Legit Reviews

I just finished building an entirely new computer and I'm having a strange problem. First here's what's in it:

Corsair 620HX
Asus P5K Deluxe
Intel Q6600 (With Zalman 9700)
EVGA Geforce 8800 GTS 320
2x1GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066
2x Seagate Barracuda 500 GB SATA HDD
Lite-On Optical drive that does everything

So here's what's up:
I finish my build, hook everything up, and turn it on. It Posts just fine, I go into the bios setup, and I'm checking everything to make sure it detected everything alright. Everything looks fantastic, and as I'm exiting the screen for my second hard drive it freezes. It just hangs there doing nothing for about 5 minutes until I give up and turn it off. At that point if I turn it back on it seems normal except nothing shows up on the monitor. I powered it down, turned off the PSU, unplugged it from the wall, and let it sit while I went and ate lunch. I came back and turned it on and the bios said "Overclocking Failed" (I didn't change anything in the bios at all except telling it to turn on the CPU fan RPM monitor). It then gave me 2 options to enter the bios or reset to defaults and enter the bios. I reset the defaults, did what I wanted to do in the bios, and restarted the computer with my Vista install disc in. It restarts fine, vista begins loading, and about halfway through it freezes. Same thing as before, I wait a while, turn it off, then when I turn it on it won't do anything. My question is: wtf? Am I having heat problems? I am using an NZXT Adamas case, and while there's a bit of cable clutter there are 2 120mm intakes and a 120mm exhaust plus the zalman. The CPU is reading 36 C in the bios. So there's my problem, can anyone help me?

What revision is your cpu? If it is a G0 it needs a BIOS update (to 0603), but i kinda doubt thats the cause of the lockup.
The "Overclock failed" is by design. Its the Cpu Parameter Recall feature. When you overclock to an unbootable configuration you switch off the PSU and it boots with system defaults and asks you what oyu want to do.
(Be sure to remove the jumpers ftom the seagate drives in order for them to run at Sata 2 mode, mine was preconfigured with a jumper to run at sata 1.5)

What have you done with the memory? Are you on default SPD setting?

Thats all i can say

Edit: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id= ... uage=en-us
It seems people are having problems with 1066 modules. Try one stick only and/or setting them at 800mhz, till the next bios goes official.

The CPU has G0 stepping. I didn't touch the memory, it is running at all defaults with the manufacturer suggested voltage of 2.2V. I removed both jumpers from my hard drives. I tried a third time and got so far as the opening screen of vista installation before it locked up again. I'll try updating my bios to 0603 and see where that gets me, then I'll have a look at that thread. Thanks a lot for your help.

This is probably going to sound stupid, but, if you can at least enter the CMOS setup, maybe you can use something like the utilities on the Ultimate Boot CD to flash your BIOS. It will reset all the settings you have changed back to their defaults. Hey, it helped me when I couldn't get my hard drives in order on my old machine

whowhat wrote:The CPU has G0 stepping. I didn't touch the memory, it is running at all defaults with the manufacturer suggested voltage of 2.2V. I removed both jumpers from my hard drives. I tried a third time and got so far as the opening screen of vista installation before it locked up again. I'll try updating my bios to 0603 and see where that gets me, then I'll have a look at that thread. Thanks a lot for your help.

Before you try flashing, and if you are fine while in BIOS it could be bad memory.

Once you have checked that all BIOS memory settings (like timings and speed) are correct, and that your CPU is running as it should at stock, burn an iso of memtest86+. Run that for a long session 4-8 hours and see if it errors.

Dan

I have the same MB with the GO 6750 processor with the 0414 bios and have not had to upgrade the bios and from what I have read I will wait for another revision of the bios to come out or if I start having problems before I touch the bios setting running fast and stabe so I am goint to let well enought alone, also have the 9700 Zalmen sorry mine is the pain P5K. You might need a bios upgrade after all if it is not a memory problem.