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[Solved] AMD PhenomII x4 940BE stuck running at 800MHZ

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Asus - [Solved] AMD PhenomII x4 940BE stuck running at 800MHZ

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Best answer from tricky_uk.

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System Specs:
ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe Motherboard
AMD PhenomII x4 940 Black Edition; Stock Cooling
4gigs 1066mhz OCZ Reaper DDR2 Memory
Sapphire ATI Radeon4870 1GB Video Card
Corsair 750TX 750Watt Power Supply

System was built in February of this year, no serious issues until now.

I noticed some system slowdown today and ran the CPUZ program which indicated my system was running at 800mhz with a 4x cpu frequency multiplier. At every step I used OCCT and AMD Overdrive and they all indicated 800mhz.

Cool'n'Quiet is disabled in my BIOS. Power settings in windows are set to High Performance.

Initial BIOS was 0602

I took these steps to try to solve the problem.

1) Reboot the system: 800mhz still indicated.

2) Clear CMOS via jumper: 3000mhz initially indicated, after running a game for a few minutes (3-4) noticed slowdown, and CPUZ (OCCT, overdrive) indicated 800mhz.

3) Download latest BIOS, version 1203. Booted into windows, still 800mhz.

4)Cleared CMOS again, manually entered 15x as multiplier in jumper free settings in BIOS, as well as 1.35 volts: Booted in, 3000mhz initially again, then back to 800mhz after a couple minutes of OCCT (a performance testing application used like prime95), noticed voltage was dropping to around 1.0volts as well.

5) Reflashed BIOS again to 1203, ran OCCT, same result 800mhz.

6) Rinse and repeat a number of the previous steps..

I'm at a loss at this point. From what I can tell this was never an issue before as I've never seen CPUZ or any other system monitor indicate 800MHZ until today.

I have 4 OCCT reports that show CPU activity and temperature, they illustrate very well exactly when the CPU throttles down to 800MHZ and the lower voltage. This throttling seems to occur from between 2-4minutes of near maximum cpu utilization. Temperatures reached no higher than 60degrees C on any test, 3 were below 58degrees.

Any insight to this issue would be greatly appreciated.

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Its a tricky one as I dont think the AMD CPUs thermal throttling kicks in until really high temps! I mean on my rig I can pull the cooler fan power cable of and run OCCT until the CPU gets to 80C then OCCT quits outs before the CPU.

Have you tried disabling Cool `n` Quiet in the BIOS and disable C1E power management mode? These all work with the CPU and the motherboard to lower CPU power consumption by reducing the CPU frequency and voltage when the CPU is not under load.

If that dont work then its old-skool hardware testing time - suspect CPU into known good board and vice-versa. Then once you found the faulty part, its RMA city!

Sounds like the MB/BIOS has a problem or Cool and Quiet is failing to be disabled via the BIOS control. I would save a lot of time short of wiping the HD and reinstalling the OS and try the CPU in a different MB.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ "To better understand why you need a personal computer, let's take a look at the pathetic mess you call your life."
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badge wrote :

I just installed a fresh windows7RC onto another HD, still no dice

I also failed to mention that I can't increase the multiplier via AMD Overdrive

Reply to pinkeyes

So AMD Overdrive was installed along with a fresh install on Windows 7 RC, then using that software the 940 PII's multiplier was increased? Why? Use the BIOS to overclock the CPU. I think I would uninstall AMD Overdrive, then go into BIOS and do any OCing from there.

EDIT: I see, you tried AMD Overdrive too. BIOS would not allow a proper increase of the multiplier I assume. Well, the HD is installed on the same MB. So I would say could be something up with the BIOS on that MB. You could buy a cheap 780G like mine to test the 940 with. My setup Oc's fine. Or perhaps take the processor to a local shop and have them test it.

One other thing, In BIOS under Jumper Free Config, the CPU/HT Reference clock must be 200MHz. Multiplier of 15 x 200 MHz = 3.0Ghz. If that setting is not 200MHz., the CPU rate will be something other than what you would expect.

Message edited by badge on 09-24-2009 at 09:52:16 PM

------------------------------ "To better understand why you need a personal computer, let's take a look at the pathetic mess you call your life."
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I'm not even trying to overclock.

I figured I'd download OCCT, CPUZ, and AMD Overdrive to test things. What I meant was, if I slide the slider for CPU multiplier, it would not stick at anything past 4x. It would say applying settings and then just stay at 4x multiplier. I have 15x and 200mhz keyed into my BIOS.

But alas, I think it may be an overheating issue, 61degrees C is apparently the ceiling for the 940BE. I was not aware of this so I decided to try something...

I stuck a box fan on full blast pointing into the side of my open case and ran OCCT. My core temps actually got higher than they would before without throttling the cpu multiplier back. In fact it didnt throttle at all and it got to around 63degrees before I decided to have it stop. IE it's fixed, albeit with a box fan stuck on the side until my thermal paste comes in the mail.. heh.

**** I'm assuming there's another temperature monitor outside of the core temp monitor(s) that possibly may be getting heated from the CPU (or does it have more than just core temp?) which is what controls throttling the CPU if it gets too hot, i'm not really sure as this is out of my realm of knowledge.

Can anyone comment as to how that works?

Reply to pinkeyes

How are you measuring the temp? I usually only use the BIOS as its normally the most reliable.

You say you have flashed the BIOS, did you also load BIOS defaults after flashing?

You mention thermal paste? What cooler are you currently using and is it installed correctly, sometimes the cam action to secure the cooler is pretty tough to push home and if not done properly then the cooler doesn’t have enough pressure on the CPU which can cause problems with overheating. I’ve seen a few times with the big fancy coolers.

I think that it appears to be more of a board/BIOS fault as it does run at 3.0Ghz some times. Ideally if you could check that CPU on another board and another CPU on that board and see what part the fault follows.

Reply to tricky_uk

It's just the stock cooler. Stock paste from stock cooler. I've cleared the CMOS and went to BIOS default settings numerous times. I should have my thermal paste by tomorrow to redo it.

It will not downclock, like it was before, to 800mhz if I have that extra fan pointed into the case though, so that leads me to believe it's gotta be some sort of thermal throttling.

EDIT: I'm measuring temp through OCCT and SpeedFan

Message edited by pinkeyes on 09-25-2009 at 04:05:37 PM

Reply to pinkeyes

Best answer

Reply to tricky_uk

Swapped out the motherboard, problem solved.

RMA'ing this piece of *** tomorrow, it was making a very high pitched almost inaudible whining as well (from the northbridge..) After poking around the interweb a bit, I've learned that these motherboards do have a number of documented issues (Probably explains why it was discontinued). A recall would have been nice... I think it's safe to say I'll take my business elsewhere from here on out.

Reply to pinkeyes

hey, at least its solved and you earned some valuable experience points for the future.

Theres plenty of other mobo makers out there and as you say, you read up on other issue with your board so just have a read up of what mobo`s other people are using and maybe give them a try...............I hear Foxconn make good boards?

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[Solved] AMD PhenomII x4 940BE stuck running at 800MHZ

Forum Motherboards & Memory : Asus - [Solved] AMD PhenomII x4 940BE stuck running at 800MHZ