[blibbax]

Hi all,

A couple of months ago I got myself a new motherboard to replace my bad and broken old one. The new board is an Asrock P43DE, which I bought after reading a number of very positive reviews and seeing a great deal online.

Overall, I'm really pleased. The performance, layout, features and stability are excellent.

My only issue (and I suspect that it's my own ignorance, not a hardware problem) came up a few weeks ago when I decided to try for a small overclock from it.

The board requires the overclocking to be set to "manual" before you can change any settings such as FSB speed or voltages, but regardless of any other settings it won't post with this manual mode engaged.

Using the auto overclock feature in the bios or with Asrock's "OC Tuner" utility I have reached 2.7GHz on stock voltages and 3GHz with very minor voltage increases (<0.1v), so I don't think it it a hardware issue.

Any suggestions as to what I've missed here? I could update the bios if that might help, the board came running the 1.1 version (if I remember rightly).

[Vikingod]

Take a look in the manual. You may need to switch around some jumpers depending on what speed RAM you are using. If this is the case (as was with an asrock board I was using a while ago), it's easy to do as described in the manual. Good luck.

[Judas]

a bios update would likely present you with some solutions as well or even some more headroom for that matter...

but it's always adviseable to not flash and update unless absalutely necessary.. (i tend to go ahead anyways any chance i get to update)

Recently forced a Intel bios update on a gateway machine that had hardlocked even a recovery update.... what a pain it was to get around that.. but now it's fully update and far more feature rich.

[Mac Daddy]

I ran into this with a few mobos changing to manual O/Cing. Make sure you know what settings are being changed when you switch and some there are no sensors for like PCI-E, NB and SB voltages.

Memory voltages, bootstraps and ratios change as well as CPU parameters. So check everything

[swimtech]

Try removing all external USB devices except the mouse and keyboard - I've had that weirdness happen, off the wall though it seems.

[blibbax]

Thanks all, I'll hopefully have a go at all your solutions in turn (bios update last, as it is most hasslesome) over the weekend.

[Mac Daddy]

Keep us posted Bro we will help as we can

[blibbax]

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

Keep us posted Bro we will help as we can

Will do.

I'm afraid I haven't been at home much so all I've been able to do is very thoroughly read the manual, and it doesn't tell me anything that I didn't know already. Suprisingly brief in the area of overclocking actually.

[Mac Daddy]

Ya there isn't much there for sure and they use low, medium, high and highest instead of numerical values which irritates me lol.

This is the .pdf guys if you want to read through and maybe help out:
http://download.asrock.com/manual/P43DE.pdf

First thing to check on pages 37-40 are the two settings that determine the memory speed and strap. These are Strap FSB to MCH and DRAM Frequency and these in turn are dependant on the FSB speed. When overclocking with this setup in BIOS ALWAYS set your DRAM Frequency manually so you know the speed. If I don't set this manually for example on the ASUS board I have here it will set the 1333Mhz DDR3 to over 1700Mhz when the FSB speed is increased.

Second one you can mess with is NB 1.1V Voltage I would try 0.05V increments to increase stability. I suspect [auto] is setting this to around 1.3V.

Make sure your DRAM Voltage matches the specs for your memory and try not to raise VTT to much if you don't need to it is as deadly setting.

All I can think of for now hope that helps

[blibbax]

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

Ya there isn't much there for sure and they use low, medium, high and highest instead of numerical values which irritates me lol.

This is the .pdf guys if you want to read through and maybe help out:
http://download.asrock.com/manual/P43DE.pdf

First thing to check on pages 37-40 are the two settings that determine the memory speed and strap. These are Strap FSB to MCH and DRAM Frequency and these in turn are dependant on the FSB speed. When overclocking with this setup in BIOS ALWAYS set your DRAM Frequency manually so you know the speed. If I don't set this manually for example on the ASUS board I have here it will set the 1333Mhz DDR3 to over 1700Mhz when the FSB speed is increased.

Second one you can mess with is NB 1.1V Voltage I would try 0.05V increments to increase stability. I suspect [auto] is setting this to around 1.3V.

Make sure your DRAM Voltage matches the specs for your memory and try not to raise VTT to much if you don't need to it is as deadly setting.

All I can think of for now hope that helps

I've already done these I'm afraid. What I find odd is that I'm not even trying to set an overclock as yet - just to enter overclocking mode. I tried setting every combination I can think of in the bios to litttle or no avail last time I had a go. Like I said, more coming up soon.

Edit: I've have now managed to post in manual overclock mode. However, it seems that manual overclock mode can only engage when DRAM Frequency is set to Auto - which is 667mhz. Given that my RAM is rated as 1066mhz, faster than my stock FSB, I'd rather not settle for this. Any further ideas?

[Mac Daddy]

Set your Strap FSB to MCH to 400 I think that is the highest setting.

Out of ideas for now

[blibbax]

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

Set your Strap FSB to MCH to 400 I think that is the highest setting.

Out of ideas for now

As I have an FSB of 800mhz (200x4), the FSB to MCH Strap settings are 266, 333 and 400. By treating the RAM divider as if it was working with a higher FSB, this lowers the RAM speed by cmparison to the CPU speed. In my case, an FSB to MCH strap of 266 gives DDR2-500 (250x2), and a setting of 333 or 400 puts the RAM onto the lowest possible speed, DDR2-400 (200x2).

