Asrock dual Sata2 / ULi M1695 lockups / freezes

Evening-

I'm at the end of my rope here and hoping someone might shed some more ideas for me to use.

My computer randomly freezes. It freezes when idle, when I walk away, when I hit the back button. There is no rhyme, reason, cpu load, or discernible pattern.

The system is not overclocked- stock 4200 (200x11) using stock voltages, although I did up the voltage on the ram to test that.

Memtest86 shows no errors in ram (2gb OCZ matched)

I have a SCSI controller, FireWire controller, and a Promise 133 controller.

The problems first manifest themselves when I installed the Gigabyte SilentPipe II 7600 GT card.

I removed that and replaced it with an AGP card- system locks up still.

I removed the Promise controller (since it kept hosing my 4x200gb seagates). System locked up.

I reinstalled the Promise controller and the 7900GT then I removed the SCSI and IE1394 controllers. System locked up.

I have tested 3x different PSU's - Antec 430 True, Ultra 500 with the funny cables, and another ultra 500 with fixed cables. All had lockups.

I'm starting to wonder if it's the power regulators on the board that are crapping out, but I don't know any way of testing it. Monitoring programs show the voltages are nominal and, with no easy way to predict, it's sporadic crashes that I can't duplicate.

Worst of all this last 'crash' hosed (apparently) one of the 200gb seagates in the raid 5 array off the promise controller. I'm trying to rebuild it now but that takes time.

Any other suggestions that I can try that I Might have missed? Any other iterations?

Thanks much-

Jason

Jason,

Are you using an auxiliary power battery backup through a USB port?

Latest BIOS (2.30)?

Uhhh, I don't even know what an auxillary battery backup thru the USB is?... I just removed the last USB device- Century CD labs CD jukebox. No crashes yet (jinx).

The system is on a UPS but it is not connected via serial or USB.

Which reminds me maybe I should take the barcode wedge reader out of the keyboard loop too....

purduephotog said:

Uhhh, I don't even know what an auxillary battery backup thru the USB is?... I just removed the last USB device- Century CD labs CD jukebox. No crashes yet (jinx).

The system is on a UPS but it is not connected via serial or USB.

Which reminds me maybe I should take the barcode wedge reader out of the keyboard loop too....

Click to expand...

Page 6, #5 in the owners manual. "Battery backup" same as UPS (an APC in my case) but the USB connection communicates with your computer software and UPS for controled shutdown if needed.

There are "issues" with this board with rear USB connections, not only with "auxiliary power" (UPS) but other items. The "Legacy USB" must be enabled in BIOS for connections through the rear USB ports according to Asrock. It's disabled by default. However, this may not remedy the situation. From past experience it appears anything connected to the rear USB ports may have issues whether "Legacy USB" is enabled or not.

With my case, there are two front USB ports that I use with a digital camera and have had no problems with them. I don't know what the problem is with the rear USB ports on the MB.

If you are not using MIDI and a joystick, disable them in the BIOS along with the Legacy USB and try that if you still have problems. Depending on what BIOS came with your board, flashing to a recent one is a good idea too (v2.10 or higher). They are stable.

Thanks RT-

I should have provided a bit more history too- Originally installed was a single core 3000+, upgraded to x2 then the lockups began.

I'll enable Legacy USB and (I believe) the other Joystick/ports are disabled. I believe I disabled them at the time of the chip upgrade.

There are additional ports on the mobo but I don't have my pinnout diagrams to rewire my old case. I've been meaning to convert the single pins (very annoying) into multipin, but tha'ts down the road.

I'll give her a shot. Thanks very much for your help here.

Jason

purduephotog said:

Thanks RT-

I should have provided a bit more history too- Originally installed was a single core 3000+, upgraded to x2 then the lockups began.

I'll enable Legacy USB and (I believe) the other Joystick/ports are disabled. I believe I disabled them at the time of the chip upgrade.

There are additional ports on the mobo but I don't have my pinnout diagrams to rewire my old case. I've been meaning to convert the single pins (very annoying) into multipin, but tha'ts down the road.

I'll give her a shot. Thanks very much for your help here.

Jason

Click to expand...

I upgraded processors the same as you from an A64 3500+ to this Opteron. There were no issues whatsoever with a previously upgraded BIOS in anticipation.

