Trouble OCing i7 920

[plue]

Hello everyone,

I've been lurking for a while, since I've been doing some research for OCing my system, but just decided to sign up since I hit my first snag.

I've been playing around with my BIOS and was able to get my system to be stable at 3.5Mhz, with nice temperatures. However, once I tried pushing my settings further (no matter what Vcore I used) it would not boot the system. All I would get is a black screen with a flashing underscore.

I was testing ways to fix my problem, when I discovered that if I pressed Del at the right time, it would go past the black screen and boot it. Using this I was able to go to a further OC. My problem is though, every time I boot my system, I have to press Del at a specific time for it to boot. How would I fix this?

Thanks in advance,

plue

tl;dr: System will not boot past a certain OC unless I hit Del key at a specific time.


System:
i7 920 (d0 stepping)
Evga x58 mobo
12 GB RAM (OCZ 1600)
Corsair H50 Cooler

 

[Lmeow]

There's a lot more than vCore to consider, especially with the IMC controller you need to crank up the voltage a bit, i.e., the QPI/VTT voltage, and possibly other voltages too.

 

[plue]

I understand that, and while I tried a variety of configurations for these voltages, I ended up setting them to Auto for the time being (to maximize my efficiency after I get my PC to work).

What puzzles me, is why the system boots and runs properly if I'm able to hit Del?

 

[Lmeow]

No idea lol. Maybe it's waiting for a response or somewhere off the screen/hidden it may be 'Press DEL to continue'. Probably wrong but some guesses.

 

[Ubrales]

plue, I hope you are not exceeding the rated RAM speed while overclocking. At he very start, set the RAM ratio to its LOWEST (8x?) - then proceed with OC using the BIOS. When you get the desired overclock along with decent temps, then check the RAM speed and change the ratio higher if you can do so without exceeding the rated speed. BTW, it's ok to slightly underclock the RAM.