*** Official ASUS P5W DH Thread ***

[eanelson]

I hope this hasnt been talked about already, but if it has...sorry. I set up my new parts last night, and everything is working great, with one exception. Whenever I need to start up my computer or restart, it takes FOREVER during the post. It auto-detects the drives just fine, then when it gets to Auto-Detecting USB Mass Storage Devices, it takes a ridiculous long time, a couple minutes at least.
I havent got any USB Mass storage devices plugged in, I think it is somehow detecting my printer as a USB Mass Storage Device. Anybody have input on this? Is there a way to disable the auto-detecting so it will speed up (hopefully)?

 

[mikepaul]

Originally posted by: phile
From what I can gather, DVD and CD ROM drives will only partially function, when attached to the JMicron controller. I recall reading a few posts about the drives reverting to PIO mode, among other things.

OK, if it comes down to a case of 'support' or 'support well', I think it manages 'support'.

The 'well' part would be proven if I ever get around to doing more than the WinXP CD or playing an audio CD. Burning a DVD isn't on the agenda for a while...

 

[mikepaul]

Originally posted by: phile
Those caps on the heatsinks should most definitely be removed, once you're comfortable that the board is not defective.

I'm bothered by the illustrated method of removing them. Can one just use a knife and make them come off, or is it really necessary to pry things open?...

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: mikepaul

Originally posted by: phile
Those caps on the heatsinks should most definitely be removed, once you're comfortable that the board is not defective.

I'm bothered by the illustrated method of removing them. Can one just use a knife and make them come off, or is it really necessary to pry things open?...

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. You just use a thin tool to pry them off. They're glued on. It takes a fair bit of force to pry them off, so you're best off detaching the heatsinks from the mobo, before doing so. Otherwise, you risk damaging the board if your hand slips.

-phil

 

[sshrum]

There seems to be a ton of issues when attempting to install WIN XP to a drive array in RAID 0 mode (regardless of whether it's the Silicon Image controller, Intel controller, or the Jmicro controller).

Can someone point me to a source that outlines in detail what must be done in order to install WinXP to a >RAID 0< setup, preferrably using the SI controller (EZ-RAID) option first and the Intel controller as a second option?

TIA

 

[lnhw]

Hello all,

I purchased this board and want to connect a dvd-ram burner and dvd rom player, both fairly new. Should I use the JMicron EIDE connector or the Intel Ide conector? Mobo manual says ATAPI devices are not supposed to be supported on the jmicron connector... is that the case?

Thanks!

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: lnhw
Hello all,

I purchased this board and want to connect a dvd-ram burner and dvd rom player, both fairly new. Should I use the JMicron EIDE connector or the Intel Ide conector? Mobo manual says ATAPI devices are not supposed to be supported on the jmicron connector... is that the case?

Thanks!

It would seem that that is the case, yes.

-phil

 

[The111]

Twice now on a fresh power on after a long power off, the computer has started powering up (from the sounds of the fans moving, LED's coming on, etc) but there is no signal to the monitor or anything. After 15 seconds or so it powers down. The second time I try it comes on correctly.

Anyone else have this happen?

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: The111
Twice now on a fresh power on after a long power off, the computer has started powering up (from the sounds of the fans moving, LED's coming on, etc) but there is no signal to the monitor or anything. After 15 seconds or so it powers down. The second time I try it comes on correctly.

Anyone else have this happen?

That's certainly not normal. Are you using the remote, by any chance? I'm starting to get the impression that some of the features of this board do not work properly - wifi, remote, jmicron. I do not use any of those and have never had so much as a hiccup.

-phil

 

[Twitch22]

Hello everyone. I need help on completing my next machine. I just got my E6600 and P5W DH this past weekend. However, since my current computer is a 5-year old Athlon XP2000+ (VIA KT 880 and nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4400 AGP card) machine, I've gotta' buy all new stuff save for my trusty Lian Li PC-65 case. My current shopping list:

- (2) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s HD's w/Perpendicular Recording Tech. (Non-RAID)
- Lite-On Combo Drive
- Lite-On DVD-R/RAM Drive w/LightScribe
- Mushkin 550200 ATX12V 550W Power Supply
- Mushkin 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 Dual Channel Kit System Model 996527
- ATI Radeon X1900GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card

My real questions are about the memory. One, is DDR2 800 absolutely neccessary? What performance hits (if any) are there by going with 667 or even 533 DDR2? Also, I've read that Asus boards can be picky about whose memory you use. Are there any known issues with Mushkin sticks and this board?