Be advised that nothing may work with your Legacy USB enabled and connection to anything. Just be prepared to have further lock-ups. There were times I ran fine for a week between freezes. I don't know if it's specific to only UPS and APC software communication or to other devices. Once I discontinued using the Legacy USB, shorted the 5VSB jumper, and moved the plugs from battery backup to the surge supressing outlets the problem stopped. I'm not happy but it's better than nothing.

I gave up trying other rear USB ports, it wasn't worth the aggravation and clearing the BIOS after my lockups.

I would aslo set your BIOS vdimm to "high." The board only provides about 2.74v with no load on high and about 2.65v under load. You may want to check what the vdimm requirements are for your model OCzs too.

Funny. I completely forgot about the USB printer I have hooked up.

I enabled the legacy USB and connected the printer- guess what, system lockup at 930pm as I was drifting off to sleep...

I think it's going to be time to dump AMD and Asrock... or at least find a board that doesn't have this issue. Maybe back to single core?

Sigh.

Thanks again....

purduephotog said:

Funny. I completely forgot about the USB printer I have hooked up.

I enabled the legacy USB and connected the printer- guess what, system lockup at 930pm as I was drifting off to sleep...

I think it's going to be time to dump AMD and Asrock... or at least find a board that doesn't have this issue. Maybe back to single core?

Sigh.

Thanks again....

Click to expand...

I know the feeling but the problem isn't your AMD chip. They are excellent. It's obviously the board issues with USB. Did you flash to the latest BIOS (v2.30)? It may help.

I tried to post this yesterday, but couldn't. Sorry if this is late.

This really sounds like a BIOS issue to me. Are you sure you have the newest official?

Newest Bios and solution?

Hey-

Yeah, I've got the 2.3 bios on there. Wasn't the issue- put that on the minute I started having problems.

Something did occurr to me tho- I switched the on board SATA controler from IDE to SATA. I switched it back yesterday morning. SO far, no crashes, and I have even been running prime95/SuperPI (although those have never caused crashes, either).

So who knows- maybe it's just that it didn't like being set to SATA.

I did bump up the driving strength to high as well.

I never thought it was the chip it was the BIOS and the chip, and since the two of them have to go together .... it is rushed designs. The blame I laid on the chip was due to everything going south when I installed it

purduephotog said:

Hey-

Yeah, I've got the 2.3 bios on there. Wasn't the issue- put that on the minute I started having problems.

Something did occurr to me tho- I switched the on board SATA controler from IDE to SATA. I switched it back yesterday morning. SO far, no crashes, and I have even been running prime95/SuperPI (although those have never caused crashes, either).

So who knows- maybe it's just that it didn't like being set to SATA.

I did bump up the driving strength to high as well.

I never thought it was the chip it was the BIOS and the chip, and since the two of them have to go together .... it is rushed designs. The blame I laid on the chip was due to everything going south when I installed it

Click to expand...

My BIOS settings for "IDE Configuration:"

IDE Configuration

Onboard SATA Controller: Auto
SATA Operating Mode: RAID
Onboard SATA2 Controller: Auto
SATA2 Operating Mode: IDE
SATA2 Driving Mode: Normal

Primary IDE Master: Maxtor
Primary IDE Slave: Not Detected
Secondary IDE Master: Plextor (DVD)
Secondary IDE Slave: Not Detected
SATA 1: Not Detected
SATA 2: Not Detected
SATA II: WD Raptor

Yours may vary according to hard drives names and quantity. I have experimented with the "Normal" and "Strong" driving modes and don't see any difference. Both work for me. RT

Once again, demonstrating the idiocracy of this bug, 15 hours on each core of prime 95 passed.

I stopped prime, decided to check my gmail account (about an hour lateR) and *poof* a lockup.

The board isn't in the system anymore- I'm fed up. Maybe I'll pick up a cheap Venice and an extra gig of ram..... we'll see.

Sigh.

I really appreciate all this help now I'm just figuring out what's going on with the A8N-SLI Premium.

What timing is your ram set to? I hear the there is 1T issues so try setting it 2T and see how it goes

watchthisspace said:

What timing is your ram set to? I hear the there is 1T issues so try setting it 2T and see how it goes

Click to expand...

All at reduced timings. The ram is supposed to do 2-3-3-6 but I think I had it at 3-4-4-8. I don't remember.

I stuffed in the A8N-SLI Premium and was greeted with a BSOD which (Again) took out the RAID 5 array. I've upped the voltages everywhere to see if that improves stability.

