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cohenx

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Asus P5B Premium Motherboard Problem [maybe with Corsair RAM DIMM]

Hello guys,

I have a really frustrating problem I am working on for 3 full days now:

Building my own PC with the following components:

Motherboard: ASUS P5B Premium Vista Edition
Grafic Controller: ASUS EN8800GTS
Chip: Intel, Socket 775, Core 2 Duo E6750, 2x 2.67GHz
DIMMs: Corsair DIMM XMS2 Kit2048MB PC2-800 DDR2 5-5-5-12, Capacity: TWIN2X2048 (1 DIMM = 1024MB)
HDD: Samsung, SpinPoint T166 500GB 16MB SATA II
DVD: Samsung, SH-S183L DVD-(Re)Writer SATA
PSU: Antec BasiQ 500W
Case: Antec P123

After installing Windows for the first time the following happened:

*Installing Windows XP Pro SP2*
- PC stops while copying "driver.cab" @ 13 %
- PC resets during installation
- Sometimes I get bluescreens while installing with totally different error codes
- Some serious error messages force installation stop

*Installing Windows Vista Ultimate Edition 32bit*
- Sometimes I get bluescreens while installing with totally different error codes
- Some serious error messages force installation stop

I thought it could be the RAM and tried out Memtest86+ on 1 of the 4 RAM DIMMs. An Unexpected-Interrupt occured at Test #5, sometimes at Test #6. After writing some mails with ASUS and Corsair, they told me to setup the BIOS with a few special settings, like RAM Voltage to 2.0 Volts and Memory Speed to 667Mhz.

After these setups I thought the PC is stable with 2 of the 4 DIMMS and I managed to install Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit. I could even do some benchmarks after installing and rebootet to complete some installations and put in the other 2 RAM chips. After inserting those 2 DIMMs the PC black screened quite after I pushed the power-button. So I removed the 2 DIMMs and startet it again. Again black screen (Monitor didnt even recognize that I turned on the PC).

I removed the Battery and resetted the CMOS with the jumpers, as it was described in the MB-Manual, but I got still no monitor signal.

What I've tried so far:
- Another Monitor
- Another GPU (old PCI one which worked before on exactly this PC while RAM DIMM testing)

Thank you for your effort,
Martin Huber
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SysExpert
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bytescomputer

Pull all memory out of your computer and turn it back on.  If you do not get any beep codes then your motherboard is bad.
If you can get into windows at all - make sure the first thing u do is load the chipset drivers for the motherboard and then the correct video drivers - this may help..

Try booking up with a Knoppix CD - see if that has problems (this will help tell u if its a software issue or hardware)... There are also some diagnostic tools on Hiren's boot CD that are really useful.

After that, as bytescomputer says its a case of isolating different parts until you find out where the problem is.
Looks like the RAM is definitely faulty. What happens if you power up the PC? Do all the fans spin? Are you sure that the CPU is not overheating?

Also not all motherboards give error beeps. You can try booting the PC with bare minimum components, as SysExpert and wct296 have suggested.

::Pranav::
with that kind of problems, i would have a warranty replacement of the mobo.
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ASKER

Thank you a lot for your comments.

I drove to a local computer laboratory and we tested each component. After changing all components only the CPU was left from my old system and there was still no monitor signal. I couldn't believe my eyes but it really was a Intel CPU error.

I replaced the Intel CPU in my old components and everything works fine now. There is no mechanical damage. I dont know exactly if there was an overheating, but I never changed voltages or/and MhZ in BIOS except Memory Voltage and FSB Speed (downgrade).

with best regards,
Martin Huber
Wow...Bad Intel CPU. It's a long time since I saw one... Good to see that you got the computer working.

::Pranav::
Yeah that is rare... shoulda gone AMD ;)
:)

::Pranav::
Looks like my first comment was correct.

Glad you got this resolved !