1st time overclocking "ram" p6x58D_E lga 1366 i7-950

p6x58D_E

getting ram fault led. cleared cmos, removed cmos battery, reset cmos button. no post. on the lga cpu's the memory controller is built into the cpu. there is a three pin jumper for increasing voltage on the ram. it was always on the default position pins 1 and 2( below 2.0 volts) never moved it to pins 2 and 3( above 2.0 volts ) . also pushed button for dram reset which is an automated overclock. still ram led fault. tried different combinations of ram placement i even pulled that ram (3 sticks by the way) and put them on another lga 1366 mother board , p6t by asus which posted and booted the first time. so pretty sure not the ram. sorry, on those jumper pins with power to mother board i am not getting any voltage on any of them. so i iam not sure if the cpu is bad or i have a corrupted bios chip.................Any Ideas much appreciated. dont remember for sure, but at one point i had set core memory voltage to 1.45 and upper voltage to 1.68 on the sticks tjhey are rated at 1.65. memory is a little weak on those numbers.

MageTank

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/12499/1st-time-overclocking-ram-p6x58d-e-lga-1366-i7-950

Memory overclocking on Nehalem was a trip, especially on the X58 platform with the introduction of tri-channel memory on an integrated memory controller. The fact that it is throwing a memory error doesn't necessarily mean the DIMMs themselves are defective, as evidenced by the fact that you can get them to POST on the P6T. The fact that all 3 channels are not working pretty much rules out the board as it is extremely unlikely for all 3 channels to die simultaneously unless the memory portion of your VRM fried, but at that point it would be unlikely that you'd even get a debug LED, and you'd know by physical inspection if it was fried.

Quick question. The title says "1st time overclocking RAM", was the system stable prior to your OCing attempts? What exactly did you change when attempting to overclock? You mentioned adjusting "core memory voltage" but I want to be sure you are not referring to uncore or VTT voltage (sometimes referred to as QPI back in the day) and are instead referring to VDIMM or memory voltage. If you are pushing 1.45 or 1.68 through uncore/VTT, that could be a problem. While it shouldn't kill the IMC instantly, you genuinely don't need this much voltage to achieve some solid memory OC's on Nehalem. I recall doing 1866/2000 with 1.35 just fine with weaker CPUs needing only 1.4ish to push stable OC's. VDIMM scaling was mostly DIMM dependent as the old Samsung HYK0's could scale up to 1.8v assuming the board trace topology allowed for higher clocks, but the IMC was basically the defining limit for DDR3 on Nehalem.

For now, try unplugging the power to the system and holding the power button down on the chassis for roughly 30-45 seconds to drain any residual power from the system. I know you cleared CMOS, but some caps on those boards can hold residual power for a long time which could prevent the memory training from completing and results in a no-POST. If it isn't working after this, you likely have a dead memory controller on that processor. Easiest way to confirm this would require you to throw in a spare CPU if possible and see if it can POST with your original memory configuration. If you don't have a spare CPU, I'd certainly recommend upgrading unless you were keeping this around for some overclocking nostalgia. Even budget CPUs would significantly outperform the i7-950 these days in terms of IPC alone, completely ignoring the clock speed and core count benefits.

p6x58D_E

Hi, Mage Tank. Thankyou so much for your interest in helping me! I received a used i7-960 cpu, for $26, (not Bad). it did not solve my issue, which is kind of relief. So I do believe the bios got corrupted. I have an external bios programmer coming on Thursday. always wanted one anyway. I will let you know how that goes. Then I will give overclocking another shot, yeah it's old and slow, but then there's always someone with a faster machine:) Have a Happy New Year!!

PowerSpec_MikeW

@p6x58D_E

Let us know how the flash goes. Looks like a DIP-8 BIOS chip on the board. Haven't seen those or PLC sockets on production boards in a long time, everything is soldered. We've got flashback on boards, but it can be a rare high end feature, depending on the board manufacturer. AMD is pushing it as a chipset feature on their AM5 platform.

p6x58D_E

I certainly will let you know, both on the flash and the OC. one small thing though, the bios chip is "DIP8", but it isn't soldered. anyhow, can't wait to get it up and running. Being that I am not professionally trained, the learning process is quite slow.

Hey, just curious, does MICROCENTER have a section in there forums for selling old equipment?

p6x58D_E

hey MageTank, still no post and no boot. took old cpu out and put it on the "Asus p6t" it worked booted the first time i did the same with three sticks of memory everything worked fine. I got through amazon the ezp2019+ programmer. flashed bios, "verified "with in ezp2019 software the bios was okay, even downloaded "HxD" which is a file comparison tool. did a simple binary analyzation, I did checksum-8, did another checksum-16. every time the comparison was the two files are exactly the same. when i leave the memory completely out, I get long beep followed by two short beeps. when memory is on board I still get dram "led" fault. hundreds of cmos clearings, all power disconnected overnight, cmmos battery pulled dozens of times, even with cmos battery out hold.ing power button thirty seconds ....... UH... i need help

PowerSpec_MikeW

@p6x58D_E

Does the board attempt to train the RAM if you hit the MEM_OK button?

p6x58D_E

Yes it does go through ram training

PowerSpec_MikeW

@p6x58D_E

Sounds like you've ruled out all the components except the board on other hardware. Try MEM_OK with two sticks in stalled. A1/B1, the left two blue slots. How long does the training process run?

p6x58D_E

p6x58D_E

Ram training goes through four levels.it always ends up in red memory led failure, i tried both cpu and ram on another x58 platform they posted and booted perfectly. trying to find a schematic of the board, maybe a bad resistor, but no luck.