A8N-SLI Deluxe Serious Problems

[tretneo]

I have had this board since the day before Christmas and have not used it heavily so it doesn't get a whole lot of use. See sig for system specs.

I assumed my system was stable since I do not have any in game problems which is pretty much all I use this system for. I have played games such as Doom3 and Flat-Out for periods of 5+ hours at a time.

My problems started yesterday when I got a copy of PCMark04 and did a CPU and Memory test. Shortly into the memory test the system locked up. No blue screen or reboot but just frozen solid (No mouse movement or response of any kind)

I installed Prime95 and ran a stress test and after a few minutes of testing the HD light stays solid and Prime95 seems to stop testing. With other systems it moves onto a second line of testing after 5 - 10 minutes but with this system I let it sit for 20 minutes without change. I was able to stop the test and exit Prime95 as normal.

I downloaded memtest86 V3.2 and ran that via boot-cd and It hangs at about 13 - 14 minutes during test #8.

Troubleshooting Steps:
I have changed the ram timings to 2T command rate and Memtest no longer hangs but I continue to have the same PCMark and Prime95 problems. I have gone so far as to set the following settings with no improvement.
DDR200
3-4-4-8 2T Ram timings
4x CPU multi
1x Hyperthreading

I have also removed the Sound Blaster Audigy card as I have read of other people having problems with these and the A8N-SLI DLX Board. I have used another set of Ram (Corsair TwinX 3200XL 2x512MB) and still have the same issues.

I am not sure if this is a problem with the PSU not being able to handle everything or the CPU's built in memory controller, or the mobo. I am pretty sure the RAM is not bad since I tried the extra RAM. The next step I plan to take is removing one of the Video cards to see if the lack of a second Power hungry card improves things.

Any ideas ???? Help me out.

tret

 

[Insomniak]

Got another CPU around? Memory controller on the A64 may have gone bad for no reason whatsoever that I can discern. Also, might be a DIMM slot.

 

[tretneo]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately I do not have another CPU to test but I did try using Dimm Slots A2 and B2 and had the same results. I suppose I can get an A64 3500+ sometime this week to test. If I still have the same results with 1 less Ultra card and a new CPU then I would have to suspect the mobo.

Any other ideas????

tret

 

[vinayb]

I would suggest updating the bios to 1004... 1002 aqre a bit buggy

 

[tretneo]

1002? I havent used 1002 since two months ago. I have been using 1004 since it was released and actually have 1005.005 atm.

tret

 

[tretneo]

Updated to 1007-002 Bios and removed Second Ultra card and still having exact same hang during the 8MB Raw Write of the Memory portion of PCMark04 Testing. I can only suspect either the Mobo or the CPU at this point. I am planning to order a 90nm 3500+ sometime during this or next week to try out in the system. If I continue to have the same problem I guess I will be ordering a DFI SLI Mobo and RMA'ing this A8N to Asus if the problem is resolved with the new board. I am really hoping that the problem does not prove to be with the FX-55 as I have spoken to the RMA department at AMD before and was told that the chips are checked out when they come in and if they determine the chips to be satisfactory, they go right back to the user. EEK, that scares me because if they are not really picky they will just send it back to me as I do not see windows, gaming or other usage instability aside from running these memory tests.

tret

 

[tretneo]

I decided to see what happens when I tried the same tests while running single channel mode. I took out one stick of Ram and left 1 512MB module in Slot B1 as the A8N-SLI Deluxe manual instructs. PCMark04 Completed the Memory tests this time with Ram timings 2-2-2-7 1T DDR400 Single Channel. Anyone care to guess as to whether this is Mobo or CPU related??????

tret

 

[tretneo]

Both Dimms in Single Channel Mode Dimm Slots B1 & B2 and PCMark04 Completes Memory test with no problems.
Put Dimms Back to Dual Channel Mode Dimm Slots A1 & B1 or A2 & B2 and PCMark04 either Hangs, Reboots or BSOD and Reboot.

So what should I order first to test...... DFI SLI Mobo or A64 3500+ 90nm???????

tret

 

[Regulator07]

unfortunetly i cant tell what to do, but i can say i am having similar type problems. whenever i run prime blend, it either fails in like 2 min or it will go and fail at about an hour, also i ran memtest86+ for about 1400% and got one error in test 7 that occured a couple of times. also my memory will not boot to the 2-2-2-5 cas that it is supposed to when i put it on auto and make sure the dimm voltage is 2.75. pcmark runs fine and so do most other programs that test memory, just not blend, however the other prime tests run fine. i an guessing that it is the motherboard, i just cant see it being the ram as sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. same in your situation, i think the motherboard is the problem, but i dont know if a bios update will fix it (i hope it does as RMA'ing is just a pain). is there a way to specifically test the mem controller on the cpu?

 

[tretneo]

I really don't know of any tests that determine if it is the CPU mem controller or the Memory. I may order a mobo before the CPU since it is cheaper anyway.

tret

 

[thunderroller]

I would suggest updating the bios

 

[vinayb]

One, I had seen some issues of the corsair 3200xl rams with this board... i remember reading it somewhere that the low latencies are a problem. BUT, anandtech, and lots of other reputed websites ran it with the same 2-2-2-5 latency rams, and they succeeded. So I guess that
a)you ask the RAM guy(on corsair), or
b)email asus or
c)contact anandtech
btw, try 2-3-2-5 timings with this board... think it shud work...