Next, I'm going with one video card for right now, waiting for the new Direct X-10 cards to come out before going with a CrossFire set-up. Knowing this, is the 1900 too much card? IOW, can I get by with an 1800 or even 1600 for now?

I don't plan on OC'ing this machine. I just want a fast "out-of-the-box" machine that can play games at high resolutions, encode and edit video and photos and manage a huge audio collection.

Thanks for reading. I'm an enthusiast, but no expert. Any suggestions or info would be great! Thanks...

Twitch22

 

[RationalThoughts]

I was thinking about getting this board or the intel xbx board. Just got a 6400 Core 2 duo and I'm in the middle of an upgrade process. Next step is memory, I was thinking about 2GB sound right? What kind, what speed? I see that it's rigged for crossfire does that mean SLI won't work? Cuz I was thinking of going 7900GS I like the bang for buck. Is the raptor the best hard drive? Looking for a decent system without to much strain on the pocket book and I have a lot of questions thanks for any input

 

[The111]

Originally posted by: phile

That's certainly not normal. Are you using the remote, by any chance? I'm starting to get the impression that some of the features of this board do not work properly - wifi, remote, jmicron. I do not use any of those and have never had so much as a hiccup.

-phil

No, I was not using the remote. I think both times I may have had the power supply completely shut off before the repower, because I had been doing something inside the case. I'll see if it happens anymore.

Quick question for you regarding what we were talking about earlier. I got Everest up and running to monitor my temps. How do you determine when you are at "idle" and "full load"? Assuming idle is sitting in Windows with nothing running, and load is an intensive 3D game, both my mobo and CPU are idling in low 50's, and topping out in high 50's / low 60's. Is this bad? I think I am going to do the motherboard mods you described (grease on bridge sinks and remove cover plates), and also get myself a better HSF. And maybe one more case fan. That should do me good, I hope.

 

[jedisponge]

Hey everyone again.

I RMAed the original board, and got a new one from zipzoomfly (overnight for 16 bucks! And Bios revision 1305 for those interested) and it got power!

But the headaches haven't ended. I installed all the hardware, and now what's happening is the as soon as I plug in the power, the system turns on by itself for 5 seconds, then shuts off by itself. I try powering it up, but it doesn't turn on. When I unplug and replug, the cycle repeats.

I took the computer to Best Buy and Geek Squad, and the dude there said it was a memory problem. He was swiping out the sticks and the power stayed on for 10 seconds (or so, anyhow longer than 5) when only one of the sticks was in. I was perplexed, but I accepted his judgement . I experimented back at my dorm, but I still don't understand what the problem would be with memory.

So the problem as it stands now is.. the system turns on for 5 seconds after I plug in the power, then turns off by itself. After that I can't turn it on. Unplug, re-plug, repeats. And repeat. And repeat. Anyone have any idea what this could be? Again I have a Rosewill 600watt power supply and Corsair xms 6400 ram with a E6700.

 

[Skott]

Originally posted by: RationalThoughts
I was thinking about getting this board or the intel xbx board. Just got a 6400 Core 2 duo and I'm in the middle of an upgrade process. Next step is memory, I was thinking about 2GB sound right? What kind, what speed? I see that it's rigged for crossfire does that mean SLI won't work? Cuz I was thinking of going 7900GS I like the bang for buck. Is the raptor the best hard drive? Looking for a decent system without to much strain on the pocket book and I have a lot of questions thanks for any input

You dont have to go with 2GB RAM but alot of people do because it adds performance and its not overly expensive although lately DDR2 RAM demand has gone up forcing prices up along with it. Most games do fine with 1GB RAM so just decide which you want. Alot of OCers are going with PC 6400 (800) RAM but you can run lower RAM. If you arent going to overclock then dont go for the higher priced performance RAM.

The P5W DH only supports CrossFire. However. I have heard there is a way to run SLI on the P5W DH but requires some hacked drivers that ATI doesnt support. I have heard it runs fine but I dont recommend it simply because ATI and ASUS doesnt support it and i dont know much about it personally. I think you also need to buy a dongle but not totally sure. I thought i read a thread somewhere saying you can buy one on ebay for like $5 or so.

Raptors are one of the best drives to be had if not the best but very expensive compared to 7200 drives. Wether its something you want to add to your system or not is dependent on your budget. Running a good 7200.10 drive wont hurt your gaming performance so I'll leave that decision up to you. The Raptors are a little faster though.