I'm trying to get a RAM to FSB ratio of 1:1, so if the board insists on treating the RAM as 667mhz while in Manual OC mode, I want an FSB to MHC strap of 166mhz (667/4), which isn't available.

[Mac Daddy]

Can't you manually set your DRAM frequency independently of the strap?

The strap basically is provided to provide headroom for RAM while overclocking that is usually why the higher settings on FSB to MCH are used. MCH is your Northbridge and controls RAM and PCI-E video adapters.

[blibbax]

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

Can't you manually set your DRAM frequency independently of the strap?

The strap basically is provided to provide headroom for RAM while overclocking that is usually why the higher settings on FSB to MCH are used. MCH is your Northbridge and controls RAM and PCI-E video adapters.

Yes, I can set my DRAM frequency manually. The problem I'm encountering is that the motherboard will only enter manual overclock mode in the bios with the DRAM frequency set to Auto, which is 667mhz. As my RAM is rated at 1066mhz, and my FSB is 800mhz, I'd rather get it at 1:1 (800mhz DRAM).

[Mac Daddy]

Odd since it shows on page 8 both 667 and 800 are available with CPU FSB of 800. Perhaps a BIOS update as mentioned but brings up another point as well.

Your RAM really too much for that CPU and on this Mobo I don't think it is ever going to work properly. Not your fault it is that of ASrock's because if you throw that E2220 on either X38 board I have here you could set the RAM to 1066.

On your overclock I think the RAM is running too slow @ 667 and most likely causing your issues. Check for a BIOS update though because it says 800 should be available and O/Cing you should be able to push that DRAM up near 1000 as I did on my AMD system.

EDIT: Are you running 4 x 1G sticks or 2 x 2G?

[blibbax]

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

Odd since it shows on page 8 both 667 and 800 are available with CPU FSB of 800. Perhaps a BIOS update as mentioned but brings up another point as well.

Your RAM really too much for that CPU and on this Mobo I don't think it is ever going to work properly. Not your fault it is that of ASrock's because if you throw that E2220 on either X38 board I have here you could set the RAM to 1066.

On your overclock I think the RAM is running too slow @ 667 and most likely causing your issues. Check for a BIOS update though because it says 800 should be available and O/Cing you should be able to push that DRAM up near 1000 as I did on my AMD system.

EDIT: Are you running 4 x 1G sticks or 2 x 2G?

Hi, a RAM speed of 800mhz is available and works fine. I just can't enter manual overclock mode without setting RAM to Auto, which is 667mhz. If I had an FSB of 1066mhz, the 1066mhz setting would become available.

I think that this is just a bios glitch. By setting the RAM at 800mhz in the BIOS and disabling manual OC mode, I have then had the RAM at 1000mhz by using Asus's Windows overclocking utility, so I know that the hardware is capable of this.

It's 2x1GB sticks.

I'll update the bios sometime soon and hopefully that will fix it.

Thanks.

Edit: I've updated to the latest BIOS, 1.40, and the problem is still there. I seem to be able to have manual overclocking or 800mhz DRAM, but not both.

[Mac Daddy]

That is really strange having to use auto for your DRAM speed setting kinda defeats the purpose of manual overclocking. You may be stuck with it blibbax with that motherboard. The only other thing you could do is email ASrock tech support and ask them if this is normal.

[blibbax]

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

That is really strange having to use auto for your DRAM speed setting kinda defeats the purpose of manual overclocking. You may be stuck with it blibbax with that motherboard. The only other thing you could do is email ASrock tech support and ask them if this is normal.

I did that some time ago, and so far I've only received a useless auto reply.

It's not a disaster- it just means that I'm not likely ever to have this RAM running near its potential speed. I'll come back to you with some overclocking results when I have any

[Mac Daddy]

OK Bro good luck with it and sorry I couldn't be of any more help .. Cheers

[blibbax]

I know it's been a long time since I last posted in this thread, but I thought I'd give an update.

The overclocking function work fine so long as the RAM is set to 667mhz. At the moment I'm at 3.0GHZ (250x12), using 1.3375v. This puts the RAM at 833mhz.

My CPU temps are substantially increased from stock speeds, but still fine, hovering around the 60 degrees mark after long periods of continuous torture testing (Prime 95 2 threads).

Better still, my 3D Mark 06 score has gone from 9500 to 11500! So, all in all, I'm happy, and the problem is resolved. Thanks for your help.

[umarrehman187]

BLIBBAX

i am so happy i found you...

i have a asrock n68-s motherbord and whenever i change my overclock menu from auto to manual then change my multiplier and when i restard it the computer comes on but the screen is blank....i hate using the oc asrcok tuner could you help me man....

[blibbax]

Originally Posted by umarrehman187

BLIBBAX

i am so happy i found you...

i have a asrock n68-s motherbord and whenever i change my overclock menu from auto to manual then change my multiplier and when i restard it the computer comes on but the screen is blank....i hate using the oc asrcok tuner could you help me man....

Not at all, beyond what I've already covered above - that some RAM speeds don't work in manual OC mode. You might want to start a new thread - it's quite possible if not very likely that your problem is totally unrelated to mine.