OC BIOS Settings Keep Getting Lost

Hello all,

I have overclocked my i7 930 through BIOS but am running into a problem.

When I turn off the computer or restart it, the OC BIOS settings seem to stick and are loaded properly as they should the next time I turn on the computer.

However, if I turn off my power supply and or unplug the powersupply (such as when I have to move the computer from one room to another), the next time I turn on the machine, I am informed that the OC BIOS settings failed and then am directed to BIOS and prompted to start the machine with the default BIOS settings.

Naturally, I have saved the ROM file of what the BIOS settings are when the system is overclocked. My mobo (Asus ASUS P6X58D-E) has a utility that lets you flash update a certain BIOS setting from a file. When I use this utility to update the BIOS to the overclocked settings, the computer reboots only to tell me (again) that the OC failed and then it proceeds with starting using the default BIOS settings.

Because the flash of the OC BIOS settings isn't working, I've tried manually changing everything again manually and it does work...up until the next time I unplug the whole machine or turn the power supply off.

Any ideas why the OC ROM file isn't quite sticking around once there's no power?

Thanks for your help!

you cant write to a rom
could it be the battery that is why your settings are not saved ? the lithium coin cell and its socket connections? check it first for voltage, should be about 3V then check its socket for connection

does the Clock stay correct ? because usually the same battery for holding the settings also holds the clock settings

is it possible that the cmos reset jumper item is on the wrong pins? check that and reseat it even if it is on the right pins.
clues for that would be , usually the clock is NOT reset when clearning the cmos with the jumper.

isnt your bigger problem that when you cold start the OC settings are not posting? or just that when you pull power all settings are lost? or is this 2 problems?

another thing i should mention, there is 2 options usually when a post fails , and it tosses up the settings are wrong type of error. one does not reset all of your settings. sometimes on a cold boot that doesnt post, instead of resetting everything in the bios, just do a warm boot or a reset at that point, and dont retract everything. just because the thing wants you to reset to default and try again, because it couldnt pull it off on a cold start, doesnt mean enough to toss everything , unless nessisary.
Which
is not the same as all settings are Lost
.

Psycogeec said:

you cant write to a rom
could it be the battery that is why your settings are not saved ? the lithium coin cell and its socket connections? check it first for voltage, should be about 3V then check its socket for connection

does the Clock stay correct ? because usually the same battery for holding the settings also holds the clock settings

is it possible that the cmos reset jumper item is on the wrong pins? check that and reseat it even if it is on the right pins.
clues for that would be , usually the clock is NOT reset when clearning the cmos with the jumper.

isnt your bigger problem that when you cold start the OC settings are not posting? or just that when you pull power all settings are lost? or is this 2 problems?

another thing i should mention, there is 2 options usually when a post fails , and it tosses up the settings are wrong type of error. one does not reset all of your settings. sometimes on a cold boot that doesnt post, instead of resetting everything in the bios, just do a warm boot or a reset at that point, and dont retract everything. just because the thing wants you to reset to default and try again, because it couldnt pull it off on a cold start, doesnt mean enough to toss everything , unless nessisary.
Which
is not the same as all settings are Lost
.

Click to expand...

The battery is good, the clock stays fine, the OC is posting--it's just that it doesn't stick after power is cut.

Apparently this is a larger manufacturer's *defect* (if you will). I posted my problem on the Asus forums and was directed to this massive thread of a different motherboard with the same issue:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...1&model=Sabertooth+X58&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

Wow i would be pissed whats the point of an OC when you have to keep resetting it every boot up. Looks like you gotta leave your rig on 24/7

Post the rest of your system spec's, including rated timings and voltage of your RAM. Also fill out this BIOS template for the P6X58D-E w/ all of your last unsuccessful / failed overclock settings...

Deathhorse said:

Wow i would be pissed whats the point of an OC when you have to keep resetting it every boot up. Looks like you gotta leave your rig on 24/7

Click to expand...

