AB9 Pro FSB Problems

[nexuss]

I have an AB9 Pro with an E6300
recently i downloaded and flashed the newest 16 bios

in bios the clock is set to 429 x 7, to get 3Ghz but on the post screen it shows 412 x 7 - 2.88Ghz
it won't go above 419, if i put it to 420 or above it just goes back to 412 on the post screen and in windows with cpu-z, in the bios it still shows whatever it was set to
i havn't changed any settings other than the dram spec to ddr2 533 so the memory runs at just over 800 which is what it should be and i have turned off eist and c1e

can anyone help me please, i tried the 15 bios, tried increasing the vmch and the vcore but they made no difference so i'm back with the 16 bios and default voltage settings

[BUFF]

it helps others to help you if you provide more information on your system.
A full system spec. incl. brands & models please.

[nexuss]

Sorry, forgot about that bit

AB9 Pro
Intel E6300
2 x 512Mb Corsair PC6400
XFX 7600GT graphics
431W Enermax psu
1 x IDE HDD
2 x SATA HDD
1 x IDE DVD-RW

anything else, let me know.

[BUFF]

do you know exactly which Corsair 6400 model & rev. you have?
Also, what voltage are you running it at?

[nexuss]

it is Corsair xms 512mb ddr2 6400
part no. cm2x512a-6400
it is running at 2v

[BUFF]

CM2X512A-6400
.....................XMS6405v1.1...MICRON.......64Mx8...Rev.A
.....................XMS6405v1.2...MICRON.......64Mx8...Rev.A
.....................XMS6405v1.3...MICRON.......64Mx8...Rev.A
.....................XMS6405v1.4...MICRON.......64Mx8...Rev.A
.....................XMS6405v1.5...MICRON.......64Mx8...Rev.B
.....................XMS6405v1.6...MICRON.......64Mx8...Rev.D
.....................XMS6405v1.7...MICRON.......64Mx8...Rev.D
.....................XMS6405v2.1...ELPIDA........64Mx8...Rev.E
.....................XMS6405v2.3...ELPIDA........64Mx8...90nm
.....................XMS6405v2.4...ELPIDA........64Mx8...Rev.H
.....................XMS6405v3.1...QIMONDA.....64Mx8...Rev.B
.....................XMS6405v3.2...QIMONDA.....64Mx8...Rev.C
.....................XMS6405v4.1...PROMOS.......64MX8...90nm
.....................XMS6405v5.1...PCS.............64MX8...90nm
.....................XMS6405v6.1...NANYA.........64Mx8...Rev.B
.....................XMS6405v6.2...NANYA.........64Mx8...Rev.B

do you know which version that you have?

[nexuss]

it is xms6405 v1.8
it also has 0627242-3 on both of them

[BUFF]

hmm, not on the list but it looks like rev. 1.x is Micron based which is good as I would defintely expect more than DDR2 840 from them.

So, is everything on auto apart from the RAM divider?
Are you overclocking manually in the BIOS or using uGuru or similar in Windows?

[nexuss]

everything but the ram divider is on auto, the memory will run faster but i wanted to make sure that wasn't holding it back
i'm changing it all in the bios

[BUFF]

I reckon that you might want to start setting everything manually but what I would suggest is to post on abit-USA's forum or on bit-tech as Highlander there has a lot of experience at oc on the AB9 (512fsb iirc).

btw there is a new 17 BIOS up since yesterday, I don't know if people reckon it's an improvement or not.

[nexuss]

i tried the new 17 bios and it now gives me the speed that it should be on the post screen but in windows with cpu-z and crystalcpuid it reports the fsb as around 412, it sometimes goes slightly higher after a reboot but nothing above 420
the windows reading is accurate as i've been getting very similar times in superpi which would go down if the speed were faster

thanks for your help.

[nickaal]

HI there.
I was experiencing something similar with my E6300.
I couldn't set the fsb over 419MHz. Well I could but CPU-Z was reporting 266 FSB.
I flashed the bios to 17 and now I am able to have a system working properly over 435 FSB.
I also changed my PSU so I am not sure which helped me there but I guess it's the PSU.
I had a 2 year old Thermaltake PurePower 480 Watts and I switched for a Coolermaster iGreen 430 Watts.
I run with the stock cooler and with 2GB of Corsair 6400C4.
Some BIOS settings:
CPU @ 1.275 V
Ram @ 2.1 V @ 435 @ 4.4.4.12 set manually
MCH @ 1.45 V
ICHIO @ 1.55 V
FSB:RAM @ 1:1
EIST is active as well as disable bit.
If you need other settings ask as I cannot remember everything.
I have been able to go into windows past 450 @ 5.5.5.18 @ 2.1V with the same settings but I didn't test stability as the cooler is insuffucient at this speed.
By the way, I cannot put the computer to S3 mode, it's restarting directly.
Do you or did you have the same problem?
Hope this helps.

[nexuss]

thanks for the info nickaal, i tried some of those settings you gave me but i got nothing when i turned the system on so i had to go back to what it was.

it could be something to do with my psu as it is fairly old but i'm not sure, i tried S3 mode and it seems to be working fine on my system although when i turned it back on windows detected all the drives again, not sure what happened there.

[nickaal]

I don't understand why the motherboard is behaving like that.
Either it boots with a lower FSB than expected or it just hangs.
I remember on my northwood 2.4GHz system I had stability issues past 3GHz and as soon as I upgraded the PSU, everything was fine.
Once again, I got better results by changing the PSU.
Sounds like a weak component to me that is actually not the one you would think of in the first place.
Thanks for the trying the S3 mode, I'm gonna have to investigate that...
Keep me informed if you make any progress.