New system, ran for about 6 hours, then will not post

[DigitalKnight]

I built a new system, and it ran, with some instability, for about 6 hrs. After building the system I ran Memtest86+ and got some ram errors. Came back over to my brother's (who I built the system for) and checked the system, and noticed that the board was reading the DDR2-1066 G-skill RAM as DDR2-800 ram. Went into bios, changed the ram speed and voltage to what the ram packaging said, rebooted, got a corrupted bios error, tried to reset the bios, and now the computer will not post. The board gives codes for detecting the ram, and then hangs there. I've moved the two DIMMs around, switched channels, tried only using one DIMM, everything I can think of.

I have a bad feeling that I got a bad motherboard, but with the MemTest86+ errors I'm not sure. I'm taking the ram to a shop to check it tomorrow as I don't have a system that can run DDR2 RAM. Does anyone have any other ideas or seen thing like this? The system specs are listed below.

Thanks for any help.
DK.

System Specs:
CPU- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
MOBO- ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA
Power supply- Antec TruPower 850
RAM- 2 X G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Video- SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1

[PorPorMe]

I'm thinking mislabled ram. Memtest errors AND instability say replace ram. I would not set bios to mem settings, stay auto as much as possible.
That being said, it's best to leave it alone tonite. get the mem tested tommarow, and come back when the pro's are around. Good Luck!

[Necorum]

Im going with a bad board, but as porpor said wait and do a memtest on that ram or you could use the cd that came with your asus board and try to reflash the bios. (my old asus p4p800se cd auto flashed the bios)

Then if you get the system booted use one ram stick leave the bios alone. Get on your pc make a boot cd with the newest bios file on it and flash with the enwer bios.

Or try this

Your bios files
http://support.asus.com/download/dow...page%20Formula
Instructions
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/0...-flash-update/

[Rondog]

I agree with Necorum. My thoughts are with a bad board.

Mislabelled RAM, while yes I believe is possible, I also believe it very improbable.

The random instability and no post makes me say bad board. Just the same, test the memory, its easier!

Also, you mentioned it had some instability in the first 6 hours. What was this instability you witnessed?

[PorPorMe]

Didn't know it was improbable, i don't get out much, because it hapened to me.
Wheather it's labeling or not, I still think it's ram.

I am without a doubt, the least knowlegeable about this stuff and I'll bet you a weiner dog it's memory.

[DigitalKnight]

Originally Posted by Rondog

I agree with Necorum. My thoughts are with a bad board.

Mislabelled RAM, while yes I believe is possible, I also believe it very improbable.

The random instability and no post makes me say bad board. Just the same, test the memory, its easier!

Also, you mentioned it had some instability in the first 6 hours. What was this instability you witnessed?

Random non-BSOD lockups while running programs including the OS. The computer would just stop responding with out a BSOD so there was no evidence of what caused the lockup. Happend most often when doing something that used a lot of system resources (Games, yes my brother loaded some of this games before I was finished burning in the system. FEAR, Doom 3, things in those vanes... ).

Anyways, off to the shop for the memtest.

[Samuknow]

That sounds like a mem issue for sure. if i push my mem too far, that is the exact problem that shows up.

[ThunderRd]

Were you running it 1:1 with the FSB or on a divider?

[DigitalKnight]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

Were you running it 1:1 with the FSB or on a divider?

A divider, the FSB speed for the Q9550 chip is 1333. Since the ram is DDR2-1066 I'm guessing that the divider is set at 2.5.

Anyways, the shop checked the RAM out and it looked OK, after running all night in their test rig it checked out with out any errors what so ever. Could the memory controller on the motherboard be bad?

Going to put the RAM back in and move the graphics card to see if that can shock the system into getting past the DRAM detection step or at least where I can flash a new bios. If that does not work I guess I'm going to RMA the board and rebuild the system when we get a replacement.

Any other ideas out there?

Thanks,
DK.

[DigitalKnight]

Well, but the ram back in, and moved the video card. No post.
Removed one DIMM. No post.
Checked all the RAM channels. Not a beep.

I think the board is dead.

How often does a motherboard die within hours of first power-up?
I would have thought the such failures would be somewhat rare.

Anyways, thanks for to all for the help, and if anyone is still interested I'll post updates after I get the new board and the system put back together.

[ThunderRd]

FWIW, when I get trouble like that I always set the board up outside the box, no hard drives, 1 known good stick RAM in the correct slot, known good plain vanilla pci video card, and known good power supply ONLY.

If no beeps, I do the long CMOS clear overnight,and try again before I declare the board dead.

If I'm lucky it'll post or get an error beep I can research. Some boards don't like to have everything set to auto, also[which is what will happen after the clear, of course]. I once had an A8N-SLI Deluxe that would not post if the BIOS memory settings were on auto - it needed manual settings. Several years later, it still runs fine in one of my servers. It's not uncommon to resurrect boards that seemed dead this way, but it does take time and patience - and you have to be able to get into the BIOS lol

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by ThunderRd

FWIW, when I get trouble like that I always set the board up outside the box, no hard drives, 1 known good stick RAM in the correct slot, known good plain vanilla pci video card, and known good power supply ONLY.

If no beeps, I do the long CMOS clear overnight,and try again before I declare the board dead.

If I'm lucky it'll post or get an error beep I can research. Some boards don't like to have everything set to auto, also[which is what will happen after the clear, of course]. I once had an A8N-SLI Deluxe that would not post if the BIOS memory settings were on auto - it needed manual settings. Several years later, it still runs fine in one of my servers. It's not uncommon to resurrect boards that seemed dead this way, but it does take time and patience - and you have to be able to get into the BIOS lol

ThunderRd. is giving you the stright scoop! It's impossible to know anything for sure until you test outside the case.

Cases are great things, but cause most of the install, won't boot problems... just to easy to short on something almost invisible....If you leave an extra mounting screw in your case from the last motherboard... you get the idea! Best wishes!

[nothingbetter2d]

something i have noticed about ALL asus boards...(i have had a few)

if for whatever reason u modifiy hardware in your pc with the asus motherboards... its important that u unplug the power cable after a failed boot and wait til the on board LED goes out then plug in the cable again after 5 seconds

it seems to reset the capacitors on their boards and usually a cold boot will work

[Daniel ~]

How's this sorting out for you DK?