Wired Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 How do you know, do you work for Corsair? ;): Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thanks, I just needed some outside verification so I could be sure I didn't make a stupid mistake! No, I don't work for them (read the signature) :) He is our resident Orc boy... :p:Don't even know what the hell that means. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 No, I don't work for them (read the signature) :) And that's exactly why I said it! :D: Well, I just finished my 2nd pass with no errors after disabling "Legacy USB Support" in my BIOS, now I'll move on to the CPU-Z images as requested. Honestly, I don't understand why Legacy USB would cause memtest to fail. Once I get the CPU-Z images for you I'll move these two "known good" sticks to slots 2 and 4 and test again to ensure those slots don't throw errors. If that's OK, I'll see what the funky pair show now that the USB setting was flipped. Thanks for all the help, I really really appreciate everyone taking the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 OK, here are the CPU-Z screens. Sorry they're in PDF but that's how Print Screen worked off the boot CD I used to get them. Let me know if anything stands out as incorrect. Pair 1 didn't error out on 2 passes of Memtest86+ v2.01 once I flipped the USB setting. I'll test Pair 2 (with the funky stick) tonight and report back tomorrow (morning hopefully). Let me know about the CPU-Z settings - I grabbed everything useful while I was in there since it's a pain to get the images. Thanks!!!!CPUZ-CPU.PDFCPUZ-Mainboard.PDFCPUZ-Memory.PDFCPUZ-SPD-Slot1.PDFCPUZ-SPD-Slot3.PDF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Why on earth would Legacy USB support cause my memory to error out? Are these real errors or false positives? Can I enable Legacy USB without memory problems once I'm done testing (will it cause actual memory problems in my applications or is this something low level that won't cause problems once an OS is up and running)? ASUS uses a caching method for USB legacy mode and this can return errors in Memtest. They are not real errors, they are shadowed cache errors. Yes, you can enable Legacy USB after testing. There are no real errors. You very likely have a single stick issue. Having more that that would be surprising indeed. Your attachments are running correctly as far as reported data goes. No, I don't work for them (read the signature) :) Don't even know what the hell that means. Your avatar is a green "Orc". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Your avatar is a green "Orc".LMFFAO, I've had this avatar for 7 years, and NO ONE has ever said they thought it looked like an Orc. Man, you're playing WAAAAYYYYY too much Warcraft! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 OK - so one more question until my RMA'd RAM arrives and I can test the new sticks. Why is it suggested to drop down to 1066 when using 4 sticks? Thanks again everyone, you've been amazingly helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 23, 2008 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 23, 2008 I think he looks like My Favorite Martian just after being electrocuted. LOL :p: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 So it looks like Asus just released BIOS 0401 (even though it's marked 4/21/2008, it just showed up on the page today). Tonight I'll update to this revision, retest the "bad" RAM, and re-run CPU-Z with the flakey sticks. Still wondering why the speed should be dropped if 4 sticks are installed, anyone have a link or quick answer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wired Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Most memory controllers (which are in the chipset in Intel boards, in the CPU in AMD CPUs) can't handle 4 sticks @ full speed, too much for them to handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 OK - so one more question until my RMA'd RAM arrives and I can test the new sticks. Why is it suggested to drop down to 1066 when using 4 sticks? To save me from continually repeating this issue, please research this thread. If you have any questions regarding this characteristic, please post them in here. http://www.houseofhelp.com/v3/showthread.php?t=64360&highlight=Unpredictable+results+QUAD2X4096+Gigabyte+X38-DS5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 Excellent, thank you both. The quick description and link will do just fine, no need to type it out again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 25, 2008 Author Share Posted April 25, 2008 Well, I have a feeling I know why this was a bit more difficult for me to track down than I had expected... The new pair of memory arrived today, both sticks are now detected correctly and tested fine in slots 1 and 3. However, when I test either pair in slots 2 and 4, I get a large number of errors. It looks like I was likely seeing both memory errors (that bad stick tested bad even in slots 1 or 3) and board errors - go figure. So this definitely seems like a board issue to you all correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 However, when I test either pair in slots 2 and 4, I get a large number of errors. It looks like I was likely seeing both memory errors and board errors - go figure. So this definitely seems like a board issue to you all correct? I would agree with you. You have isolated the issue and it was rather difficult due to the fact that a prior stick was also in error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 26, 2008 Author Share Posted April 26, 2008 Well, I finally have resolution to my issue and it was related to the motherboard, although not exactly what I thought. I was thinking it looked like a RAM slot issue but I couldn't get the errors to stay with a particular slot or even appear every single time I tested. Needless to say I've been extremely frustrated troubleshooting this issue; I mean how can you track down a problem that's constantly changing and you can't isolate or even replicate the error all the time?! Turns out it was not only the bad stick of RAM (easily tracked down and fixed), the Legacy USB Support setting, but also a BIOS issue that was causing Memtest errors to occur with some regularity - but not on the same slot or on every boot, go figure (the error seemed to only appear when 2 or 4 DIMMs were inserted and especially in slots 2/4, 1/3 tested OK most of the time). I upgraded to the latest BIOS for my board (0401 - which came out two days ago) and I've successfully run every combination of RAM tests (RAM pair 1 in slots 1/3 and 2/4, RAM pair 2 in slots 1/3, 2/4, and all 4 DIMMs in at the same time) over 10 passes each without any errors. I'm confident that this is resolved