If you want this mobo but want to save money I'd say get the lesser RAM now and only 1GB and just stick with a good 7200.10 hard drive. later on if you want to push the machine to its utmost limit then buy the better RAM when you have the cash. With the lesser RAM you can probably hit 3GHz with that E6400 and the P5W DH. Thats a pretty good overclock IMHO. I do suggest a aftermarket HSF though if you plan to overclock. They got some good ones now in the $20something range.

 

[Trevorsouter]

Originally posted by: RationalThoughts
I was thinking about getting this board or the intel xbx board. Just got a 6400 Core 2 duo and I'm in the middle of an upgrade process. Next step is memory, I was thinking about 2GB sound right? What kind, what speed? I see that it's rigged for crossfire does that mean SLI won't work? Cuz I was thinking of going 7900GS I like the bang for buck. Is the raptor the best hard drive? Looking for a decent system without to much strain on the pocket book and I have a lot of questions thanks for any input

DDR2 PC6400 is best bet imo
corsair and G.Skill would b the brands to go with this board i reckon. personally i have gone corsair PC6400 800mhz 5-5-5-12. apprantly intel chips dont really benenifit greatly from low CAS timings so i figure why spend the extra$$ for very little performance increase. they do like high mhz ive been told. 800mhz is more than enough unless ur into full on extreme overclocking.

SLI wont work, however i believe tehre are hacked drivers. if ur intent on running two cards you'll need an ati master card + another ati card of teh same sort (eg X1950XTX + X1950) however i personally recomend against running 2 cards UNLESS money is not an issue. 1 new card will out perform 2 older cards for the same or lower price (eg. 1 7900GT > 2 x 7800GT and works out cheaper + leaves u with more recent upgrade options down the track)

The raptor is the best HDD around as far as i know. Ive personally just bought a 74 gig raptor for all my games and ive got a 250gig seagate sataII 16mb cache for windows and other junk. this way windows will be idling on the seagate whilst my raptors full attention is where its needed

 

[desune]

Twice now on a fresh power on after a long power off, the computer has started powering up (from the sounds of the fans moving, LED's coming on, etc) but there is no signal to the monitor or anything. After 15 seconds or so it powers down. The second time I try it comes on correctly.

Anyone else have this happen?

Yes, this happens on my system too. After a long OFF period...it doesn't seem to like to start, even at full stock and no overclocking. It did this the first time I tried to turn on the system...I thought the board was DOA. I happened to hit the reset switch and it beeped, and booted up. So now when it doesn't boot...and just sits there, I hit the reset until it beeps. Not sure why it does this though...very annoying.

Also, probably the same issue that jedisponge is encountering.

 

[machined]

Originally posted by: machined
Yes, at both manual and default settings it (the stick that will enable a POST) produces errors.

I left it running 1hr30 and it produced errors in every test - the most relevant ones(?) being 10K in 7 and 3K in 5. Maybe just relative to the software, but trying the 'advanced' tells me chipset not supported. A red herring, probably...

I've tried to run memtest with what I have read to be the best settings too eg. Hyperthreading(transport?) disabled, and disabling the legacy USB support too.

I'm about to call for an RMA; I'm sure I've seen people running this Corsair XMS2 6400 RAM with this board and chip (or at least a faster version of the same chip), and can see no further.

Incidentally, I could get to safe mode in Windows XP, but to try normally gives me a flash of a BSOD before restarting. Now when trying safe mode, it appears to hang at the loading(?) of JGOGO.sys...aaaaaaaaaaaargh, a Jmicron job? Getting sidetracked though...I guess the RAM is waht's creating this problem...

Got my replacement RAM (XMS2 6400 C5)

With BIOS settings at auto (1.8V, 5-5-5-15 I think), it produced a few errors in Test 7. I didn't see this is an indication the RAM was faulty, however.

With the FSB and the RAM at 333 (1:1 4-4-4-12), VCORE@1.35, VDIMM@2, it appears stable, fast, and no memtest errors.

I like this board

 

[jedisponge]

Originally posted by: desune

Twice now on a fresh power on after a long power off, the computer has started powering up (from the sounds of the fans moving, LED's coming on, etc) but there is no signal to the monitor or anything. After 15 seconds or so it powers down. The second time I try it comes on correctly.

Anyone else have this happen?

Yes, this happens on my system too. After a long OFF period...it doesn't seem to like to start, even at full stock and no overclocking. It did this the first time I tried to turn on the system...I thought the board was DOA. I happened to hit the reset switch and it beeped, and booted up. So now when it doesn't boot...and just sits there, I hit the reset until it beeps. Not sure why it does this though...very annoying.

