ASRock 775Dual-VSTA

[Gary Key]

I have one board that will not go above 292FSB stable, the other is 301FSB stable. In reality the board is not really designed for overclocking. What are your PCI and PCI-E settings? What are your memory timings? Did you do a clean install of XP and use the latest VIA drivers? I have not noticed your problem with the Seagate 7200.10 or WD SE16 drives.

 

[garkon8]

Originally posted by: a2willia
I need some help with this board. I've built more than a few rigs in the last 8 years, but this is the first one I've had trouble with. I'm updating from AMD S754 3400.

Purchased an E6600 and this Mobo. The plan was to carry over 1Gb of Kingmax PC3700 DDR ram, and my ATI 1800XT (PCIe).

I put in the bare components to boot up....video card, memory, CPU, attached the power cables to the Mobo and video card. The fans spin up (case, videocard, cpu etc), but there doesn't seem to be a video signal being sent out to LCD, so I can't see anything regarding the POST process. It just seems to sit there.

I have that initial 1.10 bios, but I've read reports of other E6600 users being able to post with that bios. I've purchased a Celeron D cpu in hopes of booting up and flashing to 1.70, but I still don't POST - same fans spin up, but no video to LCD. I thought maybe it was the ram which technically wasn't pc3200 - bought a 512MB stick of Samsung chipped pc3200 - no go. Thought maybe the video card was unsupported, so I stuck in my old Nvidia 6600 (PCIe) - still no go. I've switched the ram around in each of the two DDR sockets, trying each of the 4 sticks I have by themselves (512Mb only) - no go. Can anyone think of anything else for me to try? Did I just get a bad board?

I gave up and put the parts back in my old system and they are still working, so it's not my parts. The power supply is a 500W Fortran Bluestorm. I'm only running two serial ATA Maxtor Diamondmax 10s and 2 Benq DVDRWs - 1640 and 1650.

The CPU install seemed to be a snap - you just line up the two guides on the CPU with the 2 guides of the socket, close the covering and lock the lever right? I figured I wouldn't even get power to the board if that wasn't installed right.

Hoping somebody can give me something else to try. My cheap upgrade has skyrocketed with all the extras from troubleshooting.

Try clearing your CMOS (the jumper is by the battery). Then press F2 during boot to go in to the BIOS.

 

[jmass6]

Thought I'd throw in my 2 cents.

I almost returned this board when I found out the bios was only version 1.1 and ASROCK informed me that I would have to get another socket 775 cpu to flash the bios.

Glad I didn't - mine worked straight out of the box and didn't require a new windows install at all (I did flash it once it was up and running to version 1.7).

I toyed with overclocking a bit and settled on 300mhz w/out changing memory timings but setting it to DDR333. It's completely stable (stressed it by running PSCX2) - and I am quite satisfied with a conservative overclock. My temps run from 39-41 degrees C with the included heatsink/sfan. At 310mhz - I had to reset the bios.

I bought an ASUS add on SPDIF module (since I use this as an HTPC - and didn't really want to pay for a new sound card - especially as the cheapos are optical only). Found it at ExcaliburPC for $16 shipped. I attached it to the SPDIF_HDMI header and it works perfectly!

Hope this helps someone wary of the board for lack of SPDIF (as I was).

Thanks AT and early posters that helped me pick this board and save some serious $$$.

-Jay

 

[Mr Vain]

Just overclocked my Pentium D 805 on the Asrock 775dual-vsta motherboard from a 3360MHz stable with stock voltage to 3690MHz stable with a CPU pin volt MOD.

I did the 1.420Volt mod and the voltage in the CPUZ is gone from 1.216-1.232 to 1.36-1.376 and has allowed me to overclock my D 805 another 330MHz.

Memory has gone from a 5/6 divider to a 1/1 divider automatically on DDR2.

She?s cranking and so are the temps from 40 idle to 47 idle now, ambient is 24.
Might try a higher voltage mod soon and get this to 4MHz on a cheap Asrock 775dual-vsta motherboard Wow happy happy.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: a2willia
I need some help with this board. I've built more than a few rigs in the last 8 years, but this is the first one I've had trouble with. I'm updating from AMD S754 3400.

Purchased an E6600 and this Mobo. The plan was to carry over 1Gb of Kingmax PC3700 DDR ram, and my ATI 1800XT (PCIe).

I put in the bare components to boot up....video card, memory, CPU, attached the power cables to the Mobo and video card. The fans spin up (case, videocard, cpu etc), but there doesn't seem to be a video signal being sent out to LCD, so I can't see anything regarding the POST process. It just seems to sit there.

