Conroe E6600 Installing XP SP2 problems

[abnoid]

Hi,

I just started building my new machine.

Its an Intel Conroe E6600
Intel "Bad Axe" 975XBX Revision 304 Motherboard
Win XP Pro Sp2
7900 GT
2 gb PC 800 DDR2 RAM
530W Anec TRU Power suply

I booted from my XP disc, as soon as I agreed to the XP EULA agreement I got a blue screen stating:
Windows has shut down to protect your machine.
So I never got Windows installed. Could there be a bios upgrade I need to perform before installing windows?
I read in alot of forums that the Bad Axe board Revision 304 works fine with the Conroes, I really am not sure what seems to be the problem. Everthing in the machine is brand new.

Thanks for your help,

- Darrell

 

[aristotelus]

2 things come to mind.


Maybe heat problem.

maybe memory timings.



I would check if heatsinks are seated properly and if all fans are spinning.

I would also check if mainboard operates the memory according to the memories specsheets.


It is always a good thing to check if there is a BIOS upgrade available and actually read the issues solved within the Revisions available(sometimes answers questions you might have)

 

[shadowduck]

2 things come to mind.


Maybe heat problem.

maybe memory timings.



I would check if heatsinks are seated properly and if all fans are spinning.

I would also check if mainboard operates the memory according to the memories specsheets.


It is always a good thing to check if there is a BIOS upgrade available and actually read the issues solved within the Revisions available(sometimes answers questions you might have)

Good advice. Windows crashing or tossing out BSODs during Setup tends to usually be bad RAM. Run Memtest86 on your RAM.

 

[abnoid]

well, i managed to get xp on and update the bios to 1334
then i went into the bios and set my voltage to 1.9 and my timings tot 5 - 5- 5- 10 (to match the ocz website)

now my comp wont post
hitting f2 isnt helping


i emailed OCZ and they recommended 5-5-5-15 timings, wish i could get back into the bios to set this.

having regrets i strayed from the default settings.
should i clear the CMOS? if so, how?

- d

 

[thelostchild]

should i clear the CMOS? if so, how?

- d

Thats the only way to get it to boot now, there should either be a jumper on the motherboard that you have to set which will clear it, if you can't find that remove the battery from the motherboard (its the silver circular type that you find in a watch) and unplug the system from the power.

Then leave the system for 20-30 mins put the battery back in and the BIOS should have reset itself

 

[Zenthar]

Look in your motherboard manual, there should be a jumper or something to reset the BIOS (or instructions on how to).

 

[abnoid]

Hi and thanks for replying,

I read in the instructions for the 975XBX that you need to move the jumper over one pin, then startup the machine with a bootable bios disc in the floppy drive, my machine doenst want to boot form floppy. and i keep hearing booting ht emachien with the pin moved can be bad.

maybe just removing the battery is the way to go if i dont want to/can't use a floppy to get the bios back?

 

[ElBurro]

Hi and thanks for replying,

I read in the instructions for the 975XBX that you need to move the jumper over one pin, then startup the machine with a bootable bios disc in the floppy drive, my machine doenst want to boot form floppy. and i keep hearing booting ht emachien with the pin moved can be bad.

maybe just removing the battery is the way to go if i dont want to/can't use a floppy to get the bios back?

OK. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly (count to ten). Relax. You are going to be one happy moth**f***er when you get your system working and you will. You've got a great board and a great CPU.

Power down you don't need to unplug, just be powered down.

You need to locate the BIOS jumper. With the CPU on your right look straight down on the board. You will see a "coin" style battery socket just to the right of the SATA sockets and behind and to the left of the IDE ribbon cable connector (which on this board is turned to the side instead of pointing straight up). About 1.5" to the right, and right behind the right side of that IDE connector you will see the BIOS jmper. It is a 3-pin strap.

Normal connection is on the two pins to the right with pin on the left showing as bare copper.

OK. Move the jumper to the two pins on the left so that the pin all the way to the right is exposed.

Power up. This will force the system into default settings and your system will start to POST and you do not need to hit F2 because with the jumper on the left it will automatically go into BIOS setup!!! How cool is that?

Now. Go to advanced chipset and answer yes to to continue. Set Host Burn Mode to Postive. Set Host Burn Mode Percentage to highest setting which will be 30. Set PCI and PCI-Express to Default. Set the two voltage overrides for MCH and FSB to one below max (you don't need max).

Hit ESC. Now go to memory menu and take it out of automatic to manual.

We're going to run you memory 1:1, OK? Its good.

Choose 533 instead of 800. I know it sounds slower but you are going to take the Bus speed from 266 to 345 in one click, so trust me, its OK.

