Welcome to GIGABYTE Technical Support!

[gatmaitan20]

Hello,

Can someone help me configure my GA-EX58 (F4j) Rig, my computer works fine detecting my SATA hard disk also already installed an XP SP3 OS but when I tried to add an additional 500Gb IDE and go to my computer the new drive wasn't there. Already test the IDE drive several times on another computer and perfectly works fine.

Another thing the BIOS setup detects my IDE drive (500 gb Seagate) and post detect it also, but as soon as I enter windows the drive is not detected.?

Also tried finding it on the device manager and a glimpse of hope the name of the drive appears but has zero location. :) Maybe someone can help me out on this one? Thanks

[Lsdmeasap]

What do you have set for these settings in the BIOS? >>>

Integrated Peripherals


Onboard SATA/IDE Device (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ............. Enabled
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ........... IDE


And is this IDE Drive the ONLY drive you have on the IDE Ribbon cable, if so do you have it set properly? That would be Device on the End of the Cable for Master and Master set on the jumper, or device on the middle of the cable for slave and slave set for the jumper? Have you tried another IDE cable as well?

What drive is this? And when you say you tested it on another setup, what did you do? Can you see and use the drive on another setup? Just checking to be sure because some drives must be made ready (Set active and Formatted) for first use with the manufacturers tools

When you was in device manager, or now, did you scan for new devices? If not, please also try that

[gatmaitan20]

wow thanks for the quick response... Yes I have these setting on my bios. :)

Onboard SATA/IDE Device (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ............. Enabled
Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode (GIGABYTE SATA2 Chip) ........... IDE

Both tried it using the end of the cable and middle one, but i haven't put any jumper on it as I assume it will work the same way my old pc does. (cable select) Maybe I could give it try also using a new cable as well.. the drive is in NTFS format, and my old pc running in xp detects all the data in it.

Also did scan it on the device manager but still no luck. I will try to configure it this weekend and hope to share it with you all soon... thanks

[Lsdmeasap]

Ok, your settings are right for IDE to be enabled. CS (Cable Select) often needs a jumper as well, just in a different spot then Master/Slave but you may be right as some are CS Without a jumper.

Ya, I would try to get a jumper and set it to master to see if that is the issue, as well as try a different cable

Well good luck, and let us know how you get along or if you need anymore ideas

[kantona]

@lsdmeasap, thanks.
I have never played with ram timings and voltages so in 'plain english', would I see any difference at all between 5-5-5-18 and 4-4-4-12? For DDR2 800MHz ram.
The PC is used for everyday computing and some sketching.
Does the 5 compared to the 4 mean the same operation is done in one cycle more? Would it mean 25% performance improvement then with CL4?

[Lsdmeasap]

Yes, CAS 4 would be much better, and that is your ram rated settings anyway. Not sure of what the % of performance difference would be, but it would depend on other settings as voltages as well.

Yes, that is clock cycles, here's some Ram info for ya >>
http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/memo...vs-bios-27283/

[kantona]

I read you topic yesterday and that got me interested a bit. I downloaded Memset (just to see the timings, not to change them) and was really shocked to see 5-5-5-18??? I mean, I got the 6400C4 version just because of the C4...
Reading more on Corsair website it seems there are JETEC settings of 5-5-5-18 (not sure about voltage, maybe 1.8V) and EPP settings of 4-4-4-12 at 2.1V. However, even with the latest BIOS (F6) my board seems problematic with EPP mode enabled or maybe the combination board + ram, so that setting is disabled. Maybe that is the reason the timings are 5-5-5-18.
Last night I tried briefly to enable EPP and I also set EPP Voltage to be By EPP mode, but there were few weird things. Settings were accepted and first boot after exiting BIOS looked normal. Then I opened Everest and noticed in the Sensor section ram voltage 2.16V which got me worried coz earlier I read in general to keep it under 2.1V (although it depends on manufacturer and model). So I restarted Win to go to BIOS and the PC just shut down. I am pretty sure I selected the Restart option not Shut Down. I pushed the power button to power up, and it seems to get stuck even before POST, my DVD-RW led was flashing, like initialization, but it never gets over that step. No beep, no POST, blank screen. You have to hold the power button to shut down again, and try few times until it finally gets to POST and BIOS. Then I returned setting to previous, EPP disabled and now it is OK.
It was doing exactly the same when I first assembled it, until I read one post recommending to disable EPP, after that working fine 7 months now. In the initial F3 BIOS that setting was enabled and in the latest F6 disabled by default. Guess GB received lot complaints about this issue.
Since I can not count on the EPP setting, is it better to keep it disabled, go in BIOS MIT Dram Configuration, set to Manual and set to 4-4-4-12? Would I need to adjust any of the more advanced timings too, except these 'standard' timings mentioned? Then also should I set System Voltage option to Manual, not touch any voltages except DDR2 Voltage which should be set to +0.3V because Corsair specifies this ram as 4-4-4-12 at 2.1V? Would that work? In MIT do I have to also set ram frequency from Auto to Manual and choose 800MHz myself (since timings will be manually adjusted)?
Sorry, too many questions, just trying to figure this out. I am very pi**ed at Corsair. When I buy C4 I expect to work as C4 out of the box so to speak, without this much fiddling.
I wanted the HyperX from the start but where I live I couldn't get them on short notice and needed the PC urgently. Had to go with Corsair. :( With your recommendation not to mix brands now I'm stuck. Seems I'll have to ditch these 2x1GB modules if I want to change to HyperX. :(

