3XS Cyclone RAM Fault

[Thorbog]

Just emailed.

I also asked in the email if you could elaborate on "clear the cmos after the bios flash" as I don't know what involves.

I had never even flashed a BIOS before until a couple of days ago so I barely have a clue what I'm doing.

[Winterlove]

OK. This BIOS did not brick my machine with all six sticks of RAM in place. Sadly, nor does it fix the problem, in that it only seems to report 10Gb of the 12Gb. Moreover, it takes a good while to boot, with the motherboard's memory light on for ages (flickering briefly at long, regular intervals). It seems like the BIOS is taking some time to settle on a RAM configuration it is happy with.

I was able to restore the overclock.

[Thorbog]

Yeah that 001 BIOS was also slow on the initial switch on like that.

Haven't been sent the new one yet but will let you know what happens when I do.

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Guys

The Finalised Bios will be sent across once we have received it from Asus

Asus tested a customers system that was brought into our reception and this was only showing 2 Gig out of 6, so far the system is working ok and once the Bios has been emailed across from Asus we will email both of you and anyone else that needs it

The one I sent to Winterlove was the previous one not the one with the final tweaks

To clear the Cmos on the board you will need a Pen as there is a small hole that you can push the pen into and this clears the bios cmos

Regards

Ben

[Thorbog]

Before I go shoving pens into my mobo can anyone tell me exactly where this point is on the mobo?

I assume it is easy to access and won't be obstructed by the heatsink etc?

Also if I could be told precisely when I need to clear this CMOS? I know I have to do it after the flash but do I do it before being prompted to reboot or after? If after do I have to do this before the OS starts to load e.g. go into the BIOS immediately when I reboot following the flash and then clear the CMOS?

I am the type of person that has only ever installed Operating Systems and used default BIOS settings so I have no more of a clue about this type of thing than your average Gran!

I need a precise set of desk intructions that an idiot could follow.

[PeteG@Scan]

Hi,

You thankfully don't need to be poking at the board itself. If you check round the back of the machine the is a small hole next to where you plug the keyboard in on the backplate.

Turn the machine off. Insert pen and hold it there for a few seconds. Remove it and there you go Bob's your Grannys other son

[Winterlove]

The Finalised Bios will be sent across once we have received it from Asus

Asus tested a customers system that was brought into our reception and this was only showing 2 Gig out of 6, so far the system is working ok and once the Bios has been emailed across from Asus we will email both of you and anyone else that needs it

This is excellent news indeed. Is this something that is likely to happen today? (Although I won't be in a position to do any testing until tomorrow anyway).

Winterlove

[Ben @ Scan]

Hi Guys

I have emailed you both the bios file that I have been sent this morning from Asus

Regards

Ben

[Thorbog]

Email received thanks.

I will install it when I get home from work tonight but at that point I will only be able confirm whether the machine is bricked or still functioning!

I will then try and cold boot it whilst I get dressed for work tomorrow morning! It won't be until then that I know if it has worked or not.

[Winterlove]

Email received too, thanks.

However, I was in a position to try it. Good news guys! It appears to fix the problem! The BIOS is now detecting all the RAM, and Windows thinks it's all there too. I've only had the machine running with the new BIOS for 20 minutes or so, but it is looking like the problem is sorted for now. I'll keep an eye on things and let you know if I see any other problems.

Thanks.

[Thorbog]

Nice one! Any chance you can shut it down for a few hours and then see what happens from a cold boot?

[Winterlove]

Bad news, I'm afraid. I shut it down for around half an hour, restarted ... and it only detected 10Gb of 12Gb. Looks like back to square one .

Still. This was the first time I'd seen all of the memory I'd got installed, so progress of sorts.

[Thorbog]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

So originally after a cold boot it would read 2GB instead of 6GB.

I just installed the new BIOS, got everything set up and did some benchmarks to check it was working. All fine.

So then I left it switched off for an hour.

Turn it back on and now I have 4GB!!!!

Looks like we are slowly getting there but nope the problem is not solved!

[Thorbog]

Correction! We are not slowly getting there.

I left it off over night and rebooting now at 6:55am I only have 2GB of RAM again!

Edit: Given that this board is so common, are all your customers that bought a system based on this mobo experiencing the same problems?

I am curious as to whether it is just a select few suffering these problems and what the difference is between those with problems and those without? Given that this problem occurs even when running no overclocking this must also be afflicting all those that bought these motherboards seperately from all retailers and not just those with 3XS systems.

What about the early/review models of my Cyclone system? I never saw any mention of this issue in the reviews? I assume this problem didn't exist back then? What has changed? Are we running new revisions of the motherboard now?

Are we sure this is a BIOS issue and not just a dodgy RAM or dodgy MOBO issue? Or just some incompatibility between batches? Asus may believe it is a BIOS problem but given that they have been unable to solve it with BIOS updates I am starting to question if they are on a wild goose chase.

If it is a BIOS issue why are Asus sending us new freshly prepared BIOS updates.....why not send me the old BIOS that (presumably?) worked fine going back a few months?

[PeterH]

What CPU and RAM are you using Thorbog and Winterlove?

[Thorbog]

i7 930 here. the problem occurs whether at the default 2.8 or overclocked to 4Gig.

There is a picture of my RAM in the first posting in the thread. Just 3 x 2GB of standard Corsair stuff. Nothing exotic!