I did have (At one point in the past) 1t command on the single core chip- it was stable- but it was just on that edge so i backed off. but the dual core never had that.

Are we forgetting the basic trouble shooting tips here or what?

Disconnect EVERYTHING except, 1xhdd (if possible), you GFX card, 1x stick of ram and cpu of course. That means remove ALL other pci cards, disconnect ALL usb devices. Use the ps/2 ports for the mouse and keyboard if possible. Use defaults in bios!!

What we are trying to acheve here is knowledge as to what the problem is. If you are still having a problem with a MINIMAL system, then your problem is NOT your usb devices. If things get desperate, change the cpu to the old one without changeing any other aspect of the system. If it still locks then its not you cpu.... see where i'm going with this?

If it still locks up then come back and tell us. Otherwise begin to reintroduce each removed item ONE AT A TIME(this would include each usb device seperatly)

im inclinde to think its probably a pci card, i have had them lock my system at stock speeds in the past.

I'm also sure that you have done some of the above items, but at least make sure you try a minimal system setup before tossing the board in the bin.

Thanks Hip.

I did indeed do that and the results were inconclusive- ie, everything locked at one point or another. I couldn't disable the USB devices tho so I don't know if that was the problem. There were none attached.

The old CPU is gone, unfortunately. Mommy has a new 'puter

My Asus A8N-SLI Premium is working great now tho- no issues at all

Hipcrostino said:

Are we forgetting the basic trouble shooting tips here or what?

Disconnect EVERYTHING except, 1xhdd (if possible), you GFX card, 1x stick of ram and cpu of course. That means remove ALL other pci cards, disconnect ALL usb devices. Use the ps/2 ports for the mouse and keyboard if possible. Use defaults in bios!!

What we are trying to acheve here is knowledge as to what the problem is. If you are still having a problem with a MINIMAL system, then your problem is NOT your usb devices. If things get desperate, change the cpu to the old one without changeing any other aspect of the system. If it still locks then its not you cpu.... see where i'm going with this?

If it still locks up then come back and tell us. Otherwise begin to reintroduce each removed item ONE AT A TIME(this would include each usb device seperatly)

im inclinde to think its probably a pci card, i have had them lock my system at stock speeds in the past.

I'm also sure that you have done some of the above items, but at least make sure you try a minimal system setup before tossing the board in the bin.

Click to expand...

Rolling Thunder,

I was having stability issues too with my Asrock Dual Sata2
til i updated bios to v. 2.2. Every time i added a IDE or Optical drv of some sorts the bios would always hav to be reset especially the boot orders. Brd runs much better now.

I was thinkin bout getting an Opty170 or 175, up from a A643700 San Diego for my Asrock board. I see ur runnin your Opty180 @ 2628Mhz, right ? Are you using the stock cooling that came with the Opty180 ? Or some other cooling setup ? Are u satisfied with the stepping of the Opty180 you got and its overclockability ?

Thanks for ur help.

RustyDog said:

Rolling Thunder,

I was having stability issues too with my Asrock Dual Sata2
til i updated bios to v. 2.2. Every time i added a IDE or Optical drv of some sorts the bios would always hav to be reset especially the boot orders. Brd runs much better now.

I was thinkin bout getting an Opty170 or 175, up from a A643700 San Diego for my Asrock board. I see ur runnin your Opty180 @ 2628Mhz, right ? Are you using the stock cooling that came with the Opty180 ? Or some other cooling setup ? Are u satisfied with the stepping of the Opty180 you got and its overclockability ?

Thanks for ur help.

Click to expand...

Rusty,

I haven't added any peripherals to the board since I got it so I can't relate to your adding them and BIOS issues but what you're saying sounds normal. This board does a few odd things at times but once you understand it, it runs just fine. I didn't do my volt mods.

Dropping in an Opteron from my 3500+ in my case was like falling out of a tree. Easiest thing I ever did. Just have the latest BIOS available preinstalled, drop her in, and your ready to go. BIOS picks up everything.

I bought the 180 for the 2.4 GHz, I'm a "chicken" overclocker and keep it all mild. As you can see, these guys using the Opterons on the Asrock are good and get some great overclocks with a lesser Opteron. If you are so inclined, you can do the same with a slower Opteron easily.

