Overclock help

[Boojak]

In early 2011, I was attempting an overclock and finally got a stable 4.6ghz overclok after weeks of trying (I stressed tested the CPU for 24 hrs and reported with no BSODs). Since then, I have no problem with my stable overclock so far (while gaming, etc.) - however I did get some BSODs sometimes - just rare. Nothing major.

Until a few weeks ago when my PC won't boot at all when I press the power button - no fans spinning, no LED, no beeps. This problem is triggered only when I unplug everything, clean everything inside the case and plug everything back in. Sometimes, I fixed the issue by booting the PC only with the power supply cable - sometimes it's just luck - as in, the PC will boot after a 22nd try or something.

Not really sure what caused that anyway, but maybe it was because of the new additions that I've had added to my PC (a SSD and an extra HDD). Today, my PC won't ever boot. Resetted the CMOS battery and the problem is gone for good. Now I'm going to try to get a stable overclock again.

I want the same speed (4.6gHZ) but I'm really not sure what other value to change first for a stable overclock. The following below is my original Overclock values that were stable for a year or so until my additions came (SSD and HDD):

Target CPU Turbo Mode Speed: 4600 mHZ
Target DRAM Speed:1600 mHZ

BCLK/PEG Frequency: 100
Turbo Ratio By Per Core: 46

Memory Frequency: DDR3 - 1600mHZ
EPU Power Saving Mode: Enabled
Enhanced Intel SpeedStep: Enabled
EPU Setting: Auto

Load-line Calibration: High
VRM Fixed Frequency Mode: 350
Phase Control: Extreme
Duty Control: T.Probe
CPU Current Capability: 100%
CPU Voltage: Offset Mode
Offset Mode Sign: +
CPU Offset Voltage: 0.035
CPU Spread Spectrum: Auto

Hyper-threading: Enabled
Limit CPUID Maximun: Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enable
Intel Virtualization Technology: Disabled

Turbo Mode: Enabled
CPU C1E: ENabled
CPU C3 Report: Enabled
CPU G6 Report: enabled

 

[Boojak]

...Anybody there?

 

[Hagrid]

I think some information is needed. A complete list of hardware in the computer would be very helpful, and OS, etc.
Ahh. nvm, its in the second post.

Have you tried it at stock speeds?

 

[Boojak]

Since resetting the CMOS battery, there's no problem with the stock speeds so far.

 

[Riccochet]

PSU not providing adequate power.

 

[doug_7506]

Hey,

We have very similar boards. I was experiencing the same problems; however, resetting the CMOS did not fix my problem.

My issue was my motherboard. It died slowly. I was using a 520W PSU that was 5yrs old. I ending up RMA'ing the board and buying a new PSU. Turns out my PSU was fine and the motherboard was bad. I know this since my new PSU had the same problems when connected to the old board.

Our board when they fail b/c of overclocking will reset to default. (This is what it says in manual). So I don't think its the OC that is affecting you. Since your symptoms sounds very familiar to how mine did right before it died I would check to see if it is still under warranty and contact ASUS.

Hope this helped

ps. OCing these boards are pretty easy. Just set performance to high and your multiplier to 45 or 46. Watch your temps and it should be fine.

 

[ob1]

Restore optimized defaults from bios. Take temps at stock speeds idle and load. Change only multi to 4.2, take temps again. Increase multi by 1 and take temps again. Repeat until your temps are too high or it won't boot or you are satisfied with speed. Personally mine will do 4.8, but I run it at 4.5 because I like the cooler temps.

 

[Boojak]

Well, this is interesting. I've just re-loaded my OC profile (the same stable profile from last year) and so far, everything is still working. With the OC profile on, I've then unplugged everything, drained the PC power and tried to see if I can boot the PC. Yep, it did boot. Tested two times.

PSU not providing adequate power.

I forgot to mention my PSU in my sig, sorry. Anyways, I don't think a SSD and an extra HDD give so much power. Don't think it was the PSU.

I've just realised... this whole Boot problem happened WHEN I added a new HDD to my PC. And it happened again when I sent my old HDD for warrenty and installed a SSD. I'm guessing it was some kind of BIOS conflict... ? Something, or whatever. So the PC simply fails.

Hey,

We have very similar boards. I was experiencing the same problems; however, resetting the CMOS did not fix my problem.

My issue was my motherboard. It died slowly. I was using a 520W PSU that was 5yrs old. I ending up RMA'ing the board and buying a new PSU. Turns out my PSU was fine and the motherboard was bad. I know this since my new PSU had the same problems when connected to the old board.

