Orthos stable...but pc auto reboots.

[Brando]

I just jumped in to overclocking my E6400 and P5b-deluxe after reading up on it some. I'm guessing I forgot something so I'm hoping somebody could nudge me in the right direction. I went for 3200mhz to see what would happen and it seemed ok for a couple minutes with orthos successfully completing 2 runs without failing until the computer just restarted out of the blue. Cpu temps looked fine at 37c idle-51c load with the big typhoon and chipset was @ 35c. Voltage appeared stable according to asus pc probe.

Settings:
CPU-1.3375v(shows 1.28 with pc probe) at 400fsb & 8x multi
RAM-stock speed of 800mhz @ 4-4-4-12-2t timings-1\1 ratio
PCIE-100mhz
PCI-33.3
FSB TERMINATION-Auto
NB Vcore-Auto
SB Vcore-Auto
ICH-Auto
CPU SPREAD SPECTRUM-Disabled

MODIFY RATIO SUPPORT-Disabled
C1E SUPPORT-Disabled
MAX CPUID VALUE LIMIT-Disabled
VANDERPOOL TECHNOLOGY-Enabled
CPU TM FUNCTION-Enabled
EXECUTE DISABLE BIT-Enabled
PECI-Disabled
INTEL SPEED STEP-Disabled

Got any advice for the noob? Thanks.

EDIT:Ok I lied. Orthos isn't stable on the second try. I lowered the cpu to 2800mhz and failed orthos immediately but no reboot.

[Merlin7777]

It's funny. I am having the same problem, except it is with my e6600 and it is when I run the large fft memtest that I reboot.

[greenmaji]

VANDERPOOL TECHNOLOGY-Enabled
CPU TM FUNCTION-Enabled
EXECUTE DISABLE BIT-Enabled

Any reason these are enabled?

FSB TERMINATION-Auto
NB Vcore-Auto
SB Vcore-Auto
ICH-Auto

And these are set to auto?

[Brando]

VANDERPOOL TECHNOLOGY-Enabled
CPU TM FUNCTION-Enabled
EXECUTE DISABLE BIT-Enabled

Any reason these are enabled?

FSB TERMINATION-Auto
NB Vcore-Auto
SB Vcore-Auto
ICH-Auto

And these are set to auto?
No particular reason. I don't know what they do and I don't want to break anything. Just waiting for someone that knows better(like you) to tell me otherwise. I'll change them and see if it works. Also, I just noticed theres an 8 pin connector that fits in the cpu plug on the mobo. I was using the 4 pin that went in every other motherboard. Lemme change a few things and I'll get back. Thanks.

[Brando]

Ok, I'm a stooge. Replacing the 4pin 12v cpu plug with an 8pin seems to be getting more power to the cpu(maybe). The vcore was showing low at random times which I thought was just a common quirk of these motherboards. Apparently the reading was more accurate than I assumed because now it's showing 1.27-1.28 instead of 1.12-1.28. I thought I saw a thread that said the 8 pin doesn't matter but it seems to at the moment. I'm going to try again. Feel free to laugh at me, I deserve it. At least I didn't post this at xtremesystems. Not too noob friendly there.

[Brando]

Holy crap, I'm actually getting somewhere. I disabled all of the unknown functions like vanderpool etc.. and set all chipset voltages to one level below the point where the numbers turn red to indicate danger. I cranked vcore to 1.3625(shows 1.30v) and raised fsb to 402. Orthos is going on test 7 momentarily. I'm not sure what did it but if it stays stable I'll start lowering things to see if it still holds at lower values. I still don't get why cpu voltage reads low but whatever, it's working.

EDIT:35 minutes stable so far. This thing is putting out some heat. I cranked up my fans to a level that I find annoying to get the temps down to cpu 55-57c and mobo to 32c down from 40c. The chipset seems to love the side fan I cut out a hole for awhile back. I think I'm going to have to replace it with a 120mm and add a blowhole. This noise is ridiculous. Come to think of it, the typhoon could use a breathing hole too. I better get to work.
EDIT#2:1 hour stable. Rawkdafuhkawn. Turning down case fans seems to lower cpu temp a little (52c) and increase chipset temp a little (34c). It seems to be a good balance. Still cutting more holes though.

[greenmaji]

There ya go.. probibly didn't need all of them cranked up that far but :thup:
You can lower them once you get things stable :)

The slight drop in Vcore is the Vdroop, its normal.

[Brando]

Thanks for the encouragement:) I just completed 3dmark05 but something may be a little off. After the test I tried to view results online but failed to connect. Then when I closed the program I got an error along the lines of "memory could not be written to" or something like it. I wish I'd thought to copy and paste but oh well. I'll iron everything out with time.

[greenmaji]

Test your ram FSB with memtest.

