Quadcore combo issues....

[BSAKing]

Hello,I got a Biostar MCP6PB M2+ MB and quad core AMD Phenom X4 9650 combo from Tiger Direct - Never worked properly. I do not know if it is the CPU or MB and dunno how to determine which as I have no replacement for either.

I have swapped the Power Supply, RAM, and O/S To no avail. It will work perfectly sometimes and then just randomly reboot or lock up for no apparent reason.

I do not know how to determine what is at fault....


Suggestions? (Aside from a match and a gallon of gas?).....

 

[jj463rd]

Is your motherboard listed as version 6.0 and is this the right board?

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/cpu_support.php?S_ID=387

It says that the X4 9650 is supported.
How about memory are you using the qualified RAM?
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/memory_report.php?S_ID=387

Also have you updated the BIOS?
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/bios.php?S_ID=387

Is your power supply up to par and what other components (especially graphics cards do you use)?

 

[BSAKing]

My version is 3.0 I believe.

I got it as a package from TigerDirect, so it should all be compatible.

I have updated the bios with the latest for that board and actually confirmed the bios number with BioStar tech. MCP6PB M2+ Version 6.3 on the board. I loaded the bios 61PCM630.BSS onto it. I also upgraded the PS and have tried several different ones with no net effect.....

I am not using much in the way of add-ons as this is for a music PC in my music room.

It has 2 GB RAM, uses the onboard vid card, and has a TB sata drive with an IDE DVD. The RAM that came with it is Centon 2048 pc 6400 ddr2 800 Mhz 2GB800DDR2

I have since redone all the heatsinking compound on the CPU and also the onboard graphics chip (the factory job on that looked pretty bad btw). I have checked all connections, jumpers, etc and have actually stepped back to XP SP3 (32 bit) from Win 7 64 to see what happens.

I am beginning to suspect RAM as one component - I swapped out to some Toshiba 2 X 1GB sticks at 400 and it *seems* More stable, but since it is intermittent it is difficult to say just yet.... takes time to test all this stuff.

None of that ram is on the *approved* list, but should it not work?

 

[BSAKing]

I also saw elsewhere that people use CPU-Z and PCWizard. I got those as well as System Stability Tester. My core temps are sitting at 37 under load and are within .5 degree of one another - which I gather is well within the safe area - I think max is like 70 C.

My Mistake - the other ram I threw in is Samsung M378T2953C23-CD5 Which is PC-4300 (266 Mhz ) stuff. FWIW - the Centon seems to work ok in a less capable X2 processor system I have here.....

I am getting zero errors running pi tests at 128K digits and 10 threads and 32 passes. If I up the pi digits into the stratosphere - it blows up, but that could be a software thing I guess....

I should mention I have never tried to overclock or use other than vanilla bios settings. All I have done is turn off things like use external cache, and things like that to try to see what's up with it. I have no clue about ram settings, etc. I have left that all at auto.....

The PS in it now is a brand new orion HP 585D, but I have tried it with 2 other proven working well power supplies from other systems here. Monitored voltages are all right on the money AFAIK.

Another possibilty could be driver conflicts as I am using it as a music PC and have a toneport connected to it, so I disable the onboard audio card in BIOS. It does not seems to have any effect. I think it is flakey MB or RAM or that combination....

 

[jj463rd]

Yeah never mix different RAM types (different speeds) that would certainly give you problems.I always purchase the same RAM in pairs and upgrade with the same exact pair and always look at the Qualified Venders List (QVL) at the motherboard manufacturers website for tested memory beforehand.

 

[BSAKing]

Well - I figured I had exhausted all the possibilities and figured it was a bad Motherboard so RMA'd the sucker. In the meantime I bought a very nice replacement locally, set it up and it has been perfect so far. So the BioStar was not much of a star....