Asus P5W DH Deluxe Reboots

[Johnnyjo]

Hi, I just put together a system with Asus p5w dh deluxe mobo, Intel core 2 duo, 2 - corsair xms2 1 gig modules and the system randomly reboots. Also noticed on the startup screen that the bios see the memory as pc2-5300 instead of the 6400 it is. Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm at a loss

 

[jattdb]

As for the memory speed, the speed it will show during startup is the speed at which the RAM is currently running. The RAM clock is set as a ratio of the FSB clock. If your FSB is 266MHz and you're running a 1:1 ratio, your RAM will be running at 533MHz (266 x2 because it's DDR2).

You can select different ratios in the BIOS config, the setting is right below the FSB setting. Rather than displaying the ratios (1:1, 5:4, etc) it shows what the memory clocks will be at the available ratios. To display PC2-6400 at boot you'll need to run the memory at or near 800MHz. Most things I've read suggest the 975x chipset performs best with a 1:1 ratio. PC2-6400 RAM is a popular choice for C2D overclocking because it matches perfectly with a 400MHz FSB.

As to the random reboots, I'd suggest checking your temperatures with CoreTemp or the Intel Thermal Analysis Tool (TAT). Also, download Memtest86+ and let it run through its test at least 4-5 times to see if you have bad memory. If you get errors with both sticks installed, try the tests again with one stick and then with the other to identify the problem stick.

 

[Johnnyjo]

I got the RAM set now using the manual settings. Hopefully that will solve the problem. Do you think they were related? I will run the temp programs although I kind of think the temps are fine since it's running with the covers off.

Thank you
John

 

[XxSmokexX]

I had read somewhere that using certian usb headers on the board were causeing random reboots... It might have been asus's forums, I will look for it again and post a link here.

 

[Johnnyjo]

Hi, manually setting up the memory seems to have solved the randome reboot problem. Now it just seems like there is a lot of lag especially when more than one program is running. It seems slower than my old P4.

Thanks
John

 

[blaxthos]

I had read somewhere that using certian usb headers on the board were causeing random reboots... It might have been asus's forums, I will look for it again and post a link here.

I confirm these findings through emperical testing. I have experienced major problems (failed boots, memory problems) when USB Legacy support was Auto or Enabled. Trial and error has led me to discover that USB problems exist with this motherboard.

Additionally, I'm experiencing the exact same problem re: PC2-6400 ram being discovered as PC2-5300. BIOS settings do not make it easy to change (hence digging through the forums). I'm gonna try to figure out the ratio stuff, but honestly I'd rather see a feature like in an Asrock motherboard (with Phoenix BIOS) that you just select the RAM speed.

Either way, I'm disappointed at the problems I've been experiencing.

Asus P5W DH Deluxe
Intel Core2Duo 2.4ghz
Corsair PC2-6400, 2x1GB sticks in the orange slots
WDC 500GB
Hauppauge WinTV PVR-500-MCE
Vista Business (32bit)

Any hints/tips/tricks/ideas welcome.

blaxthos@bash.org

 

[Johnnyjo]

I finally gave up and bought an Intel board. Am returning this one for an exchange. It's amazing the difference. Fast, no reboots (it wasn't the memory causing the reboots). Also no more turning on by itself if you moved the mouse or turned off the external USB drive after it was shut down.

Thank you everyone for the idea's.

John

 

[SirDevon]

I'm willing to bet that you had the mouse and external HD plugged into USB ports 3 & 4.. any activity on these ports while the machine was off would cause it to start-up. Well documented in the motherboard manual.