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~Massive probs new cpu/bios update~

2K views 45 replies 4 participants last post by  Amd_Man 
#1 · (Edited)
I have nowhere else to turn. Hopefully you guys can shed some light for me. This is kinda long, but I tried making it short as possible.

I have an ASUS M3N72-D SLI mobo with an nvidia 750 chipset. It's an AM2+ board. My original cpu before the problems started was an original Phenom 9850 2.5ghz. Everything was working fine.

After checking bios updates on ASUS's site, they have an 0701 update that supports to AM3 Phenom 955 3.2ghz cpu. Naturally, I jumped right on it and bought one. That's when the problems began.

I flashed the bios, reset my cmos and for some reason CPU-Z is only reading my clock speed at 800mhz. I've read into this as much as possible and tried everything including making sure Cool n Quiet is off. Now pay attention... my bios is showing my cpu at the correct speed of 3200mhz. My 64bit Vista shows it at 3.2ghz as well. CPU-Z is only showing it at 800mhz.

Even under full load, I've monitored my clock speed and it does not go up... in case it is conserving power or what-not. My Windows Experience score dropped from 5.9 to 4.8 once i put the Phenom II in. Also, numerous benchmarks including 3dMark Vantage have suffered massively since this cpu upgrade. Note: my benchmarks also show a 3.2ghz clock speed.

Even though my bios and windows are reporting the correct clock speed of 3.2ghz, numerous tests and CPU-Z all point the other direction.

I've flashed the bios from the one that supports the new Phenom, to the one most recent available.

ASUS tells me the only option they can think of, besides what i've done already, is to re-install my operating system. I did that and still the same.

Now wait... it gets better...

Frustrated, I put my original Phenom back in and now... it's doing the same thing that the Phenom II did. My clocks in the bios and windows report correctly, but now cpu-z only reads it at like 1.2ghz. And my system is slower than ever.

With both cpu's, i've tried manually changing the bios settings from Auto to the correct multiplier, etc.. Remember... bios and windows show correct clock speeds, but it's not running that way at all.

Before any of this with my Phenom 9850, everything was great. My benchmarks were through the roof, my windows experience score was topped out at 5.9 and games ran great. Since messing with the upgrade and reverting back to my original setup and original bios, everything has been downhill ever since.

My motherboard is only a few months old and I don't want to have to buy a specific AM3 board if ASUS claims that their 0701 bios update can run the Phenom II 955 cpu.

Also, numerous people with the same board and cpu have flashed their bios and it works fine for them. So i know it's possible.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated. You guys have always been more help than any customer service. THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: My cpu-z shows my Phenom 9850 2.5ghz cpu running at 1.25ghz with a 6.25 multiplier. Exactly HALF of the stock settings. Everything is set fine in the bios and windows/bios sees the full clock speed. its only performing like a 1.25ghz cpu. coolNquiet and all other power features in bios/vista are turned off.

Any ideas?
 
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#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
try increasing the multiplier of the cpu in the bios

give us your screenshots from cpu-z also

what is the make and model of your power supply ?

are you using the 2 x 4 pin cpu power plug ( 8 wires to power cpu)
 
#3 · (Edited by Moderator)
thanks for the reply...

i have a corsair 750 watt single 12volt rail. i've tried messing with all the settings in my bios, but nothing changes. like i said, the bios shows the correct clock speed, but it doesn't perform that way. here's the cpu-z shot for my phenom 9850 right now. it should be at 2.5ghz, but its def not running that way.

i can't resize it larger

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss43/MyKobalt/PhenomShot.jpg

my mobo only has one 4 pin cpu plug. i never unhooked anything during this whole process.
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/682/13/


your multiplier should be 12.5

have you tried a cmos clearing and "load the optimized bios defaults" after you updated your bios ?

make sure the power cord is pulled from the corsair before you clear cmos; or it wont clear .......if the date and time are NOT incorrect in the bios, then you didnt achieve a clearing of it

give us the screen shot for your motherboard in cpu-z

does it show bios revision 0502 ????????
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
my bios setting IS 12.5. thats one of my problems. everything is set correctly in the bios. it even shows everything correctly. correct mult., clock, voltage, etc. i've reverted back to my original bios 0305 that came with the board. like i said. ive tried all bios' they have. no change. here's my shot.
http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss43/MyKobalt/PhenomSHot2.jpg

thanks for taking the time to look into this. i'm ready to lose my mind because im so disappointed.

Is it me or is it also odd that cpu-z is showing my chipset is a 740a rather than the 750a it really is?
 
#6 ·
have you tried asus support forums to see if they have any info to share ?


sounds like you have done everything correctly ,,,,,,,,, did you clear the bios and load optimized defaults ?
 
#7 ·
yes to both questions, sir. the forums have similar problems, but all have been solved with a "simple bios update" lol. i talked to a ASUS advanced tech and he said it sounded like i did everything right as well. he could only think of a memory problem that would be resolved by re-installing Vista. no luck there, though.

I just talked to a Micro Center tech support agent.....i got all my computer stuff from them.... and he said he's never heard of such a thing. he thinks it may be a power supply issue or a bad motherboard. but my psu pushes both my gtx260's no problem and a bunch of other stuff.

strange that everything was perfect before a cpu swap and bios update. i have a feeling my only option is to buy an AM3 board and go from there.... :(
 
#9 ·
lol... already did. to reach my cmos jumpers, i have to have one video card removed because they're so huge. i decided to power up and mess with my computer with only one card in case i need to access the jumpers again.

i appreciate your feedback and letting me pick your brain so far, though. :)

think it could have something to do with my RAM?
 
