nF4 Ultra-D cold boot problem

[Guest Qarl]

OK, I just read through the entire sticky Cold Boot? Memory Died? [email protected] = who you need to contact and believe I'm am having the same problem but with memory that others have not posted they've had a problem with. I have a pair of Corsair CMX512-3500C2PT with original BH-5 ICs that worked flawlessly for over a year in my Abit NF7 MoBo at 2-2-2-7 1T, 2.9v (which it's rated at) @ 228MHz.

 

Here are the sequence of events which lead to my problem:

I put the parts together and everything booted up fine.

I've never touched the JP17 jumper BTW because this RAM doesn't generally need high voltage.

I did a number of small BIOS setting changes and a number of subsequent reboots.

I changed settings to 2-3-3-8 1T, 2.9v @ 218MHz.

Everything still fine. The last small BIOS change I made, was to change the CAS from 2.0 to 2.5 (in preparation for higher FSB clocking.)

No boot. Debug LEDs stop with 3 on. No monitor signal.

 

I haven't been able to boot up with the Corsair memory since. I put in a couple of really cheap 512MB PC2700 DIMMs cold booted up fine and have been using that since. Obviously this is not what I want because I have to run this cheap RAM very slowly.

 

I've updated the BIOS several times now and tried different DIMM slots for the Corsiars and still no go. I plan after posting this thread to flash the BIOS again with the N4D510-2.BIN that was mentioned in the previous "cold boot" thread to be the preffered one and plan to try putting the Corsairs in the yellow DIMM slots. I'll also send an email to [email protected] as was suggested. I also plan on testing the memory in my old MoBo where they were originally and see if they're still OK. (It'll take me a while though to get that up and running.)

 

The real problem here is I don't have any money to buy more RAM. Corsair does provide a lifetime warranty on the memory so this might be OK even if I've detroyed the RAM because I did not try booting up the RAM outside of the recommended specs. But according to the previous "cold boot problem" thread, this is is not yet resolved and the cause has still to be determined.

 

Any advice anyone can offer here would be greatly appreciated!

[Guest Qarl]

Alrighty,still no go with the Corsairs in the yellow DIMM slots after the new N4D510-2 BIOS flash. It's possible that they are in fact, now dead. I will test them (hopefully today) in my old MoBo to make sure.

 

Oh, I also forgot to mention in the post above that when the machine freezes before the POST with the Corsairs in it stops with three lit LEDs, there's also a LONG beep that keeps happening. (Anyone know if there's a list of beep code meanings anywhere?)

[cmay119]

Put the PC2700's back into the board, boot to the BIOS and set Cas Latency back to 2.0CL. Set voltage back to 2.8-2.9v, Save and exit the BIOS, Shutdown the computer and install the BH-5 sticks. BH-5 Does not usually like timings of 2.5 and especially Cas 3.0. I would set all timings back to 2-2-2-7 (if those are the timings you were originally using). The BH-5 doesn't like loose timings, it likes volts for when you're overclocking. Good luck I hope this helps you.

[Guest Qarl]

Nope. That didn't work either. But thanks!

 

I just had some more weird stuff happen too. All of a suddden, my OS wouldn't boot. So I changed the SATA drive (where I have WinXP on) from SATA1 to SATA3, did a hard cold boot, and everything came back up.

 

Then my LAN connection was gone -well, it showed it was happily connected at 1.0Gbps but I couldn't reach anywhere. (I'm using the nF4 connection BTW.) I reset the winsock and rebooted, still nothing. Did another hard cold boot and it came back fine.

 

More and more I think I just may have gotten a defective board. Do you guys think I should just RMA it at this point? I got it through Newegg and thy're usually pretty good about that sort of thing.

[Guest Qarl]

Well, I can't get the nF4 LAN connection to work at all now so I'm on the Marvell connection.

 

Also, I can't get the audio working (I NEVER have.) After installing the Realtek drivers and rebooting I get a "Microsoft Bus drivers should be loaded in your system before installing Realtek HD Audio drivers !"

 

I've tried the Realtek drivers on the CD, the ones on DFI's site, and the ones on Realtek's site (which are slightly newer than the ones on DFI's site.) same thing.

 

And of course, the system still won't POST with my Corsair memory. :sad:

 

Edit: I should also mention that my board came without the Karajan module connected and I never bothered connecting it because I want to use the coax S/PDIF out anyway.

 

I just switched the JP52 jumper from the ALC850 to the nForce4 setting and did a hard cold boot. Reinstalled the nForce4 drivers and rebooted and now there's no audio showing up at all. *sigh*

[RGone]

@ Qarl, not a genius here man but just going to tell you what I think for your situation and this is for right now while the board is new and just in from NewEgg to you.

 

1. I have seen just about every symptom you seem to have and it not be anything but a memory problem.

 

2. RMA to newegg and get an easier brand of board to use.

 

3. Or get this as it works for many many now where as the Corsair may 'never' because I see just as many with that Corsair that does not work as does.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820227211

 

That about sums it up in the quickest sense of the word. Does away with all the wondering.

 

RGone...

