Suddenly won't boot with OC

P

PigCorpse

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 4, 2005
Messages
1,115
Hi

I had my computer running with the following options:

233Mhz
HTT: 4x
CPU: 10x
RAM: 1:!
Vcore: 1.45V
Vdimm: 2.7V (+1V)
PCIE: 101Mhz
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled

It worked fine until now. Now when I boot with that OC, it would freeze right before where it would detect the IDE drives and just get stuck there. Del and Ctrl+Alt+Del won't work. It's basically unresponsive. After a few seconds, it reboots and this time the motherboard disables the OC and everything is fine.

Any ideas?

Clarification: It freezes BEFORE the IDE detection, not during lol.
 
Sounds like your PCI bus isn't locked.


It's strange that it would just suddenly stop working...
 
Yeah, I found it strange that it stopped working for no apparent reason.

How would I lock the PCI?
 
It's in the Bios. If it's not in your bios... then you need to update it to the latest version.
 
Well, I updated my BIOS but according to the changelog, it only adds 7950GX2 support.

However, I found an option called 'Auto Detect PCI Clk'. I enabled and disabled but still no worky.
 
Any more ideas?

Some new info:

This happened right after I disconnected two fans off my motherboard. It's possible that I touched a capacitor or some other metal nearby, but my computer wasn't on (plugged in though).
 
Try plugging the fans back in. It might not be Posting because of a low rpm warning.
 
it does sound like it is that your PCI bus isnt locked..... thats why the HDD ares being recognized.

have you tried putting your HDD in another computer..

maybe it isnt booting because your hdd cannot be pushed to run ata higher PCI speed...

dunno but maybe the HDDs are fried
 
i 2nd the clear cmos thing. then oc again slowly until u get stable. what board u got?
 
@Arcygenical:

I plugged them back in but it still freezes. I tried to emulate how it was before I did anything but still nothing...

@Firebat and rysher:

Will try that, thanks.

@Adidas4275:

You're going to give me a heart attack! lol

The computer doesn't actually make it that far. It freezes and goes unresponsive right before it. When non-OCed, everything is fine and I'm using it now.
 
It's at 101 and I think that's the lock. Minimum is 100.

I think 101 is the lock speed because when I was overclocking it, setting it to 101 solved this problem where it wouldn't POST.

Apparently, this is a common problem:

http://forums.overclockers.co.nz/showthread.php?t=21308&highlight=k8nf

Hopefully they do the same for the K8N Sli series soon. I went from F2 BIOS to F6 and suddenly couldn't overclock, it would hang before detecting IDE drives (very common problem with overclocking on gigabyte nforce4 boards).

Went back to F2 and all is well
Click to expand...
 
PigCorpse said:
It's at 101 and I think that's the lock. Minimum is 100.

I think 101 is the lock speed because when I was overclocking it, setting it to 101 solved this problem where it wouldn't POST.
Click to expand...

That's the PCI-E @ 100 which is normal.

PCI should always be locked at 33
 
The guy you quoted said he fixed the problem by going back to the F2 BIOS. Try doing that, maybe it'll work.
 
I don't really think it's worth it though. I'm on F9 now. Seems a pretty big jump backwards.

Then again, I can finish 1M in SuperPI in 40 seconds when OCed, 47 when not.
 
Most of the time BIOS fixes are pretty insignificant anyways. Take a look at the changelogs and see if the differences are anything that matters to you.
 
!!!

I think I made a little 'discovery'.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1081210

I also had another problem of my BIOS settings being set to default. This happens whenever I cut off the power (by pulling the cord or flipping the switch on the PSU, not just turning off the computer). Well, today, I reseated my GPU's heatsink and when I put it back in, I noticed that my BIOS settings hadn't been lost. I had unplugged my computer but the BIOS settings were still the same.

I went to set my OC again and this time it worked!

But then I went into Windows and tried to OC my GPU a little more and to check the temps, but I took it too far and it crashed. I needed to clean everything up anyway so I turned off my computer and screwed everything in and closed the case. When I turned it back on, it wouldn't POST, no beep, nothing on the monitor, no keyboard lights...

I got really scared, I cleared the CMOS many times but nothing worked. Then it just started working. But then the BIOS settings were reset and now I can't OC again...
 
You arent alone.
My problem isnt as bad as yours but is along similar lines.

When not overclocked, my machine boots every time.
When I cold boot when overclocked, about 80% of the time it will lock just before or just after hard disk detection. I then have to reset the PC which then makes me go into the cmos and save settings. Most times it will then reboot fine and is rock stable in windows. Sometimes I have to go through the whole process again.
My PCI bus is locked at 33MHz and has been verified.

I am using an Enermax 430W PSU that has way less current capability on 12V than my graphics card is specced to need. I overclock the graphics card and run stable for days so it seems that while booting the voltages cant be maintained in a stable fashion.
Your problem sounds like the PSU isnt powerful enough so I suspect that both our problems are down to the PSU.


ps my mobo is the Asus A8N-E NForce 4 with ATI X1800XT graphics.
My previous NForce 3 AGP board didnt have this problem using the same cpu/memory/PSU but a much less powerful Geforce 6800GT.
 
This locking up during POST seems to be common during the OCing process. When I was OCing, I had to try changing many settings to get past POST. Eventually, it worked out and was fine, until now...
 
I have a 430W as well, except mine is a Thermaltake lol.

However, I have a lowly 6600 non-GT. I underclocked it and it still has the same problem.

Thanks for the help though.
 
no probs.

About the losing CMOS settings, both yours and the other threads problem could easily be a low power battery.
It should be easy enough to test this using the battery from another motherboard.
Take care not to get any fingerprints or oil on it as they can run flat quite quickly. To be sure, clean it before placing in the motherboard.
 
So it's really come down to this:

I unplug it, plug it back in, and turn it back on:

A. If the Detecting IDE drives stage detects the SATA channels, then the BIOS was reset and I will not be able to OC no matter what.

B. If it doesn't, then the BIOS was not reset and I will be able to OC it perfectly.

(I used the SATA detection because I disable SATA so if it's getting detected, the BIOS was reset, no other reason for that)

Strange isn't it?
 
I would make sure it is definitely a PSU problem.
If so, you will get odd behaviour and have to live with it or buy another suitable PSU.
 
ah I see, I thought that was the one you replaced.
Its worth trying another PSU as even if it does the same, it narrows down what the problem is due to.

I'll re-read to see if theres anything else worth checking.
Ultimately though if something needs checking, its worth doing it :)
Each time we remove something from the list of things to check, the picture gets a little clearer.
 
lol

Well, you don't actually have to. Spend your time doing whatever else you want to do.

For now, I have a temporary solution: Unplug the thing and keep trying until it works.
 
As this happens only while overclocked, perhaps you have exceeded the limit of the CPU?
If you clock down a little, does the same thing occur?
If so, at what clock speed does it start to behave again?


Assuming that all the hardware is correctly plugged in and there are no dirty connections etc, and you arent pushing the memory and chipset voltages already, the following may help.

Something is clearly not running as well any more and may still be able to function if given a little extra power.
Try upping the chipset voltage and the memory voltage, separately, by up to 0.2V and see if anything improves.
You can increase them both if it still fails, to test the case that both the chipset and ram are having trouble running at the overclocked speed.
 
Well, I'm not sure what the problem is, but I'm pretty confident that my OC is stable.

I think it just has something to do with the BIOS messing up the settings and not applying the OC correctly.
 
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