MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum Random Freeze/Reboot

[jbenish]

Hello All,

I am currently trying to figure out why my machine randomly locks up or reboots. I am in the process of rebuilding everything and gettting everything up-to-date. I don't have anything overclocked so everything is stock configured. Here is my setup:

SILVERSTONE TEMJIN SST-TJ06B-W Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester 2.2GHz Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500DIK4BI

ZALMAN CNPS7000B-Cu LED 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan

2 OCZ EL Platinum Revision 2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ4001024ELDCPER2-K

Antec NEOPOWER 480 ATX12V v2.0 480W Power Supply

BFG NVIDIA 6800GT AGP 256mb

VANTEC MRK-200ST-BK EZ Swap 3.5" SATA Removable Hard drive rack Kit, with LCD display

Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

ATHENA MR-125B Black SATA Mobile Hard Drive Rack

2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3120827AS 120GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model ND-3520A BK

Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3100 967513-0403 2-Tone USB + PS/2 RF Wireless Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - Retail

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

Microsoft Windows XP Professional With Service Pack 2

Klipsch Promedia GMX A-2.1 78 watts 2.1 Speaker - Retail



Computer is setup as OS running off the Raptor, and the two 120gb drive are a Raid Strip
The Bios version I think is 1.5
The machine will randomly lock up and then I will have to manually reboot the machine. It recently did it several times when I was watching a DVD.

If anyone has any suggestion I would greatly appreciate any help. I will be redoing the machine this week to see if any improvements are made, but if anyone has any suggestions on what I could do I would appreciate any help.

Thanks,

jbenish

 

[rseven]

The Neo2 is a very finicky board. I know as I have run one for the last two years. While I can't be certain as to what is causing the lock ups, here are some things I would try and see if it makes any difference. You can try running the ram at a 2t command rate. Yes, this will slow things down a tad, but it may help. You could also make a memtest floppy and test the ram. (My first guess would be this is a ram issue. Either faulty ram or timings) I do not think the issue is bios related, but I would advise you update to a later bios at some point. I do not recommend the 1B official bios as it is buggy. I use the 1C modded bios by sideeffect located here.
http://www.lejabeach.com/MSIK8N/k8nneo2.html
This may also give you some useful information.
http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46730
Also, do you have the reboot option turned off in Windows XP?
Good luck with it and to the Forum!

 

[jbenish]

Thanks for the reply. I will try the suggestions and let you know. I need to get all of the drivers and everything loaded and will do some testing. I will keep you posted on what I find out....again thanks for your time!

I was doing some reading and it Ocz suggest that you only occupy two of the memory slots. I have four 512mb chips installed in the board...do you think this could be the issue?

Josh

 

[wonkanoby]

older cores dont like 4 dimms nor cope with them as well as newer

with yours as i recall it usually means ram at 333 rather than 400

and 2t ram timmings

 

[rseven]

Wonkanoby is absolutely correct. I didn't understand from the first post that you had 4x512. Yes, either take 2x 512 out, or you will have to run at 2t with a 333 divider. Personally, I would remove 2 sticks as it's too big a sacrifice.

 

[jbenish]

Well that just really sucks!! I think I'm going to scrap that board and just buy a new one. Do you have any suggestions on a really nice board that works well that I can use all of my existing stuff? I just don't want to have this be a hassle and worry about this board.

Thanks for the help!

Josh

 

[rseven]

That's not as easy as it sounds. Socket 939 boards are disappearing. The same goes for NF4 boards. Of all the alternatives, it may be best to upgrade to a pci-e video card and find an NF4 board.

 

[Supershanks]

Well that just really sucks!! I think I'm going to scrap that board and just buy a new one

It's nothing 2 do with the mobo, although rseven's views are spot on. It's a well known limitation of the memory controller on the CPU. Easiest/cheapest as rseven suggested run with 2 sticks if u want to get that motor

 

[jbenish]

Testing Phase 1

I did some testing over the weekend. I wiped the entire machine and then installed two of the 4 chips in the memory. It seemed to work well, but was running at ddr 200.....I thought was odd because I put it in the first two slots, which showed up as not being dual channel. Then I put them in slot 1 and 3 and it showed up as being dual channel but still at ddr200. The system seemed stable and it played a dvd for a long time..... Then I decided to put all four chips in and it worked for a while, but then eventually froze on the DVD. I did how ever set the memory too, Auto instead of manual, which changed the ddr200 to ddr333. I am going to try to change the settings back to ddr200 and see if it's stable.

So here are my questions:
When playing around with the memory timmings is it just a guessing game and you just have to try different settings. Is there some logic to what you choose, or do you just have to try it out? If so what should I be trying or what shouldn't I be trying?

If it's stable with all four chips running at ddr200 would you leave it? --or--
Take out the two chips like you said and run just 1gb?

If I put it in the first two slots like I have read in a couple places it only registers as Single DDR? Shouldn't this be slot 1 and 3 so it runs at dual-channel ddr?

Also with my current setup, If I wanted to over clock it a little bit what would you recommend with my current setup? If I'm only going to be able to run with 1 gb of memory I might want to tweak the rest of the system....but i would like it to be stable.

Thanks for all of your help everyone....I'm new to the whole overclocking process.

Josh

 

[Supershanks]

Slot Colour
1 Green Channel A } 1st Dual Channel Pair Slot 1+2
2 Purple Channel B }

or

3 Green Channel A } 2nd Dual Channel Pair Slot 3+4
4 Purple Channel B }

2 x Same Color = Single Channel.

See also
K8N Neo2 Platinum
Dimm Module Combination

 

[jbenish]

Thanks Supershanks...
I read the slot config wrong and realized it after I typed the message. I remember that i didn't try the Auto setting when I had it in slot 1 &2. Thanks for the reply...I just had a brain fart before.

I do have some questions about the memory settings. Is there a place that i can read up on to determine what i should and shouldn't set my ram too? Also if I do overclocking does this mean that I won't be able to use the Raid port 1&2. I plan on using both ports and have heard the data corruption can occur when you OC this board??

Thanks again!

 

[Supershanks]

your ok up to around 230 ish. I had the comparable 754 which ran happily at 228 24/7 without a hiccup. So vacate 1&2 if u go > 230.

Try The Rebels Haven 4 tips etc.,

luck

 

[jbenish]

What setting do I need to set to get up to 230? I have my raptor in Sata slot 1 and my raid in slots 3 & 4, so I really don't want to vacate slots 1 & 2.

I guess I just want to know my limitations so that I don't fry anything. I wouldn't mind messing around to gain a little power boost, but stability is my main concern. If there any good sites that I can read I would be up for any suggestions.

Thanks for the Help!

Josh

 

[rseven]

There is no PCI/AGP bus lock on SATA controller 1. This means that yu are running the risk of corrupting that drive when overclocking. The only way around it would be to get a PCI SATA controller card and using it instead of the SATA controller 1.