I have that initial 1.10 bios, but I've read reports of other E6600 users being able to post with that bios. I've purchased a Celeron D cpu in hopes of booting up and flashing to 1.70, but I still don't POST - same fans spin up, but no video to LCD. I thought maybe it was the ram which technically wasn't pc3200 - bought a 512MB stick of Samsung chipped pc3200 - no go. Thought maybe the video card was unsupported, so I stuck in my old Nvidia 6600 (PCIe) - still no go. I've switched the ram around in each of the two DDR sockets, trying each of the 4 sticks I have by themselves (512Mb only) - no go. Can anyone think of anything else for me to try? Did I just get a bad board?

I gave up and put the parts back in my old system and they are still working, so it's not my parts. The power supply is a 500W Fortran Bluestorm. I'm only running two serial ATA Maxtor Diamondmax 10s and 2 Benq DVDRWs - 1640 and 1650.

The CPU install seemed to be a snap - you just line up the two guides on the CPU with the 2 guides of the socket, close the covering and lock the lever right? I figured I wouldn't even get power to the board if that wasn't installed right.

Hoping somebody can give me something else to try. My cheap upgrade has skyrocketed with all the extras from troubleshooting.

My guess would be to try it with an old AGP card just to get it booted up and started. Apparently the PCI-E implementation on this particular board is not all that. Worth a shot. Hopefully you have an old geforce or Voodoo3 card laying around somewhere.

 

[Ravenise]

Originally posted by: a2willia
I need some help with this board. I've built more than a few rigs in the last 8 years, but this is the first one I've had trouble with. I'm updating from AMD S754 3400.

Purchased an E6600 and this Mobo. The plan was to carry over 1Gb of Kingmax PC3700 DDR ram, and my ATI 1800XT (PCIe).

I put in the bare components to boot up....video card, memory, CPU, attached the power cables to the Mobo and video card. The fans spin up (case, videocard, cpu etc), but there doesn't seem to be a video signal being sent out to LCD, so I can't see anything regarding the POST process. It just seems to sit there.

I have that initial 1.10 bios, but I've read reports of other E6600 users being able to post with that bios. I've purchased a Celeron D cpu in hopes of booting up and flashing to 1.70, but I still don't POST - same fans spin up, but no video to LCD. I thought maybe it was the ram which technically wasn't pc3200 - bought a 512MB stick of Samsung chipped pc3200 - no go. Thought maybe the video card was unsupported, so I stuck in my old Nvidia 6600 (PCIe) - still no go. I've switched the ram around in each of the two DDR sockets, trying each of the 4 sticks I have by themselves (512Mb only) - no go. Can anyone think of anything else for me to try? Did I just get a bad board?

I gave up and put the parts back in my old system and they are still working, so it's not my parts. The power supply is a 500W Fortran Bluestorm. I'm only running two serial ATA Maxtor Diamondmax 10s and 2 Benq DVDRWs - 1640 and 1650.

The CPU install seemed to be a snap - you just line up the two guides on the CPU with the 2 guides of the socket, close the covering and lock the lever right? I figured I wouldn't even get power to the board if that wasn't installed right.

Hoping somebody can give me something else to try. My cheap upgrade has skyrocketed with all the extras from troubleshooting.

I have an E6400. I was having a similar problem... but my bios sticker said 1.3. It is your bios. For me, it wouldn't post 70% of the time, but as I kept on trying, eventually it did post. Try holding down your power button for at least one second before you release it... also, try powering it on RIGHT after you turn on the PSU switch. Btw, what PSU do you have? Anways, what I had to do was make a bootable floppy with the DOS version of 1.7 bios and flash it, after that I could post and get into windows.

 

[Regression]

Thanks for the suggestion, Techman. Actually, I got an idea from your suggestion. Instead of removing the 4-port SATA 300 TX4 card, I took the two hard drives off the onboard VIA SATA ports and put them on the SATA card along with the other two hard drives.

Ever since doing that, my PC has not locked up at all, even when I intentionally stressed the hard drives via program installation and copying of large files from one hard drive to another, while watching a movie file. I guess the main culprit of my problem was the onboard VIA SATA IDE controller.

I have an Adaptec PCI Raid card that my HDs are hooked up to. However I'm unable
to choose to boot to the Raid card in Bios setup. How did you get it to work for you?

I'm using bios 1.3 now, i'll try updating.

 

[Palms]

From memory go tho the section where your hard drives are, select the drive for booting and hit the plus or minus key on the motherboard to change it, once the correct hard drive is set as first drive then go back to boot up section and select the drives again as boot priority.. Hope this helps.

palms

 

[Regression]

I know how to select drives, that's not the problem I'm having.
My PCI raid card is not being displayed anywhere in the BIOS.
I know the card is functioning though because I can enter the raid card's own
bios management and verify the status of the RAID configuration etc.

