View Full Version : PC help needed
Hi guys
Just rebuilt my PC with the following bits
Asus Crossfire Motherboard
AMD X2 FX-62 CPU
4gb OCZ 8500 DDR2
2x 8800GTX
It boots up fine and I can go into the bios so changed that to boot from cd, put in the Vista dvd and all I get is a black screen with a flashing _ in he top left hand side of the screen
Any ideas would be good cause as you can tell I have just spent the odd £ or so.
silvershark44
07-02-07, 17:12
I would guess its a boot error. Have you checked the SPD timings on your ram? As they can default to incompatible timings sometimes on new systems.
Especially with OCZ ram!!
had a problem when installing with 4gb ram. i removed 3gb, installed vista. added the ram back in, and off i went :D
Oh up date I now get "A disk read error occurred press ctrl + alt + del to restart"
is your HDD in good condition?
silvershark44
07-02-07, 17:15
Ok the more I look at your setup the more im sure its a ram issue.
I would therefore check your memory timings, in advanced dram timings, and try setting your memory to run at 2T instead of one.
Your memory controller might be topping out at 1T with 4 gig of ram.
Almost 100% sure its that.
Let me know if you dont understand a word of what ive just said lol
:D
Ok changed it to T2 and I still get a black screen.
HDD is fine well was working 2 hours ago before I changed pc's over.
silvershark44
07-02-07, 17:20
Ok changed it to T2 and I still get a black screen.
HDD is fine well was working 2 hours ago before I changed pc's over.
Ok have you checked the rest of your ram timings?
standard should be quite high i would have thought. Like 4-4-4-12 or something?
silvershark44
07-02-07, 17:23
How many dimms (ram modules) are you using? 4 dimms?
Got 4 moduels
Not sure on timings as its all set to auto
Ok think this may be the problem
the ram is 8500 ram
the mobo supports 800 ram
does this mean the ram I have is too fast for the board? if so is there anyway of slowing it down like you could on DDR1 RAM??
silvershark44
07-02-07, 17:35
Got 4 moduels
Not sure on timings as its all set to auto
Ok i think your memory controller is maxed out completely i would guess. This is becuase you are running very fast ram but in 4 modules not 2 and motherboards tend to hate that.
You need to check what timings your motherboard is trying to run them, as on AUTO it may be pushing them too hard. Especially with 4 dimms.
I hope you werent looking to overclock either, as I wouldnt say this setup has left much headroom for oc-ing.
Say standard timings are 4-4-4-12 (dont know what they are btw just a guess)
That is rated to a completely stable motherboard with just 2 dimms. As you are running 4 dimms, your memory controller is topping out.
Only way to correct this is to either relax your memory timings,
or increase voltage to CPU, RAM, Hypertransport, and mainboard. NOT BY MUCH, try 0.1 voltage incriments only to be safe.
I would suggest you test that its your ram by removing 2 ram modules and see if you can get it to boot that way. If you can then defo a memory controller issue as described above.
One last thing is, I assume you are using an Offical Vista CD, as i have seen loads of copied XP cds in the past that fail to boot from CD. Just dont work for some reason even though all the files are on there etc.
silvershark44
07-02-07, 17:37
Ok think this may be the problem
the ram is 8500 ram
the mobo supports 800 ram
does this mean the ram I have is too fast for the board? if so is there anyway of slowing it down like you could on DDR1 RAM??
YES!
now we are getting there, memory controller issue!
You can slow down your ram. You need to go to advanced dram timings, and change from auto to manual and select a lower speed. Try running at ddr 500 or 566 something like that
Right sorted it
My new mobo only has 1 ide slot however I have 2 cd drives an 2 HDD all on IDE so I mad a noob error of running both 1 hdd and cd drive off the same drive.......DOH!
Need to get some SATA drives
silvershark44
07-02-07, 17:46
Right sorted it
My new mobo only has 1 ide slot however I have 2 cd drives an 2 HDD all on IDE so I mad a noob error of running both 1 hdd and cd drive off the same drive.......DOH!
Need to get some SATA drives
Yeah that was a total noob error!
However your going to have major issues with your ram!
I cant see them working without some major tweaking. You going to have to underclock them and possibly run more voltage on them.
I would visit the OCZ forums through their website, very useful and should help you set everthing up right.
If not your going to need different ram.
btw good luck bud :)
I haven't played with any cutting edge hardware for a while, but the motherboard will run the memory at its (the motherboard/chipset's) maximum speed.
Your PC2-8500 (533Mhz) memory will be running as PC2-6400 (400MHz), and that's perfectly fine..
well vista is installed just got to update all the drivers and off I go.
Well I am now talking to you guys from vista.
Any ideas where I can find vista 64bit drivers for the 8800GTX? the nvidia site returns a blank page
www.guru3d.com should have some.
silvershark44
07-02-07, 19:02
I haven't played with any cutting edge hardware for a while, but the motherboard will run the memory at its (the motherboard/chipset's) maximum speed.
Your PC2-8500 (533Mhz) memory will be running as PC2-6400 (400MHz), and that's perfectly fine..
Thats not actually true at all but never mind.
Thats not actually true at all but never mind.
Really? Unless you overclock the chipset, it'll run at it's maximum spec'd bus speed won't it?
CPU-Z (freeware download from http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-138.zip ) should report the operating memory frequency.
ah my hardware isnt supported by cpu-z yet (now theres a first!)
ah my hardware isnt supported by cpu-z yet (now theres a first!)
:D
It'll also be reported in the POST screen (where the memory count occurs and the processor speed etc is displayed after power-on).
Anyway, it's working so you're doing OK :)
Ah I dont get that either I get the republic of gamers splash screen then vista loads lol
any way of getting opengl32.dll working in vista as I cant run a benchmark without it and I want to see what these 8800's can do.
silvershark44
07-02-07, 20:00
Really? Unless you overclock the chipset, it'll run at it's maximum spec'd bus speed won't it?
CPU-Z (freeware download from http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-138.zip ) should report the operating memory frequency.
In theory yes, however If you bung in ram which is too fast, your motherboard might not automatically limit it to the motherboards top speed. It may just try and hit what the ram wants to do, and hence cause the system to crash etc.
So in terms of trouble shooting for Daston, you cant assume that the ram is only running at a certain speed because the motherboard cant support it. When set to auto commands this if often the case. Thats why you need to manually select speeds etc to setup systems like this properly.
In theory yes, however If you bung in ram which is too fast, your motherboard might not automatically limit it to the motherboards top speed. It may just try and hit what the ram wants to do, and hence cause the system to crash etc.
So in terms of trouble shooting for Daston, you cant assume that the ram is only running at a certain speed because the motherboard cant support it. When set to auto commands this if often the case. Thats why you need to manually select speeds etc to setup systems like this properly.
Well, I've never encountered such a situation in 9yrs of building computers. Admittedly, I don't bother building PCs anymore and so haven't done many in the last year, but I've still never seen a motherboard default to overclocking itself.
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