Haha no THAT would suck! It's only when the machine is physically unplugged. As in not connected to a wall outlet. It *doesn't* happen when I turn of or restart the computer.

redduc900 said:

Post the rest of your system spec's, including rated timings and voltage of your RAM. Also fill out this BIOS template for the P6X58D-E w/ all of your last unsuccessful / failed overclock settings...

Click to expand...

Well...the OC has never actually failed...it's just that it gets reset to defaults regardless.

I'm running an Intel i7 930 (2.8ghz stock) at 3.8ghz.
Mobo is Asus P6X58D-E
GPUs are two 1GB nVidia GTX460s
Ram is 6GB tri-chan Corsair DDR3 1600 (8-8-8-24, 1.65v)
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit


This is what the OC looks like that won't stick (although ANY changes that are not defaults are lost when the machine is unplugged, it's not like the problem is specific to these BIOS settings).

Ai Overclock Tuner [Manual]
CPU Ratio Setting [21.0]
Intel(r) SpeedStep(tm) Tech [Disabled]
Xtreme Phase Full Power Mode [Enabled]
BCLK Frequency [181]
PCIE Frequency [100]
DRAM Frequency [DDR3-1451MHz]
UCLK Frequency [2903MHz]
QPI Link Data Rate [Auto]

CPU Voltage Control [Manual]
CPU Voltage [1.18125]
CPU PLL Voltage [1.80]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage [1.22500]
IOH Voltage [1.12]
IOH PCIE Voltage [1.50]
ICH Voltage [1.20]
ICH PCIE Voltage [1.50]
DRAM Bus Voltage [1.64]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA [Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHA [Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB [Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHB [Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC [Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHC [Auto]

Load-Line Calibration [Enabled]
CPU Differential Amplitude [800mV]
CPU Clock Skew [Delay 300ps]
CPU Spread Spectrum [Disabled]
IOH Clock Skew [Auto]
PCIE Spread Spectrum [Disabled]

C1E Support [Disabled]
Hardware Prefetcher [Enabled]
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch [Enabled]
Intel(r) Virtualization Tech [Disabled]
CPU TM Function [Enabled]
Execute Disable Bit [Enabled]
Intel(r) HT Technology [Disabled]
Active Processor Cores [All]
A20M [Disabled]
Intel(r) SpeedStep(tm) Tech [Disabled]
Intel(r) C-STATE Tech [Disabled]

If you're not experiencing the reset issue w/ the system at default clock, then I would have to assume there's something wrong w/ your 3.8GHz settings. I would try a BCLK of 200 w/ the DRAM multiplier at x8 = DDR3-1600, w/ Vcore at 1.3V, and QPI/DRAM Core Voltage at 1.3-1.35V.

Thanks for the advice, but I really don't think there's an issue with the 3.8 OC.

For instance, my RAM is rated 8-8-8-24 and my mobo defaults to thinking it's 9-9-9-24. I noticed this when I first built the computer. Not a big deal, a common problem, you just manually key in timings instead of leaving everything on auto.

So one of the first changes I ever made to BIOS was manually entering 8-8-8-24 instead of [auto] [auto] [auto] [auto].

This is one aspect that gets reset regardless of if I'm OCing or not. If I run everything stock and tell the mobo my RAM is 8-8-8-24 and then unplug the machine, the next time it starts up, it reads [auto] [auto] [auto] [auto] (9-9-9-24).

I'm fairly certain that ANY settings I change in BIOS (such as non-OC related changes) are tossed as soon as I unplug the machine or turn off the PSU.

Do they have a newer bios out for your board than the one you are running with presently? Maybe there is some kind of bug in that bios.

muddocktor said:

Do they have a newer bios out for your board than the one you are running with presently? Maybe there is some kind of bug in that bios.

Click to expand...

No sir. BIOS is up to date.

According to Asus forums,this is kinda a big issue with a couple boards. I'm kinda surprised, honestly...I got this board because it's my first ever build and it had a really high rating from users and in more formal reviews alike. Guess nothing's perfect.

I checked the little battery...it's good and it's making good a good connection.

