Help! DFI s939 NF4 boards -- No POST in Dual Channel

[Darien]

This was a serisously Odd problem guys...

I had to end up buying 2 more DFI NF4 boards and 2 more s939 cpu's to figure out the problem... so though I had ID'd the problem I still have questions.

OK, so my DFI NF4-SLi-DR / Opty 165 (ccbbe 0610 dpmw) blew out on me and I just got the board back from DFI RMA... but guess what NO Dual Channel... I can't even POST in DC.. I've tried everything... 1 stick of RAM.. no problem... but any configuration of DC RAM and forget it...

I know, I know, I know.... the memory controller is on the chip.. it's a bad CPU right????

WRONG!

turns out it's NOT the cpu... I'll try to give you guys the short version.. basically I had to end up buying the extra cpu's and motherboards to Diagnose the problem... so let me introduce the Hardware.

Motherboards:
1. DFI Sli-DR
2. Expert
3. Ultra-D

CPU's:
1. Opty 165 (ccbbe 0610 dpmw)
2. Opty 165 (CCBBE 0616 XPMW)
3. Opty 146

The Test:
The rest of the equipment was idenitcal for testing purposes...
all testing was done outside of the case on the motherboards cardboard box... with solid, known, working equipment.
the RAM was the 2 x 1GB OCZ 4000 XTC...
all periperials were disconnected to rule out as many things as possible.

RESULTS:

All 3 CPU's are able to do Dual Channel No problems whatsoever in my DFI NF4 Ultra-D. No problems at all... can clock well too.. no memtest errors... windows stable.

All 3 CPU's are NOT even able to POST in DC in either the DFI NF4 SLi-DR or the DFI NF4 EXPERT!!

strange as it may seems the inability to POST in DC RAM configuration appears to be due to some defect in the motherboard, while all three chips are just fine in a similar motherboard. What is more odd is that I somehow ended up with two motherboards that are damaged and unable to RUN in dual channel....

btw.. although not completely confirmed the same two boards that can't run DC also seem to have SATA corruption issues. not quite 100% on that... but that's how it appears.

MY QUESTION:

anyone ever hear of this? anyone else had a problem like this... AMD s939 has the memory controller on the chip... every thread I read about this concluded it was a bad CPU... but that's clearly not the case here...

If anyone has input I'll give it a try... aside from that I suppose I have to talk to DFI about repairing my expert and my SLi-DR...

 

[QuietIce]

Will either board post with 2 sticks of RAM NOT in DC??? Have you got another pair of RAM sticks to try? Some boards just have issues with certain RAM companies.

Also, have you re-flashed the BIOS - even if it's the same one you have installed ...?

 

[Darien]

No.. it's 1 stick or nothing... and yes to all the rest....

I've several DIMM's of RAM that have all worked before on this rig...

and I flashed 3 different bios'es

 

[QuietIce]

Hmmm, I need to do some AMD research but I don't know if I can find anything.

I'll keep an eye on the thread, though - maybe a DFI expert will jump in here with a solution ...

 

[Nebulous]

I had 1 DFI Ultra D board out of 4 that had the same exact problem.

3 different cpu's:

FX60
Opty 148
Venice 3800

2 different sets of ram:

OCZ
Gskill
1 stick of cheapo kingston.

Parts used were an 80gb wd hdd, stock heatpipe cooler, pci video card & a OCZ modstream psu.

Only 1 stick of ram in any slot she would boot up no problem, tried 2 sticks in any config and she would not. Someone told me to try a different video card. Sometimes when you get ram issues, the video card is the culprit on these boards.

I could never get mine to run in DC mode, so I gave it a burial out back.

 

[Darien]

I had 1 DFI Ultra D board out of 4 that had the same exact problem.

3 different cpu's:

FX60
Opty 148
Venice 3800

2 different sets of ram:

OCZ
Gskill
1 stick of cheapo kingston.

Parts used were an 80gb wd hdd, stock heatpipe cooler, pci video card & a OCZ modstream psu.

Only 1 stick of ram in any slot she would boot up no problem, tried 2 sticks in any config and she would not. Someone told me to try a different video card. Sometimes when you get ram issues, the video card is the culprit on these boards.

I could never get mine to run in DC mode, so I gave it a burial out back.

LOL... maybe you should have RMA'd it or sold it... hehehe..

yeah I gave you guys the short version... I tried different RAM, different video cards etc... no love.

 

[QuietIce]

It's really a shame that such a great OC'ing boards could have a basic problem like this.

