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Help needed! (Asus P5K-E Wifi/AP & Intel Q9550)

hughythomas

hughythomas

hughythomas

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Reigate
Hi guys!

I have the following system:

ASUS P5K-E Wifi/AP
Intel Core2Duo E8400
Corsair Dominator DDR2 RAM
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3
NVIDIA GTX285
Be Quiet! Darkpower 850W

The system worked flawlessly untill just now when I installed a quad (Q9550). Now the system sometimes posts, rarely makes it past POST although I did manage to nearly load Windows just now.

Is there something I'm missing here? Originally I hadn't realised I needed to plug an 8 pin psu connector into the motherboard for the quad. I did that shortly after and still the same problems. I reset the CMOS, still the same.

The computer constantly restarts (it's even rebooted in the BIOS). Can I trust this to do a USB flash of the BIOS? Might this fix the issues?

Many thanks

Tom

EDIT: I'm currently on BIOS version 1301.
 
I notice you have a major overclock in your sig.

Go back to stock and try using the computer - This is where I would start.
If no luck then try another psu (actually just read that it resets in bios, so it really might be psu).

Broken cpu's are broken, as in dead, they pretty much never have an ittermittent (sp?) fault or are broken but useable.
 
Hey man appreciate the reply but just to re-iterate -

I HAD a E8400 in there untill 15 mins ago. I reset the BIOS to defaults BEFORE changing the chips over. I now have a Q9550 in there. I am having difficulty understanding why it would be the PSU if it works flawlessly with the E8400?
 
hughythomas said:
Hey man appreciate the reply but just to re-iterate -

I HAD a E8400 in there untill 15 mins ago. I reset the BIOS to defaults BEFORE changing the chips over. I now have a Q9550 in there. I am having difficulty understanding why it would be the PSU if it works flawlessly with the E8400?
Click to expand...

oops sorry I had a long day at work:p
I say your bios is having a spaz because it is an old one that doesn't like quads, probably C1 stepping 45nm quads.

I have updated mine and my brothers Asus P5Q loads of times from usb stick via the bios and it has been easy and worked well:)

I highly doubt the cpu is faulty, as it would not post if it was.

hughythomas said:
Hi guys! I'm currently on BIOS version 1301.
Click to expand...

I cannot find this on the Asus website for your board, did you mean 1013? If so then there are several newer bios versions out.

Version 1012 says it supports more cpus, which iirc is about the time 45nm quads where out.

Just flash the motherboard with the latest bios available (1305) and you should be fine.
 
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Ok cool cheers man

What ya reckon - wap me dual back in there just to be safe and do a BIOS flash? Looking at the ASUS site they have a 1305 BIOS on there (mines the 1301) but the 1301 looks like it was late 2009 anyways? Well all I can do is try...
 
hughythomas said:
Ok cool cheers man

What ya reckon - wap me dual back in there just to be safe and do a BIOS flash? Looking at the ASUS site they have a 1305 BIOS on there (mines the 1301) but the 1301 looks like it was late 2009 anyways? Well all I can do is try...
Click to expand...

Yea I would stick the dual core back in and flash the bios. Cannot say for sure if this will solve it but is deffinately the best starting point.
The Asus website says your board supports the quad, but only from a bios update (cannot say which one as there are several different steppings for each cpu).
 
It was this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-203-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

Bought a couple of days ago. Yer it looks like my BIOS (1301) is a beta as well!

Looking through the supported CPUs list it seems that processor was enabled since version 1102 or 1013 (depending on which stepping). The weird thing is - even on my current BIOS the CPU was recognised on boot fine (it came up with the name Q9550 and the right clock of 2.83Ghz).
 
hughythomas said:
It was this one:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-203-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=567

Bought a couple of days ago. Yer it looks like my BIOS (1301) is a beta as well!

Looking through the supported CPUs list it seems that processor was enabled since version 1102 or 1013 (depending on which stepping). The weird thing is - even on my current BIOS the CPU was recognised on boot fine (it came up with the name Q9550 and the right clock of 2.83Ghz).
Click to expand...

CPU-Z will tell you the stepping.
If it is a Beta bios then get a new one asap:p
 
mglover070588 said:
CPU-Z will tell you the stepping.
If it is a Beta bios then get a new one asap:p
Click to expand...

Thats if I can even boot into Winblows :P

I've just installed the old E8400 and after restoring my OC Profile it's working fine. No random rebooting.

Does Asus have a windows based flashing tool? Or is that a silly idea and I should just do it from USB stick?

Tom
 
Well I got as far as the welcome screen that time with the quad installed (after updating the BIOS). However, it just hung and then restarted itself again.

Could it be that I set (in msconfig) the computer to boot with 2 threads? Think its an option you can select from the advanced.

Please advise guys?

I'll try safe mode and changing that to begin with..

Many thanks

Tom
 
Also I should mention that with the new BIOS, it does get past the POST without rebooting (as in I can now get the Windows login screen) but if I do a cold boot it always powers up but no video - then, after about 15 seconds it reboots and then on the 2nd time I get video and POST is displayed as normal. Any bright ideas?

Is the chip faulty?

EDIT: I checked the temps of the chip from the BIOS for the first time - its stating 27c, so we can presumably rule out any contact issues with the waterblock.
 
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Well I'm posting this from the rig with the quad troubles so I made it into windows!

Hurrah!

I reset the CMOS again and fiddled with the BIOS settings a little and managed to load into the OS OK.

I still however get this weird cold boot thing where the computer starts up for 5 seconds with no video and then restarts followed by a good boot afterwards. This is normal for this motherboard to do if an overclock failed but I am at stock settings on the CPU (all auto). Haven't messed with overclocking it yet?!
 
I have a Q9550 running on this board. You should be able to get 3.6/3.8ghz.

Has the default bios setting left your RAM voltage too low? Even at stock speeds I have to manually set the voltage for a stable system.
 
Thanks man yer I started messing with the voltages and seemed to have fix my cold boot issue now - system works flawlessly.

I can't seem to break the 3.8Ghz barrier though. I really want to get 4.0Ghz out of it but can't seem to manage it :(
 
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