For anyone just reading this now, the problem is: physically unplug the machine = BIOS resets to factory default settings...nothing gets saved.

life is just another workaround
get a UPS , and when you go to move the computer, unplug the UPS only and move both at that same time.
that just leaves those 2 day outages , which could be solved woth a bigger battery and a solar pannel

bleh
hopefully asus will give us something soon

Do your profiles get nullified as well? or do they stay intact? As in... save the OC profile, unplug the machine, lose the current settings, reboot in default, enter the BIOS, load OC profile, F10 and you're on your way?

Well...I just made an OC Profile (which I hadn't done before) and left the machine unplugged for 15 minutes.

Not only was the profile there, but I wasn't asked to run defaults or even go to BIOS...the OC settings stuck.

Now I'm really confused.

Bottom line?

Unplug machine = BIOS defaults *some* of the time, but apparently not always.

d;akgjbg;aijrhbgpoijrbagpjnrgapn

The Profiles are there specifically for this reason. Anytime the CMOS would get cleared, you would lose everything. Having a profile allows you to easily revert to settings.

Glad it worked for you

This is one hell of a bump, but...

I have the exact opposite situation.

If I shut down and start up again, I lose the bios settings I have entered (including the o/c settings).

However, if I shut down, unplug the power supply and plug it back it in, then start up, the settings are retained.

I have just replaced my old GA-B855M-D3H mobo, which seemed to have gotten itself corrupted (when booting from cold start would reboot twice into the dual bios, and lose all o/c settings), with a GA-Z97P-D3H.

So - I currently have:

Mobo: GA-Z97P-D3

CPU: Pentium G3258

RAM: 16GB Kingston HyperX Blu

PSU: 500W Enermax Bronze NAXN

SSD - Samsung 500gb EVO 750

Video card - RX470 G1



The only difference from my old setup is the mobo and the RAM - I had a mix of Adata and G.Skill.

I've dumbed the o/c'ing down to simply changing the CPU multiplier to 42 (to get it to 4.2GHZ) - and voltage to 1.2.

Rebooting is fine - keeps them. Cold boot - they revert to defaults. And I get 2 beeps with the splash screen showing twice, firstly with the options (F12 etc) below, and then just the Gigabyte logo.

Funny thing is - when I start up after unplugging the power I get the normal 1 beep, but the splash screen is just the Gigabyte logo - no options on the bottom. Th straight into Windows.

Any ideas? Is it as simple as saying "it's the PSU"?

It may need more voltage at start up. My rig does that with an energy saving profile loaded. It will run on .8 Vcore but it won't boot.

Alaric said:

It may need more voltage at start up. My rig does that with an energy saving profile loaded. It will run on .8 Vcore but it won't boot.

Click to expand...

Thanks Alaric
Thinking about it, though, my main concern, before I can even think about o/c'ing my g3258, is why my system seems to boot twice, as in 2 beeps, splash screen showing twice, even on default bios settings, and with a brand new mobo?
I'm assuming it shouldn't be doing that.

EDIT. I've just run a quick Prime95 test with the built in "Performance Upgrade" feature in the bios set on 20%, which put it to 4.3GHZ.

Prime95 was running ok, with the tests passing. But I had Hardware Monitor running at the same time, and the temps went straight to 100 degrees almost immediately.

Which just can't be healthy.

Is this indicating that I have a pretty sick CPU? And not "sick" as the young-uns say these days, but really quite unwell...

Fecking hell. Reason it was so hot...cable stuck in the CPU fan. Hope I haven't cooked it, but PC won't turn on now. I'll give it some time to cool...

Ok, update.

I had the pc off, with the power unplugged, overnight. Turn it on this morning, and as expected, 1 beep, one splash, and the o/c settings are retained.
I shut down, kept the power plugged in, boot back up and....all good! 1 beep, settings retained etc!
I try another couple of times, and still everything is fine.


But....I shut down, and maybe 45 minutes later start up again....2 beeps, 2 splash screens, o/c and bios settings gone. Wtf?

To clarify, all I have remaining from the prior build, where I was having the same issues, is the cpu, video card, ssd's and usb peripherals (mouse, keyboard & printer).

Could it be something to do with the video card? And if so, why the whole "disconnect power it works" and "works for a short period of time then doesn't again"?