Asus P5BE strange boot

[innskeeper]

Hi I am a noob at oc and recently built a system with the following:

p5be mb rev. 1.01G

intel e6300 cpu

bfg 7600gt oce vid card

2 - 1gb sticks of Corsair xms2 twin2x1024a-6400 memory

According to reviews the components of this system are supposed to be great for overclocking. I was told one quick way to get more out of my system was to raise the cpu frequency along with the dram setting. Yet I have only been able through the bios to raise the cpu frequency no higher than 279. If it is set any higher than that the system on boot up boots for 1 second, shuts off for 5 seconds then boots. The psu is a new 500watt Ultra and should be more than enough for what I am running. So I guess I have 2 questions, the first being Is this a legit method of oc without changing other settings? If I need to change other settings to gain more from my pc I will do so using the great post on oc basics. The second question, will the "weird" boot damage my psu or any other hardware? Sorry for the stupid questions

 

Thanks for the help in advance

[capthowdy575]

well iv heard some bad things about the brand of power supply and good but mostly bad it might be your power supply. what are you cpu volts running at and is your memory on a 1:1 ratio with the cpu or is there a divider on the memory.

[kingdingeling]

First of all a warm welcome to OCC! Hope you stick around a bit and check out the OCC folding team located here: www.overclockersclub.com/folding.php

a 500W Ultra... what line of Ultra PSUs? They are not the best brand you can have, so it might be that, but it should be able to go above 279MHz. I think that your problem is the RAM, what divider are you running on that? Usually your DDR2 setting will automatically clock your RAM higher than your FSB, so the RAM could be running way out of specs right now.

OCing through the BIOS is correct, other settings you would need to change is voltages of some components. This could also be the cause, as some RAM requires more than 1.8V's (stock on most mainboards) to run at their specs. Have a look at the Core 2 Duo Overclocking Guide I made, also check out the Overclocking FAQ.

 

To your last question, generally no, the boot problems will not have an affect on your hardware.

[innskeeper]

First of all a warm welcome to OCC! Hope you stick around a bit and check out the OCC folding team located here: www.overclockersclub.com/folding.php

a 500W Ultra... what line of Ultra PSUs? They are not the best brand you can have, so it might be that, but it should be able to go above 279MHz. I think that your problem is the RAM, what divider are you running on that? Usually your DDR2 setting will automatically clock your RAM higher than your FSB, so the RAM could be running way out of specs right now.

OCing through the BIOS is correct, other settings you would need to change is voltages of some components. This could also be the cause, as some RAM requires more than 1.8V's (stock on most mainboards) to run at their specs. Have a look at the Core 2 Duo Overclocking Guide I made, also check out the Overclocking FAQ.

 

To your last question, generally no, the boot problems will not have an affect on your hardware.

Thanks for the welcome. Let me back up a bit, The psu that came with my Antec Sonata 2 case (antec smartpower 450w) died. While waiting for my replacement I picked up the Ultra 500w V series from Frys for $49 with a $40 rebate. My PC did the same thing with the Antec psu. What would you recommend for a psu?

The dram setting automatically sets to 558 with the fsb at 279. I will check the core 2 duo oc guide you recommend. I'm hoping to find some recommendations for settings with my similar mb, cpu and ram. Once again thanks for the advice and warm welcome

[swifty11212]

Welcome to OCC

 

Hmm, have you check to see if you are having volt issues? A psu with a lot of wattage does not mean that it is of good quality, for all we know it may not have enough amps on the 12v line to handle such a system.

[innskeeper]

well iv heard some bad things about the brand of power supply and good but mostly bad it might be your power supply. what are you cpu volts running at and is your memory on a 1:1 ratio with the cpu or is there a divider on the memory.

Not sure what the cpu volts are set at since everything is set to auto except the fsb and dram settings. With the fsb @279 the dram auto sets to 579. I hate to sound so ignorant but I really am when it comes to oc but I am trying to educate myself with some posts on beginning basics for oc.

[innskeeper]

Welcome to OCC

 

Hmm, have you check to see if you are having volt issues? A psu with a lot of wattage does not mean that it is of good quality, for all we know it may not have enough amps on the 12v line to handle such a system.

At the risk of sounding stupid how would I check for volt issues?

[swifty11212]

At the risk of sounding stupid how would I check for volt issues?

Don't worry. We are all here to learn. Do you happen to have a Digital Multimeter?

