. Whenever I put my PC in sleep mode I can't restore it unless I completely shut it off and wait a few secs before I power it up again. This usually results in an overclocking failure.

Anyone else has this problem? It's really annoying.

Annoying? Like, someone posting the same question abou three times?

Problem with sleep mode is, that the before going into sleep mode,
the current state of the PC is copied into RAM.
As long as you RAM is at stockspeed and spd (voltage and timings), the pc should be able to recover. (unless the nb and cpu power come up too slow)
If the RAM is overclocked in any way, you suffer data loss when the pc goes into hiberantion, so the data to reinitialize the pc is lost, thus you cannot revive the damn thing without a restart.
The reinitialisation requires some bios actions, wich will fail. So after a reboot, that flag is still set and will result in the "overclocking failed" message. You just have to enter the bios, do nothing and boot again...

So no, I don't use sleep mode, I just switch off my screen and external harddrives...

And, btw, this has NOTHING to do with P5W DH problems...

[Mr.X]

Annoying? Like, someone posting the same question abou three times?

Problem with sleep mode is, that the before going into sleep mode,
the current state of the PC is copied into RAM.
As long as you RAM is at stockspeed and spd (voltage and timings), the pc should be able to recover. (unless the nb and cpu power come up too slow)
If the RAM is overclocked in any way, you suffer data loss when the pc goes into hiberantion, so the data to reinitialize the pc is lost, thus you cannot revive the damn thing without a restart.
The reinitialisation requires some bios actions, wich will fail. So after a reboot, that flag is still set and will result in the "overclocking failed" message. You just have to enter the bios, do nothing and boot again...

So no, I don't use sleep mode, I just switch off my screen and external harddrives...

And, btw, this has NOTHING to do with P5W DH problems...

So this happens with all motherboards?

[OneyedK]

So this happens with all motherboards?

When overclocked, yeps...

[cuke2u]

Hi, the link to the Asus FTP page is dead, you need to use this one ftp://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/s...20DH%20Deluxe/
ChrisC