Name: jackbomb Date: March 16, 2008 at 16:32:21 Pacific Subject: How to fix a broken-hearted SMBus? OS: XP CPU/Ram: Pentium M, 2GB Model/Manufacturer: Asus, Asus, and Asus
Comment:
I'm building a system out of the following older components for my two nephews:
ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe (S478, AGP, i875) Asus CT-479 Pentium M adaptor Intel Pentium M 735 (1.7GHz/400, running at 2.26GHz/533) 2GB of generic PC3200 dram ATI X850XT AGP video 380w Antec Earthwatts PSU (2x 17.0a +12v, in case you were wondering)
The problem I'm having is that any time an application tries to access the SMBus, the system hangs. Hitting the the reset switch is required to get it going again. Everything else seems fine, as the system is capable of looping benchmarks and passing memtest86.
Yet, launching any program that reads the SMBus (the popular CPU-Z, for example) takes the system down. This worries me, since many games access the SMBus to analyze the hardware configuration at launch. And games are what nine- and ten-year-olds do best.
I've already tested the machine with a standard P4 processor. CPU-Z still crashes the system with a P4 installed, so I know that the Pentium M isn't the culprit. I'm using the latest chipset driver from Intel, and the latest M-compatible BIOS from Asus. I've tried a different PSU, underclocked the RAM, even tried a different HDD--nothing has worked. The only expansion board installed is the video card. I just can't get to the root of this wucking SMBus issue. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
The creme de la creme of Socket 939: Opty 185 @ 3.2GHz SLI'ed GTS-640s, both flashed to 625/1458/1950 4GB PC3200 Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, X-Fi A8N32-SLI Deluxe 3DMark06: 13896
"I'm using the latest chipset driver from Intel...."
The main chipset drivers are NOT listed in the Drivers downloads on the Asus web sites for your model. Did you actually go to Intel site and get and load the INF Update Utility from here?: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Pro...
"I'm using the latest .........M-compatible BIOS from Asus."
Did you load bios defaults after you flashed the bios? You MUST do that in order to make sure the Cmos contents match the bios version. Flashing the bios often does NOT do that automatically. If you haven't done that Windows may not operate the mboard properly.
Did you use the right flash utility?
"I found that there is a new BIOS update utility (Afudos.exe) for P4C800 Deluxe. Can I still use Aflash.exe to update BIOS?
Answer
No, you can't use Aflash.exe to update BIOS on P4C800 Deluxe since different BIOS architecture. Please use Afudos.exe to update BIOS on P4C800 Deluxe. "
"Did you actually go to Intel site and get and load the INF Update Utility from here?:"
I sure have.
"Did you load bios defaults after you flashed the bios?"
Yep, I always do that. I used Afudos 2.26
The creme de la creme of Socket 939: Opty 185 @ 3.2GHz SLI'ed GTS-640s, both flashed to 625/1458/1950 4GB PC3200 Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, X-Fi A8N32-SLI Deluxe 3DMark06: 13896
Even at the default clock speed of 1.7GHz, programs that read the SMBus crash the system. I've also tried running a standard P4 on the board to see if that would make any difference...and it didn't.
I'm beginning to think that this board is just dying. Even the onboard NIC is beginning to behave erratically (randomly drops connection, requires reboot to reconnect).
The creme de la creme of Socket 939: Opty 185 @ 3.2GHz SLI'ed GTS-640s, both flashed to 625/1458/1950 4GB PC3200 Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, X-Fi A8N32-SLI Deluxe 3DMark06: 13896
I've never heard of anyone having the particular problem you are having before.
You have an excellent PS brand and model that has more than enough capacity to power this system, but any PS can become defective. My brother had an Antec 4xx watt model malfunction after it had been working fine for about a year - it didn't die or produce out of spec voltages, but it started out that it would reboot when only a small additional load was put on the system, then slowly got worse until eventually it was difficut to get the computer to boot at all. It was probably the IC chip that was the problem. Do you have another PS to try with it? 350 or 300 watts capacity would probably be fine.
Mboards don't normally malfunction unless something has been damaged.
You could look for bulging or opened capacitor tops or signs of leakage around them (usually yellowish or brownish liquid or dried deposits), often near the cpu, but as far as I have encountered, it's very rare for Asus mboards to have that problem.
Is it possible this mboard was exposed to a voltage spike or surge, or that there was a lightning strike somewhere on the power grid it connects to, whether or not it was protected?
I did try another PSU, but it was pretty crappy 500w model that probably put out less power than the Earthwatts unit. Same results.
I'm gonna pull the 650w Corsair unit that's in my main PC and do some testing using that power supply.
There aren't any busted caps on the board.
I don't think that this mobo's ever experienced a voltage surge, but am not 100% certain on that. I used it for only a few months back in 2004 before putting it into storage. I pulled it out just last week to build a somewhat decent system for my nephews.
The creme de la creme of Socket 939: Opty 185 @ 3.2GHz SLI'ed GTS-640s, both flashed to 625/1458/1950 4GB PC3200 Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, X-Fi A8N32-SLI Deluxe 3DMark06: 13896
The information on Computing.Net is the opinions of its users. Such
opinions may not be accurate and they are to be used at your own risk.
Computing.Net cannot verify the validity of the statements made on this site. Computing.Net and Computing.Net, LLC hereby disclaim all responsibility and liability for the content of Computing.Net and its accuracy.
PLEASE READ THE FULL DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL TERMS BY CLICKING HERE
