martin_goldmann Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Here's my problem: I have an Asus A7N8X (no deluxe, only A7N8X) rev 1.02. BIOS 1007 AMD XP3000 Plus FSB 200 Corsair CXM512-200C2 CL2 The RAM is only working @166 MHz Bus Speed. At 200 MHz the screen remains blank. Sometimes the first few lines of the boot screen show up. However, after testing the RAM, the system hangs up.# I tried anything in the BIOS to succeed with 200 MHz. My most recent settings were CPU External: 200 MHz CPU Freq. Multiple: 10,5 System Performance: User Defined Memory Frequency: 100% (Resulting: 200MHz) Memory Timings: Optimal (7-3-3-4) ... DDR Reference Voltage 2.7 V ... It simply does not work. After setting down the Memory Frequency to 83% (166MHz) everything is doing fine. I tried any hint and tip I found in this forum: Changing the slots, using only one memory bar, changing the timings and so on. Nothing helped. Both bars have the same problem. So I think it might be the board which is a quite old revision (1.02) of the A7N8X. Any ideas -- it really is frustrating. Sorry for my english and thanks for any reply Martin one more: I changed the External Freq to 185, set the multiplier to 11,5 and Memory Frequency to 100% and had an almost stable system. But that is not the best way, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMC_SAVAGE Posted April 8, 2004 Share Posted April 8, 2004 Are you sure your CPU has a 400MHz FSB? Make sure you have the latest chipset drivers installed. You could also try BIOS 1006. Try manually setting the timings to 2-3-3-6. You could test each stick with Memtest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_goldmann Posted April 9, 2004 Author Share Posted April 9, 2004 Thank you for your reply, let me see: latest drivers - installed CPU 400MHz FSB - validated by checking the OPN 2-3-3-6 - no boot, no beep, black screen only BIOS - 1004, 1006, 1007... Memtest - hung up after 6 to 7 minutes between 60 and 70 percent for each bar @200 MHz FSB FSB Spread Spectrum 0%, 0.5%, 1% last Memtest hung up @ test #6 with 51 errors Also tried to raise Voltage up to 2.8 - no positive effect. RAM is XMS3202v3.1, 0410101 Or could it be the power supply? It's at 300 Watt (I sware I built in 450 Watt ;-) ). I'll buy a new one tomorrow with >= 450 Watt and see again. Yet, unplugging all devices except Floppy and Graphics Card dif not help with the 300 Watt PSU. Thank you for your help Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_goldmann Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 Ok, bought a new PSU, Enermax, 460 Watts. Should be sufficient. Still no reliable results even not with your recommended timings. The PC seems a little more reliable in showing POST Messages. But Memtest fails and crashes as before. Unfortunately I do not have a second 200 FSB Mobo around here. So I cannot check the modules in another machine. Any ideas left? Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted April 10, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted April 10, 2004 For these modules; with an AMD platform, the suggested settings would be Cass 2.5-3-3-6 and I would set the Dim Voltage to 2.7 Volts as well. If you still have problems please test the modules one at a time and let’s make sure one is not failing. If you do find you have a bad module, please follow the link in my signature and we will be happy to replace them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_goldmann Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 Thanks, RamGuy, I tried it with 2,5-3-3-6 and 2.7 a thousand times. I always see lot's of errors with both modules. And most of the time memtest hangs up after 6-7 minutes. CPU heat is idle @39C, MB @47 Voltages: VCore: 1,68 +3,3V: 3,36V +5V: 4,94 +12V: 12,41 I also switched back to BIOS 1006 I think there are two possibilites: Both modules are damaged or my board is damaged/crap. Thanks Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted April 10, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted April 10, 2004 Martin, Rev 1.02 of this MB will not support a 200 FSB CPU, officially! Can you test the modules in another MB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_goldmann Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 RamGuy, thanks again. Too bad, 1.02 doesn't support FSB 400 CPU officially, yet my XP3000+ is well recognized after BIOS-Update. And, too bad, I do not have another board with FSB 400. However, here's a clue: I rose the CPU core voltage up to 1.70 and tried that as a last desperate measure with one bar. And it is working! And I really stressed the system with Seti@home and running three other OSes in VMWare ;-) Back to 1.65 -- failure right at the start Next thing to do was to insert the second bar. It did not work with 1.70 and my system is still chkdisking to recover my windows. After that, I'll try to raise CPU Voltage again. Maybe this could do it. No idea how long my CPU will survive this ;-) Bye Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted April 10, 2004 Corsair Employees Share Posted April 10, 2004 You might also set the Dim Voltage to 2.7 Volts as well! The memory and south side of the chipset share the same power source, so that will help the chipset! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_goldmann Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 oops, stop - forget about that voltage nonsense. I think, I have a heat related problem with my graphics adapter. It is a passive cooled one. I am just cooling it very actively with a hair dryer (set at cold) and -- surprise -- no crash with one bar inserted. With two bars in dual channel mode I still experience crashes. I think it's some combination of weak PSU, heat and maybe one or more failures in one of the bars. I'll redo memtest now for each bar and post my results later. Thank you all for your patience :-) Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_goldmann Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 ok, memtest for each bar seems to be ok. I stopped them after 30 minutes -- they never made it this long before. there seems to be one more problem with the RAM-slots. One test failed in Slot 2. And maybe this is the cause for the failure when using both bars. It seems that I have nearly each possible problem ;-) I think, I'll buy a new board next week... Bye Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandyKid Posted April 10, 2004 Share Posted April 10, 2004 I think with changing the video card's heat and the CPU voltage, you've shown it to be a motherboard issue, rather than a memory issue. Good luck with the new board and get some more case fans for that passive video card! PLUR CK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_goldmann Posted April 11, 2004 Author Share Posted April 11, 2004 Candy, yep -- seems so. I made a few more tests last night and the all showed: RAM performs perfectly in slot 1 and it fails in slot 2 and 3. It's running fine with one module now and I'll buy a new board next week. Bye and thanks again Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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