Bad QX9650 or Asus P5Q-E or bad BIOS?

[gwolfman]

Hi,

I just built another machine and had one heck of time just trying to get windows install. It kept blue-screening on me. I'm new to this motherboard (ASUS P5Q-E with the QX9650) and it has many more options in the BIOS than my last one (ASUS P5W DH Deluxe) so I don't know what all the options do. Either way, I left almost everything on default and finally got XP to install. So I booted up and check CoreTemp, everything looks ok. I ran prime95 and one of the cores errors out after 1 second but the rest of them can run for 5+ mins without issue. Anyone have issues with the P5Q-E on BIOS 1306? I'm guessing it's just my CPU. Any ideas?

 

[eklipz330]

well you said you left almost everything at default... maybe its everything you should try on default? either way, i think it is a bad processor, why don't you try and put another proc in there and see how things go

 

[bobbknight]

I would set the bios to default on all things and run memtest.
Let memtest run overnight, if you get errors you have a ram problem.

 

[dokk2]

did you read the file stress.txt???, and what did it say??did you fdisk your hdd or did you let windoze do it,,,personally as i do not trust windoze and i want to be sure that it is done right i use fdisk or xfdisk,and create all the partition manually,the formatting can be safely done with windoze,but the partitioning is too critical to be left to the mercies of what i perceive as an unreliable system,after all widoze is just a gui running on top of dos,,eh what,,,,,,,,???.......can you test your cpu in another mobo,maybe at the store where you bought it,,from a default installation you should theoretically have no problems at all and if you do the problem can only be one of five items,,1,the psu,,2,,the cpu,,3,the ram,,4,the mobo,,5,the hdd..as you did not give much in the way of system specs ,,you must realize that any responses must be either generic or educated guesses.....

 

[gwolfman]

Thanks for the replies!

well you said you left almost everything at default... maybe its everything you should try on default? either way, i think it is a bad processor, why don't you try and put another proc in there and see how things go

All right, I'll give it a shot later this afternoon.

I would set the bios to default on all things and run memtest.
Let memtest run overnight, if you get errors you have a ram problem.

I did that last night, no errors with 19 passes. MemTest86+ v2.1

did you read the file stress.txt???, and what did it say??did you fdisk your hdd or did you let windoze do it,,,personally as i do not trust windoze and i want to be sure that it is done right i use fdisk or xfdisk,and create all the partition manually,the formatting can be safely done with windoze,but the partitioning is too critical to be left to the mercies of what i perceive as an unreliable system,after all widoze is just a gui running on top of dos,,eh what,,,,,,,,???.......can you test your cpu in another mobo,maybe at the store where you bought it,,from a default installation you should theoretically have no problems at all and if you do the problem can only be one of five items,,1,the psu,,2,,the cpu,,3,the ram,,4,the mobo,,5,the hdd..as you did not give much in the way of system specs ,,you must realize that any responses must be either generic or educated guesses.....

Err, I forgot to read the stress.txt. Btw, where is it located, I can't seem to find it. I'll do that and give it another shot. I manually partitioned and formatted. Thanks. 1. PSU is brand new and verified working in another build. 2. CPU, not sure? 3. RAM, just did memtest 19 passes, no errors. 4. New motherboard, not sure 5. HDD is good, verified in other build

Btw everyone, is it possible my motherboard didn't detect the CPU VID correctly and undervolted it too much? Looking at my screenshot in Core Temp it says my VID is 1.2500V, but I *think* I remember CPU-Z saying the Core Voltage was 1.125V. Does that happen? I'll check what the default/auto VID supplies to my CPU.

Thanks again!

 

[Shadow703793]

1. Turn off SpeedStep.

2. Increase RAM voltage to the correct settings.

3. Make sure your Temps are cool. (Use RealTemp btw)

4. Try increasing the CPU voltage a bit.

5. Also what version of Prime95? Latest is 25.6. http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=103

Might also want to try 25.5 if you are running 25.6 already.

 

[Rom]

gwolfman, it seems that I had the same problem with bios 1306: After assembling the PC, all hardwarecomponents are recognized properly according to the bios system information. Out-of-the-box, Bios v0610 was installed.
I upgraded to v1306, still all hardware is recognized OK. Then I started Vista 64 bits installation.

