stability issue???

[Mephistopheles]

So my new system has been assembled:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Manchester)
2GB OCZ DDR400 Platinum EL
DFI LanParty UT nF4 Ultra-D
2x120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 (8MB cache, NCQ)
Sapphire X550 with 256MB memory
OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU
Thermaltake Armor (silver)

...however, I have been facing stability issues. At first, there was a BSOD during windows installation. Then, I tried again and got through the installation, but windows sometimes freezes up. I have also seen one reboot which happened for no reason.

My first guess was that the BIOS was too old for the processor: indeed, the current DFI bios doesn't recognize the X2 4200 processor.

Out of curiosity, I then tried to run MemTest86+, which comes with DFI's onboard mobo utilities. This program runs directly off the motherboard and doesn't depend on windows; it can be configured to run with the BIOS setup. However, it too locked up for some reason. There were also a few garbled characters on screen, which suggests to me that there might be a video card problem. One of the lockups was also associated with a very thin part of the screen turning into a random-coloured-pixel party.

What is this? Is this because of BIOS, or video card, or is something else out of place? Right now, I must even say that I'm even afraid to flash the BIOS: a lockup while flashing would be devastating....

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Mephistopheles on 09/27/05 11:46 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[endyen]

What v-dimm are you using? Try upping it to 2.8. If it's TCCD chips on there, you may have to go higher.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Hmmm, you could be right, these modules are actually warranty-proofed up to 2.8V, and they are also 2-3-2-5 modules, so they defaulted at these latencies <i>and</i> at 2.6V.

I tried upping to 2.8V and I'm running memtest right now. It'll probably take some time to check the full 2GB of memory - last time, it locked up 38 minutes into the test.

Once I get this thing stable, I still have to flash the bios to recognize the X2 4200 and then reinstall windows. So there are still a few things to do...

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Mephistopheles on 09/27/05 10:17 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Mephistopheles]

I just got another memtest lockup. <A HREF="http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/david_chinellato/trouble.jpg" target="_new">Here's what I saw on screen</A>, and VDIMM was set to 2.8V.

What I also noticed in the BIOS, however, was that the core voltage was only 1.28V (CnQ disabled), LDT (which I assume to be HT) voltage at 1.2V, and NB voltage at 1.5V. Doesn't that core voltage look low?

This X2 is for 1.35-1.40V, so I probably could set at 1.4V fixed to see if that helps. Are Manchester X2s rated for 1.35V? Or are they rated for 1.4V? Was that why some got lower power numbers for Manchester?...

<i>Edit: I just found a <A HREF="http://aaltonen.us/archive/2005/03/27/stability-issues-with-the-dfi-lanparty-ut-nf4-ultra-d/" target="_new">useful link</A> about stability with this board. Maybe I'll give this a try...
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Mephistopheles on 09/27/05 11:13 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[P4Man]

Ive seen several reports of bad batches with these boards; id RMA the MB if I where you.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[Mephistopheles]

<i>Really?</i> :frown:

Well, I'll conduct some more testing before saying that I really cannot make this work as it should and returning the motherboard. I suspect RMAing won't be necessary, but hey, that's a X2 4200 and I want the damned thing to work, so I <i>will</i> return the mobo if necessary.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Aah sh!t, I just ran memtest86 with VDIMM 2.9V and VCore at 1.375V fixed, and you know what?

It stopped <i>exactly at the same spot</i> in the memory test. 37min 28s into the test, exactly.

I wonder if this actually is a memory problem?

Next step: run memtest86 on each memory module, alone, and see if that works. And I'll check wether or not one behaves differently than the other. I'll come back with the results in a few hours. If it works with either one DIMM, I'll flash the BIOS (assuming it's stable) and see if two DIMMs work.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Update: I ran the test on both memory modules, one at a time, and they both passed perfectly. It must be a problem with going dual-channel with 2GB memory.

I'm currently checking for stability with 1GB memory. Once I've confirmed stability, I'll just flash the BIOS and try 2GB DC again. And reinstall windows XP Pro for a multiprocessor kernel.