now and I can finally get my system finished. It seems, from the notes on the BIOS release, this may have been a caused by a combination of my motherboard and graphics card (Nvidia GX2) since the only noted fix in this BIOS release was related to video cards. Thanks again for all the help, this one was extremely difficult to track down due to the combination of problems as well as the randomness of when and how the BIOS error would manifest itself. Case closed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted April 26, 2008 Share Posted April 26, 2008 Great. It certainly seemed to be an exercise in frustration management. :D: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 So I've tried using the manual settings provided earlier in the thread in my BIOS and adjusting the speed down to 1066 as suggested by RAM GUY since I have 4 DIMMs (although I couldn't find the NB/MCH setting) however my system doesn't boot with these settings. Can someone let me know if those are in fact correct for 4 DIMMs of TW3X4G1333C9DHX in an Asus P5E3 Premium WiFi/AP@n? I'm still having some stability issues (no overclocking, all RAM is fine and passing Memtest86+) so I'm trying to ensure everything is set correctly. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 28, 2008 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 28, 2008 Will it run and pass http://www.memtest.org with those settings? When you say it will not boot you mean it will not boot to the O.S. or can you be more specific? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 28, 2008 Author Share Posted April 28, 2008 The system won't POST. When it powers on, it sits with no video or system activity until I hit the reset button, at which point the Asus "crash free BIOS" kicks in and resets everythig back to default settings of Auto. I then get a message letting me know I should go in and reconfigure my BIOS settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 28, 2008 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 28, 2008 Try and load setup defaults and just set the memory frequency at DDR1066 and set the memory Voltage to 1.9 Volts and set the NB/MCH Voltage to +.05 Volts (normally where you set the CPU VCore). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted April 29, 2008 Author Share Posted April 29, 2008 Sorry, I didn't have time to check this yesterday, I will try this tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted April 29, 2008 Corsair Employee Share Posted April 29, 2008 NP Please let us know how you make out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 I'm trying to do this now, however I'm still having trouble finding the NB/MCH setting you mentioned. Are you just talking about the Northbridge voltage, or is there a setting called NB/MCH (I'm not sure what MCH is)? I'm also not sure what the standard setting is for my motherboard, it's on Auto now and if I try and change it, I have to key in a number directly so I'm not sure where to start. My manual is here: http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5E3_Premium/P5E3_Premium_V2_manual_E3652.zip if anyone is interested in taking a look. Thanks so much guys, the BIOS side of the world isn't my specialty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employee RAM GUY Posted May 1, 2008 Corsair Employee Share Posted May 1, 2008 I am downloading the manual now but its taking for ever ASUS is so slow these days. However, MCH stands for Memory Controller Hub and that is what you want to add a bit more voltage to. But some chipsets will only give the option for the NB North Bridge or with Nvidia they call it NB SPP Voltage. And normally default would be 1.2 Volts you might check in Hardware Monitor and see if it is listed to see what it is running at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Download memtest from--->Hereand extract the ISO image. Burn the ISO image to a CD-ROM disk. Here you go: AI Tweaker Configure System Performance SettingsAi Overclock Tuner = Manual. CPU Ratio Setting = 8 FSB Strap to Northbridge = 333 DRAM Frequency = DDR3-1066 DRAM Command Rate = 2N DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A = Auto DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B = Auto DRAM Timing Control = Manual CAS# Latency = 9 RAS# to CAS# Delay = 9 RAS# PRE Time = 9 RAS# ACT Time = 24 All Else to Auto DRAM Static Read Control = Disabled DRAM Dynamic Write Control = Disabled Transaction Booster = Disabled CPU Voltage = Auto CPU PLL Voltage = Auto FSB Termination Voltage = Auto DRAM Voltage = 1.9v NB Voltage = 1.45 SB Voltage = Auto Clock Over-Charging Voltage = Auto Load Line Calibration = Auto CPU GTL Voltage Reference = Auto NB GTL Voltage Reference = Auto CPU Spread Spectrum = Disabled PCIE Spread Spectrum = Disabled CPU Voltage Reference = Auto CPU Voltage Damper = Enabled Boot to the Memtest CD and allow for two full passes. Results? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JjcampNR Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 I tried the settings but the results weren't any better. The first boot after I saved the settings I got an "overclocking failed" message. I went back into the BIOS and all the settings were still there, so I hit save and continue and the system booted to Memtest. I got a few hundred errors within about 30 seconds so I went back to the BIOS and just put everything back to Auto (where it still tests clean). I think I've come to the conclusion this is a BIOS issue, I don't see any other reasonable explination at this point. I've tested everything I can think of in every configuration, and the only commonn component is the motherboard. I called Asus and apparently they don't support my chip (Q9450) on my board right now. What doesn't make sense is the BIOS sees it fine, detects all 4 cores, etc. but I guess if it's not technically supported then I can't really continue troubleshooting the issue any further until I have a BIOS with official suppport for my CPU. I'm undecided on whether or not I'll RMA the board and buy something from a different vendor that has boards based on this century's technology, or if I'll hold for a bit and wait to see if the next BIOS release adds support for the Q9xxx series chips. Honestly, why bother with an X48 series board if it doesn't support the processors released with the chipset? I'm definitely a bit discouraged at this point, thanks again for all the help but I think there's something going on with my board that's just not right. I'll report back once I get a new board or a new BIOS update is out - until then I have a nice new expensive system that does nothing but look good. Yay technology! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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