Need a lil help, windows won't install.

[WintersFury]

Ok, so I just got my board today, and was having issues with the windows install restarting the computer while loading drivers. So I flashed to the 3/29/06 bios and it starts working better but still restarts while loading drivers. I can't for the life of me think of what could be causing them problem, so I figured I'd ask you guys.

 

I loaded optomised settings then changed the boot order, turned on raid and disabled the serial and irda ports, all the ram setting are on auto or whatever the board set them at. It almost seems like a memory issue but the long memory test doesn't give any errors, I was going to run the built in memtest86+ but wanted to see what the exact steps were to run it and all first.

 

Thanks for any help you can give

 

And yes I have all 4 power connectors pluged in. However the floppy and molex have to be on the same psu line.

[watsonte]

Okay...So your problem is random restarts?

[WintersFury]

Okay...So your problem is random restarts?

 

It doesn't seem to restart randomly. Before the flash it was restarting at the same point and after the flash it consistantly restarts at the same point during the install. Or at least appears to restart at the same point. I was in the bios looking at all the settings longer for longer than it takes the windows installer to cause the restart as well.

[wevsspot]

You should run Memtest from your Ultra-D bios menu. Go into Genie BIOS section, scroll clear to the bottom and enable the Memtest option.

 

Run tests #5 and #8 a minimum of five loops. If both pass then run all series one through eight overnight. If you come back error free you have validated your current BIOS, voltage and memory settings to the point where it will be safe to try and proceed with an OS install.

 

Just a word of caution, auto settings for DFI boards aren't gonna cut the mustard about 99.9% of the time. If your RAM sticks are the revision 2 sticks, try the following settings as a starting point (even before running Memtest).

 

Genie BIOS Settings:

 

FSB Bus Frequency - 200

LDT/FSB Frequency Ratio - 4 or Auto

CPU/FSB Frequency Ratio - 9 or Auto

PCI eXpress Frequency - 100Mhz

 

CPU VID StartUp Value - StartUp

 

CPU VID Control - 1.40v

CPU VID Special Control - Auto

LDT Voltage Control - 1.30v

Chip Set Voltage Control - 1.60v

DRAM Voltage Control - 2.70v

DRAM+.03v If it's not 3.2v - Enabled

 

DRAM Configuration Settings:

 

DRAM Frequency Set - 200=RAM/FSB:01/01

Command Per Clock (CPC) - Enable

CAS Latency Control (Tcl) - 2.0

RAS# to CAS# delay (Trcd) - 03 Bus Clocks

Min RAS# active time (Tras) - 07 Bus Clocks

Row precharge time (Trp) - 02 Bus Clocks

Row Cycle time (Trc) - 12 Bus Clocks

Row refresh cyc time (Trfc) - 24 Bus Clocks

Row to Row delay (Trrd) - 03 Bus Clocks

Write recovery time (Twr) - 03 Bus Clocks

Write to Read delay (Twtr) - 02 Bus Clocks

Read to Write delay (Trwt) - 03 Bus Clocks

Refresh Period (Tref) - 3120 Cycles

DRAM Bank Interleave - Enabled

 

DQS Skew Control - Auto

DQS Skew Value - 0

DRAM Drive Strength - Level 7 (Weak 4)

DRAM Data Drive Strength - Level 2

Max Async Latency - 8 or Auto

DRAM Response Time - Normal

Read Preamble Time - 6 or Auto

IdleCycle Limit - 256 Cycles

Dynamic Counter - Disable

R/W Queue Bypass - 16x

Bypass Max - 07x

32 Byte Granularity - Disable(4 Bursts)

 

All of the above applies if you decide to run the 0704-2bta (which IMHO is the best BIOS available for the Ultra-D board). All of the above timings are fairly loose and you should be able to tighten them up considerably if you aren't going to overclock.

 

The above timings should get you a successful boot and should get you Prime stable.

[WintersFury]

The exact point of the restart is when the windows install finished loading the drivers and goes to start the main windows install. I'll see if I can find new NV raid drivers from the DFI website as it could be the ?old? drivers that came on the disk?

 

Thanks wevsspot that'll give me a starting point to try and get it to work. I have to admit that I'm unsure of what a lot of those memory timing settings do. One thing I haven't seen on the site is a memory setting guide... And where can I find that bios you mention? I'm going to guess it's a beta but I didn't see it on the DFI site.

[lowboy]

Its your memory settings Never ever try to install OS until memory has been verified or you will be doing it all over again. Follow the build guide run memtest as posted above.http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.p...04&postcount=49

 

This will help on memory settings and also check the database here on forum for your memory with known good settings.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28049

[WintersFury]

So I guess I wasn't crazy thinking it was the memory. Thanks all, not used to having to fiddle with my memory before I can do anything else. hehehe I'll have to remember that when I get another board at some point.

 

And you guys rule! This is the only place on the web I know of that people will actually help / apparently dig up info / give links and not just be snotty. Even if the mobo isn't amazing, this community where people actually help others out makes it better than any other board I've owned

[WintersFury]

Ok, after I stoped freaking out (This is the 2nd computer I've built in 3 weeks that I've had major issues with) I got memtest to work and did some testing.

 

I either have a setting that's way off or I managed to get two really bad sticks of ram. The first stick had some errors in tests 2 and 3, about 20,000 in test 5, a few hundred in 6, 1 in 7 and a few hundred in 8 for a total of 65536 errors. The second stick had at least 82944 errors in test 5, 1 in test 7 and a few hundred more in 8 the error counter seemed to max out of 82944 errors though.

 

I'm wondering where wevsspot got those settings? Is there some kind of database of settings on the site? Cause I figure the next step after fiddling with my bios a lil more is to try known good memory and see what happens and since it seems you have to have decent data on the memory to get it to run properly I figure I'll see if I can find some.

 

Nevermind, I used the search feature and found em (That was a durrrr moment)

 

Thanks for all the help so far guys

[lowboy]

Do yourself a favor and read and Study the OC guide here on forum has great information on setting up your memory also check database here on forum for settings or here:http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/index.php I stop memtest on 1st error and adjust settings why go on if its not passing. But run test #5 for 5-10 passes each before running full test. No reason to go to next test until you can pass that one.

[WintersFury]

I read the oc guide to find out about the memory setting I didn't know about.

 

I went to bleeding edge and got different bios setting for my memory. I tried tweaking both settings and can't get an error free pass. I'm getting really fustrated.

 

I got the lowest number of errors when I changed the DRAM Data Drive Strength to level1. But the other settings seem to have little effect other than to make more errors appear and in test 2 and 3 (Which usually start before I switch to 5)

 

Anyone have any suggestions to something I may not have tried? As I'm out of ideas and getting grumpy at the board

[koolaidkitten]

have u tried setting your RAM voltage manualy as well?

 

I have some OCZ ram, and by the RAM specs they are post to be @ 2.7 volts.

 

However by using auto config in the BIOS it only sets it to 2.5 or 2.6 I forgot which.

 

Anyway I had hell issues in MEMtest, but I bumped up the voltage to 2.7 and viola. All problems solved

[WintersFury]

have u tried setting your RAM voltage manualy as well?

 

I have some OCZ ram, and by the RAM specs they are post to be @ 2.7 volts.

 

However by using auto config in the BIOS it only sets it to 2.5 or 2.6 I forgot which.

 

Anyway I had hell issues in MEMtest, but I bumped up the voltage to 2.7 and viola. All problems solved

 

Voltage is reading at 2.8 which is what the ram is rated for. Was the first thing I did when I noticed it wasn't working right.