BioStar 790GX is a dog

[azkiwi]

I "upgraded" from an EVGA nForce590SLi with an Athlon 1800 to the 790GX, an Athlon X2 7850 and 4 gigs of OCZ Reaper.

Everything seems considerably slower than before and I get random lockups. No o/c and a fresh XP sp2 install on a defragged eSATA WD.

The on-board video was leaving window trails, so I went back to my Gigabyte 7600GS and some improvement.

Major let-down. No 'snap' at all.

 

[Sylvanas]

Why do you think it's the motherboard. Those things can be caused by 1) Software conflicts 2) Incorrect drivers 3) bad ram 4) incorrect Bios/settings.

 

[azkiwi]

Honestly - I have no idea what it is - I'm looking for ideas.

But its a fresh install, and I left it running memtest for a while on one 2gb stick - it got to 200% and no errors reported, but the machine was locked up ...

Event manager reports no errors, and no other programs were running. I've run two driver checks (Drivermax and Driver Agent) and they say I have the latest drivers.

Bios is at default settings.

Next?

 

[tcsenter]

You're not getting lock-ups and random errors because the motherboard is just not really good quality. That's not the way these things work. Something is defective or misconfigured, which can happen just as well if you spent three times as much on some overpriced name like ASUS.

 

[azkiwi]

Agreed. OTOH these things are supposed to perform reasonably well out of the box at default.

I've been through the BIOS looking for the incorrect switch - it locked up 3X in a row just scrolling through bios menus (not making any changes). That would seem to eliminate software ...

PS is Antec 500W and all the voltages reported seem within spec.

 

[tcsenter]

Which Biostar 790GX model? There are like five or six. Check for a newer BIOS.

 

[azkiwi]

128M. Not even a mention of this board on the US site, but think I found an update on .tw I'll try that.

 

[geokilla]

That doesn't sound right. Have you tried dropping in a friend's CPU or something?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Are you using a stock blows-down HSF or a replacement that might not cool the chipset?

What are MB and CPU temps after a few minutes?

You got a lockup running memtest with one stick, what about with the other instead? Both together?

 

[azkiwi]

Stock HSF - 32-37º ... system a little lower

lockups with both sticks, thats why I went to one. Tested with memtest and the Biostar utility - no errors even underclocked to DDR800 (it is 1066).

Don't have anyone with another cpu to try. Guess I could plunk in my old Athlon 1800, but whats the point of that?

 

[Indyboy2]

Check the memory voltage in the bios,I had problems with my board because it defaulted to 1.8v and my memory was supposed to run at 2.1v .I Set the voltage to the correct value in the bios and it works perfectly

 

[azkiwi]

Hey, good thought! I'll check that.

If the voltage was wrong, would memtest still show no errors?

 

[Indyboy2]

Mine tested fine with memtest ,Just kept having problems with blue screens and such

 

[azkiwi]

it was indeed defaulting to 1.8. I've upped it to 2.1 (OCZ spec) and will see how that goes. Thanks!

I guess this means I need to go checking now that everything else is set appropriately?

 

[azkiwi]

Wish I could say that cured it. For the few minutes it runs (after its eternal boot) it does run a little quicker, but still locks up just the same.

CPU never gets over 50%, 33-40ºC I haven't enabled the smart fan.
RAM 2.1 V
CPU 1.2 V

I've gone back to the onboard video in case there was a conflict with the GeForce (though I don't see why there should).

Don't know what else to do except send it back. Question being, do I dare get another one in the hopes this one just has some 'bad silicon', or go in another direction?

 

[Fox5]

OP, did you install the drivers for the onboard video and uninstall the drivers for the nvidia card?

 

[azkiwi]

Thansk for all the help.

I did install the drivers for the on-board, but did not uninstall the nvidia drivers. Now it has run for a half hour + ... I am even typing this on it! That said the onboard video is pretty sucky, with lots of trails when dragging. Still takes forever to fire up with a few black screens in transit and a few odd sounds emanate from the onboard audio too.

I'm wondering if its possible any of the software installation went less than perfectly due to be installed on under-volted ram. Seems like it should either work 100% of not at all.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: azkiwi
Thansk for all the help.

I did install the drivers for the on-board, but did not uninstall the nvidia drivers. Now it has run for a half hour + ... I am even typing this on it! That said the onboard video is pretty sucky, with lots of trails when dragging. Still takes forever to fire up with a few black screens in transit and a few odd sounds emanate from the onboard audio too.

I'm wondering if its possible any of the software installation went less than perfectly due to be installed on under-volted ram. Seems like it should either work 100% of not at all.

Graphics are an odd thing and can fail 'gracefully'.

That's still weird that you have trails and such though. That shouldn't happen. Try putting all settings to stock and see if you still get them?

 

[azkiwi]

Yeah, did that. Same same.

I'll try reinstalling the GeForce card and driver, but I hafta say, despite having a blizzard of Bios toggles, I'm underwhelmed by overall performance.

 

[chucky2]

IMHO, if you're locking up in BIOS menu's, you've got a hardware problem...drivers have nothing to do with it.

You have a bad CPU, RAM, motherboard, or power supply. Could be one or all of those.

I'd go for motherboard first. Remember when you take the heatsink off your CPU when sending the board back, that it's going to mess up the pre-applied material.

Chuck

 

[azkiwi]

I am waiting for an OK to RMA the board back to the Egg. Not like I didn't give it the old college try. The cpu has a 3 yr warranty, so for now the hsf can stay attached. The PS is Antec 500W and the diagnostics show voltage is pretty close to spec - I'm certainly not overtaxing it - no cards plugged in.

I appreciate the responses - they keep the forums pruned so hard around here, you can't look back into the records very far.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Ungang the memory controller

(Always step 1 on my trouble-shooting hot sheet)

 

[azkiwi]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
Ungang the memory controller

With respect to timing? I had to up the voltage from default to get to spec for the OCZ 1066.

I don't like returning things that aren't broken, and Newegg has sent me an RMA and free shipping label with no restock fee (which is pretty nice of them).

At this point I'm leaning to a GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P solution and skip the onboard video.

Edit: final rejoinder. Got a stop error - atidvag is stuck in an infinite loop. And the sound doesn't work. IMO when a mobo won't even work with it's own drivers ... its a dud.

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: azkiwi

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
Ungang the memory controller

With respect to timing? I had to up the voltage from default to get to spec for the OCZ 1066.

I don't like returning things that aren't broken, and Newegg has sent me an RMA and free shipping label with no restock fee (which is pretty nice of them).

At this point I'm leaning to a GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P solution and skip the onboard video.

Edit: final rejoinder. Got a stop error - atidvag is stuck in an infinite loop. And the sound doesn't work. IMO when a mobo won't even work with it's own drivers ... its a dud.

Your chip has a 128-bit memory controller which is 2 'ganged' 64-bit controllers. In the BIOS there is a setting which will allow you to 'ungang' to 2 individual 64-bit controllers.

Run CPUz and check under the memory tab ...

 

[azkiwi]

CPUID says; DC Mode: unganged...