Updated Abit BD7-Raid and TH7II-Raid Bios. Get them here!

[nigely]

hey hey hey
i didnt have much problem with bios 77, 10 out of 8 it boots
the problem i was having is whenever i boot from the very first time, i get an error message either blue screen or whatever .sys is corupted, with diff speed of overclocking, i get diff message, this system is most amazing one i have ever seen
and now i have fixed, i now not using the fix PCI option and it boots every first time without resetting it

 

[Rainman]

Hmmm, let me get this straight then...

You say if you DON'T use the 'fix' option, it boots every time?

If you DO use the 'fix' option, then it WON'T boot every time... Is this correct?


R.

 

[nigely]

Cold boot problem is not the only problem iam getting
is when my computer is off then when i switch on the first time and it boots to winxp loader then it gives me an error message and i would have to reset it then everything goes fine

 

[LarryJoe]

I haven't tried the 39C yet Mr. N., still running the official 38. I guess I am lucky, I rarely have the cold boot problem. Once in a while I get no video after messing in the bios, but it boots pretty much all the time.

So, I am tempted to try the 39C. Are you seeing positive results with it? Are people reacging higher speeds? I see that folks have tried it here, but has anyone been able to go higher?

 

[gipat]

O.k. I have to try the non fix option and see if it does anything for me. I am only running at 125 mem at 4x cant get the mem any higher and I am not setting it down to 3x, seems senseless to slow the whole sys down to get my cpu higher. To bad there wasn't a 3.5x for mem that would make a world of a dif. That way I can run at 145 (I know the cpu can do that no prob),and the mem at 3.5 = 507 just dreaming. here is a strang and off topic question when I first boot my cha fan is running but if I open hardware doctor it shuts down for about 5 min and starts back up is this strange or normal?

 

[MrNatural]

I haven't tried the 39C yet Mr. N., still running the official 38. I guess I am lucky, I rarely have the cold boot problem. Once in a while I get no video after messing in the bios, but it boots pretty much all the time.

So, I am tempted to try the 39C. Are you seeing positive results with it? Are people reacging higher speeds? I see that folks have tried it here, but has anyone been able to go higher?

So far the feedback has benn pretty good. 9 out of ever 10 has seen positive results. I guess that;s pretty good.

 

[MrNatural]

O.k. I have to try the non fix option and see if it does anything for me. I am only running at 125 mem at 4x cant get the mem any higher and I am not setting it down to 3x, seems senseless to slow the whole sys down to get my cpu higher. To bad there wasn't a 3.5x for mem that would make a world of a dif. That way I can run at 145 (I know the cpu can do that no prob),and the mem at 3.5 = 507 just dreaming. here is a strang and off topic question when I first boot my cha fan is running but if I open hardware doctor it shuts down for about 5 min and starts back up is this strange or normal?

Well you aren't really slowing the system down when you drop it from 4x to 3x. I can get better bandwidth numbers from my memory running at 133x3 that I can with 100x4 to do the default 400/800 RDRAM speed.

 

[gipat]

But if I can get to 125x4 thats 500 but if I go higher I have to drop it down to 3x so even at 145x3 thats only 435 to get the mem at the same spec as 125x4 I would have to run the fsb at 167.

 

[MrNatural]

But if I can get to 125x4 thats 500 but if I go higher I have to drop it down to 3x so even at 145x3 thats only 435 to get the mem at the same spec as 125x4 I would have to run the fsb at 167.

I;ll put it this way. I can get the same bandwidth results from my RDRAM running at around 450mhz 150x3 as I would from my memory running at 500 125x4. Let me see if I can find some numbers around here to show you what I mean.

Ok. Here you go. 2 pics with CPU running at 2.2ghz.

#1. 129mhz FSB x 4 = 516/1032mhz

#2. 170mhz FSB x 3 = 510/1020mhz

 

[gipat]

realy, would never have guesed if you didn't tell me that. I would have just stayed were I was, I thought that all the extra trouble I went to for better case cooling was for nothing, But now I know what I will be doing today.

 

[LarryJoe]

Mr. N. - positive as in they got 100mhz higher or positive in that it solved the cold boot problem or some other annoying bug?

Batboy - have you tried this? If so, care to comment?

