ASUS P5W DH - Problems + Fixes Thread

[X7007]

Do you guys have CPU VOLTAGE and EIST using 2604 Bios ?

because EIST is gone and it says to disable it for changing voltage, well of course but its not there and its Enabled. What's wrong with it grr, i cant do any overclock without changing the cpu voltage.

***** NEVER MIND : i found the fix, Disabling the CPU RATIO makes it EIST to appear and then i can change the CPU VOLTAGE.

[MacClipper]

Looks like GDDR4 at work here.
X2 uses 1.0ns GDDR3 memory and clocked and usually clocked at 825MHz
3870 uses .08ns GDDR4 memory and clocked at 777MHz
See the difference now?

The 2 HD3870 cards I used are both factory overclocked versions - Gecube Turbo III (810/1125) and Powercolor PCS (800/1200) so that might account a bit for the score too.

[AHolland]

Just to add a couple of bits of confusion.

A lot of members have said they have a motherboard version 1.02 and cannot set the MCH higher than 1.65. I have that same board version and can set mine as high as 1.85, although I find it the most stable at 1.75. I don't know what the changes were between 1.02 and 1.03.

Crap. Forgot the other two points I was going to put in.

I am probably going to try to put an E8400 into this machine because this e6600 overclocks so poorly. I can do 333 for months, but will die at 334 in 5 minutes. Something weird happening there. If the e8400 runs in the new machine, I will be a happy camper. If not, I'm onto a new board. Personally I am happy if it works because it has been a good board until this morning when it died...happily it was memory related. Strange in that I am use to hearing motherboard beeps with memory issues.

Getting late. Time to go....

[Falkentyne]

Do you guys have CPU VOLTAGE and EIST using 2604 Bios ?

because EIST is gone and it says to disable it for changing voltage, well of course but its not there and its Enabled. What's wrong with it grr, i cant do any overclock without changing the cpu voltage.

***** NEVER MIND : i found the fix, Disabling the CPU RATIO makes it EIST to appear and then i can change the CPU VOLTAGE.

Um.......what?
That's going to do a hell of a lot of good if you have an unlocked multiplier CPU, right?

Disabling the CPU ratio and then you cant change the multiplier, but you can change the vcore by disabling EIST?
But ENABLE CPU Ratio, and the Voltage is STUCK at auto, because EIST is not available to be changed??......

That means this BIOS is worthless with an Extreme edition.

This sounds like a complete fatal bug, don't you think?

[Eastcoasthandle]

The 2 HD3870 cards I used are both factory overclocked versions - Gecube Turbo III (810/1125) and Powercolor PCS (800/1200) so that might account a bit for the score too.

Not really...the reference design of the 3870 has a lower 3d clock vs the 3870 X2 but has better memory. When you have a 3870 in CF it at times performs better then the 3870X2. The major difference is the GDDR4 vs GDDR3. That's why IMO it's better the GDDR4 X2's (when they start to surface).

[romfi]

Um.......what?
That's going to do a hell of a lot of good if you have an unlocked multiplier CPU, right?

Disabling the CPU ratio and then you cant change the multiplier, but you can change the vcore by disabling EIST?
But ENABLE CPU Ratio, and the Voltage is STUCK at auto, because EIST is not available to be changed??......

That means this BIOS is worthless with an Extreme edition.

This sounds like a complete fatal bug, don't you think?

I am running QX6700 (extreme) with 2602 BIOS, and I do not see this problem - I can change both CPU ratio and Voltage. EIST option in BIOS is indeed gone but it actually appears to work. Looks like this BIOS issue exists only with 45 nm CPUs.

[Grendel66]

so from a weird way ASus EZ doesnt want to let me get the update running, it just freezed when i tried to enter it showing me the files from the USB Flash A:\ and C:\(was the usb) i tried without the usb flash and it was still freeze, freeze means i couldnt move between the files i had in the usb files i had like 3 ROMS, and without it i couldnt do CTRL + ALT + DEL thats how it freezed.