A blue screen occurs during unpacking setup files. I tried this several times with default settings, and it's occurring after upacking 64%, 8%, 21%. I tried WinXP UK sp1 as well, which gives a blue screen immediately after loading the drivers. With all attempts, the blue screen says there is a possible hardware problem.
Then I downgraded to Bios v0610 and Vista 64 bits installs without any problem (default settings).

Components: Asus P5Q-E, Intel Core 2 Q9450, 8GB mem. OCZ OCZ2P10004GK,4096MB, 1000MHz, DDR2, PC8000, Asus EN9600GT SILENT/HTDI/512M ,GDDR3, 2x Samsung Spinpoint F1,7200RPM, SATA II, 32MB, 1000GB, Antec Sonata Plus 550, Arctic Freezer 7 pro

 

[MartinFrom]

Did you fix the problem ?

I am also having serios problems with the 1306 Bios (it seems - not sure if that is the reason).
I keep getting Random BSOD.

I had no problem installing Vista as i first upgraded from 0610 to 1306 after the install.
Then the problems began.

Are you able to run stable on the 1306 ?

I also get an error very quickly in Prime95 (but no problems with Intel Burn Test it seems).
Also no errors when running MemTest.


ROM: What about you ? still runing 0610 ?

 

[gwolfman]

1. Turn off SpeedStep.
2. Increase RAM voltage to the correct settings.
3. Make sure your Temps are cool. (Use RealTemp btw)
4. Try increasing the CPU voltage a bit.
5. Also what version of Prime95? Latest is 25.6.
Might also want to try 25.5 if you are running 25.6 already.

1. Didn't change anything
2. RAM voltage was already tested with MemTest and passed 20+ hours worth.
3. How's this different than CoreTemp?
4. I had tried it all the way up to 1.45V and that helped, but anything lower didn't work (which seems really high considering I'm running everything stock)
5. I was using 25.6 but was wondering if it was a bug, so I ran 25.5 and 25.5a and still had errors just as quickly.

gwolfman, it seems that I had the same problem with bios 1306: After assembling the PC, all hardwarecomponents are recognized properly according to the bios system information. Out-of-the-box, Bios v0610 was installed.
I upgraded to v1306, still all hardware is recognized OK. Then I started Vista 64 bits installation.

A blue screen occurs during unpacking setup files. I tried this several times with default settings, and it's occurring after upacking 64%, 8%, 21%. I tried WinXP UK sp1 as well, which gives a blue screen immediately after loading the drivers. With all attempts, the blue screen says there is a possible hardware problem.
Then I downgraded to Bios v0610 and Vista 64 bits installs without any problem (default settings).

So you think it's a BIOS problem? I hadn't tried downgrading the BIOS version to see what would happen. I did put another (friend's) QX9650 in there w/ C0 stepping and it worked fine at default. The newer one I was running, C1, didn't seem to play nice.

Did you fix the problem ?

I am also having serios problems with the 1306 Bios (it seems - not sure if that is the reason).
I keep getting Random BSOD.

I had no problem installing Vista as i first upgraded from 0610 to 1306 after the install.
Then the problems began.

Are you able to run stable on the 1306 ?

I also get an error very quickly in Prime95 (but no problems with Intel Burn Test it seems).
Also no errors when running MemTest.

Well, I never fixed the problem but as mentioned above, used a C0 stepping and everything seems to be ok. I don't know why the C1 wasn't working. I even tested the C1 in a dell computer and it passed ok. Weird. So I'm wondering if it's just the BIOS having issues with the C1 stepping QX9650s and works fine with the C0s. I was also getting random BSODs, however I didn't start with an older BIOS version and then upgrade like you did. I am currently running stable on 1306 with the C0. I swapped CPUs with my friend since he didn't have issues with either. Hmmm, I didn't try Intel's burn test. I didn't know that checked for errors, I thought it only heated up the processor to check for temps. Weird. Everything running ok on your end now?

 

[Rom]

ROM: What about you ? still runing 0610 ?