Also, probably the same issue that jedisponge is encountering.

It sure does sound like it. Some have replied to my problem as problems with the case wires. They've said that the power button might be staying on the "on" position, making the computer think that the power down is being pushed and hence it shuts off in 5 seconds. So try switching the reset wires onto the power on wires, and by pressing the reset button turns on the computer fully. I have yet to try it but I'll get back asap.

 

[The111]

Jedi and Desune: which case are you guys using? I have the Antec Sonata II.

 

[jedisponge]

I have an NZXT Lexa.

But now the problem gets more interesting.

I disconnect the case wires from the motherboard. I disconnected all the other molex connectors from anything requiring power. Right now the only things are the 12v 4pin and the 20+4pin connecting to the motherboard. I unplug the power, replug and the turning on for 5 seconds then turning off for good still happens, when the case wires are not connected to the motherboard. So right now, I'm guessing the psu is dead, or I got another faulty motherboard, or some very unforseen cpu problem. I'm leaning towards a dead PSU.

 

[mikepaul]

I've made another try at using different BIOS (1305, I guess) settings to boost my E6300's performance, and again what I copied didn't work.

http://www.techspot.com/article/13-inte...uo-e6300-e6700-overclocking/page2.html had some E6300 settings which I copied exactly, and then the computer went to sleep instead of restarting. When I hit the reset button, I got Failed Hit F1 for setup.

So I tried the Overclocking Profiles in the BIOS, and 30% worked fine last night. Ran the Orthos test for over 8 hours, no problems, maybe 62C just before I stopped it and 55C immediately after.

Does anyone have experience using the higher profiles in the BIOS? Any documentation anywhere?...

 

[The111]

Originally posted by: jedisponge
I have an NZXT Lexa.

But now the problem gets more interesting.

I disconnect the case wires from the motherboard. I disconnected all the other molex connectors from anything requiring power. Right now the only things are the 12v 4pin and the 20+4pin connecting to the motherboard. I unplug the power, replug and the turning on for 5 seconds then turning off for good still happens, when the case wires are not connected to the motherboard. So right now, I'm guessing the psu is dead, or I got another faulty motherboard, or some very unforseen cpu problem. I'm leaning towards a dead PSU.

I want to agree that it's not the mobo, since the probability of two bad mobos in a row is pretty low. But here's what's funny, even with my system which is working great 99% of the time, there are those two power-on instances I referred to, and also I just remembered it once did what you described: I was plugging the PSU cable in to the back of the case and the thing just automatically "powered on" for 5 seconds and then shutdown. The power supply is a brand new Antec 450W, I don't suspect it, but I guess even the best stuff fails sometimes. Not sure what to think, but I guess all I can do is keep my eyes open and see if anything weird continues to happen. I guess you've got it worse than me. Don't you have another PC/PSU so you can try switching some of your variables around to isolate the problem?

 

[phile]

I fail to understand how a bad PSU could trigger the board to power-up on its own. Do any of you have USB devices connected to either of the two lower USB ports (ports #3 and #4) on the back? Devices connected to either of these two USB ports can power-up the machine. They're "always-on" ports intended for use with the remote. For those with this issue, try the following experiment:

- reset BIOS to factory settings
- in the BIOS, disable the second ethernet controller
- make sure mouse and keyboard are not connected to USB ports 3 and 4
- connect only the case wires for: power switch, power led, power reset switch, speaker, HD led

Connect the PSU with the power switch set to OFF. With everything connected, flip the PSU's power switch to ON. Does the machine still automatically power-on the mobo?

-phil

 

[The111]

I am not at home right now, but I think I do actually have an external HDD (externally powered) on USB3. You may be onto something.

Connect the PSU with the power switch set to OFF. With everything connected, flip the PSU's power switch to ON.

Also, I think the one time it happened to me, I had the cable plugged in and the switch flipped on, I think I was actually plugging my surge protector into the wall, which is probably not a good idea but I was tired and not thinking straight.

They're "always-on" ports intended for use with the remote.

So if I'm not using my remote, I cannot use USB3/4 for anything?

 

[phile]

You definitely can use those ports, but it appears certain devices can trigger the power-on event. I use those ports for my printer and UPS, and haven't had any power issues, to date. If you're not using the additional 2-port USB bracket (included with the board), try connecting your HD to one of those ports.

-phil