p5n-e sli problems... please help a newbie

[jurgen]

Hello all! am in dire need of help. As of lately I have been having nothing but grief with my p5n-e sli board. My configuration is

p5n-e sli, q6600 cpu, 2X1g 800 ocz memory, egva 8600 gts 512mb ddr3, antec truepower 550W, sgt 160 gb ide hd, samsung s203b optical drive

I just flashed the bios to 0703 because I thought mine was corrupt as it would sometimes recognize the secondary slave and sometimes not.

The first problem is that I failed to record what the cmos settings were! IDIOT! Is there anyone out there with a similar set up running stable that could help me out with the settings, as I am afraid of frying something. (I am currently writing from an ubuntu computer). What should the multiplier setting be for the q6600? The default in the cmos is 9. However, since I understand little of what that does, I do not want to play around with it.

The other problem I have is that the machine hangs on the windows xp splash screen and loads and loads for ever. sometimes if I come back after an hour the computer has loaded, sometimes not. I found this to be a problem after I updated Acrobat Professional, but it has also happened with other programs. Now I don't know if it is a bios, hardware or software problem.

Has anyone encountered such problems.

I have tested memory and HDD's without a problem.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

 

[Zorg]

A multi of 9 is correct 266 x 9 = 2394Mhz or 2.4Ghz. I am not familiar with that mobo and it's quirks, but I'm sure someone here is.

Edit: Does the boot hang with the second drive unplugged?

 

[jurgen]

A multi of 9 is correct 266 x 9 = 2394Mhz or 2.4Ghz. I am not familiar with that mobo and it's quirks, but I'm sure someone here is.

Edit: Does the boot hang with the second drive unplugged?

Thanks for the reply and the quick explanation. I guess to overclock I have to increase the multiplier levels by one at a time, (not yet though!)

It is very strange, but if I power down holding the power button and then restart, the mobo recognizes the secondary slave. If I reset, the secondary slave does not appear, even if I go into hardware and scan for hardware changes. I am wondering if ithe mobo is defective.

I just used Norton Ghost to recover the computer to 3 days ago and it booted fine, recognizing all drives, but would still like to know what the cmos settings are from someone. Therefore, I think the problem might be software related, but why not recognize the secondary slave when computer is reset off the case reset button? Hardware? I am confused.

 

[Zorg]

Your multiplier is locked at a max. of 9. To OC you need to increase the base clock of 266 to a higher number. It may be that the mobo is finicky, or you may need to change the drive strapping. Try master and slave or cable select, which ever one you don't have now. You may additionally have some OS corruption at this point.

 

[ZOldDude]

Antec PSU have never lasted longer than 3 years for me...nor have any Ausus MB's.
They both have issues with cap's aroung the 3 year mark.

 

[Zorg]

How long have you been using this setup? Have you had HD problems from the start, or just recently?

 

[jurgen]

I just put the machine together 4 weeks ago. There was no problem and then I realized last night what the issue was, or at least I think I know what it was. I ahd installed Adobe Acrobat Reader 8 with updates. Then I installed CS2 with Acrobat professional 7 - THey do not go well together. I recovered my drive with Ghost and then updated Acro7 without a glitch, no hangs on splash screen etc. All is well, all drives recognized. It just riddles me how a program can prevent the bios from recognizing a harddrive.

I thank you all for your support and help.

But still looking for cmos settings for 0703 Bios with q6600.

Cheers!

 

[deesal]

What do you have your northbridge voltage set at? My friend has a p5n-e sli board and had a load of problems with it before we increased his northbridge voltage to 1.56V. After that, his system runs great. Check out the OCZ forums under this link: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27196 It has some good info for your board and settings. Hope that helps.

 

[Zorg]

As far as I know, a program can't keep the BIOS from recognizing the drive. Maybe the drive is failing or you have a strap problem. If it was working before and you didn't change the strapping then it is unlikely that is the cause. Do you have, SMART turned on in the BIOS? Try the manufacturer's disk tools, or SiSoftware Sandra Lite - Free to anlyze the drive. Sandra gives you the SMART results under the drive hardware info.

 

[kellytm3]

I have same board with similar setup as yours.Raise your NB voltage a little,like someone stated earlier,that may fix your problem???

 

[jurgen]

Thank you to everyone for their help. I resolved the problem by axing Adobe Reader 8 and everything has been fine since! Knock on wood. The machine boots up faster than I have ever seen a computer start. I am a little leary of playing around with the voltage since all is great and the only thing I have to do now is watch for the power supply as it is only a 550W. The antec wattage caculator said 512W for my setup, so I will be limited as to upgrades, but the case is full anyway.

I am impressed by the help in the forums and I hope my little bit of experience with Acrobat will help someone out.

Thanks again!