[laarbeker]

Let us know what you find out

It was a memory problem, after putting in a pc6400 all went well
now its playtime for me
thx Lsdmeasap

[Lsdmeasap]

I read you topic yesterday and that got me interested a bit. I downloaded Memset (just to see the timings, not to change them) and was really shocked to see 5-5-5-18??? I mean, I got the 6400C4 version just because of the C4...
Reading more on Corsair website it seems there are JETEC settings of 5-5-5-18 (not sure about voltage, maybe 1.8V) and EPP settings of 4-4-4-12 at 2.1V. However, even with the latest BIOS (F6) my board seems problematic with EPP mode enabled or maybe the combination board + ram, so that setting is disabled. Maybe that is the reason the timings are 5-5-5-18.
Last night I tried briefly to enable EPP and I also set EPP Voltage to be By EPP mode, but there were few weird things. Settings were accepted and first boot after exiting BIOS looked normal. Then I opened Everest and noticed in the Sensor section ram voltage 2.16V which got me worried coz earlier I read in general to keep it under 2.1V (although it depends on manufacturer and model). So I restarted Win to go to BIOS and the PC just shut down. I am pretty sure I selected the Restart option not Shut Down. I pushed the power button to power up, and it seems to get stuck even before POST, my DVD-RW led was flashing, like initialization, but it never gets over that step. No beep, no POST, blank screen. You have to hold the power button to shut down again, and try few times until it finally gets to POST and BIOS. Then I returned setting to previous, EPP disabled and now it is OK.
It was doing exactly the same when I first assembled it, until I read one post recommending to disable EPP, after that working fine 7 months now. In the initial F3 BIOS that setting was enabled and in the latest F6 disabled by default. Guess GB received lot complaints about this issue.
Since I can not count on the EPP setting, is it better to keep it disabled, go in BIOS MIT Dram Configuration, set to Manual and set to 4-4-4-12? Would I need to adjust any of the more advanced timings too, except these 'standard' timings mentioned? Then also should I set System Voltage option to Manual, not touch any voltages except DDR2 Voltage which should be set to +0.3V because Corsair specifies this ram as 4-4-4-12 at 2.1V? Would that work? In MIT do I have to also set ram frequency from Auto to Manual and choose 800MHz myself (since timings will be manually adjusted)?
Sorry, too many questions, just trying to figure this out. I am very pi**ed at Corsair. When I buy C4 I expect to work as C4 out of the box so to speak, without this much fiddling.
I wanted the HyperX from the start but where I live I couldn't get them on short notice and needed the PC urgently. Had to go with Corsair. :( With your recommendation not to mix brands now I'm stuck. Seems I'll have to ditch these 2x1GB modules if I want to change to HyperX. :(

Most all Ram will run at the JEDEC Defaults of 555-15/18 at 1.8V for DDR2 until the user changes things. So all you need to do is manually set your voltages (Normally 2.0-2.1V) and your main timings to 444-12 and you will be good to go. This would be the same with HyperX or any other memory, so you do not need to go buying new ram for no reason unless you need to or have cash to waste. Just saying, that is normal is all.

EPP is a Nvidia Board option, yes Intel Boards can detect and often use these settings just fine. I personally advise you set things yourself though.

About your 2.16 Voltage, did you have Performance Enhance set to Standard? If not, please do so as this can add Memory voltage and make other timings to tight to work properly until you adjust things yourself. This may be why you had boot issues as well.

Some BIOS's between versions will give the memory more voltage, or less, then you manually set at various voltage setting points. So you have to keep a eye on this with programs like Everest or by Looking in the PC Health section. Although 2.16 is fine, you can and should likely adjust this. So if setting 2.1V in the BIOS gives you 2.16 actual then you will have to try setting a little under 2.1 and see what it gives you. Maybe 2.06 will give you 2.1 Exact, maybe not. You will just have to try a few out and see.

2.1V you see on the ram spec is just the max allowed under warranty, but is not always what is needed to run stable. Depending on several factors you may be able to run stable with less, or you may need more if you overclock it high, or run tighter timings.

I can help you with Full advised settings if you like. If so, please make a new thread with your Full specs and I will help you out. I can't here because this was not meant as a thread to help users in, only to welcome people to the forum. It is hard for me to keep track of things in a thread where everyone posts. So please do make a new thread and I can help you with all your settings.

It was a memory problem, after putting in a pc6400 all went well
now its playtime for me
thx Lsdmeasap

Nice to see you found the issue easily! I thought that might be it as that is pretty slow memory and of the few reports I have seen with 533-667 memory on newer boards, without overclocking the ram to 800 or so speeds, issues often arise. So I am not sure if that means slower ram is not compatible or not, but I can say it is more problematic thought

Good luck with your tweaking and or overclocking, post back anytime if you need some guidance

Glad you are up and running now!

[kantona]

@lsdmeasap, thanks a lot for all your help. Will open new thread right now, please look for it. This morning took pics of BIOS too so will post them.