MA78GM-US2H extremely slow POST, video glitches, performance

[Carson]

Hm. Question for Advanced Dick and Jane.

I notice when I click on my DRAM chart that it enlarges itself but fuzzifies badly. And yet that comes from a full-page WORD doc.

Now, when I click on the bilbat image, it enlarges itself very nice and clearly. What do I need to learn about anti-fuzzification?

 

[bilbat]

I wish I had an answer but 'll try to find out about fuzzification...

Here's the way I see our problem - it pretty much doesn't matter what we find in the SPD/EPP, if we have no way to set the parameters in the first place! I'm gonna hunt around a bit - I think there is an overclocking thingie from AMD, that kind of replicates the functionality (dis-functionality??) of GB's EasyTune app, and lets you change system parameters - what I don't know, is whether it gives you access to the memory timings?

 

[Carson]

I have found this about that. It is called AMD Overdrive, and it is freeware available from Softpedia at
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/CPU-Tweak/AMD-Overdrive.shtml

This time I have removed the resize from my Imageshack picture, and then embedded a thumbnail, and I get this:


There are 6 very good screenshots at the Softpedia site.

Are we on to something? Now, this is, like, TOHtally, over my head; I mean totally AWEsome to the max. Like, I wouldn't know—oh, hold that thought; my other cellphone is ringing.

 

[bilbat]

That's exactly it - now, for some breakdowns on what we can do with it... I can't test it here, as "homey don' play 'dat!"

 

[bilbat]

Ah - looks like just what we need; I assume you're downloading and installing it as I type this??

 

[bilbat]

Kind of a 'home page' here:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/0,,3715_15337_15354_15359,00.html
still looking for a manual or docs... DL'd it myself, to see if I can extractit to look for help or instructions...

 

[bilbat]

See the videos:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_overdrive.aspx
and...
http://www.lostintechnology.com/how-to/how-to-overclock-your-cpu-using-amd-overdrive
also discovered this:
http://framewave.sourceforge.net/

May go against my priciples and allow an AMD into my house, after all...
Looked at all the screen shots (still looking for docs, though) and they've got memory timings I've never even heard of! To quote Will Smith, in 'Independence Day", when first flying the UFO: "I got to git me one of these!"

 

[Carson]

Well, I was hoping for Ruby, but I settled for Nate. The videos were good, and I picked up on his saying that the program could save a profile which would communicate with the BIOS to apply AMD Overdrive settings as the computer came on.

Here is this morning's cold start, which I include as a typical sample from hundreds of similar startups throughout 2009. As I've said, the startup time is typically 4 to 10 minutes. The "record ever" quickest times to POST were 20 seconds, and those were very rare. The longest time was over 48 minutes to POST—and then everything proceeded just fine, as though that were the most natural thing in the world.



The 2 last lines can be changed easily enough, according to how many programs are set to open at startup, so I'm less concerned with those. However, even after the POST, the boot process to enter XP in the first place is pretty slow. (This is XP 64.)

 

[bilbat]

That is godawful; the load times don't look all that bad, but obviously, something is going on in the POST that is, well, the technical term I believe is - broken! So - the big question - does OverDrive install on your system? (Look for an email, too)

 

[Carson]

Yes, I do have OverDrive installed on my system now, and I've looked into the various parts of it. I haven't changed anything. But it looks very good.

Yes, the POST times have indeed been godawful all year—and very depressing, too. I don't have a PC Post Card, and I'm not sure if one would help or not, because my POST actually DOES succeed, eventually. The process continues right through and up into Windows, every time—but it is a long time, every time.

 

[bilbat]

I don't have a PC Post Card, and I'm not sure if one would help or not, because my POST actually DOES succeed, eventually

A decent one should at least point us at the actual problem - they are updated in real-time, to display the hex code for the 'part of' the POST that is occurring, and thus should tell us - ahh, it's spending three and a half minutes in the memory discovery, or the PCIe clock configuration, or some such... So, what I think will be most productive is for you to post the OverDrive screens for me, and we'll start trying to figure out what to experiment with...

To begin with, I have a recommendation - on the "Integrated Peripherals" page of your BIOS, disable "Legacy USB storage detect" - may help - can't hurt; GBs have a known problem with this setting...

