**OFFICIAL** Abit BG7 (i845G) Thread

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: mike9390
Well I have my BG7, 2.26B and Samsung PC2700 installed and I have a problem and it really has me stumped. When I go into the BIOS somtimes the computer hard-locks before I can enter, there's just a blue strip at the bottom of the screen. Other times I can enter the BIOS but the computer will hard lock after a minute or so, its only happened in the PC Health Status screen. This dosn't happen everytime but I make my changes and get out quick. I'm using the onboard video right now, I wonder if that could be the problem? I dissconnected all my case fans, except the fan on the Alpha 8942 and even ran that off a molex. The only other thing I was running was only running my Maxtor D740X 60GB hard drive that i've had for a while. I even opened the side of the case but still had the occasional lockup. In my limited usage I haven't experienced any other problem.

My voltage is a little low and my temps seem high, about 45C at idle. I haven't stressed it much but when I did the temps didn't rise that much, about 47C. I'm using a Alpha 8942 with a Enermax adjustable 80mm set to max and sucking air off with 4 case fans, 2 80mm Enermax adjustables, 2 80mm Antec's that came with my 880 case and the power supply fans. System temp is 25C at idle.

I'm not exactly sure what that blue strip is about. What settings are you using in the bios for your ram/cpu? Also make sure you change "halt on errors" to off. Also, what kind of power supply are you using?

 

[mike9390]

Hey Joker, the blue strip was the color of the BIOS screen but its only an inch wide and ran across the bottom of the screen. Anyway the problem seems to be gone, I installed my GF2 Ultra and I haven't had a problem entering or navigating through the BIOS. I even left it in the PC Health Status where you see your temps and voltage and no problem. I have a Antec True Power 430w PS. I was using default setting no overclocking even underclocked my 2.26 to 1.7 and ram was at 266. I hope it doesn't happen again, it started when I first powered the computer on. I left the computer in Windows over night, just setting idle and today the problem was gone.

Joker what do you think about my temps? Are they accurate? I have a lot of case fans and it's still kinda high. Have you checked your -12 and -5 volts? I used MBM 5 and it said my -12 was -8.xx and my -5 was -3.xx. Is this right? The rest were a little low but not bad. I raised my core voltage +5%, it was reading 1.45v.

Hey Wildcard, I ordered my Samsung from Newegg and they sent me the DTL version even though it said CTL on the site. I paid $76 for 256MB. I haven't pushed it yet but I going to today.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: mike9390
Hey Joker, the blue strip was the color of the BIOS screen but its only an inch wide and ran across the bottom of the screen. Anyway the problem seems to be gone, I installed my GF2 Ultra and I haven't had a problem entering or navigating through the BIOS. I even left it in the PC Health Status where you see your temps and voltage and no problem. I have a Antec True Power 430w PS. I was using default setting no overclocking even underclocked my 2.26 to 1.7 and ram was at 266. I hope it doesn't happen again, it started when I first powered the computer on. I left the computer in Windows over night, just setting idle and today the problem was gone.

Joker what do you think about my temps? Are they accurate? I have a lot of case fans and it's still kinda high. Have you checked your -12 and -5 volts? I used MBM 5 and it said my -12 was -8.xx and my -5 was -3.xx. Is this right? The rest were a little low but not bad. I raised my core voltage +5%, it was reading 1.45v.

Hey Wildcard, I ordered my Samsung from Newegg and they sent me the DTL version even though it said CTL on the site. I paid $76 for 256MB. I haven't pushed it yet but I going to today.

Good to know it's working for you now, still baffled about that blue strip though. I would expect your idle temperature to be a bit lower than 45C with that alpha but it depends on the fan you're using as well I suppose. If you strapped a tornado or delta on that baby I'm sure it'd drop you down to the high 30's I use a volcano 7+ and I avg around 38-40 C idle and that's in a very hot room (system temp is 31 C with 2 blowers [92 mm and 80 mm] and 2 rear fans + pci slot fan). My +12v reads 12.04v idle, +5v reads 5.21v idle but that's because I adjusted the pots on my Antec ppx412. Your -5/-12v readings are fine, mine are the same.

 

[mike9390]

Well I'm using an Enermax 80mm adjustable on the Alpha and at max it runs 3000rpm and has 39CFM. I have 4 80mm case fans, 2 of which are Enermax's. I had all three on high and the noise wasn't that bad but i didn't help it get any cooler. On the Alpha I have the fan sucking, should I have it blowing? The reason I got the Enermax's was for noise reduction. I'm not getting a Tornado or a Delta, HELL NO! I did a 3dMark2001 bench and afterwards the temps were 48C CPU, 26C system. Not bad. I'll do a little more tinkering and see if I can get good airflow.

