Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 + ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA + ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[pyjujiop]

Glad to see these old boards are still going strong for people. I had the 775Dual-VSTA for a long time, E4300 at 2.4 GHz on it. Was still going great when I sold it on this site a few years back. Never ran VSTA on it, though.

 

[tweakboy]

Go to BIOS and choose load optimized or defaults on each page,, then your BIOS is reset and we can take it from there. gl

 

[doubleOseven]

Running Mobo: 4coredual-vsta with E2180 at 290FSB on 1:1 2T on windows 8 rock stable and fast for such a set up.
Bios 2.39a from pctreiber also
Windows 8 32bit made this system incredibly fast compared to XP and more stable.
Give you some more specs info soon when I get more time.

Running Windows 8? That's very cool. Which version of 8? I was thinking of installing Win 8, 64 bit professional on my 4CoreDual-Sata2, which runs an e7600 and 4gb PC2-6400 ram... works pretty fast, and reliable. I thought Windows 8 is more for tablets than Desktops... so I"m not sure who well it would work in such an environment. Right now I run XP 32 bit pro, and it works ok... not great though

 

[Deleauvive]

However, is it recommended to enable both, or is it a case that I should enable one but not the other?

Enhanced Halt State (C1E) is the standard (optimal) way Dual / Quad cores operate :
Oscillating between x6 and your default or set CPU ratio, depending on the CPU load.
SpeedStep has more to do with energy savings IMHO (adequate for laptops and such).

Don't quote me on that, but I think some desktop computers made by Dell (and possibly other manufacturers) use SpeedStep as default, having in mind C1E cannot be switched manually. Meaning, if you have both at your disposal, you should be fine with C1E (and Thermal Throttling if you're interested in this obscure "overheating security feature").

I'm using 4 gigs of Kingston HyperX DDR2-6400 (800), CL4. I use 3-3-3-9 and 1t timings.

Nice indeed. May I ask your DRAM Frequency / Flexibility Option as set in the BIOS ?

 

[doubleOseven]

Enhanced Halt State (C1E) is the standard (optimal) way Dual / Quad cores operate :
Oscillating between x6 and your default or set CPU ratio, depending on the CPU load.
SpeedStep has more to do with energy savings IMHO (adequate for laptops and such).

Don't quote me on that, but I think some desktop computers made by Dell (and possibly other manufacturers) use SpeedStep as default, having in mind C1E cannot be switched manually. Meaning, if you have both at your disposal, you should be fine with C1E (and Thermal Throttling if you're interested in this obscure "overheating security feature").


Nice indeed. May I ask your DRAM Frequency / Flexibility Option as set in the BIOS ?

Thanks! Ok, I'll use just the C1E, and turn off the SpeedStep. If it works, great!

My settings are:
DRAM Frequency [266MHz {DDRII533)]
Flexibility option [Disabled]

I keep it at the DRAM frequency of 266, because that way I get a 1:1 ratio, as opposed to going to a DRAM speed of 333, which doesn't appear to speed things up, and some say might make it less stable.
See: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2262/3


I actually tweaked the timings on my RAM a bit more since I last posted here... I now run it at 3-3-3-8 1T. The 8 (Tras) gives me a bit of an improvement in speed. Memtest86+ passes just fine after 10 passes. Prime95 stable for 24 hours.

Is there a tool where I can dump my bios settings into a text file? I see that some posters here copy their entire bios settings on this forum, and I'm not sure how they do it.

Thanks again... I'm real pleased with my setup. I think my next 'upgrade' will be a change in the OS, from Windows XP 32 bit Pro, to Windows 8, Pro 64 bit. I figure the 64 bit OS will help make things more efficient, and better memory management (4GB issue), although I appreciate that the Via chipset on these boards is limited to just 4GB ram.

 

[Deleauvive]

Is there a tool where I can dump my bios settings into a text file?

Not directly, but the registered version of AIDA64 (the follow-up to Everest) will provide you plenty of readings in terms of hardware detection.

I'm real pleased with my setup.

Then keep it that way. Some measurements show a very marginal speed increase with Microsoft's 64-bit OSes, except for programs specifically made for 64-bit computing (i.e. technical or scientific). In fact, most processes and common programs run perfectly fine in 32-bit, which means the WOW64 subsystem routines may even slightly degrade overall performance.