 

One final note in the process. If you get decent working memory it will require you format and re-install windows as the o/s is most likely corrupt due all the banging around and driver changing and very likely never to perform well after all of that.

[Guest Qarl]

Thanks RGone! I think your #2 suggestion will probably work the best for me because I don't really have the money to spend on new RAM and the Corsairs are nice RAM that you can't even get any more. Hopefully Newegg will let me RMA the board in exchange for a different one instead of the same DFI board.

 

Funny thing is I got the DFI board because my MSI Neo2 board never worked quite right.

 

Now I've got to do some studying to find a good board for my other components. I don't really need SLI, (because it'll be a long time before I can afford a sencond 6800GT) but if it's not too expensive that would be fine. Anyone have any suggestions on a new MoBo. (Sorry if that's a dumb question on a DFI forum.)

[Parsifal]

Did you try to boot with 1 stick at a time.It could be that one stick is bad and one will work.

[Guest Qarl]

Did you try to boot with 1 stick at a time.It could be that one stick is bad and one will work.

yeah, I tried that. Actually with the cheap PC2700 DIMMs in, it runs pretty stable. No crashes or BSODs or anything -but of course, I'm still having all the problems with the audio and LAN.

[krnxpride83]

exact same thing happened to my ahtlon xp system last week...

i tried everything.. i swapped out every component from cpu, ram, gpu, and psu....

no luck... it happened after chainging the ram timings in bios... after that no boot up.. no signal on monitor..... i got a new mobo since i found all of my component working in another computer.... and i assembled everything w/ new mobo.. and still same problem... thus, im moving onto A64 system now.. just selling everything that i have.. and RMA'in the new mobo i just received...

now im scared even to touch the timings in bios... i might just play around w/ the divider only in regarding the rams...

[RGone]

@ Qarl. No sir I do not doubt that you said this statement and for the statement to be very true.

I got the DFI board because my MSI Neo2 board never worked quite right

 

The DFI board you have will likely run better and faster than the MSI ever will BUT you MUST feed the DFI board what she wants. More picky by far than some women can be either. H*ll some of us men are just as finicky. It is not a case of just plug legacy parts in and all is fine. System intergrators do this job for computer manufacturers and make good money for doing the search out and make compatibility checks of components for sale of "complete" computers for sale to end user.

 

Now that said let me go with another scenario.

 

1. I do NOT know anything about other boards except that if they use Nvidia chipset then the Nvidia bug follows from manufacturer to manufacturer. Like Lan problems and NAM problems and well you see since it is chipset involved it will show up likely no matter who uses Nvidia's chipset. That is a fact. Not as bad for X manufacturer maybe and then again for the next board maker.

 

2. RMA your current motherboard back to newegg for replacement. Will get the board out of the mix for you LAN problems but NOT the memory problem. Here I believe there is nothing wrong with the board in your hands but windows corrupt from swap this in and that out and well just plain hurt o/s from beating it up trying this and that. BUT rma the board for another one for sake of removing board as cause of ALL problems BUT memory.

 

3. Use the fair working slower memory as it may not be so overclockable BUT it works. Board does Ok and you get along better. Then order this stuff http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16820227211 and use it when monies allow such and sell the Corsair at e-bay or other method.

 

4. One note here and that is the link to NewEgg is showing that memory out of stock at this time. Why do you reckon it is so? Because users are hauling booty to get it since it alleviates many problems and is hot stuff at that price. Am sure it is availble at other etailers even now.

 

5. There is one other possible option but don't know much about it except that THunDA has had pretty fair success with his DAGF board by DFI. Don't know if the EGG has it to swap out with you or not. Not sure how it even works except that THunDA has been doing fairly well with it as it is sorta vanilla and not every going to be oohed and ahhed over like the LanParty super series.

 

That is all I really can suggest since your Corsair and your finances keep your from seeking real resolution to your DIY foray into in-compatibilities.

 

RGone...

[Guest Qarl]

I should have mentioned that I have been occasionally reformatting and reinstalling XP SP2 because of all the enperimenting. So, it doesn't seem like the OS is part of the equation here and seems like the MoBo has issues beyond the mem problem though because the cheap PC2700s seem to work fine barring my audio and LAN problems. I'm really starting to think I just happened to get a board that was sitting on heater in the FedEx truck or something.

 

Oh, on the subject of audio, I tried putting in my Creative SB Audigy 2 EX in but the external modelu isn't getting any power. I'm using the bottom PCI slot for the card. Is this another weird symptem or am I doing something wrong here? (Oh, and I did the recommended hard cold boot thing before booting up with the card in it.)

 

OK, so here's my plan I guess:

 

1. RMA the board back to Newegg for the exact same one. I've done some research on Abit and ASUS's nF4 SLI boards and it seems like they're having a lot of issues and have some serious limitations for O/Cing.

 

2. Put the Corsairs back in my old NF7 board, take in all my empty beer cans and get the deposit and buy some other memory. Things will be tight for a while, but I can't see having all these other overclockable components with RAM that won't even do DDR 400MHz. I hope the RAM you recommended comes in stock over there soon.

 

Thanks RGone!