tooraktom

ukeface: Pack of bloody queers
uttahere: I'm going to make for the door with my back squarely against the wall

waaaaaaaaaaaaaa, eva fix the smilies, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

eva2000

just changed to 704-3 bios and has anyone notice vdimm is overvolted ? i set at 2.6v i get 2.72v and at 2.5v i get 2.63v ???

ah ha explained at http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...742#post946742

groovetek

ops my post should be here instead, i didn't know the other thread was talking about the 510 bios's:

i had GREAT success with it indeed! it fixed my divider issues - i was running one of the fastest air cooled systems around! and 100% stable, but then trying 1.20 x 133%, saved settings + exit, and instnatly my CPU has died. i sent this email to DFI, with my theory:

-------------------
Hello DFI,
Thankyou for the reply. Unfortunately after extensive testing and debugging of various components in my system today I have found that my Venice CPU has died, most likely as a result of a bug in this 704-2 BIOS (Oskar Wu, Hellfire, Merlin version).

I believe the VID control may have a bug, allowing the board to spike the voltage when using certain VID & VID special settings. I believe this is the reason, because usually the commonly experienced symptom of constant over-voltage (typically around >1.75v for 0.09u A64 CPUs) is that the CPU is gradually damaged due to electron migration, however in my case the CPU instantly lost power after saving settings and exitting. The VID selected was 1.200 with VID special control of 133%, which I have used previously with other BIOS's to achieve a 1.56vcore BIOS reading, far below the maximum tolerance of such A64 chips, especially when temperature was well under control. I have also observed that there is literally no electricity running through the CPU (CPU is generating no heat at all, motherboard showing 4 diagnostic LEDs, usually indicating CPU is not even being detected), and to me this sounds like a blown trace or maybe a blown surface-mounted component - which usually would not occur unless a suddenly excessive high voltage is applied. Therefore, I believe the BIOS caused the motherboard to suddenly apply the max vcore that can be supplied immediately after I saved settings and exitted BIOS. I am concerned that other people may be affected, and so I think it's important that Oskar Wu, or whoever is the head of the DFI BIOS development team to be notified of the possibility of the presence of a bug in this BIOS. Again I have to emphasize that I cannot be 100% positive that the BIOS is at fault, but logically it seems to be the case.

Therefore, I speculate that the motherboard itself may still be functional - however I will not know until my new CPUs arrive. But as you would understand, I'm feeling VERY apprehensive and worried about testing my new CPUs on a board that is potentially dangerous. I do not want any more CPUs to be possibly destroyed by the board, even though I have resetted the CMOS - I still cannot feel secure about this. And yet on the other hand, if I apply for RMA with the board and they say there is no problem with it, then it would have been a big waste of time, and also money.

What is your suggestion to be the best solution to my situation? And, typically, under such circumstances, would AMD's RMA system cover the death of my Venice 3000+ CPU if it was caused by the motherboard? I understand that overclocking is not covered by CPU manufacturers, but in such a case, the death is most likely (as I stated before, I cannot be 100% positive) not directly to do with overclocking, but motherboard/BIOS related. Indeed, as you said, this has caused a large inconvenience for me, not only because I have go to through this RMA process, but mainly because I have lost a truly special CPU.

Any constructive help would be greatly appreciated, thankyou very much for your consideration thus far.

Kindest Regards,
John.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tech Support [DFITS]
To: John Lu
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 12:57 PM
Subject: RE: DFI NF4 Ultra-D technical issue - seeking help please-C0529021-941


Dear Customer

Thanks for your letter of July 06. According to your problem description, there might be something wrong with BIOS. Please contact with your retailer and apply for RMA service. I apologize for the inconvenience may cause you.

Sincerely Yours truly,

Tech Support

DFI Inc.

Issue NBR: C0529021-941

------------------

alpha0ne

Have you read this thread groovey??, well worth the time, if you can only even understand half of it, its still worth the read

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...993#post947993

suio

Warning:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16500

tooraktom

Bugger, well it looks like they have found your problem groovey, it's a shame you had to be the one to get them looking though

alpha0ne

DFI and especially Oscar Wu have fallen from grace in my opinion

As I have posted at XS on two different threads..........ITS NOT GOOD ENOUGH, this was posted 3 bloody days ago

eva2000

ouch lucky i went back to 414-3 for some TCCD testing