On my old mobo, the card simply showed up as an option to boot too in the boot
order menu, but it's either not being detected or not being displayed with this one.

also, i updated to bios 1.7

 

[Ravenise]

Man, I only have like two weeks to RMA this... I hope its either a fried motherboard or that there will be an easy fix. But if I send this back only to get another dud, I will smash a phone book on an invisible guy made out of chocolate balls playing a piano without any sound. Aka I will go nuts. So far as testing goes, I removed one stick of ram and tested to no avail. I will attempt to stick a chip in from a friends PC to see if that won't fix it. I will update you guys later. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[imported_a2willia]

quote:

Try clearing your CMOS (the jumper is by the battery). Then press F2 during boot to go in to the BIOS.


-I've cleared the CMOS many a time. I can't gt into the BIOS because I can't POST yet. Usually you have to go through the memory check before you can get into the BIOS. Because I have no signal going to my LCD, I can't tell what's going on.

 

[imported_a2willia]

My guess would be to try it with an old AGP card just to get it booted up and started. Apparently the PCI-E implementation on this particular board is not all that. Worth a shot. Hopefully you have an old geforce or Voodoo3 card laying around somewhere.

I tried an Nvidia FX 5200 AGP board - that didn't work either. Tried an old ATI pci card, no go there either. It doesn't even boot the 64 bit Celeron 2.93 either. Since I can't be guaranteed what bios this board is going to ship with, I guess I'll stop the bleeding now and get a more Conroe ready mobo and DDR2. Any other ideas before I RMA for a refund at the egg on Monday?

 

[aussieburger]

does anyone have a 'mic boost' option for the onboard sound on this board ?? For some reason my 'advanced' button where the mic boost option usually is greyed out

I'm using the lastest Realtek high definition audio driver ver:R1.41 from:
http://www.asrock.com/support/download.asp?Model=775Dual-VSTA

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: a2willia

My guess would be to try it with an old AGP card just to get it booted up and started. Apparently the PCI-E implementation on this particular board is not all that. Worth a shot. Hopefully you have an old geforce or Voodoo3 card laying around somewhere.

I tried an Nvidia FX 5200 AGP board - that didn't work either. Tried an old ATI pci card, no go there either. It doesn't even boot the 64 bit Celeron 2.93 either. Since I can't be guaranteed what bios this board is going to ship with, I guess I'll stop the bleeding now and get a more Conroe ready mobo and DDR2. Any other ideas before I RMA for a refund at the egg on Monday?

You have the second 12 volt power cable hooked into your motherboard right?

I think that your CPU might not be seated in properly or that it may not be in proper contact with the heat sink, maybe not enough thermal paste?
Have a look for bent pins on the CPU socket.

I would look in this area if you cannot post the bios.


:roll:

 

[Mr Vain]

In reply to Aussieburger

Mine has a microphone boost that?s not greyed out. In the mixer tab arrow a few times on top half to microphone area where there is an extra small box with 2 dots click and the boost option comes up.
I have the latest sound driver?s maybe that?s the difference.

 

[aussieburger]

do u have a link please ??

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: aussieburger
do u have a link please ??

Realtek HD Audio Drivers


Realtek updates their drivers every month and I suggest you do the same as they tend to fix/break/fix issues.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: aussieburger
do u have a link please ??

I think this 1.44 is the version that I have installed in my pc.
Asrock only has version 1.41 for download on their site.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/149

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: a2willia

My guess would be to try it with an old AGP card just to get it booted up and started. Apparently the PCI-E implementation on this particular board is not all that. Worth a shot. Hopefully you have an old geforce or Voodoo3 card laying around somewhere.

I tried an Nvidia FX 5200 AGP board - that didn't work either. Tried an old ATI pci card, no go there either. It doesn't even boot the 64 bit Celeron 2.93 either. Since I can't be guaranteed what bios this board is going to ship with, I guess I'll stop the bleeding now and get a more Conroe ready mobo and DDR2. Any other ideas before I RMA for a refund at the egg on Monday?

It sounds like the CPU is not seated properly or you have a bad power connection. Depending upon the situation it could be memory but more than likely at this point from your trial and error methods the board is bad for some reason. It happens, just that we have had this board since late June and have absolutely abused it for the last two months. We are trying our best to really stress tests these boards to ensure they will last and not end up being throw away boards because they made it to the end of the warranty period.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Gary Key

Originally posted by: aussieburger
do u have a link please ??

Realtek HD Audio Drivers


Realtek updates their drivers every month and I suggest you do the same as they tend to fix/break/fix issues.

Thanks Gary your link has version 1.45 that I will update to right now!