Installed Bios 803: the problems are gone, no blue screens, Prime95 says no errors!! Finally a stable system, so it seems.

I found a thread on the asus forum site, where people have similar experiences with P5Q-E and OCZ memory:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...829703&board_id=1&model=P5Q-E&page=2&count=16

Also a thread on the OCZ forum site (do a search on "p5q-e" on http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum). I found some helpful suggestions.

--> I think the problem is due to a combination of memory/P5q-e-bios version. Strange ASUS doesn't respond on this.

To get the maximum performance from my memory (ocz2p10004gk), next step would be to increase memory frequency. This would mean changing the bios settings (FSB). I'm not sure if this is worth the trouble: would it be a noticable increase in performance? Also this means testing my system again, which was not what I had in mind when I build this PC!

 

[moise99]

Bonjour, hello !

I was getting these Blue Screens of Death for 5 days in a row (in Windows Vista 64 bits) because I had previously installed the 1306 BIOS too!

GOOD NEWS: ASUS posted a new version on their Website tonight : version 1406.... every user of the P5Q-E should grab this one asap.

No BSOD anymore... until now !!! J'espère que ça va durer !

Au plaisir et bonne continuation !

 

[Rom]

Thanks Moise99, 1406 works for me too. Installed it yesterday and no errors with prime95, no blue screens.

Maybe it was a CPU/Mobo problem after all, since 1406 has "Enhanced CPU compatibility with certain Yorkfield C1 stepping CPUs".

Correction on my previous post: I said bios 803 worked for me as well. This was not the case (also bluescreens, and failing prime95 tests). Bios 704 was OK though, without bluescreens and without problems with prime95 tests.

 

[moise99]

Bonjour, hello !

Since the next few days following my previous message, I was glad to not receive Bluescreens of death anymore. Thanks to BIOS 1406.

But unfortunately, the nightmare doesn't seem to be finished!

I regularly encounter MEMORY MANAGEMENT BSOD when I run some programs (could be anyone and I know that they are all Vista compatible) or program installations or even when I boot my computer... that BSOD problem is intermittent, discontinuous and may or may not happen... I am pissed!

I went through 7 successfully passed tests with MEMTEST86, no problem.

I tried to swith my memory once and the problem is still happening ! I own 2 x 2GB. I exchanged OCZ Gold DDR2 800mhz with a normal Kingston same speed but I ordered Kingston HyperX DDR2 800mhz and I will install them today.

Because I was pissed of this instability, I asked the store to run tests on their side, they reinstalled Windows VISTA 64 bit Home premium, ATI 4850 drivers, Quicktime... the PC is stable right now. I'll grab it back in few minutes and I will reinstall my own Hard drivers which are RAID 2 x 320gb as a Master C:\ of 640 gb and a 500 gb as a D:\.

Because their tests went well, they didn't change my board but I am pretty sure that there's a problem with it. I will use it in the next days and will tell you if my BSOD problems have stopped with my new memory Kingston Hyper X DDR2 800 mhz. My CPU is a Quad Core Q9550.

I alway install the latest drivers provided by ASUS on their Website for the Chipset drivers, the EPU Six engine, the Intel Matrix, and the ATI 4850 recent HotFixes. I don't use any CD/DVD drivers at all. BTW, my Windows Vista 64 Home premium is a legit one.

Well, if you guys have any comments or suggestions that may help me out to fix these BSOD MEMORY MANAGEMENT, let me know. I didn't overclocked my system at all and I already played with the three modes : Optimized/Compatible/Performance... it didn't change anything.

Thank you very much!!

 

[bandit2220]

I came across this thread and look to the same curse of the BLUE SCREEN.

My system configuation:
Asus P5Q Deluxe
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz
Kingston HyperX PC800 (2x2GB)
320GB HDrive Hitachi
NVidia 960GT 512 PCI-E
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bits

Has anyone found the solution yet? Btw, I just bought the system and assemble it myself. I have given up hope on the WinVista HomePrem x64 and gone back to my previous WinXP Home x32.

Anyone with solution, please indicate.


Thanks,
Bandit2220.