ASUS Maximus II Formula - new P45 king?

[GaBBa-Gandalf]

here my best results...

560 MHz Primestable FSB @ vNB 1,44V



540 MHz Primestable FSB @ vNB 1,30V

[boo9000]

Hi, I'm posting here because you guys are clearly pc experts : - )

I have broken my PS2 keyboard port on my MIIF whilst changing keyboards, the port has recessed into the metal housing and I now get "Keyboard Interface Error" on bootup. My machine seems to be runniing fine with a usb keyboard but I really need some reassurance that it will not cause a short in the future and kill my components.

I cannot afford a new MB at the moment and good replacement Core 2 MB's are becoming hard to find in stock, now.

So what do you experts say, is it nothing to worry about ?

Many thanks,
boo

[In-Fluence]

The fact that the board has detected the issue isn't a bad thing, and you could assume that the circuitry is probably quite isolated from a lot of the more important parts of the board, but the board has detected a short in the socket. It might have shut the socket off but without a voltmeter it would be hard to tell.
If it was me, I would probably try and pull the socket out again until it didn't give the error (or if possible, un-solder it completely), shorts aren't a good thing over long-term because things can heat up or burn. Keep it running, and take a look around the area of the socket. Check for burns, strange smells, excessive heat. If the board starts to become unstable, I would suggest keeping it turned off until you remove the socket entirely.

[boo9000]

Thankyou, great advice, very much appreciated!

My brother used a screw to grasp the connector and pull it back in to place as far as possible.

No error messages at bootup now, the PS2 port is ruined but that is very cheap compared to a solder repair job or a new motherboard.

Hopefully job done : )

Thankyou!
boo

[SkOrPn]

I bet Asus would replace that board for you just by telling them you keep getting a keyboard interface post error on bootup. ROG products get the best replacement service from Asus, at least thats my experience with them. I recently had to replace my MIIF and when I got the replacement I discovered my troubleshooting was in error and nothing was wrong with the old board. Asus did not care that I was wrong and only wanted to make sure everything was working properly even though I was in error and not the board. Not sure if you would get the same good service from them though. But it is my bet that you can live without the PS2 port.

[boo9000]

Hi, thankyou for your reply, I did think about contacting Asus support but the whole process seems like so much hassle to me, unfortunately that's how my mind works, I would most likely just buy a new one (if I had the funds).

Yes I agree no working PS2 port should not be a problem, what a bummer of a thing to happen tho, I imagine everyone breaks their computer or other hardware at some point lol : -)

Many thanks.

[In-Fluence]

I bet Asus would replace that board for you just by telling them you keep getting a keyboard interface post error on bootup. ROG products get the best replacement service from Asus, at least thats my experience with them. I recently had to replace my MIIF and when I got the replacement I discovered my troubleshooting was in error and nothing was wrong with the old board. Asus did not care that I was wrong and only wanted to make sure everything was working properly even though I was in error and not the board. Not sure if you would get the same good service from them though. But it is my bet that you can live without the PS2 port.

I RMA'd mine around 2 months ago - I took care to pack all included items in the box like it was new (I even put the plastic stickies back on the mosfet sinks). 2 weeks later I got a crushed, taped up MIIF box with just a motherboard and a severely scrunched up manual! No sound card, no i/o backplate, cables, CD or LCD poster. I sent it back right away, and after 2 more weeks I finally got a new board. I was astounded!

[SkOrPn]

I RMA'd mine around 2 months ago - I took care to pack all included items in the box like it was new (I even put the plastic stickies back on the mosfet sinks). 2 weeks later I got a crushed, taped up MIIF box with just a motherboard and a severely scrunched up manual! No sound card, no i/o backplate, cables, CD or LCD poster. I sent it back right away, and after 2 more weeks I finally got a new board. I was astounded!

It clearly states in the RMA procedure to ONLY send the mobo back and nothing more. you are not suppose to include your original box or accessories, just the mobo and a standard ups, usps or fedex box. Just take care in packing it so it arrives un-damaged. Asus does not send new retail items back to its customers, so you actually got lucky. Below is the RMA email you get when dealing with their RMA service..

**Please do not respond to this email. For any inquiries, please contact the Customer Service Department at http://livesupport.asus.com or 812-282-2787 Option 2**


Dear Rod,

Your RMA# is xxxxxxxxx
Please complete the attached forms, sign, and fax back to (510) 608-4511 or email xship_rma@asus.com. Please allow up to 24 business hours for processing and before ship out.