Had the same experience. It's not really frozen tho, somehow the keyboard events got "stuck". I finally managed to get to the file and program it by hitting a key (arrow, enter) and then hitting shift until the previous key registered.

reset and to configurate to LOAD DEFAULTS, reset, booted, so it look liked it was freezed, so i reset again and it freezed again, ( i think it wasnt freeze because as you know when you do the Defaults it activates the slow FAN Controls so it gives it more 7 sec or something, and i forgot it at the time) so i turned the computer off, and when i turn it on it didnt boot. I Was IN SHOCKED*, tried everything, pulling memory sticks i have 4x, pulling the power cable, reset CMOS, everything i could think off. so i was at thinking i leave the computer for the day , thinking about RMA and such.

Same thing. Board got stuck after the USB init message on screen, but would eventually continue to boot after pulling USB devices..

So after the day i thought what the hell before i am going to store i will try to turn it on, and POOF magic, it booted and works.

Well, havn't powered it up ever since, will try that..

[DrSlump]

I am probably going to try to put an E8400 into this machine because this e6600 overclocks so poorly. I can do 333 for months, but will die at 334 in 5 minutes. Something weird happening there. If the e8400 runs in the new machine, I will be a happy camper. If not, I'm onto a new board. Personally I am happy if it works because it has been a good board until this morning when it died...happily it was memory related. Strange in that I am use to hearing motherboard beeps with memory issues.

Getting late. Time to go....

I'm having similar problems with a Q6600: it's stable until 328Mhz bus speed. Even @330 i start to get some stability issues (I/O errors), while @333Mhz the board becomes unstable: it works under winxp64 but there are random errors or lockups, no matter the voltage or settings i use: i can make a crazy overvolt on ram, cpu, nb etc etc, no way to gain stability, even using ultra relaxed memory timings etc etc... very strange. I really would like to know the origin of this problems.

[vetrelec]

Do you guys have CPU VOLTAGE and EIST using 2604 Bios ?

because EIST is gone and it says to disable it for changing voltage, well of course but its not there and its Enabled. What's wrong with it grr, i cant do any overclock without changing the cpu voltage.

***** NEVER MIND : i found the fix, Disabling the CPU RATIO makes it EIST to appear and then i can change the CPU VOLTAGE.

Where you download 2604 BIOS?On ASUS ftp latest is 2602.

[X7007]

Where you download 2604 BIOS?On ASUS ftp latest is 2602.

LOL i always confused with those bioses, damn asus always makes jumps between 504 to 506 and than 602, so its confusing and i forgot .


r
and asus when the fix something they ruin something else, when the CPU Ratio was on default x8 when it should be on x9 for Q6600 you needed to Enable the it so you can change it to x9, well after this bios update 2602 you need to disable it to see EIST LOL again. what is wrong with them, and lets not talk about the permantly unboot that could happend before, i thought the motherboard was toast with some weird things in it.

[MacClipper]

For me, my main peeve with the Asus BIOS is that pesky "Config Disk" which appears now and then as a new Hardware Detected by Win XP... such a PITA. Do you guys get this too?

I have already removed both jumpers and disabled it in the BIOS and yet it happens once in a while.

[lawrywild]

I used to get that but not for like a year. Don't know how I stopped it..

[cherrypik]

Lately my computer takes forever to shutdown and restart. I'm talking like 15-20 minutes. Has anyone ever run into this problem?

[lawrywild]

Be more specific? Sounds more like a Windows issue if you're talking about shutting down times..

[cherrypik]

Be more specific? Sounds more like a Windows issue if you're talking about shutting down times..

Yes it is shutdown times. I'm using Vista 32bit Home Premium. It just started in the last week or so. I thought that maybe I might be losing my oc or PSU is going.

[Cordite!]

Clean up your HDD, www.ccleaner.com is a good help.. defrag HDD.. etc//

Lower your o/c a bit as well to see if it goes better.