[cchalogamer]

First off that strange boot up "double restart" is listed in the FAQ for the board, ASUS claims it is a limitation of the ICH8R, i think they just suck. Aka it's "normal"

 

Step 1: buy new motherboard (read my sig :-\) problem solved.

 

Alternate tips/options (aka until you can dump the load of crap off)

1: Note that all these "it OCs great" reviews tend to be using the second revision of the board, not our origional production boards.

2: the board undervolts MASSIVELY as much as 1.55V in bios = 1.38v by CPUz/1.375 by multimeter (aka for most use CPUz will tell you close enough seeing as how checking board voltages is a SLIGHT pain to do when it's installing in a case) The newest Bios HELPED this but still as the OC goes up the further the undervolting occurs.

3: fan on northbridge heatsink, you cant adjust NB/SB voltage on this revision so keeping these items cool will help a little.

4: Curse crApSUS each night before going to bed, it wont help the OC but it makes me feel a little better.

5: As you start your COU OC set ram to its stock voltage (the board undervolted mine by default) and manually set the timmings you know for your ram (it got a little off from rated on my ram here aswell and keep others you don't understand at default).

6: keep dropping the ram ratio to keep it at or under your ram's rated speed, the BIOS is GREAT in this respect bc as you adjust FSB it dynamically updates what the ram value would be for each ratio.

7: Disabe EVERYTHING under the CPU configuration, then enable the multiplier control and set it to your CPU default (7 for a 6300 i think...right...)

8: Disable Spread Spectrum (i think there's only one option....too many boards around here and I've only had this pile of crap for a week so sorry if i miss something)

9: Set PCIe clock to 100

10: Set PCI clock to 33.3 mhz

11: Give offering to the ASUS gods (optional step, but apparently required for this board...)

12: Disable any devices you don't use, for example Parallel/serial/firewire ports, reason being any load you take off the north & south bridge the better with the in ability to "stabilize" it with voltage

13: If you do all that with fsb set to 333 you should have ZERO problems, I havent seen ANY of these boards ANYWHERE that wouldnt do that. If it wont after trying these settings I would look at the PSU.

 

from there try 10mhz jumps booting to windows between each again adjusting ram speed and CPU voltage as needed (keep a close eye on temps and reported voltage from CPUz), some people have said their boards have stabiity issues in the 380-399 fsb range yet become fully stable again over 401fsb, mine did this with the previous owner, yet for me seems to randomly decide what it wants to run stable by mood above the 350 mark.

 

I hope the info helps you a little, but honestly If you can RMA it with hopes of getting the newer revision, I'm going to try it myself ASAP to see if i can get a board worth owning, if not maybe Ebay will be kind to me and Gigabyte can again win my heart...ok I'm off if you have anymore board specific problems feel free to IM me on Xfire/AIM (same SN as here) I'll likely be away from OCC while I attempt to get some work done so if you just post Ill be slow to respond to any direct questions.

[kingdingeling]

Thanks for the welcome. Let me back up a bit, The psu that came with my Antec Sonata 2 case (antec smartpower 450w) died. While waiting for my replacement I picked up the Ultra 500w V series from Frys for $49 with a $40 rebate. My PC did the same thing with the Antec psu. What would you recommend for a psu?

The dram setting automatically sets to 558 with the fsb at 279. I will check the core 2 duo oc guide you recommend. I'm hoping to find some recommendations for settings with my similar mb, cpu and ram. Once again thanks for the advice and warm welcome

 

This is your problem right here! You run your RAM 1:1, so going straight with the FSB (558 = 279x2). You will need some extravoltage on the RAM. Set the RAM voltage to 2.1 Volts. I am not totally sure which Corsair you have, as there's 8 different PC2-6400 variants from them, but most of them require more than 1.8 Volts.

[innskeeper]

This is your problem right here! You run your RAM 1:1, so going straight with the FSB (558 = 279x2). You will need some extravoltage on the RAM. Set the RAM voltage to 2.1 Volts. I am not totally sure which Corsair you have, as there's 8 different PC2-6400 variants from them, but most of them require more than 1.8 Volts.

Where would I find the multiplier control in the bios? Not sure what numbers you need so here is what I found: series-xms2, model-twin 2X2048-6400, type-240-Pin ddr2 sdram, speed-ddr2 800, cas latency-5, timing- 5-5-5-12, voltage 1.9

Thanks

[innskeeper]

Don't worry. We are all here to learn. Do you happen to have a Digital Multimeter?

No I don't have a digital multimeter. Where can i pick one up?