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Ravenise

Originally posted by: Cheex


I have an ATI Radeon X850 XT AGP
512x2 Samsung 3200;FSB 393
Conroe Core Duo 2 E6400 @2.36
Maxtor 250 gig IDE 133 on a single IDE cable
Maxtor 100 gig shared on IDE cable with Plextor PX-712A DVD
Sound Blaster Augidy 2 value
Thermaltake Purepower 420W Max

What a pain... I'm not ready to let go of my AGP card. I sure hope a bios patch can fix this!!

I had two locking issues last night with a X800XL AGP on both this board and the i865 board leading me to believe the issue is with ATI drivers or card at the moment. I have a X800XT that did not cause the same loop issue in 3DMark06 or freezing in Q4 after several loops. This is the ATI card we used for ATI AGP testing. I will see if I can get a X850XT to test with next week. Drop your memory down to DDR333, auto SPD, and High Voltage and then test again (memtest, superpi, and prime can be clear but you can still have application issues). If the issues persist, remove your Sound Blaster A2 and drivers. See if the issues continue, if they do then disconnect the secondary maxtor hd and plextor DVD and test again.

I am making the assumption that you did a clean XP install? If not, switching chipsets can and will cause difficulties. Also, what are your AGP settings in the bios?

 

[aussieburger]

Originally posted by: Mr Vain
In reply to Aussieburger

Mine has a microphone boost that?s not greyed out. In the mixer tab arrow a few times on top half to microphone area where there is an extra small box with 2 dots click and the boost option comes up.
I have the latest sound driver?s maybe that?s the difference.

thx dude !!! didn't notice that little button there before ! got it working with my current drivers ... downloading the new ones now too (but very slow download)


As for the non-posting issue someone here was having, I was having trouble posting at first and I think it was the boxed cpu fan not being seated properly ... after nearly breaking my board I managed to get the last of the four 'corners' pushed in enough for it to post either the board or the fan is slightly the wrong dimension ...

 

[CRSTech06]

a2willia:

I'm not sure if you're using the same power supply as your old system. I had a similar problem on a system I built a few years ago from new parts I bought at a computer show.
I found out when I went to return the "bad' power supply that it had a switch in the back for selecting 120 or 220volt source and it came from the factory set to 220volts. I'm in the US so I should have set it for 120 volts, I never thought of looking there.


Is your PC speaker hooked up? Are you getting any beeps?
I'm not familiar with the 775Dual-VSTA (mine is on order), but the number of beeps should give you some information as to where the problem might be, even if you don't have any memory plugged in.

 

[andy318]

Originally posted by: colche

Originally posted by: Nighthawk
Yesterday i ran into trouble with the Asrock: winxp freezes while loading:-(
When I uninstall the catalyst 6.7 driver, it boots up again. I removed all extension cards, loaded bios defaults, reinstalled winXP, same behaviour: only boots up when catalyst is not installed.
The ATI cards works in another PC... so i think the asrock is the cause. The strange thing is: a day earlier, the same system worked completly stable.

Sounds like you have the same problem I do...My Sapphire X800XT AGP refuses to boot windows with the cataylst drivers installed. It works fine until I install the drivers, then it freezes, or refuses to load windows at the next boot. It detects/can boot into bios and windows without cataylst drivers fine.

Tried Cataylst 6.4 and 6.8, Motherboard BIOS 1.3 and 1.7...

E6600, 2x512 DDR333 Kingston ValueRam

anybody had any luck with this issue?

>> as a follow up...I think i got it working (drivers installed and 3d working currently). Not exactly sure what i did...played around with a few memory/AGP settings in BIOS setting them manually/auto/different values. Took out one of my sticks of RAM (so only running on 512mb atm, installed just the ati drivers (not the CCC) via device manager. - although i had tried this before. Whatever it was it seems to have worked (or was it random?)

>> Final Update: I found out it was because i explicitly set the timings on the first few options in BIOS. ie. CAS latency to 2.5 then 3T, 3T, 7T, and 3T from memory. Hope this is helpful for anybody.

Thanks for the tip. I need to try it. Just got the E6600 and the 775Dual-VSTA. After installing XP, everything works fine till i install Catalyst (tried 5.9 & 6.8). After that, it hangs during the 'loading XP' screen.

Incidentally, the AGP Fast Write is disabled in the BIOS settings. Can you try enabling this on your system (if you haven't already) to confirm whether this would work too ?

 

[Engineer]

Just fired this board up with an E6300 and Bios 1.10. No problems on post. Have updated the BIOS and will install XP-Pro tonight.

Antec NeoPower 480W PS
OCZ Gold PC800 (6400) DDRII
Intel E6300
XFX 7600GT XXX PCI-e edition with Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 6 version 2
Seagate 320GB 7200.10 series SATA II drive
NEC 3550A drive
floppy drive
Scythe Ninja

No problems on post or detection of devices (drives). Will upate after Windows install.