ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues

[_tangram_]

Hello,

First of all, this is an awesome forum. Wish I had found it 5 days ago when I still had hair!

I am having stability issues with the new system I put together. I was able to bring to a point following this post (http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ga-e...problem-28242/

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues

Well, Hopefully we can save what little hair you have left now!

Did you test each stick one by one at stock settings (Manually set Speed, Main timings, And ram voltages with Performance Enhance on Standard)? If not you should to be sure you don't have a faulty stick in the mix.

With that being said, I see a few things that may have you failing. Are you using the latest BIOS? If so did you load and apply optimized defaults after you flashed? You MUST do this, load optimized, set ram voltage, save and apply and reboot back to the BIOS and make all other changes (This includes setting the disk settings again as they will be reset).

I mainly asked about this because of your blank on "Driving Strength Profiles", if you are using the latest BIOS and do not see this try the hotkey. That would be, on the MAIN page of the BIOS hit Control + F1 and the screen will flash, then go into MIT section and see if you find it. Your board may not have it, I am not sure as you did not list the model DS3L and S3L are different boards but with both of them being Budget "L" Boards (And the P43 series is budget series in itself) you may just not have that option ever.

So see if this helps any >>>>

Here is my BIOS settings:
MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: FAST
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 9x
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.+0.0
CPU Frequency ...........................: 3.00Ghz (333x9)


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Disabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 333
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........: 100
C.I.A.2 .................................:[Disabled]


Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: 800mV
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: 900mV
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: 0ps
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: 50-150 (try last, may help with final stability after you get more stable)


DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [Standard] << Likely the whole cause of your issues

Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.).....: Disabled
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [333] << Set all voltages, high Static tRead, trfc, then this and reset memory multiplier again and save and reboot to make the rest of the changes. Or you can set this, memory multi and voltages only then reboot for the rest. Main thing is to try as little other changes with this as possible, it helps but is not necessary. You can set it all at once if you like, just trying to make it easy for you as sometimes that makes things harder to get going
System Memory Multiplier ..............: 3.20
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 1066
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................ 5
tRCD ......................................... 5
tRP'........................................... 5
tRAS.......................................... 15

Set to all highest below first, then later lower one at a time testing with memtest86+ as you go.

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD........................................... 3-5
tWTR.......................................... 3-6 (May need 12 first time you set to boot thru)
tWR............................................ 4-6 (May need 14 first time you set to boot thru)
tRFC........................................... 52-62

[_tangram_]

Re: ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues



Yes, I tested them individually at stock options. As I posted this last night, I realized that cpuZ indicated my memory as PC2 5300 not PC2 8500. So I modified my clock speed to 333 MHz from M.I.T and the system is stable.

However, since the memory is supposed to be pc2 8500. I am going to flash the bios to F8 (currently F7) and see if the system will run at 1066 MHz.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues

Be sure you load optimized defaults, set your ram voltage and then save and apply after you flash. DO NOT USE @BIOS, here is a qflash guide >>>

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/bios-flashing-how-qflash-guide-27576/

All 1066 ram must be set to 1066 manually by the user, so do not be surprised when you see it at 800

[eglobal84]

Re: ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues

wow, I didn't know the freezing problem that happened periodically was due to the mother board. I suppose I can fix that now by overlooking the advice you guys mentioned above.

me =

I upgraded from 4gb to 8gb and ran into problems. The boot up process recognizes 8gb but windows xp only shows 4gb in my computer properties.

Any ideas?

My PC details:

This GB motherboard (obviously)
Intel Quad 9550 2.83ghz
4 sticks of Kingston 2gb - PC2 6400 240 Dimm Pin
Video - eh..some generic
Sound - on board
HDD - 500gb SATA
Windows XP SP3

Thanks in advance for your help.

-Steven

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues

What does CPU-z show in the Memory Tab for size? And you do know that 32Bit XP can only use 3-3.5GB depending on your Graphics card right?

[eglobal84]

Re: ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues

CPU-Z program says in the memory section 8192 MBytes.

Didn't know I needed a 64 bit to run more then 4gigs ram. I will do the upgrade next weekend when I have more time. Thanks for the help,

-Steven

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: ga-ep43-ds3l stability issues

Yep, you will need to use a x64 system to be able to use more then 4GB (3.25-4GB depending on hardware)