ASUS P5N-E SLI Problems

[jdrom17]

Well I've come across some annoying issues now with the P5N-E SLI. It has always been quirky since day one but now its gone a bit too far.

So yesterday I got a 500GB hard drive, hooked it up, all was fine. Transfered all my data onto it from my two 250GB hard drives, and decided to put my 250s into RAID0. No problem I thought, however I was wrong.

After setting up RAID and trying to install Vista x64, I was hit by BSODs before the install even started. It did install at one point, but after Windows Update installed a bunch of stuff, I could no longer do anything once it go to the desktop. It was frozen yet I could move my mouse.

So I decided to run it all stock, take out 2GB of RAM, and try again. This time it installed fine without a hitch, disabled Windows Update so it wouldn't mess anything up. So I put back my 2GB and all seemed fine.

Now the issue is, I can no longer OC stably to where I was at before. I used to run 1520FSB and 820MHz on the RAM @ 4-3-3-9-2T. Running that, POST will fail at times, hangs when shutting down at times, and froze up trying to run a boot scan disk. So now I'm at 1500FSB and 800MHz RAM @ 4-4-4-12-2T.

So the question is, am I doing something wrong here or is it just that my motherboard can't handle 4x1GB sticks of RAM, RAID0, 500GB SATA2 hard drive and a SATA DVD-RW? Remember, it worked fine before RAID0, when all the hard drives were singles.

[Zefram]

How about setting the RAM to loose timing?

I read somewhere that P5N-E had problems with memory stick with tight timing.

I ran my mobo close to 2Ghz FSB, without problem. No stability issue so far. Watercooled my northbridge, and heatsink on all the MOSFETS. Aluminum heatsink for the southbridges.

So what cooling method you employed for your P5N-E Sli?

And i do have 2X Seagate 250GB in RAID-0, work flawlessly and attained a healthy score from it too :p

The only major differences of our system is the RAM. I had two stick of 1GB RAM, whereas you had four...........

[jdrom17]

How about setting the RAM to loose timing?

I read somewhere that P5N-E had problems with memory stick with tight timing.

I ran my mobo close to 2Ghz FSB, without problem. No stability issue so far. Watercooled my northbridge, and heatsink on all the MOSFETS. Aluminum heatsink for the southbridges.

So what cooling method you employed for your P5N-E Sli?

And i do have 2X Seagate 250GB in RAID-0, work flawlessly and attained a healthy score from it too :p

The only major differences of our system is the RAM. I had two stick of 1GB RAM, whereas you had four...........
Yeah I think its due to the fact I have all the DIMMs full. Everything seems fine with only 2GB.

Cooling wise, NB has Noctua NC-U6 w/60x15mm Panaflow, SB has this Enzotech passive heatsink. Nothing on the MOSFETS though as they are kinda hidden underneath my Noctua NH-U12.

[AKHandyman]

I couldn't get XP64 to load properly when I had 1x4GB sticks in the X38 Bonetrail board I am working on ... :( I took out 2GB and it loaded flawlessly ... I don't know why that was, but it sounds like you got it taken care of ... but I would like to know the reason why myself ... :confused:

[yahooadam]

you mean 4x1gb sticks ? ;)

[jdrom17]

Actually, its still not near stable. Still at 1500FSB and 800MHz RAM. Vista will just freeze before the loading bar can even fully appear. So it's like a faded screen without the progress bar shown yet. The IDE activity light is solid and the reset button doesn't work. Have to do a hard power off and turn it back on then it works...

[eli98]

WOW! it must be an Asus thing.Cause with my P5K i had my Q6600 at 3.4 for a bit then it wouldn't work so i had to bring it down to 3ghz but will work on it later,too buzy drinking now...oh i got 4g of ram too:confused:

[AKHandyman]

I am not sure why certain ASUS boards do that, in terms of loading and not loading with 1x4 sticks of RAM ... possibly something to do with individual BIOSes with ASUS ... :confused:

[jdrom17]

I am not sure why certain ASUS boards do that, in terms of loading and not loading with 1x4 sticks of RAM ... possibly something to do with individual BIOSes with ASUS ... :confused:
Who knows. I've never had issues with ASUS until this motherboard. Somewhat disappointing. I think its more related to the nForce chipset, for me at lest, as most 650i boards are plagued with memory issues.

I'm considering a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R along with water cooling for my CPU, but I need to find out if something like my setup is going to be trouble free or not on the Gigabyte.

[AKHandyman]

Who knows. I've never had issues with ASUS until this motherboard. Somewhat disappointing. I think its more related to the nForce chipset, for me at lest, as most 650i boards are plagued with memory issues.

I'm considering a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R along with water cooling for my CPU, but I need to find out if something like my setup is going to be trouble free or not on the Gigabyte.
Dark41 is a Gigabyte guy, might want to PM him and see what he has to say ... ;)

[jdrom17]

Well who would of thought...
I changed the SATA cable to my 500GB and now everything appears to be working fine.

[AKHandyman]

Aaahhh ... the old SATA cable thingamajig ... it happens every time ... :)

[Zefram]

Well who would of thought...
I changed the SATA cable to my 500GB and now everything appears to be working fine.
Well, at least that did not ruin your new year celebration :D

Happy new year then :eek: