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

[meanscotsman]

Thanks Hlafordlaes, this is all very helpful

I've now reflashed the bios from floppy and everything went well. I could boot from my working OS straight after completing all the steps and after a couple of black screen reboots.

I then needed to remove the floppy. On disconnecting it and restarting, XP wouldn't load. I tried a few times with no success then cleared the CMOS which cured it and it loaded straight away.

Is this board quite sensitive to hardware changes? I'd fitted a HDD and a sound card before with no problems. But boot devices seem to confuse it.

Anyway, I rebuilt the PC and connected everything up as before the original flash and things are still working.

What still doesn't work is the OS on my main drive. I tried booting from it - after clearing CMOS - but the furthest I got was the option to start in safe mode, which then stopped after mup.sys and went no further. So I'm back to using my repaired back up OS for now (after clearing CMOS again).

I'd really like to get my old main drive up and XP loading from it before going any further, just for the sake of it really, before I install 7. This website has some suggestions for curing this - http://www.aitechsolutions.net/mupdotsysXPhang.html - I'm pretty sure my PSU is fine (Corsair vx550) as everything was running absolutely fine before.

I'll try chckdsk to rule out bad sectors (the main HDD is only a few months old, however). I wonder if the problem is a registry one. The website has instructions for backing up and then restoring the registry through recovery console. I might try that next.

I really don't want to do another repair install if I can avoid it (and I now have all my data secure, so a clean install of Windows 7 is very much looking like the way to go).

Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread over the years and especially to Hlafordlaes and Deleauvive in particular.

 

[meanscotsman]

Another update - I've installed the 2x2GB transcend DDR2, cleared CMOS, restarted and the bios detected it and XP loaded up first time. It's only showing 3.25GB as expected but after the last few days, this is most definitely a success!

 

[Deleauvive]

Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread over the years and to Hlafordlaes and Deleauvive in particular.

Don't mention it. I don't think the revision of the 4CoreDual-SATAII has any incidence on its compatibility towards the newer OSes btw. Since you use an Audigy, you probably have onboard audio disabled (check that it is so in the BIOS) anyway. Sometimes the various revision of a mobo concerns the addition of a firewire port and such, rarely core circuitry functions.

I guess it's the right time to start overclocking your Q6600 (just joking)!


@Tralalak
The Celeron line of CPUs, despite their lack of performance at default speed, has always provided us with nice overclockers. 3.2 GHz on air, wow! Care to post a few benchmarks results ?

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Thanks to everyone who has posted on this thread over the years and especially to Hlafordlaes and Deleauvive in particular.

Welcomest. We enthusiasts - especially those on tight budgets - are fond of our hardware.

FWIW, another ASRock (775i65G), which is somewhat similar to these boards, was giving me trouble on installing Win7.

Apparently, I had used some tools from WD (found on Hiren's BootCD) to not only zero out the disk, but also to "prepare" it for XP. That apparently gave the disk a boot sector only XP could love.

Machine refused Win7 install, not recognizing the disk. Thought it was a driver prob and forced install of Intel drivers off a thumb drive. It all worked, but was always sloooooow on disk accesses.

Finally re-zeroed the drive and did a second install. This time Win7 took immediate ownership of the drive, needed no extra drivers from a thumb drive, and works as it should.

Which all goes to show, it is a good idea to wipe an XP OS drive before moving up to Win7, since MS (and the industry) have made changes. More here. You can clean the disk using the DISKPART commands at the link, but I prefer taking the opportunity to clean the disk thoroughly and update the bad sector table.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

@Tralalak,

Nice pics and link, even if I can't read it. How did DualGfx work out for you? Any advantages beyond dual monitors?

 

[Deleauvive]

How did DualGfx work out for you? Any advantages beyond dual monitors?

I tried it briefly with both GeForce's, the PCI-E 7600 GS I just had ordered and that rubbish AGP 5200 FX. A fun little feature, extremely easy to use.
This said, I don't think there is a single advantage beyond dual monitor display (I suppose what you have in mind is some kind of proto SLI type of benefit).

 

[Hlafordlaes]

I tried it briefly with both GeForce's, the 7600 GS I just had ordered and the rubbish 5200 FX. A fun little feature, extremely easy to use.
This said, I don't think there is a single advantage beyond dual monitor display (I suppose what you have in mind is some kind of proto SLI type of benefit).