As for Windows 8 itself, apart from a presumably better compatibility with newer games, it is a matter of taste I guess. The Metro interface, so-called "slick" visuals, and the lack of a shutdown button puzzled me (even though the former can be disabled, or at least hidden). I decided to stick with Vista until an actual follower to Windows 7 as a desktop OS is issued.
Also, have in mind the VIA chipset and peripherals from our beloved Asrock may never receive certified Windows 8 drivers.

...4GB issue, although I appreciate that the Via chipset on these boards is limited to just 4GB ram.

It's a limitation inherent to the 32-bit architecture, not an issue.
3328 out of 4096 MB (81%) are still available, which is not that bad considering you run XP and not any of the newer OSes.

Finally, 1:1 ratio is indeed the way to go for increased stability, especially when overclocking. Nevertheless, running the ram @333 or even @400 MHz would increase efficiency, even with loosened timings. That is, in the hypothesis the PT880 could handle such speed of course.

 

[Sparkion]

Ok guys,

Another problem:

I got my e5400 (great cpu: 13,5 x multiplier). Did bsel mod to 266 FSb , no voltage mod, so no extra strain on the board.
FIne booted in windows. everything worked fine on 3,6 GHZ
Then started to do a little test. Crash to black screen...
Fine, no prob this happens. Normally restart or reset/clearing of cmos is fine to get it start again.

But now it wont boot properly. Only fins spinning, HDD spinning , everything is on! But no beep and also no videosignal.

What I did so far:
- cleaned the Bsel mod of, both of my e4500 and my e5400, and tried both with stock cpu as they are
- cleared CMOS of course, so stock settings
- 3 different power supplies: still blank screen, startup, everything spins adn is on but no beep adn no video post!
- with and without memory, also just 1 dimm, also with different memory, also with ddr instead of ddr2
- with different videocard
- without hdd attached
- did all this again with board out of case so it couldnt accidentally shortcut anywhere.

Ive got a feeling the board is not dead, because i had this issue before while overclocking cpu, just had to turn it of entirely adn reset bios and some patience etc.

All other parts are fine. And it does this with both cpu's so, think those are fine also.

What can it be... (bios bricked, through a crash in windows? Is that even possible?)

Suggestions?

 

[Deleauvive]

started to do a little test

Like what ? Benchmarking ?

cleared CMOS of course, so stock settings

By shortening the 2 pins on CLRCMOS1 for a few seconds you mean ?
I presume you did this, since you didn't have access to the BIOS at that point.

Try plugging the ram on a different slot each time :
1 DDR module on the first blue slot, then on the second one.
1 DDR2 module on the first yellow slot, then on the second one.
Do this many times, plugging and unplugging the power cord for a few seconds each time.

If that doesn't work, try removing the CMOS battery for a few hours.
The next morning, make sure only the CPU+cooler, ram and VGA are plugged in and try again.

Do all this with the e4500.

 

[doubleOseven]

I once had this problem, and what I had to do was discharge the capacitors on the motherboard. So... try this... after you've unplugged the power cord to the power supply, then (this sounds counter-intuitive), push the power button on the computer case as if you're going to start up the computer. There may be some power left in the power supply and the capacitors on the motherboard such that the fans may spin a bit and/or the motherboard may beep etc... this will discharge the capacitors. Then, after you've done that, clear the cmos by shorting out the jumper for a few seconds... After that, with the RAM properly inserted in the sockets (and make sure your video card is seated properly etc), then close up the computer case, plug back the power cord to the computer, and start it up... If this doesn't start it, then I'm thinking you have a failed part somewhere (be it the motherboard or whatever else)

 

[Sparkion]

Ok guys,

Yes the test was nothing more then the windows experience index! I Always do that as a quick first test, before an eventually thorough benchmark.
Again the screen went black and rebooted.. only it didnt properly reboot!

I sort of tried your suggestions already and yes with the e4500, but I will again over night and tomorrow.

Let s hope the mobo didn't die while i just bought somebody's e5400 last week.. what are the odds huh...
Thnx for help though.. keep the suggestions coming please!!

 

[Hlafordlaes]

I've had the board go dark on me, especially after a BSEL mod on an E4500 went bad. Follow all the previous advise, and if that doesn't do it, try cleaning the CPU socket and the CPUs again.