I guess the previous DFI owners kept the problem well hidden, though, or maybe I was just too intent on other things to notice the issue before now. Anyway, it's good to know for future reference - s939 IS my specialty. Maybe I need to pick up a couple of used boards that aren't ASUS. *clicks on Classifieds*

 

[harlam357]

The best advice I've got to give relates to my experience with one of my Ultra-D boards... not necessarily related to single/dual channel ram but I did have a board that was being very picky about booting, fans would spin up and LEDs would light for ~2-3 seconds then quit- no video, no POST what-so-ever. If I can dig up any posts about it I'll link them here later.

The issue ended up being.... video card. Doesn't make much sense, but that was the issue. I pulled my PCI-E card and popped in a PCI card and presto. Now the funny thing is... the PCI-E card I was having problems with I still have, still use, there is nothing wrong with it... and after I got the system repeatedly booting with the old PCI (probably an old Matrox) I popped the PCI-E card back in the system and it began acting fine.

 

[Nebulous]

LOL... maybe you should have RMA'd it or sold it... hehehe..

Sry bub, I'm not going to sell a defective board unless it's for parts. No one here is interested in buying dead boards for parts anyways. DFI Does NOT issue RMA without a sales reciept/invoice. I tried several times with no success.

So, instead of me trying to waste ppl's time with this junk, I just tossed them in the dumpster and life goes on.

 

[Darien]

Sry bub, I'm not going to sell a defective board unless it's for parts. No one here is interested in buying dead boards for parts anyways. DFI Does NOT issue RMA without a sales reciept/invoice. I tried several times with no success.

So, instead of me trying to waste ppl's time with this junk, I just tossed them in the dumpster and life goes on.

right.. I wasn't suggesting scamming anyone.. just being honest and selling it under the conditions that it's not running in dual channel...

I may need to do that with these.. I'll sell them being honest, saying it works, but not in dual channel... at least not with my CPU's

 

[Darien]

OK..

Update with the expert...

I just bought some Kick *** Old Skool BH-5... Corsair 3500C2 xms3502v1.1...

then, while waiting for it... I realized I have a set of Corsiar... and no joke... it turned out to be the EXACT same set... Corsair 3500C2 xms3502v1.1!!!

so when the other set gets here I'll have 4 DIMMS of old skool BH-5.... anyways.. on to the point of this post...

When I set up my Corsair BH-5 in Dual Channel it DOES POST.... it will POST after a CMOS clear... even go into memtest or windows at the most basic default settings.... so IT CAN run DC....

but any change I try to make in the BIOS and forget it.... NO POST... NO Nothing after that... it's either hold down the Insert key for defaults or clear the CMOS for defaults, or nothing...

This sucks, but is still good news in a way... I know the board is atleast capable of DC... so It may be some weird BIOS issue... I will try Loggan's software CMOS clear (again) and a different bios to see it that helps...


also.... my buddy Kitfit1 just asked me to try a unique kind of CMOS clear as well... hopefully something will happen..

I just don't think this is a RAM issue... but I scored some new BH-5 and some new TCCD that I'll try out just in case.

I'll post the results.
thx

 

[Darien]

Well...

No Luck...

I've tried my
OCZ plat. 4800 elites TCCD
OCZ Plat rev. 2 3200 TCC5
OCZ 4000 VX Winbond CH-5 UTT
OCZ 4000 Gold XTC UCCC
Geil Ultra-X 4400 TCCD
Corsair 3500C2PT Winbond BH-5

All of them single channel fine... dual channel nuthin =(

 

[harlam357]

I'm clueless dude... if I still had to guess I'd have to point to the mobo.

However, I must say that's a fine selection of DDR you've got there.

 

[Darien]

I'm clueless dude... if I still had to guess I'd have to point to the mobo.

However, I must say that's a fine selection of DDR you've got there.

Yeah, I'm the man when it comes to old DDR 1

but I'm hosed with these crap DFI boards... one will RMA the other eBay with the condition that DC isn't working... for me atleast... maybe ut would with an 'officially supported' AMD X2 processor... who knows?

 

[QuietIce]

Opty's, X2's (4400 & 4800) it's all the same from every standpoint you can think of except the quality of the chip. The idea I had about the chip didn't pan out. The IMC is exactly the same between 1xx Opty and 2x1Gb X2's - both chip exactly alike except their quality specs. Before I wasn't 100% sure b/c the 2xx & 8xx Opty's are slightly different.

Sorry I can't help with the DFI issue - I've always run ASUS for s939. My first board was an A8N32-SLI and I was hooked, now I've got five of them ...!

 

[Darien]

thx for the help..

DFI agreed to RMA the one board I have a receipt for.. the other is going to flea-Bay