915P-T12 instability

[nightfishing]

I received a 915P-T12 mobo as a gift and outift it with the other components in my sig. I experience lockups about once or twice an hour. I have updated all the drivers that I can find ( intel chipset drivers, geforce drivers, realtek audio drivers) and still I am locking up, mainly from my desktop.

 

I have never owned a mobo with so many user configurable options and I am not an overclocker, but like I said, this was a gift. I am mainly looking to have a stable system, not squeezing every ounce of performance possible out of what I have.

 

I have an older xp install disc and had to use an 8mb pci video card to get xp installed and then switched to the 6600 after sp2 was installed. Was this where I messed up?

 

My memory is listed as 2-3-3 but comes up in cpu-z as 3-3-3. Is this a potential problem?

 

Whenever I try to set it to 2-3-3 in the BIOS, my system will not boot. Even when I leave the timings alone, my system will give repetitive long beeps and will not boot about one in three times I power it on.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

P.S. I have a thermaltake Jungle 512 cpu fan and 3 x 80mm case fans. If any other info is needed please let me know.

[Wetchaser]

friend if this were any other day except x-mas, i promise you would have already been given some insight. You have posted this question in the right place. Give these guys a chance to get the ultide out of there butt, and im sure you will get your answer.

[Angry_Games]

go into BIOS and Load Optimized Defaults.

 

then check the stickies for how to slipstream SP2 into an XP install disc.

 

then also check in stickies for order of installation for xp, drivers, etc.

 

finally make sure your heatsink is attached correctly and not overheating.

[nightfishing]

Thank you both for taking time on such a busy day to answer my plea , I will try all of this first thing in the morning and let you know how it goes.

[nightfishing]

Well I shotgunned a 6 pack of coca-cola and stayed up despite the 36 hour session I had put into the machine the night before Christmas. I had never heard of slipstreaming XP install discs and how I missed it in the stickies (which I swear I read thru several times before posting ,) I must plead exhaustion.

 

After creating an SP2 integrated install disc and starting with the 6600 card from the get go, and a more timely installation of chipset drivers, I am having the same problems. I now only boot successfully about 1 in 15 times, every other time I just get the series of long beeps. When these beeps occur LEDs 2 and 4 are on and 1 and 3 are off, which the manual lists as a USB thing. I have no USB devices connected at all.

 

Upon replacing the 6600 card with my old 8mb pci video card, I can successfully boot again. The 6600 card works fine when the machine successfully boots however.

 

edit: the heatsink is fine, temperatures are fine according to cpu-z (never over 34 degrees Celsius) edit2: not cpu-z, systemguardian

[Angry_Games]

i suggest returning the motherboard to where you purchased it from and having it replaced unless you have some other RAM or another PCI-E vid card to test with.

[nightfishing]

Well you're gonna love this.

 

I immediately broke down my system upon your last reply. I had already steeled my nerves to do battle with tigerdirect to get a return authorization.

 

As I began to check off the parts and accessories I needed to send back, I had 1 last surge of energy. I rebuilt the system without the case and tried 1 last time. It booted perfectly and has run without a hiccup since. I have switched in and out several other peripherals and run several benchmark utilities in an attempt to force the need for numerous reboots. Not a problem since.

 

The only thing I saw that was even slightly amiss as I deconstructed the system was that 1 leg of the thermaltake heatsink/fan unit had a small splinter of plastic lodged in the leg where it pushes through the motherboard. This sliver prevented the leg from fully inserting by about .5 mm. When the mobo was in the case, the leg looked and felt as if it were fully inserted, but when looking from the side, a gap was visible. After removing the sliver of plastic, the leg functioned perfect. As I reported above, never did any temperature monitor report any heat above nominal levels. I have doubts as to this being the problem, but it is the only thing I have changed and the system is working like a charm.

 

I wish to extend my thanks to you Angry, and to Wetchaser, for giving me the confidence to proceed calmly and logically in this endeavor. Just knowing there was someone knowledgeable I could talk to without waiting on a phone for 90 minutes truly calmed my nerves. Looking forward to my next DFI board now :nod:

 

Sincerely,

Nightfishing (Stu)

[nightfishing]

It's me again. When I reinstalled the system into the case (a chieftec 501, aluminum) the problems came right back. I will be purchasing washers later today to ground the board. If this is a silly mistake, forgive me, I have never encountered such a problem before.

 

One thing I noticed is that there seems to be a large range of motion in the pci-e slot with the vid card, maybe 1/2 inch to a full inch of sway when the board is lying on its side. IS this normal for a pci-e card and if not, how can i determine if it is a problem with the motherboard pci-e slot or a problem with the video card?