Need help with sli-dr expert

gline

having a nightmare installing this thing,

It will bot and begins to install windows, then it says setup is going to startup windows now (just after it has loaded all the drivers from the cd), then all lights flash on the keyboard and pc freezes.

I had windows installed with it already, but the pc wouldnt boot after i installed a usb device, i unplugged the usb device and cleared cmos and then it wouldnt load into windows, i though windows was knackered, so i deleted the raido array and redid it and now windows doesnt install.

I did a memtest and it passed, also ran m-prime and that was fine, also tried 3 different bioses and still no joy. I tried "load optimised defaults" in the bios aswell.

What could be causing this, isnt cpu or memory or hdds etc, anyone experienced this before? It is doing my head in :mad: im currently on the latest beta bios

Evd-Burner

Thats strange...

gline

Evd-Burner wrote:

Thats strange...

i know, i tried to install windows 98 aswell and that installs boot wont load into windows, just sits on the windows 98 logo screen, also tried installing windows MCE2005 and same issue, pc freezes. Im lost with this issue.... dont know what it could be. Allso tried to install in a non raid configuration and same issue.

conzy

Wow, I was gonna suggest installing on a single drive but you did that, How about getting a Knoppix live CD or any linux live cd and boot from it. If the Pc still crashes you know that some component is dodgey

Evd-Burner

It could be your motherboard, as u said man everything else is working totaly fine and uve done the tests, id say one section of the board is fried thats just my opinion...

Happened me with me old dell pc when i installed ram...

_CreeD_

Disable any USB ports you don't need. Had a similar problem with an older Abit that eventually stopped booting/then installing Windows when the extra USB2 header was enabled, turned it off and all was fine...

Dingatron

I would try the Knoppix live CD and see what happens. Even if it doesn't work it may give you some more info on what is going wrong.

gline

Dingatron wrote:

I would try the Knoppix live CD and see what happens. Even if it doesn't work it may give you some more info on what is going wrong.

this a free download???

_CreeD_ wrote:

Disable any USB ports you don't need. Had a similar problem with an older Abit that eventually stopped booting/then installing Windows when the extra USB2 header was enabled, turned it off and all was fine....

None of those ports are plugged in, just the back ones on the mobo are active with nothing plugged in, basically nothing usb is plugged in



i dont know what is causing this, il just haaave to assume that something is dodgy, DAMN

SouperComputer

this a free download???

yup, its a fully working OS that boots from CD.

im scratching my head with this problem I have to admit. RAM tested OK.

What about underclocking\overvolting the CPU?
Dodgy PATA\SATA drivers? Try older and newer ones maybe? Somtimes the PATA bus can cause a lockup even if the channels arent being used.

Also, you should run a bootlog with any of the OS's that you have tried, might point to the problem.

My 2c is that the mobo is borked, but its a bit early to say....

gline

SouperComputer wrote:

yup, its a fully working OS that boots from CD.

im scratching my head with this problem I have to admit. RAM tested OK.

What about underclocking\overvolting the CPU?
Dodgy PATA\SATA drivers? Try older and newer ones maybe? Somtimes the PATA bus can cause a lockup even if the channels arent being used.

Also, you should run a bootlog with any of the OS's that you have tried, might point to the problem.

My 2c is that the mobo is borked, but its a bit early to say....

tried diff pata and sata drivers.
cpu is at 1.4v and stock mhz (this is default)
cant run a bootlog because as i mentioned the os isnt installing.
i noticed that it doesnt read or write to the hdds, i tried them on the secondary controller and tried just 1 drive (no joy)
dont know what is causing this

Inquitus

Must be doing your nut in Gline.

Hope you get it sorted quick.

Gotta be a borked mobo, tho strange that you could even begin to install Windows if it is borked........

Inquitus

Also, lots of PC Mags give away a knoppix boot disk on the cover...have a look in easons.

It doesn't need HD's it loads and runs from the RAM only.

Would be a good place to start.

Inqui

http://www.knoppix.org/

youcancallmeal

Have you tried flashing to a different BIOS, that board is notorious for its issues.

Have a look here at the thread on overclockers, may be off some use to you.

gline

youcancallme>al wrote:

Have you tried flashing to a different BIOS, that board is notorious for its issues.

Have a look here at the thread on overclockers, may be off some use to you.

i tried about 3-4 different bioses
just wonderoing, is ram supposed to be in slots 2 and 4? thats the way im using it, though i suppose it worked before so it should be fine... looks like im gonna have to buy a new board from komplett.. god knows how long that will take to get her with the holiday period and all, this suks bigtime

gline

im still none the wiser, tried 1 stick of ram, didnt fix it, tried running @ 2t etc... Man i do not know what is causing this....tried taking out the xfi fatality also gonna just have to try a new mobo as i cant see what else will cause this

SouperComputer

any luck with knoppix?

gline

SouperComputer wrote:

any luck with knoppix?

just finished downloading it, willl try later

SouperComputer

any luck with this Gline?

gline

SouperComputer wrote:

any luck with this Gline?

i had to buy a new mobo, i will test the new one tomorrow and let u know if it was actually the mobo, if so i will rma the other one

conzy

You could also try a IDE Hdd, and knoppix has a tool for checking Hdds I think and also try this:

http://www.biosmedic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18

Its a guy on the DFI street Forum he has a Bootable CD that has DFI bioses and other tools for troubleshooting

I am having trouble with my DFI board too:(

It wont boot, I have tried different ran different slots???