There was an 8x.xx driver hack release that did allow SLI to run and be recognized, but did not give SLI benefits according to reports, on VR-Zone, I think it was (where all the volt mods are for these boards.) I think I have a copy somewhere. If I had a 7600GT PCIe I'd try it out, since I have the AGP version (now in the 775i65G.)

ETA: Here's the link to the modded driver. Was on XtremeSystems after all. Glad I re-checked; didn't have the password for opening the zip saved on file. It's posted by the author at the link.

 

[Deleauvive]

We enthusiasts - especially those on tight budgets - are fond of our hardware.

To be honest, the computer on which the 4CoreDual-SATAII is in service (which I call "TOSERVE", in reference to one of the episode of the original Twilight Zone series "To Serve Man") was giving me headaches before I managed to stabilize and then overclock it.

I was the one vastly responsible for these issues (had the CPU fan mounted upside down, and a failing SCSI DVD-Rom drive which I didn't want to give up using, for some reason). This said, one has to wonder why those dreadful Downstream Pipeline and VC1 Request Queue PCI-E related features were implemented by Asrock in the first place, or if it was necessary that some obscure "features" were accessible to the general public (Drive Strength, WTF ?).

My Asrock 4Core / E7300 rev. 0 pair, with its 12% FSB OC', on which is based my system works just fine with its mild overclocking I vastly described and illustrated (partly thanks to some of the amazing advice I've collected on these boards, over the years). However, I can understand why some people frowned at its low overckocking potential, hardware limitations, and erratic behaviour with some of the BIOS features enabled (or disabled).

My point is, if I may express a personal opinion :
It can be argued that this board (probably also applies to the whole Asrock line based on the PT880 Pro / Ultra chipset) is not for everyone. Those people (a minority of course) who were disappointed simply got rid of it and got themselves a budget mobo equipped with the classic yet effective P43 / P45 chipset. I don't regret the amount of time spent to check that every detail was fine with both my hardware setup and BIOS environment, but I feel I cannot completely blame them for that.

 

[meanscotsman]

Interesting that you mention problems installing Windows 7, Hlafordlaes. I've just spent the last 2 hours trying that with no success so far!

First the DVD wouldn't boot. From a google search, not an uncommon problem apparently. Eventually got it to boot by hitting F11, selecting the DVD drive from the boot menu, inserting the DVD and then hitting enter when the drive light was on.

Then, after loading setup software, 7 hangs on "Starting Windows". Again, a swift google and seems a common problem. So far, nothing I've tried has fixed it.

Why can't Microsoft produce a piece of software that just works first time!? Should I have to unplug my CD drive, my spare HDD, my USB mouse for God's sake!? Some people report having to install new power supplies - why, for the life of me, I can't fathom. My PC was working fine - what is Windows 7 trying to do, stress test it!?

Anyway - rant over. I'll try zeroing the drive I'm planning to install 7 on, unplug as much as possible, clear CMOS, reset bios, and try again tomorrow.

 

[zaoan]

I've managed to install windows 8 (with no problems, i might say) on one of my HDD's, although i can't use it as i should, until my new gpu arrives, still hasn't arrived yet. There is no driver for AGP cards under win8...
When the gpu arrives, will also try to install 7 on the current hdd, see how that goes.


One more thing, i'm recently having some random crackles and popping with my sound card. I also switched PCI latency to 128, but it does the same even at 32 or 64.
Could it be a driver issue, or if my current gpu is overheating and not performing well could cause also a sound stutter?
This is one question i haven't been able to get a good answer on google.
Can a faulty gpu cause sound issues?
I've searched google for this and seems a lot of folks have this issue with creative sound cards.
With win8 i did not hear any crackling, but then again, gpu is not installed, hence i believe it is barely utilized.

 

[Deleauvive]

@meanscotsman
Did you try to install any of the 32-bit (x86) editions instead of the 64-bit one(s) ?
Did you try to install Windows Vista (just to see how it goes) ?
Strange that you still have to struggle with boot devices.


@Zaoan
What's wrong with your GPU exactly ? Can you post a picture of GPU-Z, both main screen and sensors ? Your audio crackling and the GPU core overheating, that's probably two different issues, at least you should deal with them as such in the first place.

About the sound, try disabling the sound enhancements (in Properties of speakers / Advanced statistics).

