Lockups after Upgrade to Dual Core Opteron

[repoman]

All 939 opteron's should work fine anyway even if they aren't supported..

 

Anyway with my 165 I had sort of a problem like that.. freezes in the BIOS, freezes at post screen, lockups on windows install, general unstable system. Turns out the problem was the RAM, settings that worked fine with my 148 weren't stable at all with the 165. Try turning all your settings to auto and use a 100 divider/2T just to be absolutely safe. If you still have problems then you can rule out the RAM

[ixtapalapaquetl]

Try turning all your settings to auto and use a 100 divider/2T just to be absolutely safe. If you still have problems then you can rule out the RAM

I think this is a very good idea.

[Angry_Games]

Uh huh, so then why do you have one listed in your sig? :nod:

 

That's kind of funny...

because I am an enthusiast, just like you

 

i use what I think i want to use and so that's what I use on a particular machine

 

doesn't matter that I work for DFI, I am still a computer enthusiast. If DFI doesn't support it, then they don't support it. If unsupported hardware works, great. If not, time to try something that is supported.

[Astral Abyss]

because I am an enthusiast, just like you

 

i use what I think i want to use and so that's what I use on a particular machine

 

doesn't matter that I work for DFI, I am still a computer enthusiast. If DFI doesn't support it, then they don't support it. If unsupported hardware works, great. If not, time to try something that is supported.

 

I realize that.... BUT,

 

The whole point of being a computer enthusiast is that we do stuff that voids our warranty and/or isn't supported. We push our equipment to the limits and squeeze every last ounce of performance out of them.

 

If we only did things that were officially supported, overclocking wouldn't exist and neither would a market for the DFI enthusiast boards, which is why coming down on someone for using an Opteron in their DFI board seems a bit silly.

 

I mean, hell, I just ordered a 146 like you've got. If I have trouble getting it to work I'm not just gonna say "Damn, well, I give up, this isn't a supported product. There goes my $$"

 

At least offer the guy some suggestions or something.

[Guest Joey]

Well... I did manage to fix my problem. I used an old beta BIOS (from May) and put my memory in the yellow slots (1&3). Oddly enough... my system won't even post with memory in those slots if I use the 6/23 BIOS. Details about the BIOS version are in my sig. My system would hang shutting down and starting up about half the time... it hasn't happened since (and I've been starting up and shutting down lots of times just to convince myself this actually fixed it).

 

Now my question would be... does anyone have an idea why this would have worked? I had run out of options and was getting to the point of just trying anything. There really wasn't any logic in trying out that particular BIOS and switching the memory slots... and I certainly didn't see any posts with people suggesting anything like that.

 

Of course I ordered a new Asus board because I all but gave up.

[RGone]

Why? Because it did. All you guys seem so perplexed that you might have trouble with a processor that to this date has been told us by the management that AMD does not support on the desktop NF4 chipsets and therefore DFI will in theory not support it either. AMD is so bent this way that they are going to shutdown opterons except to the OEM channels where they were intended to go in the first place. Where the boards have the correct/right chipset to control that cpu.

 

Up above I keep hearing the same refrain that the 175 is just like an X2. BS! If it were an X2 why is it called a 175 Opteron 939P? Why? Because it is not an X2 processor is actually why.

 

As for truly and literally working without problem; one must consider how many additional HTT lanes does the 939P processor have? How many more "P" states are in the 939P opteron processor than are in a desktop 939 processor? When all of those questions have fully fleshed out answers; you will know why an opteron can give problems in a desktop motherboard if it feels inclinded to do so.

 

I have a very good, close personal friend and knowledgeable computer enthusiast who would not listen to me and kept sending his 150 Opty back for what he hoped would be a faster one. NOT. The one he has now is causing every form of stability trouble and problems that I have ever seen on a straight DFI NF4 board. But his SD4000+ gives no problems at all. Just swap in the processor and immdiate problems with this 'third' opty he got. So much for constantly trying to beat the system. Hehehehee. But I guess he has got one more rma looking him in the face to up the anty for all of us enthusiasts in the long-run.