Anyway I hope you get it sorted, I know how frustrating it can be:mad: :mad: :mad:

gline

conzymaher wrote:

You could also try a IDE Hdd, and knoppix has a tool for checking Hdds I think and also try this:

http://www.biosmedic.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18

Its a guy on the DFI street Forum he has a Bootable CD that has DFI bioses and other tools for troubleshooting

I am having trouble with my DFI board too:(

It wont boot, I have tried different ran different slots???

Anyway I hope you get it sorted, I know how frustrating it can be:mad: :mad: :mad:

i dont think its the hdd..... also tried that cd, it wont stay booted though, it shuts down after about 5secs :mad:
i know it is soo frustrating, il go back to asus if this doesnt get solved soon

youcancallmeal

What happened with the second board you got?

conzy

Yeah DFI boards are so annoying they are the most picky boards they are great when they actually work but i think my next system will be based on a ASUS A8N SLI DELUXE

gline

youcancallme>al wrote:

What happened with the second board you got?

its causing all sorts of problems

conzy

A brand new DFI causing problems???? thats the second Expert that hasnt worked??? are you sure every other component works on a different mobo?

If all the components work without the Expert, I say get a ASUS A8N SLI PREMIUM with the heatpipe northbridge cooler;)

gline

conzymaher wrote:

A brand new DFI causing problems???? thats the second Expert that hasnt worked??? are you sure every other component works on a different mobo?

If all the components work without the Expert, I say get a ASUS A8N SLI PREMIUM with the heatpipe northbridge cooler;)

i was thinjking of selling the dfi and go for an asus

youcancallmeal

conzymaher wrote:

A brand new DFI causing problems???? thats the second Expert that hasnt worked??? are you sure every other component works on a different mobo?

If all the components work without the Expert, I say get a ASUS A8N SLI PREMIUM with the heatpipe northbridge cooler;)

Theres been lots of bad reports about the new dfi expert. I was going to get it but I just got that asus m/b off one of the lads here on boards instead. Now waiting for my xfx 7800gt to be delivered, Will let youse know how I get on.

unkel

Damn, sorry for your trouble, gline. I know how frustrating thing can get

Isn't it ironic how DFI have built up their reputation over years only to push it over the delicate edge of overclockability / stability / user-friendliness / incompatibility with the Expert mobo...

conzy

They are a great board, but they are very user unfriendly, you have to be a DFI engineer to use one:eek:

My ultra infinity just crashed yesterday and i still cant get it to boot:mad: :mad:
I am thinking of rmaing it and going s939, but the thing i am most frustrated about is, I just bought a XFX 6800gt agp and now i have no mobo to use it, and the s939 board will need PCI-Express, anyone looking for a 6800gt...............

gline

hmm most dfi stories are horror stories, if this doesnt work out soon, i will get an asus and try that

gline

ok is it just me or is 42 degrees c high for the chipset with everything at stock and just after a boot, that is what motherboard monitor is detecting @ stock speeds and stock voltages and system now seems to be running stable..... i think when i am ocing the chipset temp is going too high and pc is freezing and wont reboot until battery is pulled for over 6 hours (oh and those temps are with side of case are open and rising to 45 after 2mins) :mad:

asus could be the answer or il have to rig up that chipset waterblock and hope that it was that causing it

youcancallmeal

That is quite high temp for chipset, have you been overclocking it much?

gline

youcancallme>al wrote:

That is quite high temp for chipset, have you been overclocking it much?

no that temp is at stock speeds and voltages

i spoke to soon, pc froze after about 5mins, i rebooted and froze even when i entered into the bios, dont know what is causing this
chipset temp was 47 when pc froze.... that is not that high :mad:

youcancallmeal

Well my chipset temps are normally half of cpu temp.
It all sounds very messy indeed, If its taking this much time to try and get it to work properly it probably not worth it at all.

gline

youcancallme>al wrote:

Well my chipset temps are normally half of cpu temp.
It all sounds very messy indeed, If its taking this much time to try and get it to work properly it probably not worth it at all.

yeh i was looking at a8n mobo, but vdimm only up to 3volts, mushkin likes 3.3-3.5

youcancallmeal

gline wrote:

yeh i was looking at a8n mobo, but vdimm only up to 3volts, mushkin likes 3.3-3.5

Maybe even just go for the DFI SLi-dr in that case?

gline

youcancallme>al wrote:

Maybe even just go for the DFI SLi-dr in that case?