#10 ·
to be honest I have not been really impressed with the abilty of asus to bring boards "forward" over the last 2-3 years ....... dont get me wrong; I was and still am a big asus fan. but in the last 2-1/2 years I have become a Gigabyte convert for the way they "successfully" bring boards forward and they really work to full potential. I have experienced your problem alot on the striker and maximus flavors ......... the 680i is really what put me in the gigabyte camp hard ........ those boards and their complete quirkyness made me go bald from pulling my hair out.

unless budget restricted; I would throw in the towel and forget about SLI ........ sell of your current board on ebay along with one of your video cards or both ........

get one of the Gigabyte 790FX boards and a 285GTX card and enjoy the power of that new AMD cpu; ...........amd is now finally back in the race with intel once they released that cpu

thats my two cents .........a bitter pill to swallow; I know................. depends on how much hair you have ? LOL
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
i plan on getting rid of my GTX260's when the GTX300 series is released. :) sometime. i'm kinda pressed for cash for video cards right now. just had a kid 6 weeks ago. :D



HERE'S THE THING........ CPU-Z shows my 750a chipset as a 740a... dunno if that has anything to do with...anything.

but.... when i went to install a new driver that i downloaded.....it told me to insert my last multi-volume disc? i dunno.

my internet was down, but perhaps i can have my device mang. search the web automatically for it.

ill be blown away if thats the problem. ive heard things that chipset limitations can affect 45nm cpus.
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
I am not sold on the use of DDR3 ram with AMD cpu's yet either ....... some of the new boards act ok ........others are flaky; but even the configurations that are stable dont show any advantage with ddr3, so why bother?

AMD starting using DDR3 as a knee jerk reaction to the newest intel cpu's are all ddr3 ...... cant have the consumer world thinking AMD fell behind; so make DDR3 boards regardless if there is a benefit or not

but they are far better than any Nvida chipset for sure ........ I get night mares thinking of the lost time I have spent on warranty / service work chasing nvidia chipset bugs


never again!

focus on chipset drivers for now !


dont overlook trying the ones from the nvidia website either
 
#20 ·
ahhhhh :pray: much appreciated for the sharing

didnt know about that scanner!

will take two Ginko Biloba pills and try to remember that one; I know asus hasnt done all that well keeping up with nvidia chipset improvements for sure!
 
#22 · (Edited)
I certainly would ...........nothing would torque me off more than owning top of the line stuff and not knowing for sure which component is the sleepy baby that needs a slap

 
#24 ·
i really appreciate everone taking the time to read and help me on this. I'm gonna eat some dinner, put the kid to bed and power down my rig and throw that X2 in there. I will post back here the minute i get booted up. thanks again!
 
#26 ·
ok now. i put my Athlon X2 6400+ and CPU-Z and everything else see it as the correct speed of 3.2ghz. And it def. performs like it. So what does this mean for both of my quad cores? Is the bios to blame? AM2+ board....3 cpu's.....AM2, AM2+ and an AM3. The AM2+ used to work until I used the new AM3 one. Now I'm really confused. lol

Also, with this Athlon X2 in here, I'm pretty sure I can "hear" it working.... it's a very faint, high-pitched beeping and when I use apps of any sort, the beeping pattern zooms faster and changes pitches..... not sure if this is something I need to worry about. Also, it is running a few degrees warmer than my X4's.

Here's a cpuz shot to compare with the quad-core ones.
http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss43/MyKobalt/6400x2.jpg
 
#27 ·
I would try reflashing to a lower bios revison and then come back up with the newest non-beta bios ........always use a floppy disk drive for bios flashing and never the windows environment version!

keep us posted ...........often times you dont get a "full" bios update but rather a half breed botched one
 
#28 · (Edited)
Well currently, I am running the bios that was on my board when i bought it. I looked on the motherboard and it had the version that was installed when it was sent out from ASUS.

Now that my Athlon X2 is working, I'm tempted to try and throw in my X4 955 again. Here's my question...

Does the latest bios available include all the "fixes" that the previous versions had? Basically, should I flash to the version that strictly states the support for my Phenom 955? Or should I have to the very latest version, knowing that my "cpu support fix" will be included with that.

Also, when I flash I use a flash drive from within the bios. I use ASUS's EZ Flash utility within the bios tools menu... you think that might be a reason that my bios updates are kinda quirky? :4-dontkno

PS- I d/l Everest for the heck of it and my motherboard name, chipset and bios version are all labeled UNKNOWN. hmm....????

THANKS! :pray:
 
#29 ·
yes; bios fixes include all the content from the previous

I only trust the floppy drive methods with its DOS based updating utility

now; using a floppy drive/ update to the newest non-beta release while the old cpu is still in use

then pop in the new cpu after the update has been accomplished
 
#30 ·
Should i clear my cmos while i'm switching out the cpu? also, i'm a douche and don't have a floppy drive. can i do it with a flash drive? I've kinda read the articles on how to make a bootable ones, but it was all kinda jibberish to me. any help is greatly appreciated. :grin:
 
#31 ·
personally I would make the effort to get an internal floppy drive ......... you dont have to actually mount it internally if you dont want to

but I have never been too impressed with ez-flash

yes ..........after flashing; clear the cmos and "load the optimized defaults" then reboot and enter your prefered set-up bios settings and boot order
 
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