 

You notice I said 'straight DFI NF4 board' and did not say DFI NF4 SLI-DR "Expert" board as you see in AG's signature. Myself, I am convinced the 'EXPERT' has the best chance to run an opty without too much problems. Probably not so the straight DFI NF4 board. Just the facts really.

 

So yes we can all be enthusiasts and make a place for enthusiast boards to be sold but it still boils down to a board and cpu as a match at the least. Optys are not it so far and will never be validated for the desktop/enthusiast boards due to design changes between optys and desktop cpus. Good luck to you all.

 

RGone...

 

Well... I did manage to fix my problem. I used an old beta BIOS (from May) and put my memory in the yellow slots (1&3). Oddly enough... my system won't even post with memory in those slots if I use the 6/23 BIOS. Details about the BIOS version are in my sig. My system would hang shutting down and starting up about half the time... it hasn't happened since (and I've been starting up and shutting down lots of times just to convince myself this actually fixed it).

 

Now my question would be... does anyone have an idea why this would have worked? I had run out of options and was getting to the point of just trying anything. There really wasn't any logic in trying out that particular BIOS and switching the memory slots... and I certainly didn't see any posts with people suggesting anything like that.

 

Of course I ordered a new Asus board because I all but gave up.

[Guest Joey]

Ummm... actually the Opteron 175 "is" identical to the x2 4400 (with the Opteron using higher quality silicon to meet the reliability of server demands)... if you find something from a reliable source saying otherwise, I'd be interested to see it.

 

I posted the solution to my problem just in case someone else had the same problem... even if they're using, god forbid, an unsupported processor. That's what we do... we try things... we see what works... what doesn't... then try to help other people when they have similar problems.

 

Isn't the point to being an "enthusiast" and coming to boards like this is to solicit help with things are are typically not "out of the box"? I pretty much asked if anyone knew why what I did would work because I was curious. I'm not exactly sure I understand why you're being so short. I asked reasonable questions... and thankfully, some people did try to help out. That would seem to be the point to these forums... to help out. Sheesh.

[ztun]

did you set settings to optimal and leave everything alone until windows is installed?

hit esc and manually select cd-rom drive to boot windows

i have a 170 and it required manually selecting the boot device

also did you try the tricks of converting uniprocessor -> mulitprocessor?

[repoman]

Ummm... actually the Opteron 175 "is" identical to the x2 4400 (with the Opteron using higher quality silicon to meet the reliability of server demands)... if you find something from a reliable source saying otherwise, I'd be interested to see it.

 

I don't see why this isn't true, what really convinces me that they are in fact the same is that you can find X2's and Opteron's with the same exact stepping. I've seen CCBWE 0534 MPMW 4400's and Obviously lots of opteron's have that stepping

 

How can they be different?

[hackysak]

I had the same exact problem with a X2 4400+.. I thought it was due to my overclocking. Every few boots the machine would lock up in the bios..

 

I've since switched to an Opteron 175 and a RDX200 CF-DR mobo.. Now I occasionally get the four LED problem.. Though this is reported by several owners of the board and hopefully will be fixed in an upcoming bios..

[racinjimy]

DFI desktop motherboards do not support Opteron cpu's.

 

Not to jump down your throat AG but he said in his first post that he is aware that the opty is NOT supported so as they say, if you have nothing good to say.............

 

Anyway, I will tell you that I popped my opty 175 in and had NO issues.

 

Now not to promote more "crazy" tweaking but try a fresh windoze install and if that doesn't do it, a different BIOS may help. I see from your sig, you are running the 510.

 

If you do reinstall, try the latest NV drivers as well.

 

I have had good luck with the 704-BTA BIOS but the official 623 should be Ok as well.

 

GOOD LUCK!

[Guest Joey]

Actually... I'm very happy with the way my machine is running now. I haven't had a single crash using my current set up. When I used the 6/23 BIOS I had the same lock up problem. It's not an OS issue (it never got far enough to start loading the OS), so a reinstall won't make much of a difference. Using the older beta BIOS and the yellow memory channels was the only thing that fixed it for me. I'm perfectly happy leaving it that way. It's more the curiosity in me that has me wondering what it is about that BIOS version that lets me use the yellow (1&3) channels for the memory and stops my system from hanging. With the 6/23 BIOS I can't even post with memory in the yellow slots.