 

[Carson]

I did disable that Legacy USB, along with, I'm sure, absolutely every other BIOS setting that was even remotely suspect. None of them appeared to make any difference at all. As I continued with BIOS settings and monitoring results, I became increasingly confident that the real problem is very likely one single factor. I thought it might be hardware, but nothing has come up (and I did RMA the mobo).

So, where to turn? If the villian is (seemingly) not in the BIOS settings that I was tweaking, and if the hardware looks good. . . . After all, even the PSU was vindicated when the system took just as long to POST with absolutely no hardware attached—well, then, what about the One Single Villian being the WAY that the CPU related to the RAM?

Not the RAM itself; not even the RAM's ability to work with the system. But the way the RAM and the CPU "held hands"? And so that's what I was addressing here, this time, and now I'm hoping that within the settings on OverDrive there might be something that will either reveal the villian or even perhaps allow a tweak which gets rid of the slow POST.

So now I'll get busy and post the OverDrive screens, showing the settings as they are now.

 

[Carson]

Auto Clock

Device List 1

Device List 2

This image is actually a diagram of my system. (Beautiful work by AMD OverDrive!)

 

[Carson]

Novice Mode

Page List

Performance Control

Preference

Stability Test

Status Monitor ~ AVG is doing a full scan here, so the image shows a lot of use.

System Information


Done! There are 11 images, showing an overview of AMD OverClock as it appears on my system. I think there are many more screens that will display to show specific details of everything imaginable, and then some.

 

[bilbat]

I'm still trying to digest this - and still hunting for docs; when you installed it, did it come with a PDF manual? Might email it to me as an attachment - or even the help file might help 😗 Don't worry - I haven't given up, had a busy day, & will have another tomorrow - mowed the lot for the season's last time, oil & filter changes for the mowers, and, tomorrow, the last fertilizer of the year - global warming or not, we've had hardly a summer, and I expect it to snow (in earnest - it's already drifted a few flakes down on us twice!) any *&^% day now! Ahh - that's what I get for deciding to live in a "semi-temperate" climate

 

[Carson]

Um—the .PDF manual for the motherboard: yes, and I can easily send it, but I think you mentioned already looking at it.

—.PDF manuals for the CPU or the RAM: no

—Documentation for AMD OverDrive: none that you haven't seen; for such a comprehensive program, the documentation is unfortunately sparse. I haven't found a Help file.
I think that is because the app "evolved" from one person's expertise and interest into, apparently, shareware which soon caught the eye of corporate AMD.

(I used to live in Alberta, and your mention of oil, filters, mowers, and snowflakes in October would fit Alberta. You can't be very far to the south, and you must be some distance from a maritime influence. I am curious to know where you are; none of my business; just idle wondering. I detect no English accent. I would have thought the midwestern States. Definitely not where you were born, in any case. OOPS—apologies to you younger guys; that IS O/T, isn't it? Well, please forgive me, but when you get to be 63, you do tend to feel as though YOU (I mean me) are essentially off-topic. It's the way the girls look at you. (They don't.) Yes, definitely I feel a little O/T these days.)

Thanks again.

 

[bilbat]

Just NW of Milwaukee, off Lake Michigan - and I was born here (which often makes me wonder about my overall sanity

Still trying to get a handle on all this OcerDrive/AMD memory stuff, but thought of something worth a try: open a command prompt (I think you mentioned Xp - isn't any 'elevated' command prompt - for Vista & 7, must be elevated...) and type: sfc /scannow

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310747

 

[Carson]

[sorry for reply delay: sick with H1N1, I suppose; back in a day or two (I'm OK but it is very hard to look at computer screens/bad headache]

EDIT: I'm back together again. The 'flu wasn't bad, but I still have a lingering propensity toward a headache that seems not to like computer screens. But I'm viewing things again anyway.

However, I'm concerned that my POST delay is strictly hardware. I doubt my BIOS settings come into play before POST—possibly including settings I might make in the Overdrive app? I hope that I'm wrong, or else that there are SOME settings I can make which take effect the moment the power switch is pressed.