QX9650 Underclocking Problem

[rainman_24]

I've looked at reviews and I think I'll get the OCZ Vendetta 2... it seems to be neck in neck with the meghalems, and is half the price.

 

[rainman_24]

dx38bt ??
http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/dx38bt/sb/d9774201_en.pdf

This is the minimal bios version to support QX9650 : 1478

So trying in vain to get my QX supported by this X38, I follow the steps and download the latest BIOS update. Install it, follow all the steps, and when it restarts itself, the computer will not load. It powers up, but absolutely no signal comes from the computer. Black screen. No BIOS. No Windows. Nothing. I swear I'm going to snap out any minute.

Anyone know what to do when you have power but absolutely nothing boots? Do I have to remove the mobo's battery or something?

 

[Shadowmonk]

Yeah, you can either remove the battery from the mobo and unplug the PSU, or you may have a jumper on the mobo to reset, not too sure about intels layout on those boards. As soon as you do that make sure you go into BIOS and load optimized defaults and reboot again.

 

[muddocktor]

I have no experience with Intel branded boards, but it sounds like you might have had a bad flash when you tried updating the bios. Like Shadowmonk
said, try pulling the cmos battery and jump the clear cmos jumpers for around an hour or so (just to be sure) and then install the battery back and unjump the clear cmos jumper and see if she will boot.

If you do go shopping for a new board, I would recommend that you buy one with the P45 chipset as they run higher fsb speeds better than an X38 or X48 chipset board with these Yorkfield quads. The fsb flexibility is nice to have even with the unlocked multi your QX9650 has.

BTW, my old Gigabyte X38 board has run my QX9650 just fine and is good and stable for the last 1 1/2 years or so. That Gigabyte board you were looking at in an earlier post would probably do you well with yours.

 

[rainman_24]

Hey, thanks for the advice everybody, it has helped a lot. Bad flash indeed... I'm going to see if I can get the bios reset, get my data off the harddrive and sell that mobo. I'm liking the sound of the P45 quite a lot.

 

[Boulard83]

You cant go wrong with a P45.

 

[Flameethrower]

If your running windows vista make sure in power management that high performance is checked. When thats checked it dont matter if speedstep or cool n quiet(amd) is enabled as itll over ride and give the full power to the cpu.