 

[meanscotsman]

@Deleauvive

I was trying the 64 bit version - haven't tried the 32 bit. I ran upgrade adviser and both versions should work, so I was planning to go 64 bit.

I don't have Vista. And I want to do a clean install, not upgrade.

As for booting, it is very odd. I suspect the problem booting from the DVD drive is just that it is pretty old. It booted my XP installation disk fine when my CD drive wouldn't. I don't know if the 7 disks are dual layer or something but I did get it to boot eventually. Then, after it seems to work, and installs the setup files, it hangs up on the starting windows screen. So I can't even get to select language or custom install (which is what I want to do).

I don't have RAID or AHCI but I've read somewhere that you need CSM enabled. As far as I can tell, however, the 4coredualsata2 bios doesn't have this option. Am I missing something?

Other suggestions on various forums are to drop the memory, remove USB devices, etc. But why would any of that make a difference?

So - other than wiping and reformatting the HDD (I plan to use Seagate Discwizard's discleaner) - and trying that as Hlafordlaes suggested, I'm not sure what to try.

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Interesting that you mention problems installing Windows 7, Hlafordlaes. I've just spent the last 2 hours trying that with no success so far!

First the DVD wouldn't boot. From a google search, not an uncommon problem apparently. Eventually got it to boot by hitting F11, selecting the DVD drive from the boot menu, inserting the DVD and then hitting enter when the drive light was on.

Then, after loading setup software, 7 hangs on "Starting Windows". Again, a swift google and seems a common problem. So far, nothing I've tried has fixed it.

Why can't Microsoft produce a piece of software that just works first time!? Should I have to unplug my CD drive, my spare HDD, my USB mouse for God's sake!? Some people report having to install new power supplies - why, for the life of me, I can't fathom. My PC was working fine - what is Windows 7 trying to do, stress test it!?

Anyway - rant over. I'll try zeroing the drive I'm planning to install 7 on, unplug as much as possible, clear CMOS, reset bios, and try again tomorrow.

Not so much a bad move on MS's part as it is the reality of massively evolving memory devices and maintaining backward compatibility. At some point you move forward and sacrifice the latter. If you follow the link in my post above, it lays the issue out.

It sounds to me your disk might also be optimized for XP, which is why it misbehaves.

The WD 500GB Green in the 775i65G I just reformatted (zeroed) is now humming along just dandy. It's only a 1GB DDR memory system, but Win7 (x86 in this case) is now snappy. Four users share it, as it is in a public space for family and friends in the back of my restaurant, and is used to stream video off my 4Core into the dining room, or to watch sports via internet access.

On the PT880 boards with 4GB, though, Win7x64 is the way to go. Since my scare back a ways with the dead drive, I've been really trimming and fixing Win7 with Acronis backups along the way in case I mess up. So far, super quick now. Even found a way to keep thumbnails from regenerating all the time for video files, so all those folders open in a flash, too.

 

[Deleauvive]

wiping and reformatting the HDD (I plan to use Seagate Discwizard's discleaner)

Well, if your system cannot properly access the Windows 7 installation files from the DVD drive, I am afraid it won't help much.

I'm not sure what to try.

As for me, I think you could postpone Windows 7 installation, and try something I am about to explain.
Facing the situation you just described, I think I would simply bypass installing my MS OS of choice from any of the optical drives. Preparing a USB key for a Windows XP installation can be done in a few steps, provided one has the Windows XP SP3 installation disc (or its corresponding ISO, mounted in a virtual drive) at his disposal and WinSetupFromUSB v0.2.3.

I know you're in for a Windows 7 installation from scratch, but I tested this method and it works with Windows XP. What I mean by that is that methods to install Windows 7 from a USB key may exist, but

• It would certainly require a bigger key
• It would probably take longer
• It wouldn't bear the Deleauvive seal of approval, ha ha!

To sum up :
My advice is to refrain from installing Windows 7 for the moment, be preparing a USB key as a Windows XP SP3 setup medium, format your "C:" partition using the Windows XP HDD preparation tool (choosing NTFS of course, normal NTFS formatting, not quick).
This consists mostly in a test to determine whether your system can sustain a basic OS installation procedure until the very end (simply to end up booting on the desktop, no need to be installing all of the drivers). It shouldn't take you long, really.


http://www.commentcamarche.net/faq/17946-installer-windows-xp-avec-une-clef-usb
This is the french version of the tutorial, with the screen captures

http://en.kioskea.net/faq/3065-installing-windows-xp-from-a-usb-key
This is the translation in English. WinSetupFromUSB 0.2.2 offers a different interface.

