Motherboard or CPU problem?

T

Tanooki

Thread Junky
Joined
Mar 12, 2008
Messages
896
So Saturday I put together my new pc....

Asrock X58 Supercomputer board
Intel I7 920
3 GB of RAM
EVGA 9800 GTX+
650W PSU

I went to install Windows XP 32, to last me untill I grabbed a 64 bit OS other then Linux. I put the XP cd in, and it loaded all of the needed information. Once it got to the "Setup is starting Windows", right before the partitioning, and it would freeze up. I tried restarting and trying to load it again, same thing happened. Tried one more time, same result.

I then went into my BIOS to check everything, and everything looked fine.. except that my BIOS was only showing Processor and the L2 cache was unknown. So I reset the BIOS and CMOS and then started trying again...

I then grabbed one of my Ubuntu 32bit CDs and tried to load it. I couldn't even load a live version of it, it would freeze before it loaded anything. I then thought maybe the I7's really don't like 32 bit OS's... so I grabbed my 64 bit Fedora CD, and put it in the DVD Drive. It gave the same result as the Ubuntu CD. I then troubleshooted the memory which was fine, over heating, which is fine, processor and video card run around 35 C.

I went to google and found someone who was having the same problem as me. I finally get XP installed by hitting F5 where it the user is prompted to hit F6 for RAID device. Hitting F5 brings up a hidden menu which lets you select some parameter of how the install goes. Once XP was installed, I installed all of the drivers need. Once drivers were installed, loaded up patches and service packs, and I noticed that it was running extremely slow.

When I right click on My Computer, it only showed one processor... I then found a guide on how to manually tell the PC how many processors, or cores, there are. I went to do that, and was unable to because it thought there was only 1 processor.

I ran a bench mark test and scored right above a Pentium 4, but the bench mark saw my L2 cache. Which I went back into my BIOS and it was now showing my L2 cache...

Now I'm not sure if this is something where the motherboard isn't communicating with the CPU right, or if the CPU is bad.... I need some more opinions because I've been messing with this for 2 days now, and want to :facewall:.
 
you can try to rma the processor seems to be the bad thing. Or you can try and download a program called PC check and boot into that run the test itll run tests on your hdd, mobo, processor, memory, and video card (also some controllers connected to mobo). that will tell you exactly what u gotta do!
 
You have to order and pay for PC Check... not going to do that... :P I ran a memtest with Linux and everything turned out just fine with it.
 
well i didnt suggest you buy it i wouldnt but i dont think i can refer you to illegal things here. if you come across it then it would be a good idea to run it (: . your bios may have a diagnostic test also you can try that. windows xp should be able to pick up all your cores because i use a q6600 no problems here i dual boot xp/vista.
 
It's not solved... but I know something thats wrong.... since my BIOS can't see all the cores, I can install the multicore HAL... and I have no way of getting it running.
 
i had the processor problem with my E6600, XP would only show one core...i reinstalled XP....but my E6600 wasn't retail, it was an ES revision..and for those of you who dont know what ES revision means it it was a very early processor..mine actually came from their labs, still has "Intel Confidential" stamped on it...heck my current processor a Presler 955 is an ES revision too. :P

back to the point, try reinstalling windows.
 
That's the problem, if I reinstall Windows, I'll get the same issue.

Windows will not load at all if I don't manually specify to load a Standard HAL. When I put the DVD in for my windows, it will sit at the "Setup is loading Windows" screen and do nothing, unless I hit F5 to specify the HAL. The BIOS is not seeing all the cores, so it's not a problem with the OS. It's either the CPU is bad, or the mother board is not communicating with the processor right.
 
Well just curious have you tried to update your motherboard bios? That might be able to fix your problem. Its worth a shot at least before you try to rma anything.
 
Atten said:
I'd recommend updating your BIOS.
Click to expand...

Already flashed the BIOS. If it's the mother board I'm going to be extremely ticked off.... because this is the board they sent me to replace the first board I got which was DOA....
 
This is way out of my league. But it sounded like you were over thinking this. I would try reinserting your Intel I7 920 chip. Maybe the connections didnt connect to the mobo quite right for some odd reason.
 
Tanooki said:
I then went into my BIOS to check everything, and everything looked fine.. except that my BIOS was only showing Processor
Click to expand...

Is this still the case? If so, this is where I'd focus. On my MB (X58 Gigabyte), it has an option in advanced menu for enabling cores (1,2,3 or all) and multi-threading. Make sure these are appropriately set, which I suspect they probably are. Since your first MB arrived DOA, you have to prepare for the reality that it may have also fried your CPU. Be sure to update/flash your bios.
 
bigwilly said:
Is this still the case? If so, this is where I'd focus. On my MB (X58 Gigabyte), it has an option in advanced menu for enabling cores (1,2,3 or all) and multi-threading. Make sure these are appropriately set, which I suspect they probably are. Since your first MB arrived DOA, you have to prepare for the reality that it may have also fried your CPU. Be sure to update/flash your bios.
Click to expand...

It's still only showing one core in the BIOS even though it' set to show all. Also I am running the most up to date version of my BIOS. I thought that maybe it did fry my CPU, but one of my friends who has been in the IT field for a very long time, and works at a major company, (He is going to be on CNN for an interview for them as well) said it sounds more like a motherboard problem then a CPU. He said I should go out and buy a new motherboard and throw my processor in it and see what happens. If it works keep it and get a refund on my old one, if it doesn't get a new processor... :S. I really can't afford to go out and throw down 300 bucks for a new mother board right now.... :(
 
I have figured out that the problem is a HAL issue... so new mother board for me.... yay....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top