Our board when they fail b/c of overclocking will reset to default. (This is what it says in manual). So I don't think its the OC that is affecting you. Since your symptoms sounds very familiar to how mine did right before it died I would check to see if it is still under warranty and contact ASUS.

Hope this helped

ps. OCing these boards are pretty easy. Just set performance to high and your multiplier to 45 or 46. Watch your temps and it should be fine.

That's interesting to know. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks.

I agree, it wasn't the overclock after all. There's another possbility - since, this happened when I added a HDD and SSD... well, I don't know why but after reloading the same OC profile, everything is back to normal now.

Restore optimized defaults from bios. Take temps at stock speeds idle and load. Change only multi to 4.2, take temps again. Increase multi by 1 and take temps again. Repeat until your temps are too high or it won't boot or you are satisfied with speed. Personally mine will do 4.8, but I run it at 4.5 because I like the cooler temps.

I remember that's what I did, but I got BSODs after stress testing. So I changed the other settings and everything worked fine.

 

[doug_7506]

I've just realised... this whole Boot problem happened WHEN I added a new HDD to my PC. And it happened again when I sent my old HDD for warrenty and installed a SSD. I'm guessing it was some kind of BIOS conflict... ? Something, or whatever. So the PC simply fails.

Could be.

For the life of me, I could not get my comp to not BSOD when I tried to add in my raid. I built it with the SSD. Everything worked fine. Went to add the hdd raid setup and it would BSOD on me a lot. Nothing I tried fixed it. Fortunately I had a cheap RAID pci card laying around that solved the problem.

 

[Boojak]

Scratch that. Ignore what I said. I've woke up and tried to boot the PC, the same thing happened again!

Resetting the CMOS battery didn't work. Even though I had already drained the power out of the PC, resetting the CMOS still didn't work. Wait, actually, should I have unplugged the PSU cable from the motherboard and powered the PC to ensure 100% removal of any electricity?

Anyways, I've left the PC alone and went to do some research on my laptop. I was thinking "Maybe, my PSU doesn't give enough power or it's faulty". I don't even know if a 650w PSU is enough for an overclock anymore.

Here are some pics of the PC

Built this in late 2010. This consists of 11 cooling fans, a HD6970, 4 red LED spines, etc. All of that plus 2 HDDs and a SDD... still enough for a 650w PSU? I dunno. I wish I have a PSU meter to find out..

This boot problem never happened before when I got an 2nd HDD and a SDD. I've had a stable OC for more than a year. This boot problem started happening when I got an extra HDD and SSD.

Anyways, before when I'm about to unplug my PC and remove the PSU and use it on my 2nd PC to ensure if the PSU is working properly, I've decided to give the dead PC another spin and power it up for the last time. Miraculously, it actually booted. I didn't do anything! It just decided to boot...

Maybe it's the PSU... maybe it's my motherboard. I don't know. But I'm not going to overclock again. For now, I'm gonna stay with the stock settings and see if that will trigger same problem again.

 

[Boojak]

Update: The PC just crashed and shut down. Can't boot anymore. This was under STOCK settings.

So, it's a mobo issue?

 

[doug_7506]

Update: The PC just crashed and shut down. Can't boot anymore. This was under STOCK settings.

So, it's a mobo issue?

I would think so. It sounds like you are having the exact same problem as me. I was thrown off too. If you PSU is just a year old I really doubt it is the PSU. The test system at Anadtech was only using 370 under load. I doubt your 11 fans and extra HDD push you to 650w.

I really think it is the MoBo. Since you have two systems pop your PSU in the other system and see if it runs fine.

Is the MoBo still under warranty?

 

[Boojak]

I would think so. It sounds like you are having the exact same problem as me. I was thrown off too. If you PSU is just a year old I really doubt it is the PSU. The test system at Anadtech was only using 370 under load. I doubt your 11 fans and extra HDD push you to 650w.

I really think it is the MoBo. Since you have two systems pop your PSU in the other system and see if it runs fine.

Is the MoBo still under warranty?

I'm not sure if the motherboard is still under warranty, but according to the Asus website, the motherboard allows 3 years. I bought the mobo from Aria PC and just found out that they don't have the product anymore (discontinued). I'll call Asus tomorrow to find out. Hopefully I get a successful RMA.

I really hope it's the mobo. It'd be a shame if a replacement of the mobo doesn't fix the problem. I'll try to do many tests : try to boot PC with only one RAM card, a single HDD, no graphic card. And then See what happens. If that all fail, then ill use the PSU on my 2nd PC.

 

[doug_7506]

Good Luck