If you choose to download WinSetupFromUSB from the tutorial's link, make sure to untick "Use our download manager and get recommended downloads".
The important thing to have in mind when you are about to install is that actual installation needs to be done in two steps. That's because the setup needs to modify the GRUB (boot) screen from the boot sector, you'll see when you get there.

Once this is done, it will be easier to know if the problem comes from the optical drive(s) or maybe your motherboard still being unhappy consecutively to the first BIOS flashing (thus blocking or altering most of the booting from devices capabilities).

 

[Hlafordlaes]

And here is the sure-fire method for setting up a thumb drive. Good for Win7x86 or x64.

If you can't get your optical drive working to copy your install DVD, you can download a legal copy of Win7 from MS and use your own key to install.

If you followed the instructions on the first site to the letter, you can then copy the iso contents on to the usb using 7-zip.

 

[meanscotsman]

Okay - thanks for all the advice. I'm considering what to do next.

Here's where I have got to so far.

First, on checking my DVD player, although it was on the primary connector of my cable, it was showing in bios as a slave. Turns out the jumper was set to slave. So I put it to primary and that seems to have helped with booting from it. (I usually have it as cable select - my CD drive was set that way, so I'm not sure when this happened. Probably when I built the machine last year and I just didn't notice.)

Just goes to show - check the basics!

I then made a bootable DVD with Seagate Discwizard on it, booted from it and used discleaner to write zeros to the drive and then format it. Took a while (I went to bed, so I can't say how long!).

Then I booted from my Windows 7 DVD. It loaded files, then Windows started, I selected language etc., then it expanded files etc. Then it restarted the PC - and that's as far as I got. The PC hung on a black screen with a white cursor and setup/ Windows didn't continue. Nothing I've done since makes any difference. Windows 7 is partly installed - on successive failed boots it sometimes offers safe mode etc. But it hangs after loading various drivers. Sounds familiar to what was happening with XP after I flashed the bios.

Restarting - or more accurately, booting up after shutting down - does seem to be an issue. Before I screwed up my PC, the machine powered off on Windows XP shutdown. After I restored the OS, it would end on a "It is now safe to switch off" screen. Restarting from within XP, however, did seem to work.

I don't know what that signifies, however.

I will try a clean install of XP. My disks are only SP1 but if I can finish a clean install of that, this may tell me something. I'm also in the process of putting together a bootable Windows 7 USB to see if that will work better than the DVD.

I'll keep you all posted!

Thanks again for all the help so far.

 

[Deleauvive]

I will try a clean install of XP.

From the USB key, right ? I would try this first.
In absolute terms,
the 32-bit version of Windows XP is the more adequate OS compared with 64-bit Windows 7 to be installing on a 2007 motherboard (have in mind its direct competitor is labelled 775Dual-VSTA).
I am aware there weren't many complains about Windows 7, be it 32 or 64-bit, not being compatible with the 4Core, assuredly. This said, at this point, I think it's important to make sure at the very least Windows XP can be installed (I am sure a few Anand Techies would try Ubuntu or something similar).

Later on, after reformatting (or low reformatting if the Gods of computers are definitely against you), you will eventually proceed to installing Windows 7 from the same USB key, using Hlafordlaes method. You should be able to know if something went seriously wrong with your DVD drive.

If your Asrock got physically damaged after the BIOS update, Windows 7 won't contribute to any fixing obviously.


Good luck!

 

[Hlafordlaes]

Then I booted from my Windows 7 DVD. It loaded files, then Windows started, I selected language etc., then it expanded files etc. Then it restarted the PC - and that's as far as I got. The PC hung on a black screen with a white cursor and setup/ Windows didn't continue. Nothing I've done since makes any difference. Windows 7 is partly installed - on successive failed boots it sometimes offers safe mode etc. But it hangs after loading various drivers. Sounds familiar to what was happening with XP after I flashed the bios.

I find it best to set the machine to boot from the CD in the BIOS, let Win7 copy over the files on its first run, then when it reboots, go into the BIOS and set it to boot from the HD. This might help.

Restarting - or more accurately, booting up after shutting down - does seem to be an issue. Before I screwed up my PC, the machine powered off on Windows XP shutdown. After I restored the OS, it would end on a "It is now safe to switch off" screen. Restarting from within XP, however, did seem to work.

