help w/ x38a

M

musifuger

n00b
Joined
Sep 6, 2008
Messages
12
hello all, i just recently put together a fairly decent system for the cash...

intel q9450,
foxconn x38a,
ocz ddr3 1333 reaper 2x2gb,
2x asus 4850 (w/ accelero s1's),
and my first ever ssd, for bit under 200 bucks supertalent 60

anyways, i gently assembled the puter into the wee hours of the morning as usual when just receiving a fresh system. I finally finish getting everything tucked away and pretty, recheck all and she wont even post.

from what ive been able to find the bios is a ami, and the led debug codes should roughly match up with their decumentation. I get a d4 code w/ 1 dimm of ram, d5 w/ 2 dimms and had several other codes pop up without changeing any hardware which hits me as odd to receive different error codes w/o changing anything. The D4/5 codes in an ami pdf point to cmos and ram issues, which i wouldnt doubt is part of the problem. also note i havnt flashed bios because i havnt been able to even post yet.

I have sent off a letter for support from foxconn, but after searching for specifics on this board i wonder if i should just rma it and get a more secure/stable board for another 50-100 bucks. (girl will kill me doing this as i have already spent nearly 1400.) The board appears to work for some people fantasticlly and others not at all, and it looks like a good 50/50 have problems (i know that happy people post much less on forums so the numbers arnt nearly accurate).

I guess im asking your opinions on the matter? or if you know the board and find anything glaring that i may have overlooked along the lines of compatability.

thanks in advance for help/opinion
 
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If you have both the 20/24 pin main ATX connector plugged in, AND the 4-Pin (or 8-pin) ATX12V P4 CPU connector plugged in, then the board should boot fine (unless it requires more power connectors from the PSU). You could try clearing the CMOS.

You could test the PSU. Jump start it (on the main atx connector, short the green wire with any black wire, using a paperclip), and see if it stays on. If not, then its probably a faulty PSU. If it works then you can proceed with the suggestions below. ***NOTE: The paperclip trick is a simple test for those that do not have PSU testers, multimeters, nor a spare PSU to test with. It is not a 100% conclusive test of the PSU.

Setup everything outside of the case, with the mobo on top of its cardboard box. Plug in only the essentials:
- PSU (namely: main 20/24-pin ATX connector and 4-pin ATX12V P4 CPU Connector)
- CPU w/ HSF
- Single stick of ram
- Videocard if there is no onboard video (along with its power connector, if it has one)
- Monitor
- Keyboard
- System speaker/buzzer

* Use a screwdriver if your board doesnt have an onboard power switch. Jump the two power switch leads to turn the power on.

If it won't post, try different RAM slots. If it still won't post, pull out the ram (so no ram in the system) and listen for error beeps. If none, pull the vidcard and listen for error beeps. If none, re-seat the CPU and HSF, then try again. Report back with results if you're still having issues.
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hi thanks for reply, i have tried 2x psu's w/ 1 being new i dont beleive it is the psu (will try paperclip tonight)
i have 24 pin into pwr 1 and 4 pin in pwr2

i have tried everything you have suggested, i receive the error beeps without ram and different (led codes) with 1 and 2 sticks in.

Foxconn suggested i try some non OC memmory which i found they dont support any ddr3 memmory like it says on any of the sites that sell the board, so i purchase a stick of ddr2 800 to try to get a post and now i receive error beeps and still no post.

i am waiting on foxconn again for response for my new memory errors.

i have tried reseating the cpu (w/ hs) several times and it was a tight fit (to squeeze the bar down) the first time i am hoping no pins were bent.

i have read that this boards bios that is preinstalled doesnt support 45nm cpu's and a bios flash is needed, but unfortunatly i am unable to buy a spare cpu just to flash the bios... i am thinking i need to rma this board...

does anyone know what mother board is compatible with ocz ddr3 1333 reaper mem and q9450 cpu off the batt ? i have read that asus is imconpatable now w/ ocz ddr3 and foxconn is now off my list.
 
Why even choose DDR3? Did you get a great deal on it? Because DDR3 offers no performance improvement over DDR2.

That board SHOULD support DDR3, since it advertises such support. It sounds like you either have a defective board or defective RAM. Did you try different DDR2 DIMM slots for the stick of DDR2-800 you bought?

The CPU retention bracket for the LGA775 is always a tight clamp. ;)

An X38 board not supporting 45nm out of the box is ridiculous... if you RMA the board, they should update the BIOS for you.

I suggest replacing the DDR3 RAM with DDR2, and RMA'ing the X38 board with Foxconn, specifically asking for an updated BIOS. If you bought it less than 30-days ago from the egg, just get it replaced by the egg and hope it has a new BIOS. If not, see if you can borrow a friend's non-45nm CPU. If you want another board, check out these two (both of which are DDR2 only):
DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2RB
DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2R

If you think your board simply needs a BIOS flash, you can return your DDR3 RAM, and with the money saved over DDR2, you can pickup a cheap celeron to flash the BIOS with. Then you can sell the cheap celeron to help recoup 80%+ of the cost of that celeron.

