ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: jws2346
Mr. Vain, you are a genius. I'm still not too cool about any kind of mods to my board or cpu, but I did take you're suggestions about the overclocking hints. I already had my cpu (fsb) and everything else set to async, I had my spread spectrum disabled ( worthless ) and I had the V-link set at normal. What I didn't have was the PCIe set to 117 MHz. I'm using ORTHOS StressPime (for dual cores) instead of Prime95. (I like the gui better) I ran it for 1 hr @ 3.40 GHz (170 fsb) and it worked perfectly, ambient temp 24 c, test temp 41 c. Tonight, when it's cooler, I'm going to jack it (PD 805) to fsb 190 and see what happens. I know it's stable at 3.40 GHz (170 fsb), so i can only go higher. Oh BTW, it's all on stock vcore, no vcore adjustment on this board.

I would be surprised if you could get little more than 3.40Ghz on the D 805 with no voltage increase?

 

[Cheex]

My board is dead now but i had a very decent overclock on my D915.
From stock 2.8GHz...I booted into both Windows XP and Vista RC1 at 3.64GHz.
260 x 14 = 3640
My aim was for 266 to get 3.73GHz....965EE speed....:sigh;

 

[Arcana]

Yeah, got mine working
Turned out to be the graphics card that was the problem. I suppose you can't blame the mobo for not working with my ancient no name 32 MB AGP card, but I'm a bit surprised it didn't work with Asus Extreme AX300SE. Now I got an Asus EN6200TC512 and it's running smoothly.
I'm getting denormalization problems in my music program which I thought Intel had got rid off by now, but I guess not.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Cheex
My board is dead now but i had a very decent overclock on my D915.
From stock 2.8GHz...I booted into both Windows XP and Vista RC1 at 3.64GHz.
260 x 14 = 3640
My aim was for 266 to get 3.73GHz....965EE speed....:sigh;

Why is your board dead?

 

[Orbitr8]

Is anyone experiencing weird random lockups where the desktop stops responding and the hard drive light flickers constantly ?
I backed off the Command Rate to 2T to see if that helps, but it's irritating. Just lost a 2.6Gig dlownload that was half done because I had to reset.
Damn, just damn.

I also have a possible issue with the 12v readout. Mine says 11.18 no matter what program I use to read it, but the BIOS says 11.87, which seems a bit more likely.

If indeed the voltage IS 11.18, that's quite a bit undervolted. Would this have anything to do with possible thrashing, you think ?

 

[jws2346]

When the prices go down on the PD 915, I've read where it will go down as low as $93 a 1000 units when Intel comes out with their E4300 Core 2 Duo (1Q 2007). I hope to get another MB (one that has a vcore adjustment in BIOS) and with a PD 915 chip, not only should it run much cooler than the PD 805, it should overclock like a nightmare. Edit:Thx Cheex, that confirms what I was thinking about the PD 915.
Edit: You were right Mr Vain, all I could get , with stock vcore out of my PD 805 was 3.40 GHz stable ( 1 hr ORTHOS Stress Prime and 1 hr Prime95 both cores ). Anything above that was "blue screen city " or it just wouldn't boot into WinXP at all. Altough the Prime95 seemed to run hotter then the ORTHOS Stress Prime. ambient temp 21 c, test Prime95 43 c, test Orthos 40 c, how come ?

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: Cheex
My board is dead now but i had a very decent overclock on my D915.
From stock 2.8GHz...I booted into both Windows XP and Vista RC1 at 3.64GHz.
260 x 14 = 3640
My aim was for 266 to get 3.73GHz....965EE speed....:sigh;

Why is your board dead?

It crashed while I was flashing the BIOS. :disgust:

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: jws2346
When the prices go down on the PD 915, I've read where it will go down as low as $93 a 1000 units when Intel comes out with their E4300 Core 2 Duo (1Q 2007). I hope to get another MB (one that has a vcore adjustment in BIOS) and with a PD 915 chip, not only should it run much cooler than the PD 805, it should overclock like a nightmare. Edit:Thx Cheex, that confirms what I was thinking about the PD 915.
.......

No Problem Mon !!

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Cheex

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: Cheex
My board is dead now but i had a very decent overclock on my D915.
From stock 2.8GHz...I booted into both Windows XP and Vista RC1 at 3.64GHz.
260 x 14 = 3640
My aim was for 266 to get 3.73GHz....965EE speed....:sigh;

Why is your board dead?

It crashed while I was flashing the BIOS. :disgust:

Have you tried to get a replacement BIOS? Seems a shame to waste a board.

Get brave and find another board and do a "hot flash"! :Q

(Yes, I've done one and it's sort of nerve-racking! )

 

[Cheex]

I can't seem to find a replacement BIOS chip for this board.
A friend of mine wants to buy a board exactly like the one I have.
Tell me more about the "hot flash".

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Cheex
I can't seem to find a replacement BIOS chip for this board.
A friend of mine wants to buy a board exactly like the one I have.
Tell me more about the "hot flash".

Disclaimer: I'm not advocating doing this as it is "RISKY".

First, you'll need a board that has the capibility to "shadow the BIOS" (this is critical). Not sure if the VSTA is capable (haven't looked).

You'll pre-loosen the bios chip up in the socket (don't remove it and make sure pins are still connected).

