IP35 sometimes won't post

[Jonny-B]

Hi there i'm having a problem with a new build. Every so often the board locks up on post. The setup is:-

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
ABIT IP35
OCZ System Elite XTC DDR2 PC5400 (2x 1gig dimms)
XFX GeForce 8500GT Fatal1ty
Corsair HX 620W Black PSU

Sometimes it gets as far as detecting the CPU and then hanging on the word "memory" and sometimes doesn't get as far as detecting the CPU and just gives the bios name at the top. It doesn't do it every time and when it boots the Computer is completely stable and works quite happily (i've had it on for > 48hrs and done some stress work on it, no lock ups) It appears that if you reboot from XP it very rarely will get past the post screen, and have to hit the reset on the front a coupla times to get it started.

The bios it came with was 13. I have flashed to 17 but it still exihibits the same issues. I've also tried uping the voltage to the ram a little but thats had no effect (Its rated at 1.8 but i tried 2.1). Same random boot problems.

The bios is setting the timings correctly and the voltages seem fine, i'm at a loss as to whats causing the problems as like i've said when it does boot, its absolutely fine.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue with this board?

Thanks

Jon

[AbitUK]

Hi Jon,

Everyone from Abit has gone home now but I am sure you will get some technical help, if not tonight from Gilgamesh, Buff and others you will get a response from AbitNL tomorrow.

Sorry but my technical knoweldge is somewhat thin on the ground still

[jimborae]

Hi there i'm having a problem with a new build. Every so often the board locks up on post. .......


The bios is setting the timings correctly and the voltages seem fine, i'm at a loss as to whats causing the problems as like i've said when it does boot, its absolutely fine.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue with this board?

Thanks

Jon

Yes I had these exact symptoms with this board and it was driving me nuts. However this was mainly with my Q6600 overclocked to 3.6ghz. Although it did occasionally do it at normal speeds.

What cured it for me was playing around with the voltages, so here's what mine are set to. Remember these are overclocked settings so you should not have to go quite so high on some of the voltages. Then again it may not be a voltage problem at all.

Cpu = Whatever is right for your cpu
DDR = 2.2v
Cpu VTT = 1.3125v
ICH 1.5V = 1.65v
MCH 1.25V = 1.530v

Not only is pc now completely stable I can now overclock the cpu to 3.9Ghz.

[k0nigen]

This happened to me and my RAM was faulty - RMAd the RAM and problem fixed

[Jonny-B]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to test with some different Ram tomorrow, along with trying to up the voltage.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

[gilgamesh]

hmm i had that problem but only ONCE, a full cmos clear sorted the issue. try some ram though

set to 2.1 (if thats required voltage) and spd, run cpu-z and look at mem section, see waht its autodetected SPD is, then slowly tighten up the timings until you do or dont get the error

gilgamesh

[Jonny-B]

OK then, tonight i ran memtest86 on both sticks of ram, both passed. I also tried just one stick at a time, still the occasionally boot lockup. Sometimes before the CPU test (it just writes the "award winning bios lines" etc. And sometimes between the CPU and memory test. It gets as far as writing "memory" but not test. Also tried manually setting timings as per CPUZ.

I also tried upping voltages as above, and same again.

Lastly i tried a piece of OEM ram that works on another machine. Again same result. Occasionally post failure. (Memtest86'ed this ram as well and AOK)

So i'm beginning to think its not the ram lol.

I'm typing this from said computer now, when it boots its fine.

Does anyone else have anymore ideas? PSU or Motherboard fault?

Jon

[Abit_NL]

The power supply could cause such problems as well. Are you able to try it with another power supply?

[Rob_B]

I have exactly this problem & have tried exactly the same things.

I found it tends to boot after a cmos reset with only 1 stick of ram in @ 2v even if i then reboot and drop to 1.8V (the correct V) but as soon as i put another stick of RAM in I get the problems & it will not reboot even if i then remove the stick I just put in. *think* I've got a spare PSU somewhere but it's a no-name 350W

Graphics card is not at fault, mobo is a new replacement (my old one I RMAd had the same prob so i think it's a component) Did you ever find a fix for this?

[BUFF]

which BIOS?

which exact RAM?
3Gb means that either they can't all be the same but must be mismatched or you are running 3x1GB DIMMs which still wouldn't be ideal.
have you adjusted Vmch at all?

[Rob_B]

At work at the moment so can't check but Bios is whatever this board shipped with, did it with my old board as mentioned so I'm confident it's not a BIOS issue.

3 x 1Gb sticks of PC6400 cas 5, Micron I think, it had worked perfectly until this problem. I have tried with 1/2/3 sticks though and the problem still occurs so I don't believe its the number of sticks

Only things I've NOT change are the CPU and the PSU, CPU runs fine at 3ghz but this error occurs at stock speeds as well so I hope its the PSU but might not have asnother to test with.

I've onyl adjusted the cpu/ram Vs, didn't know what the others did so left them well alone!

[BUFF]

need a link to the exact memory.
your earlier post gives the impression that it runs OK on 1 DIMM, with 3 you may well need to increase Vmch.

have you tested each individual DIMM in case 1 is faulty?

[Rob_B]

Sorry if my earlier post wasn't clear. It will seem to boot if you use 1 dimm (any stick, any slot) after a reset (sometimes not even then) but as soon as you add in another (at any V 1.8/1.9 or 2) it then fails to POST. Hence why i assume it's not a bad stick of RAM (as per the OP it runs everything perfectly when it does decide to boot)

[Rob_B]

Ok, I've bumped that up the smallest increment (was on auto) and all seems ok. All 3 DIMMS are in, CPU clocked to 3ghz ok. If it aint broke dont fix it so i'm not touching any other settings! I'll try it again tomorrow to see if it stays working!

Cheers BUFF that one small change may well have fixed it, now, are you any good with wifi?.... ;-)

[Rob_B]

Booted this morning &....froze on 'memory' I'll have to bump up that V again & see what happens.

[Rob_B]

ok, still doing it. now seems to work ok once i reset the CMOS (which was hit and miss before) but of course this isn't the answer!

CPU set to 363x8 for just over 2.9Ghz
RAM at 726mhz (PC6400) all memtested ok.
CPU @ 1.3275V (tried lower but not higher)
DDR @ 1.85V (are 1.8v modules, tried 1.8/1.9 & 2.0 as well)
CPU VTT @ 1.2V
ICH 1.5 @ 1.5V
MCH 1.25 @ 1.33V/1.41V (tried at the normal 1.25V)
CPU GTLREF @ 63%

Even when the defaults kick in after a few failed reboots it still locks until I reset the CMOS.

Help!!