Once you've done the unplugged PSU start routine, then cleared the CMOS, try booting the board with one stick of RAM and the video, nothing else, without making changes several times in a row. The BIOS boot recovery sometimes needs to successfully count up to giving you a default boot, which may undo whatever setting is fouling up the system and get you to the BIOS finally.

As for BSEL mods, I later discovered they are not required on the later pc-treiber BIOSs. Set the FSB to 266, reboot, and from then on, if overclocking in sync mode, PCIe climbs as if the CPU is natively 266.

 

[Sparkion]

Thnx Halfordlaes,


I ve had a black screen also before but always after a few resets the board would start up again.
I will try it again as you said as I did all those things before. so far nothin but I ll keep trying.

One thing I noticed: I have a pc speaker attached to the board, and it doesn't beep (it did before when everything was working), however... when I turn the pc on I hear 1 or 2 clicks from the pc-speaker.. the association is, like a signal is not coming through, stuck/cut off if you know what I mean.


IF and/or when I will be able to start it up again.. about your second point:
By using pctreibers biosses: What your saying, the pci and memory dividers wil be set to standard values again once I ve chosen 266 mhz on fsb ( as opposed to 266 default fsb through bsel modm where dividers are default because CPU is 266 as 'standard' bus speed)

I inspected the board closely: no broken/bulged capacitators, no lose VRM's no colorization on any place on the board.

_______________________________________
"This isn't right, this isn't even wrong." - Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958), upon reading a young physicist's paper

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Yes on getting all the right dividers (1:1) and normal CPU\PCIe synch using DDR2 PC2-6400 at FSB 266 and above on 2.39a on the VSTA with the E4500 with no BSEL mod. No CPUz shot since now on E7600.

All as above, take out battery, short CMOS overnight.

If no go, try other PSU if poss. Make sure vid card and mem stick are OK on another board, monitor connection perfect, etc. Also, replace battery if it's been awhile.

ETA: unplug the pc speaker, and any internal USB wiring, and the ethernet cable. might as well go nuts.

 

[doubleOseven]

Hlafordlaes has made excellent suggestions. I'll just add one more, which should be obvious, but needs to be mentioned anyway.... Make sure that the power supply is properly hooked up to the motherboard with not just the main power connector, but also the 4 pin power connector, the ATX 12 volt lines. (sometimes one forgets that one!).

 

[Sparkion]

Thnx Bond,

And of course i did this. Also did i try 3 different power supplies. It didn't change a thing. Also 3 different agp cards. All of which I know from that they are working.

I did all that Hlafordleas said of course. Also letting it sit without abtterya dn power overnight+reset cmos. However, so far nothing.

But the strangest thing happened 1 hour ago:

I tried with different memory modules on different slots in different settings: ddr or ddr2, single or duos.

I ve the mobo on a wooden board, to eliminate every possible short.

Now I took 1 ddr stick on slot one. I booted, while keeping pressure on the board to counteract for a little natural bent-ness (nice word huh ) of the board, trying to let it be as flat/straight as visually possible. To test for cracks in the circuit.

I told about the clicks on the speaker: That happened again, but then 5 seconds later, it started to beep. At least 3 long beeps, I think it kept beeping. And they were definitely LONG BEEPS.

I manageed to reproduce that one more boot with both DDR sticks in.
Long beeps, but it didn't show anything, after that I wasn't able to reproduce this again, also not with DDR2.

Now the really weird thing. I of course immediately searched for the beep code for the Ami bios. And guess what, there is no 3 long beeps (or more) - code.

And yes before you guys ask I've got enough experience with building pc's over the years to recognise a long beep or a short.

Ideas?

________________
"His ignorance is encyclopedic" Abba Eban (1915-2002)

 

[Micun]

Hello. I am new to this forum. I need little help from you guys.

I have a chance to buy this configuration. I won it on auction on ebay but I did not payed yet because I wanted to be sure is it smart and worth of this money. Configuration is next:

4CoreDual-SATA2 R 2.0

Intel Core2Duo E7500 2,93GHz

3gb of DDR2 667 RAM CL5 I dont know what brand

AC Freezer Pro7


all of this cost is 64$ so is this worth it???


Also I had won on auction Sapphire HD 4830 512mb for 31$


My main question is: will this card work slower on this motherboard 4x pcie?

I see that last official bios support this card so will it work with full potential or not?

I read that without volt mod or like that it can go 290 fsb so that would be my goal.