That is related to the ACPI vs Standard PC issue discussed earlier, and has to do with either setting the BIOS to IDE Compatibility Mode, or going into Device Manager and messing with the Computer listing. It should not be an issue with either 7 or XP if you now have the BIOS IDE setting at Enhanced (or whatever the non-compatibility setting reads on the -SATA2.)

I will try a clean install of XP. My disks are only SP1 but if I can finish a clean install of that, this may tell me something. I'm also in the process of putting together a bootable Windows 7 USB to see if that will work better than the DVD.

I'd try the USB route first. The process for putting 7 on a USB linked to in my earlier post is really flawless and works every time.

Support for XP/Office 2003 ends in November of this year. Any new security issues that arise with XP will not be addressed by MS patches of any kind. Trust that people will be exploiting that to the fullest, meaning you will be quite vulnerable eventually. At any rate, update XP fully if you do go that route, SP2 at minimum, which represented a major step forward in security.

 

[meanscotsman]

Thanks again for the help and suggestions, Hlafordlaes and Deleauvive

I've not been able to do anything else much for a few days due to having visitors and work commitments too. But I plan to try again shortly.

I'd try the USB route first.

I did try the usb XP method but it wouldn't work. It appeared to boot from the usb but nothing happened and I had to shut down. No GRUB screen appeared on re-boot.

I will try again, however. I think I may have either messed up the USB or not had the stick in the right socket. I've read somewhere that only some of the USB ports are active on boot. Hlafordlaes suggested those on the backplate. So I'll play around and find if any of them work better than others.

Oddly, though, when I boot the PC with the USB in a front panel port, bios does find it.

If your Asrock got physically damaged after the BIOS update, Windows 7 won't contribute to any fixing obviously.

What would be damaged? Would the bios chip itself be the only thing that might be harmed or could something else be damaged? I can get a new bios chip if I have to (but with the 2.20 bios only).

Quote:
Restarting - or more accurately, booting up after shutting down - does seem to be an issue. Before I screwed up my PC, the machine powered off on Windows XP shutdown. After I restored the OS, it would end on a "It is now safe to switch off" screen. Restarting from within XP, however, did seem to work.

That is related to the ACPI vs Standard PC issue discussed earlier, and has to do with either setting the BIOS to IDE Compatibility Mode, or going into Device Manager and messing with the Computer listing. It should not be an issue with either 7 or XP if you now have the BIOS IDE setting at Enhanced (or whatever the non-compatibility setting reads on the -SATA2.)

As far as I can tell, my IDE setting is "enhanced". RAID is off (I've never used it).

I'll keep you all posted. My wife is now telling me to buy a new PC. I always planned to, and to use this one as my backup. But I wanted to get a bit more use out of it first. So I want to get it working.

 

[meanscotsman]

Small update.

Redid the USB stick with WinSetupfromUSB 2.3 and my XP Sp 1 CD. Formatted USB as FAT32. All completed without errors.

Then booted my damaged PC from the USB and it got as far as a black screen saying "Try (hd0,0): FAT32:" and ... that was it. Shut down and restarted - nothing.

Looks like it's trying to boot from the USB but it's not succeeding. Whether it's the PC or the USB that's faulty, though, I don't know. Googling "Try (hd0,0): FAT32:" suggests it's a problem with the way the USB is set up but I don't know how to resolve that.

 

[Deleauvive]

I can get a new bios chip if I have to (but with the 2.20 bios only).

The BIOS chip on your mobo doesn't seem to play his role properly anymore. I mean, it's quite uncommon that all of a sudden, ALL of the standard boot devices stop functioning or fail to function properly, and I doubt your Windows discs or USB key content have anything to do with these issues. Feel free to attempt a Windows 7 installation from the USB key, but it probably won't work either.

I cannot guarantee that replacing the chip will salvage your motherboard, but yeah it does seem something went wrong after the first BIOS flashing.
Once you have received the chip replacement, you may try flashing from Windows with the 'Program all blocks' option set, before extracting that troublesome older chip. It wouldn't hurt much at this point, I guess.

with the 2.20 bios only

Well, using the floppy drive, you're encouraged to update it to 2.20a after checking that you can boot normally from the DVD Drive, the USB key and so on, crossing fingers that it goes as expected this time. Replay time! You get the idea. Don't forget to clear CMOS afterwards.

