Athlon64 3400+; 1024 DDR400 Corsair, Abit KV8-Max3 -- Won't POST with 16bit LDT
Hello. I've scoured Abit's forums, and several others trying to find answers but none have become apparent. I recently bought a KV8-Max3 and the twin set of Corsair ddr400 512MB dimms, and an Athlon 64 3400+ cpu after reading some threads here. But I have run into some odd problems, which Abit doesn't have faqs for, searches on their forums have turned up empty, and noone has replied.
I am hoping I might be able to find some information from this forum
The default bios settings boot the system once. It POSTs ok, it even boots OS ok. But reboot after that and it completely fails to POST, and displays 9.0 on the little LED on the board.
After clearing the CMOS and getting into the BIOS screen and loading the failsafe defaults, the system worked fine. After this, I started changing settings I knew should be different based on the system, until I found the setting that causes the system to fail. It was the LDT upstream and downstream widths. At 8 the system boots fine, but once I put one to 16 the system won't POST. It won't even display the information for my installed video adapter on boot. The monitor goes off like there is no signal, and then the LED shows F.1. From a cold boot thereafter, the LED shows 9.0.
At first, I thought it might be my video adapter, as it has been troublesome in the past in other machines. It is a PNY GeforceFX 5200 Ultra. I swapped it out with an older ELSA Geforce3, and it changed nothing.
I know from reading a review at either Hard[OCP] or Toms Hardware Guide that in the review they say only that setting the LDT bus width to 16 gives better performance. The optimized defaults of the BIOS on the Max3 include the 16 setting as part of these optimized defaults. But the system just won't POST with the setting there.
The stock version of the BIOS on the Max3 was 19, I updated to 21, which also did not fix it.
So I'm at the boundary of my ideas right now, and hopefully someone else might have an idea for me to try.
Thanks in advance.
I am hoping I might be able to find some information from this forum
The default bios settings boot the system once. It POSTs ok, it even boots OS ok. But reboot after that and it completely fails to POST, and displays 9.0 on the little LED on the board.
After clearing the CMOS and getting into the BIOS screen and loading the failsafe defaults, the system worked fine. After this, I started changing settings I knew should be different based on the system, until I found the setting that causes the system to fail. It was the LDT upstream and downstream widths. At 8 the system boots fine, but once I put one to 16 the system won't POST. It won't even display the information for my installed video adapter on boot. The monitor goes off like there is no signal, and then the LED shows F.1. From a cold boot thereafter, the LED shows 9.0.
At first, I thought it might be my video adapter, as it has been troublesome in the past in other machines. It is a PNY GeforceFX 5200 Ultra. I swapped it out with an older ELSA Geforce3, and it changed nothing.
I know from reading a review at either Hard[OCP] or Toms Hardware Guide that in the review they say only that setting the LDT bus width to 16 gives better performance. The optimized defaults of the BIOS on the Max3 include the 16 setting as part of these optimized defaults. But the system just won't POST with the setting there.
The stock version of the BIOS on the Max3 was 19, I updated to 21, which also did not fix it.
So I'm at the boundary of my ideas right now, and hopefully someone else might have an idea for me to try.
Thanks in advance.
0
Comments
Have you run it bare, with just one stick of memory... no drives attached?? Id recommend that as a starting point. A64 are very memory fussy due to the on-die controller. The optimised defaults could be setting the memory to a low latency, that upsets that gentle balance. Which slots do you have the RAM in btw??
Id suggest the above and get it down to the bare essentials, with just one stick in slot1.. do some finding of your own.. and tweak the BIOS yourself rather than just loading the "optimised" defaults..
The LDT bus (Lightning Data Transport) is the main path, sort of, between the processor and the rest of the system. Trying to get it to higher rates is esentially overclocking the entire system...everything.
Sometimes you hit a wall. The 940 I have refuses to budge if I up the FSB even 1 MHz. It goes "cough" and "sputter" too. Now since you are playing with the HyperTransport links they will most likely be affecting the RAM.
1) Run MEMTEST86 just to make sure your ram is okay.
2) Try a single stick if you have two in place or try a different stick of ram.
That's my 2 c and it's not worth much cause it's Canadian. But I got a few lonely tree huggin' beavers I'll loan ya.
The system boots and runs fine with the LDT set to 8bit, and I started with failsafe defaults and started turning on things from there. In both the failsafe and optimized, the ram settings are by SPD, which should just read the settings direct from the ram chips I thought.
I'll try taking out the drives and leave in just one stick in bank 1 and just the video card now.
It works fine at failsafe with LDT set to 8 bits. So don't change a thing and up it to 16...first one channel....then the other....but not both at the same time. If both hold separately then turn on both.