If anything I need to know about this motherboard pleas tell me.


I wanted to upgrade for cheap.I have doubt is is better to buy this configuration or just buy better asus or gigabyte motherboard and overclock my old processor which is:

Core 2 duo e4600
asrock 775i65G
2*1 ddr1 400 Kingstone 3-3-3-8
6800 GT

I am not some gamer but I would like to play Just cause 2 and Saints raw 3

 

[Hlafordlaes]

@Micun,

Obviously those of us still in the thread love these boards, with -SATA 2.0 being the best, among other reasons because it can take better processors.

But these boards are now long in the tooth and, especially, not all that much different from your 775i65G board (I have one, where my E4500 now resides). The use of SATA over IDE drives, access to PCIe cards (that are PCIe 1.1 compatible), and the poss. of using 4GB mem (less once in Windows) are all the upgrade you'd get.

I'd say go with a used or cheap board that can handle Ivy Bridge gen chips. But if you do buy, yes, you can get fairly decent performance out of the 4x slot. The better the card, tho, the more the hit.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Thnx Bond,

And of course i did this. Also did i try 3 different power supplies. It didn't change a thing. Also 3 different agp cards. All of which I know from that they are working.

I did all that Hlafordleas said of course. Also letting it sit without abtterya dn power overnight+reset cmos. However, so far nothing.

But the strangest thing happened 1 hour ago:

I tried with different memory modules on different slots in different settings: ddr or ddr2, single or duos.

I ve the mobo on a wooden board, to eliminate every possible short.

Now I took 1 ddr stick on slot one. I booted, while keeping pressure on the board to counteract for a little natural bent-ness (nice word huh ) of the board, trying to let it be as flat/straight as visually possible. To test for cracks in the circuit.

I told about the clicks on the speaker: That happened again, but then 5 seconds later, it started to beep. At least 3 long beeps, I think it kept beeping. And they were definitely LONG BEEPS.

I manageed to reproduce that one more boot with both DDR sticks in.
Long beeps, but it didn't show anything, after that I wasn't able to reproduce this again, also not with DDR2.

Now the really weird thing. I of course immediately searched for the beep code for the Ami bios. And guess what, there is no 3 long beeps (or more) - code.

And yes before you guys ask I've got enough experience with building pc's over the years to recognise a long beep or a short.

Ideas?

Yes, sounds like a loose soldering prob. This might be able to be fixed by sticking the board in the oven. Here's the first thing I found googling; you are sure to find more. The method can and does work.

 

[Micun]

@Micun,

Obviously those of us still in the thread love these boards, with -SATA 2.0 being the best, among other reasons because it can take better processors.

But these boards are now long in the tooth and, especially, not all that much different from your 775i65G board (I have one, where my E4500 now resides). The use of SATA over IDE drives, access to PCIe cards (that are PCIe 1.1 compatible), and the poss. of using 4GB mem (less once in Windows) are all the upgrade you'd get.

I'd say go with a used or cheap board that can handle Ivy Bridge gen chips. But if you do buy, yes, you can get fairly decent performance out of the 4x slot. The better the card, tho, the more the hit.

Are you saying it is not worth it? e7500 over e4600 overclocked. Is Sapphire HD 4830 will work full with this board or not?

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Are you saying it is not worth it? e7500 over e4600 overclocked. Is Sapphire HD 4830 will work full with this board or not?

I am only saying that you can find a more powerful motherboard and cpu combination at a very similar price that is more future-proof. Still, the total amount you quoted is low, so no real big loss, and as you see on this site, there is still a good source for info if and when you buy.

Your choice. Check ASRock for officially supported cpus on the -SATA 2.0, plus the latest pc-treiber bios to see if any other proc support was added. You can definitely go for the 8xxx series Core2s.

 

[Sparkion]

I am only saying that you can find a more powerful motherboard and cpu combination at a very similar price that is more future-proof. Still, the total amount you quoted is low, so no real big loss, and as you see on this site, there is still a good source for info if and when you buy.

Your choice. Check ASRock for officially supported cpus on the -SATA 2.0, plus the latest pc-treiber bios to see if any other proc support was added. You can definitely go for the 8xxx series Core2s.

Indeed, if you re nostalgic and love AGP, go ahead , this will be the fastest you can get i.c.w. the right other hardware like Memory!