 

[meanscotsman]

Thanks again Deleavive

A weird thing has now happened. I booted from the HDD and it failed but I was offered booting into safe mode. I selected that and it failed. But I waited 5 minutes and a Windows 7 dialogue box popped up telling me I needed to restart. I clicked on it - the PC restarted, and the Windows installation picked up from where it had left off 2 days ago - and has now completed!

Right now, I am looking at my new Windows 7 desktop - over my shoulder, since I'm typing this on my other PC.

To say I am scared to shut the PC down and reboot is an understatement. Will it come back up or fail to boot?

About the only thing I can think of that may have changed things is that I replaced the CMOS battery yesterday. I don't know why, but the battery that was in came with the mobo (which I bought secondhand) so I thought - maybe it's old and needs replaced.

I'll keep you posted on developments.

 

[doubleOseven]

meanscotsman... just a thought... what power supply are you using? Years ago, I had a flaky power supply that caused the hard drives to not always be recognized properly or they wouldn't load Windows properly (corrupted data etc). In my case, a new power supply cured that. The other thing is, perhaps your board has some bad capacitors on it (swollen, knocked over etc). Do a visual inspection, if you haven't already.

I somehow doubt the BIOS flash is causing the problems you're experiencing now. I'm glad you replaced the CMOS battery though...that was one of my earlier suggestions here.

 

[zaoan]

A story of mine to begin with: I also changed the battery, although this board is much newer than my previous gigabyte socket A mobo, which kept running with no issues for 10 years without changing anything on it, not even the battery, until it got some swollen capacitors and decided to improve my system with the asrock. Strange thing is that the battery for the asrock mobo was kinda swollen, but only noticed this today when i replaced it.

Now for the updates. I finally got my HD4770, so i did a fresh install of windows 8 on one of the hdd's, just to test if and how it works. I must say they run pretty smooth so far, both the OS and the GPU. And there is also some improvement.
Like with the HD4650 and win XP, i was having 50 fps average with CS:S video stress test, 1680x1050 resolution and medium to high settings. Now with new gpu and win8 i'm having an average of 110-115 fps, same resolution and maxed out settings, full AF and AA, i mean LOL.
Never ever have i seen such a thing on one of my rigs. Of course, things change when i'm on a full 40 players server, but even then its more than playable.
At least its working, so far i'm pleased with my new gpu.
Also did the windows experience index test and came out like this, not sure if its good enough, but it's good enough for me

Now i'm not even sure where and how to begin, or IF should i begin doing some changes in bios.
There's this thing called PCI delay transaction feature in bios which is currently set to enabled, don't know what it does though.
Still not sure if i should try and change some settings for memory and cpu...

I will also install win7 on my other hdd, see how that one goes, and will probably keep them both or the one which seems to be more stable.

It's late now and surely forgot to add something, but will keep posting as i test other things.

 

[Deleauvive]

Now i'm not even sure where and how to begin, or IF should i begin doing some changes in bios.

You know what they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it!
Since you noticed a significant increase in Counter Strike fps, you could check with 3Dmark benchmarks (2001SE, '05...) what your theoretical 3D scores are.

There's this thing called PCI delay transaction feature in bios which is currently set to enabled, don't know what it does though.

http://www.techarp.com/showfreebog.aspx?lang=0&bogno=77
Some basic PCI related queuing mechanism. You can leave it to enabled.

Still not sure if i should try and change some settings for memory and cpu...

Depends on what you'd like to achieve : Overclocking, compliant settings to fit your CPU and memory running at base speed ? If you post a picture of both chipset (that would require 2 different pictures) and CPU BIOS settings, I or someone else may tell you if something comes to mind.

 

[meanscotsman]

Latest update - shutdown last night and Windows 7 wouldn't boot up when I turned the PC back on. Went to bed. Turned on PC this morning and it didn't post. Shutdown. Turned on again and it posted as normal. Got the windows couldn't start properly screen offering start recovery or start normally. Thought - what the heck - selected start normally. And it did.

I had an ASRock 775i65g mobo before this 4coredual-sata2 and it died due to bad caps. I'm now thinking that maybe the 4core is going the same way.

That would be too cruel for words.

 

[nightspydk]

Nope.

Runs fine here. Caps are fine.

Hard reset and nothing attached.