[lawrywild]

Did you modify anything in the registry? Like "clear page file on shutdown" etc?

[cherrypik]

Did you modify anything in the registry? Like "clear page file on shutdown" etc?

I did not touch my registry but I did go from a 7800gt to ATI 3870. I also cleaned the Nvidia drivers at least 2x.

[Hicksetto]

Hi,

I'm using G0 Q6600@3.150Mhz. (350x9) default voltage with SpeedStep enabled. It looks stable, but over 350MHz. FSB I cannot make my PC stable. Is there any way to use Q6600 about around 3.6 Ghz.? BIOS ver: 2602

Thanks,

Hicksetto

[xMrBunglex]

a P5W can easily do 350 FSB. just put your north bridge volts in the pink. i think 3.6 is probably right around the limits on a G0 Q6600 on air though. go through your overclock one piece at a time, use the process of elimination, and find out which component is holding you back from going further. the motherboard is likely not what's holding you back here.

[clee]

Hi,

I'm using G0 Q6600@3.150Mhz. (350x9) default voltage with SpeedStep enabled. It looks stable, but over 350MHz. FSB I cannot make my PC stable. Is there any way to use Q6600 about around 3.6 Ghz.? BIOS ver: 2602

Thanks,

Hicksetto

My G0 chip barely reached a stable ( 18 hrs+ Prime95 ) clock of 3Ghz ( 335 * 9 ) on the P5W DH yet it can do 3.8 Ghz on the DFI X38 board with less vcore.
P5W DH is a very fine board for dual-core chips, but you'll need motherboards with P35 or X38 chipset to really make your quad-core shines.

[Random Murderer]

My G0 chip barely reached a stable ( 18 hrs+ Prime95 ) clock of 3Ghz ( 335 * 9 ) on the P5W DH yet it can do 3.8 Ghz on the DFI X38 board with less vcore.
P5W DH is a very fine board for dual-core chips, but you'll need motherboards with P35 or X38 chipset to really make your quad-core shines.

methinks you may need to learn more about this board.
i've got my b3 at 3.11 now, but had it stable at 3.6. i backed it down due to heat.

[t_ski]

I did not touch my registry but I did go from a 7800gt to ATI 3870. I also cleaned the Nvidia drivers at least 2x.

Usually shutdown issues seem to be driver related. Unfortunately, it's usually a PITA to diagnose and nail down.

T_Ski: thanks for the in-depth response to my posts, man ( appreciate that )

You're welcome

Thanks for the info - I've been wondering what the performance was like between the two.

Don't suppose anyone out there knows how crossfired 2900xt's stack up against the above?

I got a 3870x2 in last week, but I haven't had a chance to bench mine yet. If I can remember, I'll bench it and post the numbers for you.

[clee]

..... but had it stable at 3.6. i backed it down due to heat.

Cheers, did you test it with "at least" 12 hrs of Prime95 ( 4 instances ).
I have the rev. 1.02 board for well over a year now and it has no problem running well over 400 fsb on an e6400 and e6600. My B0 Q6600 reached a max of 390-ish but 335 is the best I could do to make it Prime95 stable.
I'm sure make users here will agree with me that i975 isn't particularly friendly with quad-core CPUs.

But if yours is indeed stable @ 3.6, then congradulation !!!

[Random Murderer]

Cheers, did you test it with "at least" 12 hrs of Prime95 ( 4 instances ).
I have the rev. 1.02 board for well over a year now and it has no problem running well over 400 fsb on an e6400 and e6600. My B0 Q6600 reached a max of 390-ish but 335 is the best I could do to make it Prime95 stable.
I'm sure make users here will agree with me that i975 isn't particularly friendly with quad-core CPUs.

But if yours is indeed stable @ 3.6, then congradulation !!!

it was stable at 3.6, but like i said, backed it down due to heat. never broke 100°, but got damn close while priming it. and no, i only prime for one full pass, i don't go by the "prime it for so long" methodology...