Practically: BANG for Buck speaking...:
You'd better by a newer system, with PCI-e, a better cpu with more cache and ddr3 (which is the cheapest memory by far!)


____________
"I think it would be a good idea." - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), when asked what he thought of Western civilization

 

[Sparkion]

Yes, sounds like a loose soldering prob. This might be able to be fixed by sticking the board in the oven. Here's the first thing I found googling; you are sure to find more. The method can and does work.

Hehe the good old oven trick! Dont it on many laptop motherboard with a high succes rate.

Problem with a pc motherboard:

Those capacitators are not that good regarding Heat resistance, comparing to those laptop boards. (hardly none on those boards adn different type! (not electrolitic)

But I think, my only hope might be the oven trick or the heat gun!

Which one of the two would you guys suggest? Or any other suggestions. Who knows what 3 or more long beeps mean on an AMI bios?


______________
"Don't be so humble - you are not that great." - Golda Meir (1898-1978) to a visiting diplomat

 

[Deleauvive]

Or any other suggestions. Who knows what 3 or more long beeps mean on an AMI bios?

Not too sure either, but it might be that your BIOS itself went berserk after the CPU upgrade.
An idea that came to mind was performing some offline reprogramming of the BIOS, if such thing was possible with the Asrock. Meaning physically extracting the EEPROM, and flashing the BIOS anew with an external device. Lastly, inserting it back with the default settings, which your BIOS might not hold anymore despite your attempts. This procedure isn't really an option for many users, that's why DualBIOS (tm Gigabyte) was invented.

Intel Core2Duo E7500 2,93GHz
3gb DDR2 667 RAM CL5

The 2+1gb implies you won't benefit from Dual Channel, since it requires 2 identical modules.
Also, different brands running at slightly different speed might even harm performance a bit.

will this card work slower on this motherboard 4x pcie?

Expect a performance hit of about 5% . As Hlafordlaes said, the bigger the card, the more it will disappoint, at least during benchmarks. The HD 4830 is among the most powerful it can deal with.

This mobo is cheap for a reason :
1. Its overclocking potential is relatively poor, especially in terms of voltage adjustment
2. The BIOS needs serious tweaking to get it going (fortunaly, that's not a big problem thanks to such threads on Anandtech)
3. It's a rehash of a series of P4 class mobos, with a VIA chipset your grandma would probably frown at (the PT880)

I think this particual Asrock + any e7xxx with the help of "the mild overclocking" you're aiming at make a great pair as the basis for a computer one would use for routine tasks, or at the disposal of untrained users. It cannot compete with today's (or even 3-4 year old) gaming rigs, even AMD based.

 

[doubleOseven]

Are you saying it is not worth it? e7500 over e4600 overclocked. Is Sapphire HD 4830 will work full with this board or not?

Yes, the 4830 will work with this board, if you use the latest bios (get the PCtreiber 2.20a bios), and turn off in the bios 2 settings ... PCIE Downstream Pipeline must be Disabled in BIOS, and also PCIE VC1 Request Queue must be Disabled.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I was given a 775Dual-VSTA, 2x2GB DDR2-800, with an E2180 2.0Ghz Pentium dual-core installed, and a video card.

I tried booting it, and I just got a black screen, and no beep from the speaker I attached.

I then tried removing all of the RAM (after trying a different video card), and I got three slow beeps. So the CPU is working, and booting the BIOS.

So I had the brilliant idea of putting only one 2GB stick of RAM in, thinking that these boards cannot handle over 2GB of RAM.

It worked!

But there's some strangeness. With either stick of 2GB RAM, in the closest DDR2 slot to the CPU, the BIOS only registers 1024MB of RAM, even though it lists a 2048MB stick in that slot. With a 2GB stick of RAM in the furthest slot, the BIOS registers 2048MB of RAM, and shows a 2048MB stick in that slot.

So is a RAM slot defective?

I tried putting two 512MB sticks of DDR2-667 in, and it registered 1024MB total RAM, and showed both DDR2 slots with a 512MB stick.

Interestingly enough, if I stick a 512MB stick in the closest slot, and stick a 2GB stick in the furthest slot, the BIOS registers 2.5GB of RAM. So it appears that my original theory was wrong, it's not limited to 2GB of RAM.

Does anyone know what's going on here? Why can't I run it with two 2GB sticks? Has anyone else managed to do that?