 

[Redphex]

I've been testing the 39c for some days now ...
right after flashing the BIOS, my system cold-booted 2 or 3 times, now it's hanging again at every boot.

I still have to go to the bios-setup and exit before booting into windows to avoid bluescreens, too (don't know if anyone else has similar problems ..)

So far - the 39c didn't bring any significant changes for my rig, but it's stable and working well.

My specs/settings:
NW 1.6@2656MHz, 166FSB
Rimms @ 498MHz (300MHz setting)
2/5 AGP/PCI divider - Setting

 

[LutaWicasa]

I'm once again an Intel noob
With the rig in my sig I was able to only get 125 fsb prior to using 39C. With MrNatural's refined bios, I am at 133 fsb w/full speed ram for a few days now. Don't know about cold boot issues as I rarely ever shut down. Highest full load temp thus far has been 48c.
Funny though, I have to use "fix" or she constantly re-boots
After some playing around I'll try and push'er a bit more

 

[Barryng]

I have been following this thread with much interest and it has proved to be very educating about the relationships between the various bus speeds. I previously was not able to reliably clock my 1.8 Gig Northwood beyond a 117 MHz FSB, I now understand (and have proven) why.

At 117 MHz a 4X multiplier results in excessively overclocked RDRAM (117 X 4 X 2 = 936 Mhz). I have just successfully booted at 133 MHz by lowering to a 3X multiplier. Although the machine appears to be stable, this required an uncomfortably high voltage (1.8 volts) and CPU temperatures so I have backed down to something I think is more reasonable.

This now brings me to the essence of this post. I certainly do agree with MrNatural's opinion above that a 3X multiplier does not necessarily result in less bandwidth. However, in some cases, a 3.5X multiplier would still prove very useful and welcome. Here is why.

When I booted at 133 MHz and a 3X multiplier the RDRAM speed was at 399 Mhz. This, of course, is exactly where it should be. Since I am not comfortable running at this speed, I backed off to 125 MHz with a 3X multiplier (4X proves to cause instability and data integrity problems with a 125 MHz FSB). Although Sandra's CPU Arithmetic and Multimedia scores are 6 to 8 % better at 125 Mhz and 3X than at 117MHz and 4X, the memory bandwidth scores are 13% lower. The availability of a 3.5X multiplier would allow me to benefit from the gains of a faster FSB but also allow me to run the memory slightly (and I believe comfortably) overclocked at 3.5 x 125 = 437.5 Mhz.

I am also a bit confused about the actual speed that the RDRAM operates at. I know it is "quad pumped" so, at rated speeds this should be 4 X 100 = 400 MHz. However I keep seeing references to 800 MHz. This implies a 2X multiplier somewhere. I would certainly appreciate anyone who can offer an explanation.

I noticed MrNatural that you are from Florida. I am in the Ft. Lauderdale area. You should know that your efforts and contributions are sincerely appreciated by a large number of people. It amazes me that an individual can provide better software than an organization such as Abit with all their resources. This says a lot complimentary about you.

 

[gone_fishin]

Rhoxs, the RDRAM is said to be PC800 because of its dual channel settup. So 100Mhz X quad pumped X dual channel = PC800.

 

[LXDoctor]

ddr

 

[Cooler666]

I noticed MrNatural that you are from Florida. I am in the Ft. Lauderdale area. You should know that your efforts and contributions are sincerely appreciated by a large number of people. It amazes me that an individual can provide better software than an organization such as Abit with all their resources. This says a lot complimentary about you.

says a lot about Abit's software writing team as well

 

[gipat]

Rhoxs, I was having the same thought the other day. 3x-4x is just to big of a jump, I am running at 150fsb with mem at 3x thats 900 not bad but it will do 1000 so I would have to step down to 125fsb @4x to get this. So with a 3.5 multiplier @145fsb I would get the most out of the mem, or we could just wait for the faster rram to come out, wich shouldn't be long now.

 

[MrNatural]

Rhoxs. As nice as the 3.5x multiplier may sound, sorry to say there is no support for it with the DRCGs which generates the clocks the RDRAM runs off of. Believe me if if it was there then I or Abit would have long jumped on that option.

 

[jdmcnudgent]

says a lot about Abit's software writing team as well

mr natural should be working for the abit software team, and we would prolly end up with better abit products. hats off to mr natural.