 

[5150Joker]

Originally posted by: mike9390
Well I'm using an Enermax 80mm adjustable on the Alpha and at max it runs 3000rpm and has 39CFM. I have 4 80mm case fans, 2 of which are Enermax's. I had all three on high and the noise wasn't that bad but i didn't help it get any cooler. On the Alpha I have the fan sucking, should I have it blowing? The reason I got the Enermax's was for noise reduction. I'm not getting a Tornado or a Delta, HELL NO! I did a 3dMark2001 bench and afterwards the temps were 48C CPU, 26C system. Not bad. I'll do a little more tinkering and see if I can get good airflow.

Hehe a delta isn't too bad Tornado I heard can make ya deaf though but you will have a cool CPU! lol

 

[Abudoggie]

Originally posted by: The_Wildcard
That problem deserves a BUMP!


Because on the day I ordered my RAM, newegg was selling it for $149 or so, and Googlegear was selling it for $109! And I was wondering if maybe Newegg is selling the CTL version? /q]

Wildcard:

Looking close at the descriptions I see that the Googlegear only has a one-year warranty that is backed by Googlegear. It is listed as OEM but maybe Googlegear is the OEM of the module using Samsung chips? Notice that the manufacturer is listed as "Samsung Chipset" and the manufacturer sku is blank.

The Newegg is listed with a lifetime warranty and the part numbers listed match up to the PC2700 datasheet on Samsung's site.

Maybe I'm over thinking this and you should just give Googlegear a call ;-)

Woof!
Abudoggie

 

[mike9390]

Hey everybody! I thought I would check in and give some early overclocking results of my 2.26B, BG7 and Samsung DTL PC2700. I got the 2.26B up to 170Mhz (2.89Ghz), with a +10% voltage increase, the ram set to a 1:1 ratio and 2.6v. It wouldn't do 175, I tried +15% and even lowered the ram to 4:3. Since the board undervolts a little I was only getting 1.66v and that's not enough for 2.98Ghz. I don't know if it's what you would call "rock stable" at 170 but I ran the 3DMark 2K1 demo in a loop for about 45 minutes and had no problems, then I checked my temps and they were 52C CPU and 26C system.

I have a Geforce2 Ultra and this was funny, going from 2.26 to 2.89 I only got about a 100 extra pionts. When I overclocked the card to 300/500 it gave me about 600 extra points. Talk about a bottleneck, at 2.89 I got 51xx marks and with the video overclocked about 57xx marks. I can't wait for NV30 and R300 to be released! I'm going to get whichever is best.

Next i'll see what this Samsung can do, I wanted to see if I could break 3Ghz first. Check back later!

 

[The Wildcard]

Originally posted by: Abudoggie

Originally posted by: The_Wildcard
That problem deserves a BUMP!


Because on the day I ordered my RAM, newegg was selling it for $149 or so, and Googlegear was selling it for $109! And I was wondering if maybe Newegg is selling the CTL version? /q]

Wildcard:

Looking close at the descriptions I see that the Googlegear only has a one-year warranty that is backed by Googlegear. It is listed as OEM but maybe Googlegear is the OEM of the module using Samsung chips? Notice that the manufacturer is listed as "Samsung Chipset" and the manufacturer sku is blank.

The Newegg is listed with a lifetime warranty and the part numbers listed match up to the PC2700 datasheet on Samsung's site.

Maybe I'm over thinking this and you should just give Googlegear a call ;-)

Woof!
Abudoggie

Hahahaha, hmmmm that would explain it, lol. Oh well, it was $30 cheaper, so blah, oh well......blah!

 

[Johnnychangs]

Hi
I am loving my BG7 mobo. The only thing that I think is a bit strange is that my system is extremely unstable when trying to use the 3:4 CPU/Dram ratio. I tried it with FSB133, and it posts, but freezes when detecting hard drives. I've tried more memory voltage and relaxed memory timings and it doesn't help.

I can run the 4:5 ratio fine. I can't push everything too hard because I have no air conditioning, plus its summertime. Right now I'm at 140FSB with 4:5 ratio. Not bad performance, but I was hoping to use the 3:4 divider since I can't push my processor to hard.

Is there some magic Bios setting I am forgetting?