**IMPORTANT:
- Any incomplete forms will cause a delay in processing time and All fields with a “*” must be completed.
- Serial # should be taken from actual product.
o Located: top of purple parallel port, actual side of PCI / Power Connector, underneath side of product. Format will be 10 or 12 digits and will start with a number, excluding 0 and 3rd digit will be M or Z
o If any discrepancies please contact Customer Service Team immediately by phone
o If s/n# is altered or missing on physical product, ASUS manufacturer’s warranty is void. Please see http://support.asus.com for more detail on your warranty.
- Part# must be listed on forms. Part # will be located near the edge of the board on a white / green sticker approximately 20 digits alpha-numeric including dashes. Example: C56B123-02347-60-MBL100-A02 or 90-MBL100-G0UAYZ
- Revision # is located near PCI slots in small white print next to model name imprinted on physical product
- Defective products must be received within 14 days from received date; otherwise credit card will automatically be charged and no refunds will be given.


You must write your RMA# on the outside of package. (If you do not write the RMA# on the outside of your package product will be rejected at the time of delivery).

Please do not include any accessories such as manuals, software, CPU, memory, retention mechanisms or clips, cables, Non-ASUS Products or your original box. If you send any of the above mentioned items they will not be returned or replaced.

Physical damage is not covered under your ASUS manufacturers warranty and automatically VOIDS your warranty. ASUS reserves the right to reject any product received with physical damage.

- Damage can include any shape or form of corner / edge damage / markings with pens and/or markers

- Broken traces or burns due to improper installation / removal of other components

- Broken CPU socket or bent pins


ASUS - USA is a warranty repair service center. Please contact place of purchase for credit, refunds, upgrades / model changes, or new retail box replacement. ASUS does not provide these services under any circumstances.

RMA Return Shipping Address:
ASUS Computers International

Attn: Xship Dept, RMA #xxxxxxxxxxx

800 Corporate Way

Fremont, CA 94539


Thank you,


ASUS Customer Service Team

812-282-2787 or 510-739-3777

Customer Service: Option 2

Technical Support: Option 3

[eddieobscurant]

My abit ix38-quadgt died and i change it with this one. I'd like to ask if there is a way to change the dram vtt, because i can't find it but pc probe 2 monitors it and it's giving different values depending on my overclock, so I assume there is somewhere an option and i left it on auto. Or does it change by itself when i change the ddr voltage? What's the maximum safe value for everyday use for dram vtt?

[In-Fluence]

It clearly states in the RMA procedure to ONLY send the mobo back and nothing more. you are not suppose to include your original box or accessories, just the mobo and a standard ups, usps or fedex box. Just take care in packing it so it arrives un-damaged. Asus does not send new retail items back to its customers, so you actually got lucky. Below is the RMA email you get when dealing with their RMA service..

I went via the retailer and followed their instructions. They were annoyed with Asus though.

[GeorgeVasil]

here my best results...

560 MHz Primestable FSB @ vNB 1,44V



540 MHz Primestable FSB @ vNB 1,30V

Could you post your settings for these please??

[dro]

I have an E8400 paired with M2F
Previously I had to rma my board as I saw that the NB was at 80~90'C ish even when at stock 3.00ghz
Even after a washer mod.......still getting the same temperature reading

Well now I just got the board back form RMA
But I'm still getting the same temperature reading on my NB

[S]I'm currently running 3.00ghz @
vcore=1.1v
vnb=1.1
vtt=1.1
vpll=1.5
vdimm=1.9v[/S]

Anybody care to help? Will post a SS soon enough


:UPDATES:
The board has been behaving these past few days
Temperatures drop.....but lingers around 70-80ish
Uploaded a screen shot too

[64dragon]

dro, you should replace the stock thermal paste if you haven't done so yet.


time to update my status, this IS on air cooling, wish my board was better cause my chip has room to go
currently at 3.9ghz (8*486)
vcore 1.393v in bios 1.31v under orthos load
vNB 1.55v
VTT 1.40v
PLL 1.55v

pic

[In-Fluence]

Yes Dro, definitely take off that heatsink assembly and give it a clean with some alcohol or dedicated TIM cleaner. Lay the assembly flat out on the table too and check to see if there is any twisting. If you get it right, you can gently bend the areas to provide more contact with desired area. Replace the heat paste with something like arctic MX3 for best performance, and when you screw it back on, start with the NB screws first, and work your way outwards. If pumping 1.4v through it, I often reach the 60's but never 70°C. If all that fails, I would say you have a duff sensor. Good luck!