If you want to ignore my DDR2 recommendation and get another DDR3 board, here's an egghunt for you. You could actually drop to P45, which will support 45nm out of the box and provide dual 8x PCI-E2.0 Crossfire for those HD4850's of yours.
 
got the board to post today with the stick of ddr2 with the help of foxconn, was faulty psu 6plug..

and i did get a dam good deal on the ddr3 ... egg link at about 50 bucks a pair of 1g sticks is cheap imo....

the performance isnt that great, so i may send back but if i was going to go with ddr2 i would have chosen a different cpu and board probobly

would have been the q6600 and probobly asus p5e del....

i have atleast 1 set of ram to already rma and il get hit with restock fee, but if i send all back will cost me about 70 buck i think in restock fees just to get very slightly less expensive ddr2.

also previously i meant to say that on the site they dont support any ddr3 1333, there are a few 1066 listed but not 1333.
____________

My problem now is that i cant get board to post with ddr3 now, so sucks. from what ive heard is that stock voltage for ddr3 is 1.5 and most sticks are 1.7+ so you need to bump the voltage in order to get post with ddr3, but thats now helping now. i may have to just break down and move down to ddr2, altho as said that pretty much muffs my original design.

anyone gotten ddr3 to work with this board have any nifty tricks :p ty in advance
 
musifuger said:
...
and i did get a dam good deal on the ddr3 ... egg link at about 50 bucks a pair of 1g sticks is cheap imo....

i have atleast 1 set of ram to already rma and il get hit with restock fee, but if i send all back will cost me about 70 buck i think in restock fees just to get very slightly less expensive ddr2.
Click to expand...

Any price premium for DDR3 over DDR2 is not worth it, IMO, on the current intel platform since there is no real world performance difference. So while $52 for 2GB isn't much, $40 is even cheaper and performs the same. Heck, my coworker just got 2GB for $25AR, lol.

The argument in the past between DDR and DDR2 was that the latencies were too high on DDR2. DDR2 compensated for that latency with much higher bandwidth, DDR2-800 over DDR-400. It'll be the same story with DDR3. DDR3-1333 isn't fast enough to compensate for the MUCH higher CAS latency (CL9) compared to DDR2-800/1066 latencies (CL5). DDR3 won't be needed until Nehalem hits later this year... and only then will its performance shine. Moreover, lower speed DDR3 won't perform nearly as good as the higher speed stuff, of course, so it doesnt make sense to buy such low speed DDR3 (with its high latency).

If you return the DDR3 kit(s) and buy DDR2 kits in their place, Newegg will waive any restocking fees. So it will still cost less money to move to DDR2.
 
ohh that is sweet i didnt realize that they would waive the fee if buying more ram... ty for help :) i guess ill move to ddr2 just to save myself trouble in the future.

the main reason for ddr3 was 1:1 w/ memory and fsb but i can do w/o at this point of having a rig that wont run for over a week ill settle for no OCing, mild performance, and being able to run stable.

ty again, eng major here also :)
 
RAM runs at twice the speed of the base FSB. Intel FSB speed is quad pumped. So a 1:1 across the board with a Q9450 is 333Mhz FSB SDR, which makes 1333Mhz FSB QDR and DDR2-667 RAM speed. ;) To get RAM running at 1333Mhz w/ 1:1, you'd need a base FSB speed of 667Mhz. I doubt you'll ever get a quadcore Yorkfield up to 667Mhz FSB SDR on air cooling (stock is 333). :p

/*------------- <cut n paste> -------------*/
Formulas for Intel platform @ 1:1 settings: (base FSB speed is SDR, or single data rate)
c x [Base FSB speed] = CPU speed (c = CPU Multiplier)
2 x [Base FSB speed] = RAM speed (DDR: double data rate)
4 x [Base FSB speed] = FSB speed (QDR: quad data rate; Effective FSB speed)

On Intel platforms, running the RAM higher than a 1:1 ratio with the CPU is, for the most part, useless, so don't bother trying to do so. If the BIOS does it for you, just let it. All you need is a 1:1 config, though. Here's some possible clock speeds (as always with OC'ing, your results will vary):

Q9450: 8 × 333 = 2.6Ghz, 1333FSB, DDR2-667 << STOCK speeds
Q9450: 8 × 400 = 3.2Ghz, 1600FSB, DDR2-800 << Easy OC
Q9450: 8 × 450 = 3.6Ghz, 1800FSB, DDR2-900 << Good OC
Q9450: 8 × 500 = 4.0Ghz, 2000FSB, DDR2-1000 << Great OC, need WC'ing for this, /me thinks
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thanks for info again, i would eventually learn all this in my fumbling through the bios, but your summation was quite nice and will save me a bunch of time.

i see a lot has changed since i last had a intel board (p4d 478)
which was a much more simple oc, basically FSB and cpu voltage. :p

again thanks for your help, believe im gonna stick with a safe bet of Kingston hyperx 1066 ddr2, since Kingston is continually on the supported memory list w/ foxconn.

hopefully i can be trouble free now, and might need to pull my old WC gear out after i get settled in.
 
Simple OC's are still just FSB and CPU voltage. ;) Simple OC's reach much higher than they used to, though.
 
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