[Brando]

Test your ram FSB with memtest.
I don't know much about memtest so I'm not sure what you mean. I made sure it was set at 400fsb in the bios with the proper timings and everything. I'd like to try it though because my memory is acting a little funny. At stock cpu speed with ram at ddr800 and stock timings on a divider, the ram showed around 5400mb\s in sandraXL memory bandwidth test @ (if I remember right) about 64% efficiency. After I set it @ a 1\1 cpu\mem ratio and overclocked the pc to it's current level, the mem efficiecy dropped to 51% but bandwidth went up to around 7500mb\s. Then I ran the bandwidth test again and I got over 8000mb\s @ 68% efficiency. Every time I run sandra memory bandwidth test I get a higher efficiency and a couple hundred more mb/s. I ran it 4 times and ended up at 71% efficiency and almost 9000mb\s bandwidth. Weird.
EDIT: I restarted sandraXL and ran the test again. Now it says 53% efficiency and 6759mb\s.:confused:
EDIT#2: More strange phenomenon. I set the cpu fsb to 400(down from 402) to get the memory at exactly stock speed. As soon as I started orthos it failed. Then I went back into bios and put the cpu to 402fsb again and orthos is stable. This is weird.

[greenmaji]

The 965P chipset has a gap from the mid 300's to 400ish FSB in stabilty.

I would wait to play with sandra and work on testing stablitiy.
DL the memtest ISO and burn it as a OS.. http://www.memtest86.com/memtest86-3.2.iso.zip
boot to it and run test 5 a few times for quick testing.

[Brando]

I burned a bootable cd with the memtest iso and booted into it but I can't get it to do anything. The instructions on the memtest site said the #'s 1-9 are used to activate the different options but all I get is invalid command. I am dumb.

[greenmaji]

try the arrow buttons on the keybord

[Brando]

I tried that. It makes random numbers on the command line. No matter what number is there, it says invalid command. If I keep pressing the right arrow it'll scroll through in a random order like 3,7,5,2,8,5,6,4 etc. Maybe this old crap version of nero can't burn a boot disc properly. I'll try a different version.

[greenmaji]

you burned it as an ISO right?

[Brando]

Yes. I unzipped the file and went into nero startsmart. Then I selected "make bootable disc" under cd and added the unzipped iso. Then I burned it. I did another one with a different nero install off another oem disc that came with a burner I bought a long time ago. This time when I booted off the new memtest I didn't even get to a screen where I could input any commands. It said something about the oak technologies cd driver failed to install because it couldn't locate a device. It could be I just bunged up windows and some programs when I was learning to oc this board. I imagine there was some damage going on behind the scenes every time orthos failed. Maybe not.

[datura3]

If you can't get that to work then try this:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

there are a lot of other nice utilities on there too.

[RollingThunder]

Yes. I unzipped the file and went into nero startsmart. Then I selected "make bootable disc" under cd and added the unzipped iso. Then I burned it. I did another one with a different nero install off another oem disc that came with a burner I bought a long time ago. This time when I booted off the new memtest I didn't even get to a screen where I could input any commands. It said something about the oak technologies cd driver failed to install because it couldn't locate a device. It could be I just bunged up windows and some programs when I was learning to oc this board. I imagine there was some damage going on behind the scenes every time orthos failed. Maybe not.

Brando,

If you have a floppy drive, format a disk, make it bootable, take the unzipped files of Memtest86 and copy them to it. You don't have to go through all that ISO stuff. It's not that complicated.

[Brando]

If you can't get that to work then try this:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

there are a lot of other nice utilities on there too.
Thanks, I'll check it out.

[Brando]

Brando,

If you have a floppy drive, format a disk, make it bootable, take the unzipped files of Memtest86 and copy them to it. You don't have to go through all that ISO stuff. It's not that complicated.
Believe me, I'd love to. I used memtest back in the day off of a floppy with no problem whatsoever. That was the only time I ever used this pos floppy drive and the next time I tried to use it a year later it was broken. I think it's a mitsumi. Don't buy one, it's crap. Compusa (over)charged me $20 for it too, the 8@$t@rd$.

[RollingThunder]

Believe me, I'd love to. I used memtest back in the day off of a floppy with no problem whatsoever. That was the only time I ever used this pos floppy drive and the next time I tried to use it a year later it was broken. I think it's a mitsumi. Don't buy one, it's crap. Compusa (over)charged me $20 for it too, the 8@$t@rd$.

Make your CD bootable and do the same thing.

[Brando]

I finally got it to work. I didn't know I had to right click on the ISO and open with nero to get it to "write a premastered image". I've never seen the option before but I found it in a guide. The first couple times that didn't work I had used the "create bootable disc" option and added the iso in the standard nero way. That didn't work but I got it going the other right clicking way and made it through a pass without errors.

[Brando]

After a late night staying up playing F.E.A.R. combat for several hours without crashing I think it's safe to call it stable. Thanks for all the help everyone. You're the greatest.

[BMac420]

FYI: in nero if you want to burn an image (such as an .iso, .img, bin/cue) open nero (not that smart start stuff) just nero burning rom, and click the "recorder" menu and there is an option that says "burn image" or "record image" or something (i'm at work so i'm not sure on the exact verbage). but thats how i have always burned images in nero.