[64dragon]

when replacing the thermal paste, don't forget the 2nd part of the NB block, the piece that unscrews from the larger assembly.

i used IC D7 paste and didn't see NB temps over 52C. my pic above is the temps with aftermarket heatsinks, my NB is a thermalright hr5-sli ifx, the mosfet to the left of the socket is thermalright hr9 type 2 and above the socket is Enzotech 81 something or other, SB is also an Enzotech but i may change that to a thermalright also.

[In-Fluence]

It's strange how my NB temps seem to be so much higher, I can only put it down to running a 65nm Quad (as opposed to the majority who are running 45nm), it also seems that I generally need more NB volts too. It was the same on my P5B-D. On both MIIF boards the lowest NB Idle temp I saw was around 37-38°C, and that was with the NB naked against a waterblock, but as you might have seen a few pages back, without the heatsink assembly, some temps improved slightly, and other just increased beyond comfortable.

Once I get my new bits in, I'll probably go for seperate sinks on the SB and mosfets, and put the waterblock back on the NB. Hopefully a good system flush, followed by installing an extra Rad, exhaust fan and using better coolant will yeild better results. I've been stuck with the last of this huuuge tube of AS5 paste for a good few years now, so I hope my MX2 and MX3 will also improve matters. The memory and CPU I hope to receive by the end of the week will almost definitely will

[dro]

hey guys

thanks for the feedback
actually this is my 2nd M2F that i test
the 1st set was a loaner from a good pal mine
then i decided to buy one for myself

this didnt occur on the loaned set......but only to mine


last time before sending mine out for RMA
i removed every piece of the heatpipe assembly
i tried everything from washer mod to changing TIM
same results.......
thats when i decided to sent it in for RMA

upon receiving the board from RMA
everything looked new
i remember i kinda flex the board at the top mosfet area and there was no sign of flex when it came back
so i assumed they must have fix the board
unfortunately......same problem still exist


i wouldn't mind and i'd totally understand if i'm getting 70-80'c at 1.4v or sumting
but the thing is im running 1.1vcore, 1.1vnb, 1.1vtt & 1.5vpll

[In-Fluence]

Definitely sounds like another duff board mate, I would get it shipped back if the following fails:

Does the temperature drop if you push down on the northbridge area of the heatsink whilst on?

Just a long shot, but have you tried double-checking the temperature in everest? I've never really trusted the Asus probe software - it's functional, but a resource hog and buggy. Does bios show high NB temps too?

[64dragon]

agreed, last time i used Asus Probe (4 yrs ago), it didn't read true half the time.

[Ket]

I RMA'd mine around 2 months ago - I took care to pack all included items in the box like it was new (I even put the plastic stickies back on the mosfet sinks). 2 weeks later I got a crushed, taped up MIIF box with just a motherboard and a severely scrunched up manual! No sound card, no i/o backplate, cables, CD or LCD poster. I sent it back right away, and after 2 more weeks I finally got a new board. I was astounded!

Asus DO say on their site to NOT send all of the accessories and additional stuff, JUST the board

[In-Fluence]

I know, the RETAILER asked me to send everything back. I was just following their instructions. What they did from that point on wasn't my problem

[Ket]

Well if the retailer said to send everything back to asus, then their stupid. Just caused you 2 more weeks of pain

[In-Fluence]

I shipped the item to the retailer. Tbh I think they did botch it a bit as they ended up sending me a brand new one which came from another online store. I would assume they probably sent the complete kit back to Asus and they sent back an appaulingly packed board directly to me. I've done it this way before without any major hassle. My guess is the retailer realised Asus' procedure for sending back boards, but wanted to provide a good service and got a new one for me. Either way they came through good, and I borrowed work's P5Q-D until I got the replacement so there wasn't anything lost really. In fact, it was a good opportunity to see what the P5Q-D could do

I'm about to try out your bios, gonna have a go with the reapers first, then try the dominator gt's if things go well.

[Ket]

I'm getting good results so far Experimenting with low voltages and so far 1.35v NB seems enough for 465FSB PL8, RAM @ 1166MHz, ain't too bad so far. This mBIOS is almost like magical pixies dancing inside my mobo, the vanilla 2202 just didn't let me OC with any stability - period.

[64dragon]

I'm getting good results so far Experimenting with low voltages and so far 1.35v NB seems enough for 465FSB PL8, RAM @ 1166MHz, ain't too bad so far. This mBIOS is almost like magical pixies dancing inside my mobo, the vanilla 2202 just didn't let me OC with any stability - period.

are you saying that your modded bios is helping lower NB volts or you just happen to have a board that does well at low volts?