I'm on stock air cooling, heatsink and fan that comes with the Opterons. It's a good one with 4 copper heat pipes and much different than your 3700+ HS. I don't want to get into other specialized cooling/heat sinks so I'm leaving it about where it is.

To be honest, I have been up to 2688 GHz with this chip @ 1.375 volts with what I have. Temps begin to rise quickly before this so more agressive cooling is probably needed from stock. So I can't really tell where I could go by being more agressive and can't evaluate stepping intelligently. I just haven't tried. The BIOS goes to 1.4v with the Opterons so you have plenty to work with at stock.

If you are able to be more agressive overclocking, then an Opteron 170 or 175 is the way to go if you're on a budget. I doubt with the most agressive overclocking that mine would go higher that what others are getting with the 170 or 175s. I just bought the extra 200 GHz to start with. The Opterons are a helluva good chip.

Depending on your RAMs and agressiveness to overclock, getting to where I am is duck soup with a 180 and with a little work, these guys are doing it and more with the 170 - 175s and even the 165s too. I'm just a conservative person!

Thanks RT. With these Optys I understand the multiplier is unlocked and hav read of people decreasing the stock multiplier down; but do u know can u also raise them up ? Like i guess yours is 12x200 to hit 2400 stock but can you go up the multiplier to 12.5 or 13 ? What do u hav ur
multiplier set at to get 2628, and what's your setting for the cpu host clk ?

I'm kinda cautious too and i usually run my 3700 at about 2354. I've had it up to 2400 (w/stock cooling) but it has frozen on me a couple of times so i backed off. I have Kingston Ram PC3200 (2x512mb dbl sided) not the value ram, but quite similar i imagine that i got at Newegg. Any take on a recommendation for better ram for the Asrock w/good price/performance ratio ?

Thanks again for your input.

RustyDog said:

Thanks RT. With these Optys I understand the multiplier is unlocked and hav read of people decreasing the stock multiplier down; but do u know can u also raise them up ? Like i guess yours is 12x200 to hit 2400 stock but can you go up the multiplier to 12.5 or 13 ? What do u hav ur
multiplier set at to get 2628, and what's your setting for the cpu host clk ?

I'm kinda cautious too and i usually run my 3700 at about 2354. I've had it up to 2400 (w/stock cooling) but it has frozen on me a couple of times so i backed off. I have Kingston Ram PC3200 (2x512mb dbl sided) not the value ram, but quite similar i imagine that i got at Newegg. Any take on a recommendation for better ram for the Asrock w/good price/performance ratio ?

Thanks again for your input.

Click to expand...

Rusty,

I have used 11X multiplier to check these Patriots and timings. At DDR484 1:1 (2664 MHz) on 11X, I stopped without errors. That's more than I would ever go anyhow on the RAMs. I'm using the default 12X now and the RAMs are just coasting along quite easily at DDR 420 1:1.

You can't go fractional over 12X on the stock BIOS and I don't know if it's unlocked higher. I accidentally set a 13X multiplier early on and it locked at stock, kicked me out and reset the BIOS! There really isn't a reason for me to do so because I am so far away from a max overclock to play with multipliers or dividers. I don't like to use non default fractional multipliers or RAM dividers anyhow.

I have a kit of 2x512 Kingston HyperX I keep as spares. Good RAMs. They went to 228 MHz 1:1 (11X) MHz before I got these Patriots. They ran fine @ 2.5-3-3-8 but they certainly don't compare to these Patriots. The Kingstons maxed out at about 230 MHz with errors appearing but their SuperPi 32 mb time was much slower than the Patriots at corresponding speeds.

Just be aware that this board's vdimm set to "high" in the BIOS is about 2.74v at idle and about 2.66v under load (DMM checked). Your Kingstons should be fine to start and will give you a decent overclock if they are HyperX 2.6v. If you want more performance RAMs, make sure they can deliver it at ~2.7v to be safe. Otheriise you may error as I did due to low vdimm with higher voltage RAMs. You may have a problem running @ 1T also. Some boards do it and some don't. I haven't had any success at 1T but I haven't experimented with it at all successfully.

I keep an Excel sheet for BIOS overclock settings both for these Patriots and the Kingstons. Your welcome to have it for the Kingstons if you need it. Otherwise it's not much different from your 3700 except for CPU voltage and perhaps timings. One of our best overclock guys hasn't been here for a few weeks, OCHungry. He taught me most everything.

I would use the RAMs you have and see what you get.