ASUS P5Q Deluxe Freezing

Use one DIMM RAM in slot one to install the OS and MB/system drivers. 8GB of RAM will require the RAM voltage to be set manually in BIOS. Try 1-9-20v.

Hello Mate,

My OS is already installed, I normally get a couple of hours of use before it locks.

Just changed my RAM from auto 1.8V to manual 1.9V and I will let you know how I get on.

Thanks for your help!  

Very good. If 1.9v does not stop the crashing, try 2.0v. 4 Dimms will require more voltage than the 1.8v default.

I use 8 GB DDR2 on an Intel X38/Q9550. I also raise the Northbridge chipset voltage to 1.4-1.45v. for complete stability at 3.2GHz.

Is this this an issue with the newer chipsets then? - I never had to adjust anything with the old board.

A Q9550 with 8 GB RAM will require some adjustments to RAM and chipset voltages in BIOS. Otherwise the RAM will default to SPD values including the inadequate 1.8v default voltage. RAM voltage, timings and speed should be et manually. The Northbridge chip contains the memory controller, so raising the voltage to the NB in conjunction with the voltage increase to the 4 Dimms goes hand in hand. My X38 will crash too if I did not make the voltage adjustments.

If the upping the Ram voltage don't help I will up the North-bridge aswell.

Thanks for all your help!

Quick Question - On the old board, I just upped the FSB to overclock.

Would you suggest different on this board when I get it stable?

One other thing, you mention the system just 'locks up' keyboard, mouse. I had that happen on a machine recently. It started with lockups like you describe, becoming more frequent then eventually Bluescreens. Long story short about diagnosing and eventually finding the problem and fixing it. It was a bad SATA cable to the HD.

Thanks, I will try a new cable if it still freezes

Yeah, your only option to OC the Q9550 is to increase the FSB. It will be the RAM that limits the OC. PC26400 is guaranteed to run at 800MHz. Ocing PC26400 usually can reach 900MHz or slightly better as the FSB is increased. If OCing the FSB on the Intel P45, set the RAM speed lower than 800MHz. The increase in FSB speed to OC the processor will not take the RAM above it limits when that speed is drug along with it. My 2 cents.

Morning,
Good news – system was on for 2 ½ hours last night without freezing. This morning I have had it on for 3 hours with prime95 running as well as downloading 2 large torrents. I think that voltage adjustment may have done the trick; I will leave the system on for the rest of day and fingers crossed no hanging. Many thanks for your help and advise.

> 4 X 2GB DDR2 800

I can't honestly agree with all of the advice you received above.

First of all, whenever you populate all 4 DIMM slots, even with the
P45 chipset, there is necessarily more stress on the Northbridge
(Memory Controller Hub) -- exactly TWICE AS MUCH stress, in fact.

Many contributors here will immediately advise you to up the
DRAM voltage FIRST. I disagree.

BEST WAY, imho, is to initialize with BIOS defaults ("baseline"),
then to tweak the "NB Voltage" next (see Section 3.4.18 in your
motherboard's User Manual).

There are four ranges: blue, yellow, purple and red.

The highest setting in the "blue" range is 1.26 Volts.


Another reason why it is important to try this setting first
has to do with the way the chipset interacts with the
SPD settings in your RAM DIMMs. (BTW, you didn't mention the
memory brand: that would help us).

Thus, you should start out with DRAM Voltage set to DEFAULT:
this is still "baseline".

When you get your system up and running, install CPU-Z
and take a look at the SPD options that the chipset reads
from your installed memory. Then, examine carefully the
memory settings the chipset actually selected:
the DRAM frequency should default to 400 MHz.

However, here is where you can encounter problems:
with all 4 DIMM slots populated, you may need to relax
the timings a notch or two, keeping the DRAM frequency
at 400 (see more discussion below re: FSB : DRAM ratio).

If you have trouble reaching the BIOS with this "baseline",
try removing the uppermost 4GB, and populate only
the lower 2 dual-channel slots. This should allow you
to boot into the BIOS and tweak the NB Voltage.

But, while you have only 2 DIMM slots populated,
do remember to relax the RAM timings, if BIOS
defaults also happen to select the most aggressive
timing options available in the SPD chip.


> Q9550, P5Q Deluxe

Also, we just installed 16GB on the P5Q Premium and,
after tweaking the NB Voltage as described above,
all we needed to do to OC the same CPU was to
increase the "Bus Speed" to 400 MHz (1600 "Rated FSB"
using CPU-Z nomenclature). With SpeedStep enabled,
we see a totally automatic overclock to 400 x 8.5 = 3.4 GHz
whenever the system gets busy, and 400 x 6 = 2.4 GHz
whenever the system is idle.

These settings produced a very comfy synchronous 1 : 1: FSB : DRAM ratio
again using CPU-Z nomenclature.


Summary:
My BEST GUESS is that you should test a slight increase
of the NB Voltage while leaving DRAM Voltage at AUTO:
call this "baseline + 1". Further iterations should help
you fine-tune your system.


MRFS

Hello,

Many thanks for all your help and advise.

It turned out the one of the sticks of memory I was using was faulty. Adjusting the voltages made no difference, Memtest brought up a some errors...

I'm guessing, when I replaced the motherboard I put the memory in a different order.

I have since replaced all of the memory and have not had the problem since (I didn't even have to adjust any of the voltages, which means I can still use the Asus EPU-6 engine)

Thanks once again for all your help

Hello Steve,

I hope you get this post. Please let me know what ram you purchased to fix the memory issue with your PQ5 Deluxe. I would be so happy.

Tom

These RAM configurators can provide tested RAM guaranteed to work in that MB.

http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx

http://www.corsair.com/configurator/default.aspx

http://kingston.com/

http://memoryselector.cnetchannel.com/ocztech/

Thank you Badge.

I did order 2x4GB sticks of Crucial memory to replace the Corsair memory that my system was crashing with. I found that either new 4GB stick worked fine in Dimm slot A1 but if I installed the second 4GB stick into slot B1 the system was extremely slow. Almost to the point of not responding at all. In the bios it recognized the total 8GB of RAM but was slow. So, now I am thinking that the Dimm slot B1 may be defective. Or do I need to set voltage different?

This is my first build, thanks for again for your help.

Tom


Asus P5Q Deluxe LGA 775 Intel P45
Crucial 8GB (2x4GB) DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)
XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra
WD Velociraptor 300GB
Wd Caviar SE16 640GB

Crashing RAM: Corsair Dominator - 8GB (4x2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC 8500)

Well, I have the P5Q Turbo running perfectly stable with 2GB x 2 plus 1GB x 2 (6GB total) G.Skill PC28500. I have 4 x 2 GB PC28500 installed originally and the system was perfectly stable. I have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers. Also, the RAM' s speed, timings and voltage are manually set to G. Skill's specifications. I bumped the NB voltage to 1.45-1.5v. The memory controller is located on the NB. Other than making all the adjustments mentioned, it is possible the board you have is defective. Possibly contact Crucial online chat and see what they suggest.

thanks mrfs, i didn't succeed bud i'm on the way i guess..(hope)
thanks for infos !