hmmm from what i see it is just as bad

Dman_15

I have to say that after my teething problems with my SLI-DR I wouldnt change it for any other board. My chipset temps are similar to yours, higher even under load so I dont think thats the problem.
Does that psu have the 8pin connector for the motherboard? a 1kw psu is overkill but might be the problem? I find it hard to believe that 2 motherboards would be faulty, but its DFI so it wouldnt't surprise me overly either.
What bios are you using exactly? You know there are different ones suited to TCCD ram and others to Winbond UTT......

gline

Dman_15 wrote:

I have to say that after my teething problems with my SLI-DR I wouldnt change it for any other board. My chipset temps are similar to yours, higher even under load so I dont think thats the problem.
Does that psu have the 8pin connector for the motherboard? a 1kw psu is overkill but might be the problem? I find it hard to believe that 2 motherboards would be faulty, but its DFI so it wouldnt't surprise me overly either.
What bios are you using exactly? You know there are different ones suited to TCCD ram and others to Winbond UTT......

using latest bios, i think it is 7th december, yeh psu has 8pin. Read a thread saying plextor drives can cause problems, maybe this is it, il try boot up later without drive plugged in

conzy

Why not get the DFI ut sli-d, It has loads of settings and i think its a bit more forgiving than the expert.

And there is a device you can put in the a dimm slot on any mobo and it lets you give loads of voltage to the ram, i will post a link if i find one

masteroftherealm

Hey man reading bout complications on boot with the xfi Id take that out too.

masteroftherealm

conzymaher wrote:

Why not get the DFI ut sli-d, It has loads of settings and i think its a bit more forgiving than the expert.

And there is a device you can put in the a dimm slot on any mobo and it lets you give loads of voltage to the ram, i will post a link if i find one

Ocz ddr booster.

gline

conzymaher wrote:

Why not get the DFI ut sli-d, It has loads of settings and i think its a bit more forgiving than the expert.

And there is a device you can put in the a dimm slot on any mobo and it lets you give loads of voltage to the ram, i will post a link if i find one

u are thinking of an ocz ddr ram booster. Also i was thinking of trying a different dfi mobo. But some guy replied to a thread and said plextor emailed him and confirmed that there is a compatibility with their drives and nf4 chipsets

he said "I contacted Plextor a few weeks back and they confirmed that there's indeed a compatibility issue with the nF4 chipset and their DVD drives."

il try unplugging the drive soon

conzy

Try and run the system with with 1 stick of ram, CPU, VGA card, and a old CD drive and see will knoppix run If not go for the ASUS A8N SLI PREMIUM

Because that board is causing more hassle than it is worth, and if it wont run stable with just a cd drive attached RMA it

P.s My DFI board has also died so i am going to go 754 with a 90nm venice cpu and oc the hell out of it:D

gline

well i still have same problems, i am tempted to split rig and sell it, it isnt worth the hassle

masteroftherealm

conzymaher wrote:

Try and run the system with with 1 stick of ram, CPU, VGA card, and a old CD drive and see will knoppix run If not go for the ASUS A8N SLI PREMIUM

Because that board is causing more hassle than it is worth, and if it wont run stable with just a cd drive attached RMA it

P.s My DFI board has also died so i am going to go 754 with a 90nm venice cpu and oc the hell out of it:D

Tis what I did. You wont regret it man!!

unkel

gline wrote:

chipset temp was 47 when pc froze.... that is not that high :mad:

No, that is not high at all. I'm no expert on the DFI expert

But generally NB chipsets on modern mobos can go up to 100C or a bit higher without issues

conzy

Tis what I did. You wont regret it man!!

Wow, Someone else with the same plan as me:D Do they clock well i was hoping for 2.6ghz and with my ballistix and 6800gt it should be great

The only problem is the only good ocing 754 board that i know of is the DFI nf3 250gb ut but its alot more stable than the nforce 2 and its the newer revision and all the teething problems are over........I hope........

gline

looks like i MIGHT have found the problem, looks like it could have been a short or something that was attached to the psu... i unplugged fan controllers and light controllers etc and it has been priming away for about 3 hours without shutting down so far (only at stock speeds, i will have to start ocing again soon

masteroftherealm

conzymaher wrote:

Wow, Someone else with the same plan as me:D Do they clock well i was hoping for 2.6ghz and with my ballistix and 6800gt it should be great

The only problem is the only good ocing 754 board that i know of is the DFI nf3 250gb ut but its alot more stable than the nforce 2 and its the newer revision and all the teething problems are over........I hope........

Get a watercooling kit and you should see past 2.9 and into th 3's on the new semprons.
I having probs with mine at the monent either my board or chip is dead so just waiting to fix that and Ill come back with OC results on air and water.

conzy

woops, It turns out 6800 cards are incompatible with the nf3 chipset so i am going 939,

Just type 6800 and nf3 into google and you will be overwhelmed with horror stories:eek: :eek:

I am getting

Athlon 64 3700 or 3500 (because the optys are two expensive now)
DFI LanParty UT NF4 SLI-D or Asus A8N SLI DELUXE
Tagan easycon tg530watt
Leadtek 7800gt
Crucial Ballistix 2*512mb (2-2-2-6)
My current Hdd and maybe a raptor