EPoX 4G4A+ Users: Which BIOS are you using?

[ahsia]

I am still using the original BIOS the board came with, and recently started to experience some problems. Here is my setup:

EPoX 4G4A+
P4 1.6A
(2) 512mb Mushkin PC3000
Maxtor Atlas 10k III 18.4GB
LSI Logic U160 SCSI Card
ATi Radeon 8500LE 64mb

This is the my original post for this problem

I just recently purchased the 2nd stick of 512mb, and wanted to test the stability of my system. My system was running with no problems with one stick overclocked to 2.2GHz, so I immediately overclocked it to 2.2GHz after putting the 2nd stick in. I noticed it started to randomly hang, sometimes while I am surfing, sometimes while I am watching AVI movies, sometimes when it's not even being touched. Here is what I have done to try to fix it:

1. Back to default settings (not overclocked): The random freezes stopped, I am able to run Prime95 for hours with no problems. But 3DMark03 would crash immediately after it is started.

2. Try it with just one stick of memory only (the 1st one, then the 2nd one): Prime95 still runs great, but 3DMark still crashes.

So I am curious, which BIOS are you guys using? And what else could be causing 3DMark to crash? Could it be the power supply? The video card?

 

[Chadder007]

Im running a 1.6a at 2.13 (or something like that, so not running as hot as yours.) Ive also running on one stick of 512 megs of RAM and have a ATI 8500 also. I would go ahead and stick with the BIOS you have but maybe do a total uninstall of your Video cards drivers. There is a utility that totally uninstalls your video card drivers....its like D installer or something close to it. Install the new 3.4 Cat's after you uninstall everything from ATI. They have fixed a few problems ive had with my system. 3dmark works fine on mine also.
If this doesn't help, you may need to raise the voltage or your AGP bus or RAM voltage just a tad.

 

[Hamilton]

I had almost the same problem. I recently bought 2*512Mb Twinmos PC3200. I couldn't run them together without errors. Games kept locking up and Prime failed. What I did was to raise VDIMM Voltage to 2.70 (2.50 default). That worked perfect.

Now i run my 4G4A - 1.8@2.4GHz (mem 4:5). Try it, hopefully it works for you too.

 

[WarCon]

Make sure you didn't dislodge the video card or other stick of memory slightly when you installled the other. Did you switch to a Radeon 8500 LE recently or was it originally installed with this OS? Chadder has a good idea too. The Catalyst 3.4's fixed a bunch of problems. You should use a proggie called driver cleaner (a search should find it) before installing them. And if you haven't pump the voltages a bit on the agp and memory.

I also use the latest bios without problems, but I only have one stick of memory. I am running a 2.4B at 2.8ghz (chip limitation as it only went this far in an IC7 too).

Edit: Had a bad thought, did you turn off you powersupply or unplug it when you installed your memory? Voltage still runs to the memory (at least it does when you have s3 standby mode on for sure).

 

[ahsia]

Originally posted by: WarCon
Make sure you didn't dislodge the video card or other stick of memory slightly when you installled the other. Did you switch to a Radeon 8500 LE recently or was it originally installed with this OS? Chadder has a good idea too. The Catalyst 3.4's fixed a bunch of problems. You should use a proggie called driver cleaner (a search should find it) before installing them. And if you haven't pump the voltages a bit on the agp and memory.

I also use the latest bios without problems, but I only have one stick of memory. I am running a 2.4B at 2.8ghz (chip limitation as it only went this far in an IC7 too).

Edit: Had a bad thought, did you turn off you powersupply or unplug it when you installed your memory? Voltage still runs to the memory (at least it does when you have s3 standby mode on for sure).

I'll go ahead and try all of those things out tonight. I usually unplug the PS before I open the case, so I think I am okay there. I've had the Radeon 8500 LE for a while now. The only recent change to my system is this additional stick.

 

[Antoneo]

Hey there,

I am also still running the original BIOS the board came with (04/24/2002 or something like that). I have an EPoX 4G4A+, P4 1.6A, (1) 512 Original Samsung RAM, and an ATI 8500 64MB LE. No problems as of yet.

I believe Apoppin posted a thread a while back indicating that he had a problem only when two sticks of RAM were present in the motherboard. Others also began verifying his claims so that might be your problem.. Try a search for that thread.

 

[WarCon]

Yeah I think I read awhile back (just after I had gotten mine, of course) that it didn't like more than one stick of double sided memory. If you had single sided, then you could run 2 and still overclock.

But as the mind gets older it develops cracks, and stuff leaks out....

Edit: Have you tried memtesting each stick and see if your having problems with the memory?

 

[Hamilton]

This board had 3 dimm slots. Slot 2-3 are shared. You can't have 2 double sided modules in both slots. But one module in slot 1 and one module in slot 2 or 3 is ok. It is working for me at least. It even says so in the manual.

Try rasing the vdimm voltage. I bet you can get it to work just like i did.

 

[ahsia]

Originally posted by: Hamilton
This board had 3 dimm slots. Slot 2-3 are shared. You can't have 2 double sided modules in both slots. But one module in slot 1 and one module in slot 2 or 3 is ok. It is working for me at least. It even says so in the manual.

Try rasing the vdimm voltage. I bet you can get it to work just like i did.

Alright, I think I've tried everything. I took out one stick, and just left the system with one. I raised the VDIMM voltage, by .2, still crashes. I've installed the latest drivers from ATi, still no luck. I've ran memtest86, re-applied AS3 and re-seated my CPU, updated to the most recent BIOS. I am out of ideas. Could it be the power supply?

I am getting an error in Event Viewer that has to do with my SCSI card and drive, but I ran SCSIMAX and the drive passed all the test. The LSI Card has the latest firmware and drivers. So I don't think that has anything to do with this.

BTW, I started Prime95 last night, and when I woke up this morning, it didn't look like it was going anymore, even though my machine was still running okay. Is that normal?

I am going to do a clean install of Win2k tonight, but I am as clueless as can be at this point. What do you all think?