If you activate other settings in BIOS you'll never know right away if it's strictly an LDT issue. Hmmmm....Corsair. Zoom fast but finicky at times. I had a whole whack of problems with two sticks of Corsair in a 940 board. Put them in another system (non-940) and they work great...still are.
After I clear CMOS and then power on again, it says that the CMOS checksum is bad, and that it is loading defaults.
If at this point I do not enter the BIOS, it continues to try to boot off of disk, which it cant because they are removed.
If I reboot after that, I just get no POST again, and have to clear CMOS to get POST again.
Any idea what that would mean?
Okay...first things first. I don't like that checksum error popping up on you. Have you recently flashed the BIOS...perhaps downloading a new BIOS (fresh copy) and re-flashing may get rid of that checksum error.
Let's get that out of the way first. No point looking for other problems with that one staring you in the face.
2) Why not run MEMTEST86 and just check out that ram to make sure all's well there. See our downloads section on the main page of www.short-media.com
3) Once the system is booting to safe defaults without errors...let's try that putshing 8-16 again. First time with nothing but RAM and vid card and maybe the floppy.
This way you can narrow down the possible conflicts. Yes I know that's not the quick fix but finding a problem or wall takes a bit of hunting and patience.
If I pick just teh failsafe defaults, it does boot fine. I've also saved in one of the save slots what all works up to this point, which is everything but the downstream ldt now.
And thanks for the welcome and help
Thanks for all the help everyone
Um, its supposed to-- BIOS stores Checksum in a small workspace, but CRC is OF the CMOS Table. Therefore if wipe CMOS table, therefore CMOS value dumped without BIOS knowledge, then BIOS says it is not equal to last recorded CRC value. This is true in that case. Period. SHOULD HAPPEN, VERY good way to know if CMOS battery is dead or CMOS table part of CMOS chip is bad.
Has happened that way for a LONG time, decades in fact, for one BIOS publisher's BIOS code sets, and was intentional code by publisher's coders that did this. I do not necessarily like it, but it does have its uses when troubleshooting things.
If I get a box with CMOS checksum errors every cold boot, fix to try is to change the CMOS battery, on most boards this is a CR2032 ("Lithium" chemical composition version note after part number sometimes used if newer)or DL2032 (new code sometimes used instead of old plus "lithium"). The most commonly used CMOS Battery is a nominal full charge 3.2 Volt, 1800-1900 mAH cell (pure nominal by number is 2000 mAH, but 90% to 95% charge when shipped is normal). Check voltage on CMOS cell, should be above 2.5 VDC or it is dying or if under 1.5 V might as well be dead for all the good it will do for the CMOS table refreshing when the computer is off for more than a real short restart\reboot (warm) time.
NOW, if a board constantly and repetitively kills or drains a CMOS battery in a month or less, that is a good sign of a ground short. Screw in right place, loose stud under motherboard in right place, and battery gets drained to ground return with power cord plugged into computer. Mount board sans studs (IE screwed right to mount panel on case), ditto plus no boot\no post normally. SO, looking UNDER motherboard is also a good idea....
The problem is that the system wont post at all with the correct HyperTransport downstream bus width setting.
The whole thing about bios checksum only got pointed out because a fellow poster thought it might be a problem. It isnt, it only happens after the cmos clears like it should.
The problem that remains is still unsolved. I'm planning to order an MSI board tonight to see if it's just the Abit board, since the memory tests clean.
Actually its more a plea for help. I just recently bought a KV8-Max3 mainboard and an AMD64 3200+. I have 2 sticks of Centon 512MB DDR400 Ram in DIMM's 1 and 2. And an ATI Radeon 9800 A-I-W Pro card. Every time I power this on, I get no video signal and the LED stops on 9.0.
I have exchanged the mainboard for a new one and I get the exact same response.
I have tried other video cards (some AGP some PCI) same response.
I have tried one stick of RAM, swapping the sticks of RAM, same response.
I had to download the KV8-Max3 manual PDF from the ABIT site as it was actually more comprehensive than the manual they ship. The PDF actually lists the PRE-BIOS LED codes.
The 9.0 is supposed to mark the completion of uGuru and the continued booting with AWARD BIOS. Now I cannot believe I have 2 mainboards that have "corrupt BIOS" on them or something else, so please, does ANYONE have ANY ideas at ALL? Im capitalizing because I am stressing here.
Suggestions anyone?
Thank you,
Do you have access to even just one stick of RAM by a different manufacturer?