 

[mike9390]

My problem with the 3:4 setting was my computer wouldn't even boot unless the memory timings were set to SPD. When you enter the BIOS go to Advanced Chipset Features, then for DRAM Timing Selectable choose (By SPD). After I booted with that I could then change the settings manually. The only thing is I haven't tested my system very well with the 3:4 setting. One tip I can give is if the computer won't post, hit the reset button and hold down the Insert key. That's a failsafe option I think, anyway once the computer boots you can go in to the BIOS and change your settings. Most of them will be like they were before.

 

[easystreet]

Anyone get 3:4 to work when fsb is over 133?
I am at 160 and 4:5 would like to try 160 3:4 just for kicks.
If so,how?

 

[Abudoggie]

Wildcard:

I just got my stuff from newegg (BG7, 1.6a, 512samsung) and I got a CTL stick.

Just put it all together. The RAM is showing a 504mb rather than 512mb? Probably a stupid question but whats up with that?

Anyhow, newegg must be passing out both DTL and CTL still.

Abudoggie

 

[BlessidThug]

Originally posted by: Abudoggie
Wildcard:

I just got my stuff from newegg (BG7, 1.6a, 512samsung) and I got a CTL stick.

Just put it all together. The RAM is showing a 504mb rather than 512mb? Probably a stupid question but whats up with that?

Anyhow, newegg must be passing out both DTL and CTL still.

Abudoggie

8MBs being used for onboard video perhaps?

 

[Abudoggie]

BlessedThug: you da man! I haven't put in my Geforce yet so that sounds right. For what it is, the integrated sound and graphics aren't too bad.

 

[Rythan]

Originally posted by: crapito
5150Joker: I also have an Antec 412 power supply. I've tweaked the 3.3v and 5/12v lines too, to add a little more voltage. I know my 12v line is a little under 12v, like 11.8v when overclocked, but everything else is fine, ie well within ~5%, and usually on the plus side. the cold boot problem isn't much of a problem, relative to my BG7/Geforce3/overclocking problem, and it doesn't happen all the time either.

oldfart: I've tried both locking the AGP/PCI bus at 66/33 and also running a 1/4 divider (->80/40) and neither one solves my BG7/Geforce3/overclocking problem. and yes, I can run 160 1:1 DDR320 w/o problems (ie Prime95 stable). I simply can't run my RAM over DDR350 (140 FSB 5:4 RAM 175) with nVidia drivers and the Intel INF installed, though I can run at least DDR400 (160 FSB 5:4 RAM 200) w/o both being installed.

I'm having an identical issue with my BG7/MSI GF4-4400... I can run at 175 1:1 without a hitch, but with Intel INF + Nvidia Detonator I'm limited to really low FSBs, around 145 for 4:5, and 120 for 3:4. Something is clearly interacting badly in this setup. I'm trying a fresh XP install without Intel INF, just detonator to see what happens. A fresh XP install with INF and without detonator allowed me to run at 160 4:5 without a problem, but as soon as I installed detonator 28.90 or 29.42, it crashes on booting Windows (shortly after the video driver's been loaded).

Here's hoping no Intel INF's fix this, and that no INFs doesn't hurt my performance...

Update: Yup, 160 4:5 works fine when detonator is installed and INF is not, but I only get 8493 in 3dmark2001se (I was at ~13k at 175 1:1). A BIOS update or RMA is definitely in order. Has anyone else RMA'd a BG7 with this problem, and gotten a replacement that's OK? Obviously some people are running with these 3:4 and 4:5 settings properly, so perhaps there's more than one board revision or a newer unpublished BIOS out there?

 

[Johnnychangs]

I don't think the problem is driver related. I think we need a decent Bios update to unlock some settings of this board.

 

[GeoffW]

Could anyone post a link please to the USB drivers for the BG7 board. Either Win98 or XP preferably, I would settle for USB Version 1 if that is all that is available at the moment ? Thanks for any help.

Regards Geoff

 

[Johnnychangs]

I wrote a post HERE that has links and instructions for USB 2.0 driver installation for 845E and 845G based boards.

Good luck

 

[crapito]

Rythan: got news for ya... did you read my earlier posts on this thread? I had pretty much the same problem with my BG7. I RMA'ed it and got an Epox 4G4A+ motherboard instead. currently, I am running my 4G4A+ @ 160 FSB / 400 DDR with nVidia 29.80 and the Intel INF and AppAccel drivers installed. I just put this setup together last night, but so far, the 4G4A+ has solved my biggest BG7 problem, so I am pleased. overall, I'd say the 4G4A+ is a little better than the BG7, but I'll leave that discussion for later.

 

[The Wildcard]

Hmm, all this problem with the 160 fsb is troubling.....


Abudoggie:

I got ram from googlegear and it's DTL. I think Newegg is selling the supposed better CTL version.