 

[endyen]

To be honest, I've never understood why DFI boards haven't had more memory problems. Early on, Amd said that the odmc required shortest possible memory traces, and that all traces be the exact same length. As a result, all the other mobo makers have kept the ram slots right next to the cpu, with matched pairs in adjacent slots. Why did DFI ignore this?

 

[theholylancer]

lol they are right next to the cpu, only they are are the top, instead of the side. and i think that older bioses other than 6/23 cannot support x2s, just to be sure that ur machine won't crash during flash then boot off a floppy and run some old program you got that is dos, and see how it goes, if its okay then try a flash. But i have heard quite a lot in the past that people having trouble running x2 and DFIs

BTW try www.dfi-street.com for more detailed help, because that is how i solved my problem

o and ur ram is not TCCD... check out <A HREF="http://www.techpowerup.com/memdb/" target="_new">here</A> for ur ram's exact name and see, also i heard that TCCDs cannot be dense enough for 1GB sticks, only 512.



AMD A64 3200+Venice @2.65GHZ
DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra-D
OCZ 2x512mb EL Gold VX PC3200 ram 2-2-2-8
evga eGeforce 6800GT 256mb GDDR3 ram
Enermax 485W PSU
Bios 6/23
Windows XP SP2<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by TheHolyLancer on 09/27/05 08:20 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Mephistopheles]

I've confirmed 100% (or close enough) stability with several hours of mprime running with only 1GB installed system memory.

I then flashed the BIOS and, as a pleasant surprise, Windows did the alterations for a multiprocessor kernel without having to be told to do so.

I'm now running memtest86 again with 2.8V VDIMM (max warranty-proofed voltage) and checking for the lockup that occurs exactly at 37:28. So, I'm patiently waiting for that time into the test. Let's hope I'm lucky, or else I'll have to loosen timings, and that'll really piss me off - after all, I paid for 2GB DDR400 that <i>could do</i> 2-3-2-5 timings....

Hey, maybe I'll ask OCZ customer support about that?...

 

[Mephistopheles]

.....and there you go.

Fully-fledged operation with the 2GBs, at 2-3-2-5 @ 2.8V, without a hitch. All I needed was a BIOS update, and memtest runs all tests without any problems.

Sorry for bothering everyone. Thanks for all your advice.

Now let's go back to enjoying this new system.... I'll run some more hours of mprime to be on the safe side anyway, though.

 

[endyen]

Been meaning to ask. Is this upgrade from you old dual P3 system?
I really do hope you are a happy camper for a long while.

 

[theholylancer]

oo dual P3? is it like a server board?

(lacking in history lessons )


AMD A64 3200+Venice @2.65GHZ
DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra-D
OCZ 2x512mb EL Gold VX PC3200 ram 2-2-2-8
evga eGeforce 6800GT 256mb GDDR3 ram
Enermax 485W PSU
Bios 6/23
Windows XP SP2<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by TheHolyLancer on 09/28/05 00:14 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Mephistopheles]

Aaah yes, you got it, exactly!

It took me a long while to upgrade, but it was well worth it. I'm still understanding just how much faster this computer is than my old and trusty 2xP3@933Mhz with only 256MB PC133 and a GeForce4 Ti4200. My god, this upgrade was one hell of a jump in performance!!!!

Even so, I'll still upgrade the video card on my new computer to a more powerful one (I'm currently on a X550 with 256MB memory and 4 pixel pipelines only).

As for the old motherboard, it was a <A HREF="http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=cuv4xd&page=1&cookie_test=1" target="_new">CUV4X-D</A>. (not a CUV4X-DLS, which had integrated SCSI and was expensive as hell). It was not a true server board, but in the end it served me pretty damned well for almost 5 years. And I think I camped for a long while exactly because my old computer was such an excellent system!! These old P3 chips could work perfectly in dual-processor configurations, unlike most other desktop processors... That made such a system much, much more affordable.