Set the memory for 5-5-5-15 and set the voltage for 2.2V

Now. Hit F10 and save. You'll get a message to power down and move the jumper back. Do that.

OK now power up and you'll come up at around 3.10GHz when you check your speed in Windows.

At this point you'll be going *much* faster than a $1200 E6800 Extreme chip and it will feel creamy smooth.

At this point you can reboot and go into BIOS normally, but if you lock it tight just use the technique we discuused with the jumper.

If you want to know how to access the advanced "OC Debug" overclock menu just post back and let me know.

Have fun with your superfine system. The Bad Axe didn't get that name for nothing, bro. It is a stable board with a beefy voltage section.

 

[abnoid]

HI and thank you for replying.

I moved the bios jumper over like you said, and booted up, still no POST just a black screen.

frys wants $70 just to diangostic this. Geek squad wants $200. WTF

nothing looks burnt or smells bad. im not gettin any beeping. the fans are turning and all the lights are on.. i just cant get into bios.

beginning to tink its my ram.
i might go buy some ram and try to return it if i cant use it.

 

[ElBurro]

HI and thank you for replying.

I moved the bios jumper over like you said, and booted up, still no POST just a black screen.

frys wants $70 just to diangostic this. Geek squad wants $200. WTF

nothing looks burnt or smells bad. im not gettin any beeping. the fans are turning and all the lights are on.. i just cant get into bios.

beginning to tink its my ram.
i might go buy some ram and try to return it if i cant use it.

No. Wait. Do you hear any beeps?

Remove the coin cell (by the IDE connector, remember?) and unplug your PSU overnight. Just push the liitle spring to the side and the battery coin will pop out.

Buy a cheap 8MB ATI RageXL PCI video card for bewteen 12.99 and 19.99 and keep this around. It makes a great troubleshooting video tool and will work in ANY pc that has PCI slots. Keep it around.

You pull your good card and plug in the cheapo and test. Windows will recognize and load a driver automatically.

Switch your RAM around using first just one chip and then another. They won't both be bad. And your RAM should work OK. Its OCZ right?

probably better to RMA the board first before you pay to get a diagnose. Your equipment is brand new. Everything should work.

 

[abnoid]

Hey thanks guys for responding to my madness,

Turns out my Intel 975XBX board did not like my OCZ ram. I have the gold DDr2 800. I went to frys bought ddr2 corsairs popped it in and it works liek a charm!

corsair was more expensive but at least it works. havent had time to really use the machien but plan on doin some tests tonight. i do alot of 3d graphics so i cant wait to render some stuff on this beast! and i want tos ee how many polys zbrush will handle.

thanks again for your comments. now im curiois if chaning the 800mhz to 533 like the previous poster is risky or not?

- d

 

[ElBurro]

[...]
thanks again for your comments. now im curiois if chaning the 800mhz to 533 like the previous poster is risky or not?
[..]

No. Its not risky. You are actually slowing the memory down which is never risky. Why would you slow it down? Because it is tied to the Front Side Bus (FSB) which is also tied to the CPU.

Your default settings on that board are 2:3 CPU:RAM so your memory is running faster than the CPU for whatever FSB you set.

Which means your CPU and memory are not running at the same speed and so they are not synchronous.

And while your CPU will likely O/C 30% (and probably more) your RAM will likely not. So by slowing the RAM down somewhat when you boost the FSB by 30% you are actually keeping the RAM closer to its original speed, but actually it will be running a bit slower.

However the 30% increase in CPU speed and running 1:1 synchronous will more than make up for that (big time).

Running 1:1 synchronous (if you can do it and keep CPU and memory speed high) is ALWAYS the fastest, lowest overhead setting.

You're doing two things by changing mem from 800 to 533:

1. You will be running synchronously 1:1 with the CPU.

2. Making the boost on your CPU from 2.40GHz to 3.10GHz much more likely to work because you are not pushing you RAM speed through the roof.

If you go into the BIOS and do the steps I outlined you will see and feel what I'm talking about.

You can go here and download CPU-Z a very famous and highly-used utility that is free and well written to see your actual CPU and RAM speeds

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Just remember, unless you are putting some kind of strain on the system it will use EIST and drop the multiplier from 9 (which is default E6600) to a lower number and you will see the speed computed on the lower multiplier.

Example: On my E6300 it lowers the mult from 7 to 6 so if my FSB was 418 it will show 2.51GHz but I'm actually 2.93GHz.

However if I run any program that uses the CPU (puts a load on it) it will instantly ratchet back to 7. You can see and test this by running CPU-Z and seeing what it does. Your E6600 system will jump back to multiplier 9 as soon as any load is put on the system.

This is actually a really cool feature. Why run your CPU at top speed when it isn't doing anything? It works really good too.

OK. I'm done here. Have fun, man.