Boot PC with floppy image of DOS with the shadow enabled.

With toothpick (or something non-conductive), pop out the BIOS chip once booted.

Replace BIOS chip with dead BIOS chip from your board.

Run flash program to reflash BIOS chip.

Once flashed, turn off PC and remove power.

Remove your BIOS chip (freshly flashed).

Replace original BIOS chip.

Make sure all still work.

Again, it works as I've done it (on different boards to beat all - not same model but same BIOS flash style chip). However, it's difficult and you risk destroying both BIOS chips as well as the flashing board.

Disclaimer done!

Good luck Cheex!

(P.S. I would contact ASROCK directly to see if I could get a replacement BIOS chip)

Edit: I have just written Asrock sales and technical support departments to try to obtain this chip (or information) for you. Will keep you updated if anything new comes along.

 

[FreedomGUNDAM]

think there is someone on the forums that has a BIOS replacement chip service. have used him once, everything was great. can't remember who it was though

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Cheex
I can't seem to find a replacement BIOS chip for this board.:brokenheart:

A friend of mine wants to buy a board exactly like the one I have.
Tell me more about the "hot flash".

Theres one here in ebay its cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bios-Chip-fuer-ASRo...6QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain

Originally posted by: Cheex
I can't seem to find a replacement BIOS chip for this board.:brokenheart:

A friend of mine wants to buy a board exactly like the one I have.
Tell me more about the "hot flash".

Theres one here in ebay its cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bios-Chip-fuer-ASRo...6QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Wow...thanks.
Only problem is that I won't be able to buy that chip yet.
I'm buying a new mobo, upgrading a bit.
What I will do though is buy one after, fix the mobo and resell it.
Someone else will be able to benefit from this great board.

This is what i'm planning to get.
GIGABYTE GA-945P-S3

 

[Engineer]

Cheex,

From ASROCK sales...

Dear Sir,


If you like to purchase BIOS chip from us,

it will be total $15.00 shipped and please send the check or money order to the following address:


ASRock America
13848 Magnolia Ave.
Chino, CA 91710
Attn: Sales Dept.


We will ship it out by USPS regular mail within a week when receiving your check.
Please also mention what kind the model of the motherboard you have.


Best Regards

Sales Department

 

[Mr Vain]

What new board are you getting?

 

[Cheex]

I won't be ordering until later this week so maybe you all can advice me some more in my other thread. Linked below.

What is THE BEST motherboard sub-$100??

 

[Engineer]

Hey Cheex, I just found a $5.00 rebate on PriceGrabber for the 775Dual-VSTA board. Why don't you fill it out, and do a review of the board and that will pay for $5 of the $15 for a new BIOS chip!

To everyone else, there seems to be no date restriction on when you purchased the board as long as it's retail!

 

[imported_ANGELo]

anyone got link to download Everest ?
is this program better than motherboard monitor for monitoring this mobo?

EDIT: and ..... better flashing this mobo in DOS or windows?

thanks

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: Engineer
Hey Cheex, I just found a $5.00 rebate on PriceGrabber for the 775Dual-VSTA board. Why don't you fill it out, and do a review of the board and that will pay for $5 of the $15 for a new BIOS chip!

To everyone else, there seems to be no date restriction on when you purchased the board as long as it's retail!

I don't think that will apply to me because I live outside the USA. Thanks though.
I live in Jamaica. See my signature...WELCOME TO JAMROCK!!

 

[Cheex]

Originally posted by: ANGELo
anyone got link to download Everest ?
is this program better than motherboard monitor for monitoring this mobo?

EDIT: and ..... better flashing this mobo in DOS or windows?

thanks

Try using SiSoft Sandra. Thats what I used to check my temps and a bunch of other stuff.
SiSoftware Zone

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: ANGELo
anyone got link to download Everest ?
is this program better than motherboard monitor for monitoring this mobo?

EDIT: and ..... better flashing this mobo in DOS or windows?

thanks

Excellent program in my opinion, if you run it minimised in the tray you get a constant read out of temps, voltage, CPU load, and CPU speed on the screen top right hand corner while using other programs, I love that feature.

http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php


:thumbsup:

 

[Xellos2099]

Is there a way for me to update the bio without a floppy drive? I am about to build a system and not sure if i want to put a floppy drive in. I read rumor i can format a flash drive inot bootable disk and it can boot for the bios, is it true?

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Xellos2099
Is there a way for me to update the bio without a floppy drive? I am about to build a system and not sure if i want to put a floppy drive in. I read rumor i can format a flash drive inot bootable disk and it can boot for the bios, is it true?

The Asrock Bios page lets you download a DOS or Windows Bios, If you download the Windows Bios it will let you install the Bios in a Windows environment without the need for a floppy drive.

 

[Jon Shannow]

Quick question, when I install the Chipset Drivers all I get are two options: Update Inf files (or something like that) and IDE driver.... is the AGP GART and stuff automatically installed?

Overall I am happy with my new system, apart from slightly ropey Dual-View performance with my Bliss 7800GS and constant crashing in Prey (tho Oblivion seems fairly solid)...

On another note the voltages seem a bit low in BIOS 11.27 for 12v and 3.21 for 3.3. They were a lot better on my ASus A7n8x-x.... could this be causing the crashing I am having?