Biostar TA790GXB3

[CrunchyToast]

Hello there! I'm CrunchyToast and of course I'm new to the site. If you find my post with errors feel free to point them out.

Anywho, on to my inquiry:

I have a Biostar TA790GXB3 (as the title states) and it has the ACC feature, BUT searching online I cannot find one single post about even being able to unlock my AMD Phenom II x2 555 Black Edition. I know that unlocking pretty much comes with luck, but I'm hoping that maybe I'm just not getting some settings right.

I've found online that people have been putting their HT Link at 1.6GHZ and turning ACC to auto. When I do this, save and reboot from the bios, all I have is a black screen. When lowering the link, I have been able to get to the Windows 7 boot screen and then the PC automatically halts and reboots.

One setting I'm wondering about is if I can't do this (beside the fact that I may have a faulty processor for unlocking) is because I do not have the ECC or whatever firmware option to set to hybrid.

System Specs:
AMD Phenom II 555 x2 Black Edition
OCZ Black Edition DDR3 Dual Channel RAM - 2x 2GB
Biostar TA790GXB3 with latest firmware


Thanks in advance.

 

[clash]

I dont have the Exact same specs as you, but fairly close. I have the
Biostar TA790GX 128M
550 BE cpu

Getting all 4 cores unlocked on mine consisted of simply hitting "Enable ACC" in the bios. One thing that i am pondering about with unlocking on these boards is the Bios that is installed.

My current Bios is Dated 1/13/09.

I would probably try different bios versions to see if you can get cores to unlock. Of course, there is always the possibility that it was advertised as a dual core, and you got what ya paid for.

GL to ya, let us know how it goes.

 

[CrunchyToast]

Thanks for the reply. I've noticed online that a lot of the 128M boards will unlock. One problem with my board is the oldest firmware is only about 6 months old and was shipped with the board. I updated the bios to the latest beta build to see if anything changed. Also appears you have a 550. Those unlock more frequently than the 555s. One thing I'm wondering about though is doing different settings in the bios get me further then others do. I don't know if I need to give it more power, but also I will not give up until I try it with one of the best CPU coolers I can find too.

 

[clash]

Like i said, i got really lucky on the Chip i purchased so i didnt have to do much digging/testing to get it to unlock. But i do recall reading somewhere that upping the voltage just a tad has had some positive results for bring extra cores around.

I'm still leaning toward trying different bios versions though.

Let us know how it goes.

 

[CrunchyToast]

Can't use a different bios. Only 2 available for my board and tried them both.

 

[clash]

Can't use a different bios. Only 2 available for my board and tried them both.

http://www.lejabeach.com/Biostar/TA790GX3A2+/

Search around for your exact model there, perhaps a lil digging in their forums.

 

[CrunchyToast]

http://www.lejabeach.com/Biostar/TA790GX3A2+/

Search around for your exact model there, perhaps a lil digging in their forums.

I've searched through that site with no luck. Thanks for the link though.

 

[CrunchyToast]

Edit: I found this http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=45;t=000669 which did unlock 4 cores but when I got to the boot screen it restarted the system. When I add more voltage to the core, it won't boot at all.

In my GPU Link (I think it is) only 3 lights are lit. Does this mean the fourth core is maybe dead? If that's what the link lights mean.

 

[QuietIce]

to OCF!


Don't know the specifics about the power status indicators but I'm curious what the other two LEDs are showing. If neither are lit then it's a CPU/chipset error, according to the manual.

Usually increasing the vCore is what's needed if default settings don't work. Since you've tried that I'm not sure what else to suggest ...

 

[CrunchyToast]

GPU Phase Control screen shows only 3 lit but CPU config shows 4 cores.

 

[QuietIce]

??? CPU config?


Are there two other LEDs on our board (not the four phase control LEDs)? And are they lit?

 

[CrunchyToast]

There are a total of 6 LEDs on the board. 4 are Power Status Indicators and 2 are Debug Indicators. Just got that from the manual. They only show how hard the CPU is working, not how many cores are active.

 

[clash]

Edit: I found this http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=45;t=000669 which did unlock 4 cores but when I got to the boot screen it restarted the system. When I add more voltage to the core, it won't boot at all.

In my GPU Link (I think it is) only 3 lights are lit. Does this mean the fourth core is maybe dead? If that's what the link lights mean.

Very possible that 1 or both of the extra cores could be fubar. If playing with the voltage does not bring them around, try disabling the extra's one at a time and reboot to see which one is bad. May end up with a working 3 core machine anyway

 

[CrunchyToast]

I've tried about all I can I suppose. I may just have a legit dual core on my hands.

 

[coonmanx]

I have the same board and a Phenom II X2 545 unlocked to a X4 B45. All that I did was go into the BIOS and select ACC to Auto and HT Link to 1600. I didn't change BIOS at all. I heard that there was about a 70% chance of getting it to unlock so maybe you just got one with one or more bad cores. Also you could play with the ACC settings (per core). I'm not sure about core levelling on the same page of BIOS but I just set mine to Enable All Cores. Other options are Force Single Core, Force Dual Core and Force Tri Core. You also might try setting ACC to +2% on cores 3 and 4. It just might not work if you have one from the 30% that simply won't unlock.

 

[CrunchyToast]

I don't get the options to force any amount of cores. I've looked a few times. I may get another 555 OR even a 550 seeing as they don't cost much. I build computers so I can always use the spare.

 

[coonmanx]

On the T-Series page of BIOS below the ACC option (which I believe you said was set to Auto). It should be the last item on the page. I believe the option is Core Leveling. Anyway, my BIOS is A78DB-A3T. Don't know if that helps. You can always go to the Biostar tech support page. I found it last night. You have to go to the Taiwan page and then choose English.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/

They might be able to give you more information. However, just remember that not all X2's will unlock. The new 890 series boards will have a special feature where you just hit F4 while booting and it will unlock. Sweet.

 

[CrunchyToast]

Yeah, I do have that option, but instead of forcing specific cores it lets me enable and disable each. Contacting BioStar support is how I got to here http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=45;t=000669 They linked it to me.

 

[coonmanx]

Yeah, I checked my BIOS and realized that you would not get those options until after you have the extra cores unlocked.

 

[CrunchyToast]

I can get as far as having the POST screen showing x4 cores and CPU Configuration showing as Phenom II X4 BE 555. When I save and exit the bios after the unlock, it only restarts once. I'll make a video and show exactly what I do and up it and link to it here in just a few.