Originally Posted by
groovetek
Well I certainly haven't studied enough electronics yet to analyse and comment on the graphs and technical explanatios above, but a question to Oskar Wu and/or EMC2:
My CPU died the second I pressed save settings and exit in the 704-2 BIOS. I had changed VID to 1.200, VID special to *133%. This is a setting I had used in previous BIOS's and found gave me the optimal VCORE for my Venice 3000+ 0517 EPMW. The BIOS would read 1.56V, which was perfect for allowing 3ghz prime/bench/stressCPU stable on air cooling.
Now, of course you would understand that I am very frustrated with losing such an amazing chip, and naturally that I would point my finger at the BIOS, so it would be great if knowledgeable people like you could look into the issue and see if the BIOS did introduce some voltage control problem.
I have tested the RAM and graphic card, both are working fine in my friend's system, and my CPU is confirmed to be dead. No power even runs through the chip, since no heat is being generated at all.
I haven't yet tested the DFI NF4 Ultra-D board with another CPU yet, despite having thoroughly resetted the CMOS. I am very apprehensive about sticking another CPU into this board, especially with the 704-2 BIOS still in it. My response from DFI technical support was to RMA the board, and that there may indeed be something wrong with the BIOS... but that's all I've heard, and I've sent an in-depth email regarding the symptoms, to see if they can take the information and use it constructively to debug or verify the 704-2 BIOS, and let me know if the BIOS was at fault or if it was the board, or if (unlikely) it was just something else or some freak incident. I haven't had a response for days, but that's OK, I'm a patient person. I have ordered an Abit AN8 though... don't want to potentially risk other hardware.
This was the original response from DFI after I had briefy explained my problem:
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Dear Customer
Thanks for your letter of July 06. According to your problem description, there might be something wrong with BIOS. Please contact with your retailer and apply for RMA service. I apologize for the inconvenience may cause you.
Sincerely Yours truly,
Tech Support
DFI Inc.
Issue NBR: (~~~~snip~~~~)
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So this is the reply I made, and seeing as there are many knowledgeable people here - maybe you can take it in and see something that makes sense... I'm no electrical engineer yet, so my theories and stuff can be radically impossible, so please take that into consideration. I do however, have alot of experience with hardware, and have been overclocking for a very long time.
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Hello DFI,
Thankyou for the reply. Unfortunately after extensive testing and debugging of various components in my system today I have found that my Venice CPU has died, most likely as a result of a bug in this 704-2 BIOS (Oskar Wu, Hellfire, Merlin version).
I believe the VID control may have a bug, allowing the board to spike the voltage when using certain VID & VID special settings. I believe this is the reason, because usually the commonly experienced symptom of constant over-voltage (typically around >1.75v for 0.09u A64 CPUs) is that the CPU is gradually damaged due to electron migration, however in my case the CPU instantly lost power after saving settings and exitting. The VID selected was 1.200 with VID special control of 133%, which I have used previously with other BIOS's to achieve a 1.56vcore BIOS reading, far below the maximum tolerance of such A64 chips, especially when temperature was well under control. I have also observed that there is literally no electricity running through the CPU (CPU is generating no heat at all, motherboard showing 4 diagnostic LEDs, usually indicating CPU is not even being detected), and to me this sounds like a blown trace or maybe a blown surface-mounted component - which usually would not occur unless a suddenly excessive high voltage is applied. Therefore, I believe the BIOS caused the motherboard to suddenly apply the max vcore that can be supplied immediately after I saved settings and exitted BIOS. I am concerned that other people may be affected, and so I think it's important that Oskar Wu, or whoever is the head of the DFI BIOS development team to be notified of the possibility of the presence of a bug in this BIOS. Again I have to emphasize that I cannot be 100% positive that the BIOS is at fault, but logically it seems to be the case.
Therefore, I speculate that the motherboard itself may still be functional - however I will not know until my new CPUs arrive. But as you would understand, I'm feeling VERY apprehensive and worried about testing my new CPUs on a board that is potentially dangerous. I do not want any more CPUs to be possibly destroyed by the board, even though I have resetted the CMOS - I still cannot feel secure about this. And yet on the other hand, if I apply for RMA with the board and they say there is no problem with it, then it would have been a big waste of time, and also money.
What is your suggestion to be the best solution to my situation? And, typically, under such circumstances, would AMD's RMA system cover the death of my Venice 3000+ CPU if it was caused by the motherboard? I understand that overclocking is not covered by CPU manufacturers, but in such a case, the death is most likely (as I stated before, I cannot be 100% positive) not directly to do with overclocking, but motherboard/BIOS related. Indeed, as you said, this has caused a large inconvenience for me, not only because I have go to through this RMA process, but mainly because I have lost a truly special CPU.
Any constructive help would be greatly appreciated, thankyou very much for your consideration thus far.
Kindest Regards,
John.
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Any help would be GREATLY appreciated guys!
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