 

[Rythan]

crapito: Yes, I read your posts with great interest. I've given up on the BG7, I'm just going to use it in my school computer at 1:1. I'm keeping the BD7II-Raid for home, at 175 1:1 (for some reason, the BG7 couldn't hit 175 1:1 despite using the same CPU/memory I'm using in the BD7II, it maxed out at 170 before going unstable). I think I'll just wait for dual channel DDR now

 

[The Wildcard]

Crapito & Rythan:

What exactly the problem again concerning the memory ratios and the Geforce cards? I am getting a little confused between all of the quoting, etc...

 

[Rythan]

Originally posted by: The_Wildcard
Crapito & Rythan:

What exactly the problem again concerning the memory ratios and the Geforce cards? I am getting a little confused between all of the quoting, etc...

Basically, we've both found that our BG7's crash Windows at FSB's we know our CPU's and memory can handle, if the Intel INFInst software is installed and the NVidia Detonator drivers are installed (any version). Obviously we want to install both of these for performance. However, these problems only crop up if you're using 3:4 or 4:5 memory ratios, not at 1:1.

In my case, I know my memory (Corsair XMS3200) is good to about 218MHz, and my CPU (2.26B) is good to 175MHz. In my BG7, I can run the FSB at 170 1:1 stably, but only at 140 at 4:5 and only about 120 at 3:4. Above this, my system would either crash booting Windows or crash on running 3dmark.

I suspect very strongly that there's some sort of AGP/memory bus error occurring, because on booting Windows would crash just when the video driver is loaded, or if you got past that then it was 3dmark that would kill it... Prime95 and Sandra run without a hitch if you can get into Windows. I also don't think this is limited to GeForces, I think I saw the same thing using the integrated graphics driver (back before I realized it was this driver interation happening). I'd have to verify that at school, though.

On the other hand, there are people reporting that they're running successfully at 160 4:5. I don't know what crapito and I are doing differently than they, if anything... there may be different board revisions out there.

In any case, I hope an updated BIOS can fix it. Until then, I'm stuck at 1:1. I was so hoping to run 170 4:5

 

[The Wildcard]

Ahh, okay, okay, man that sucks. I have all my parts but i havne't had the time to put everything together yet. I plan to only initally oc it to 2128 mhz with the 4:5 ratio at 133 FSB, so i shouldn't notice any problems.

Hopefully a new bios will solve it. Is there one?

 

[crapito]

The_Wildcard: it seems that Rythan has summed up the BG7/nVidia/Intel/overclocking issue quite well. I'll still add my $.02 though by quoting some stuff I wrote earlier in this thread...

re: 06/19/2002 4:14 AM post

I still have a BG7/Geforce3/overclocking problem. I've isolated the issue down to a specific combination: Intel INF drivers with basically any nVidia drivers while overclocking.
when I have the Intel INF drivers installed, either 4.00.1009 or 4.00.1013, along with any nVidia drivers, 27.50 or 28.32 or 28.90 or 29.42 or 29.60, I can run my setup perfectly @ 133 5:4 DDR333, ie (semi)official default speeds, but cannot load WinXP Pro when overclocking, ie 160 5:4 DDR400. I know it's a BG7/Geforce3/overclocking problem, because I can run any combo of 2 successfully, ie Intel INF and nVidia drivers or Intel INF and overclocking or nVidia drivers and overclocking, but cannot run all 3 together, ie Intel INF and nVidia drivers and overclocking. so basically, this sucks... yeah, I suppose having this driver/software problem is better than a hardware problem, ie my 1.6a and/or RAM can't overclock, but still... I didn't buy this overclocking friendly hardware to run @ 133 5:4 DDR333. I would have bought a cheaper SiS board and generic pc2700 RAM if that's all I wanted. damn. I am considering RMA'ing the BG7, but what else is better?

I did RMA my BG7, btw, and got an Epox 4G4A+, which is currently running @ 150FSB/DDR375 with all relevant drivers loaded without a problem, which is better than my BG7 ever did. heck, I never once got into WinXP's desktop with a clean WinXP Pro install and anything over 140FSB/DDR350 with my BG7. I am currently using nVidia's 29.80 drivers, which weren't available when I had my BG7, but I doubt that is the solution since no other nVidia drivers did the trick. I did have some limited success running my old Ghosted copy of WinXP from my Athlon/8KHA+ combo with my P4/BG7 setup, but simply could not get everything to work on a clean, formated, "fresh"install. it's possible a BIOS revision could solve the problem, but as of yet, there are no newer BIOSes for the BG7. oh well...