From recent experience myself, I've disovered that some boards & A64's are VERY sensitive to memory. I had one board that wouldn't boot with my TwinMOS and another that corrupted on every windows install. Some board/cpu combo's are very sensitive to the components matched in a system.
Im not so sure you should be looking at the board as the bad component, but take a look at the RAM. The A64 platform is very sensitive to memory. It's recommend to make sure you have RAM that has been vaguely tested on that board by the manufacturer (if you can)... or a really well known manufacturer like Corsair or OCZ.
Thanks everyone.
Main thing is to see if the most recent post I put in this thread can help ya along a little
At lunch today I am having my current CPU tested to make sure it is working. And if they get it to work, I am buying the mainboard they get it to work in and some new memory. If not, I will get a new CPU and some new memory. Either way, I am not done with the KV8 mainboard.
I will use the memory idea. The Centon website says they are tested and verified in the KV8-max3 board, but do we ever truly trust a vendor?
Thank you for the ideas, and I will run with it. And to everyone, I HIGHLY suggest you download the PDF manual from the ABIT site - ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/download/manual/english/kv8-max3.pdf as it has ALOT more information about the mainboard than the manual that ships with the board.
Thank you again and I will let you know what I discover.
Thank you,
So, clearing the CMOS and new RAM. Any other suggestions from anyone at this point?
Thank you ALL......
So, took all that out and put in the Abit board. Got a 9.0 on the LED. Not the memory at least.
Cleared the CMOS, POSTed fine.
Set some BIOS settings for my CPU and Voltage and Video and etc. Rebooted, 9.0.
Clear CMOS, POST fine.
Reboot, 9.0.
Reboot, 9.0.
Clear CMOS, POSTed.
Gave up on the damn thing. Used the ASUS motherboard, everything worked. Had a small BIOS issue in the end, still got past that with minimal effort. Would rather use the Abit though, its cooler looking and offers more features than the ASUS. Asus went with 8 USB ports, all 2.0 but the Abit gives me 6 SATA slots. So, there are trade offs, and none of the really cool light up effects that the Abit had, but hey, I have an AMD 64 system that works now. Or well, is on its way to working. Wish me luck, even though it IS an ASUS.
And if you know what causes that CMOS issue, will ya post something? If it turns out to be something really simple, then heck yeah I may rip this Asus out and use the darn thing. MAYBE. Thats alot of cables to "unroute" and "reroute" again. We shall see.
Let me know all.
Thank you,
To answer the question of my psu, I had been using an Antec TrueBlue 350w psu, and just changed it for BFGtech's psu that they try to bundle with their GeforceFX 6800 Ultra OC series.
No change in my status however. It posts fine as long as I don't change the Downstream LDT (HTT) bus width to 16bit.
I've been back and forth with AMD techs about it and havn't found anything really. the Corsair ram passes memtest fine after about 10 hours of it running. I tried four different video adapters, being a PCI Matrox Mystique, a 4xAGP GeForce 3 by ELSA, a 4xAGP Geforce4 Ti4400 by eVGA, and my 8xAGP PNY GeForceFX 5200 Ultra.
I've tried changing ram sticks, changing timings (SPD says 3-3-3-8, Corsair's website says tested up to 2.5-3-3-6, both work fine)
Removed all my disk drives, reseated CPU and heatsink fan (stock), updated the bios from 21 to 22.
So far, still cannot POST with LDT downstream bus width at 16. Oh well.
I'm looking into another A64 board now, leaning toward MSI, since I really can't deal with not having an operational system for a few weeks while the Abit goes through RMA process.
Thanks for the help
Adaptec's response "The problem is with the motherboards BIOS. We can't fix it, but will refund your purchase in full even though you bought the card somewhere else"
first off it took me a couple hours when i first put this together to figure out my centon 3200 ram would not post in this machine at all, ended up using centon 2700 and worked fine for couple weeks, i did had the screen shut off and usb mouse power off but it was very rare and i though nothing of it. decided to upgrade it to corsair 3200, so i mixed them. had the centon 2700 in 2nd slot corsair 3200 in primary, no problems. bought another corsair 3200 stick installed and been having tons of problems, first off this motherboard doesnt supprot any corsair / centom 3200 ram, i have had to downclock the down to 333mhz to get it to run correctly, not only that but now it is shutting of video and crashing very very often, all i can guess is (a) the ram for this board wants are very specific and (b) it has some form of imcompatibility with the ati radeon cards. ive replaced the vid card, replaced ram, flashed the bios, updated the bios, tried diff drivers for the card and it wont stop tomarrow im returning this board and going ASUS so hopefuly that will be the end of this, but be warned this motherboard is fickle as heck