A7V8X-X Odd Problem

[didget]

I've got 2 PCs built with the Asus A7V8X-X motherboard (Bios Rev 10.7)
that every so often forget what speed cpu they have. Usually the correct
setting is displayed when the thing boots and its just a matter of
confirming it and saving.

Besides this odd little problem which may happen months apart both PCs
run flawlessly. Well the Linux one does anyway and the Windows one runs
like a Windows PC!

Ideas anyone please?

Didget

 

[Paul]

I've got 2 PCs built with the Asus A7V8X-X motherboard (Bios Rev 10.7)
that every so often forget what speed cpu they have. Usually the correct
setting is displayed when the thing boots and its just a matter of
confirming it and saving.

Besides this odd little problem which may happen months apart both PCs
run flawlessly. Well the Linux one does anyway and the Windows one runs
like a Windows PC!

Ideas anyone please?

Didget

Asus motherboards usually have a provision in the BIOS, to
detect a "crash due to overclocking". When this happens, the
BIOS tries to use safe CMOS settings, so that the motherboard
will be able to POST. It is asking you to confirm those
settings.

Now, some people do not like this feature, because they are
not overclocking, and yet their settings are getting reset.
It could mean that some memory timings need to be adjusted,
or there is some other form of marginal stability in the
system. Testing the system with Prime95 torture test
(mersenne.org) or memtest86+ (memtest.org) can help accelerate
stability testing, and help you identify whether your system
is really that stable or not. Both of those tests should be
error free, for a system to be stable. A third test, is to play a
demanding 3D game, to see whether the video card and AGP
interface are OK. (I run 3DMark2001SE demo loop overnight as
a test, for example.) If you just use Windows stability as a
metric, it will take a long observation time to conclude the
system is stable. The above mentioned testing methods reduce
the time needed to find problems.

Paul

 

[didget]

Asus motherboards usually have a provision in the BIOS, to
detect a "crash due to overclocking". When this happens, the
BIOS tries to use safe CMOS settings, so that the motherboard
will be able to POST. It is asking you to confirm those
settings.

Now, some people do not like this feature, because they are
not overclocking, and yet their settings are getting reset.
It could mean that some memory timings need to be adjusted,
or there is some other form of marginal stability in the
system. Testing the system with Prime95 torture test
(mersenne.org) or memtest86+ (memtest.org) can help accelerate
stability testing, and help you identify whether your system
is really that stable or not. Both of those tests should be
error free, for a system to be stable. A third test, is to play a
demanding 3D game, to see whether the video card and AGP
interface are OK. (I run 3DMark2001SE demo loop overnight as
a test, for example.) If you just use Windows stability as a
metric, it will take a long observation time to conclude the
system is stable. The above mentioned testing methods reduce
the time needed to find problems.

Paul

Thanks for the reply. I guess the overclocking crash seems pretty likely
to be whats happening. I do not overclock either system and have not
fiddled with any memory settings either.

I've run the 3DMark test numerous times playing with video drivers on
the Windows PC with no problems (other than self inflicted ones!) and
both PCs have been used for long sessions on UT2004 quite happily. Both
will run for hours at 100% converting videos.


Didget

 

[Oldish sod]

Thanks for the reply. I guess the overclocking crash seems pretty likely
to be whats happening. I do not overclock either system and have not
fiddled with any memory settings either.

I've run the 3DMark test numerous times playing with video drivers on the
Windows PC with no problems (other than self inflicted ones!) and both PCs
have been used for long sessions on UT2004 quite happily. Both will run
for hours at 100% converting videos.

You didn't mention running Memtest there - have you tried
running that for (say) 24h? Just a single error likely means
you can't trust the RAM, so you could be 'chasing ghosts'.
HTH