Problems with Asus P4C800-E Deluxe

[andrew82net]

.
I've been having a lot of trouble with my new system. I could use the help or advice of

anyone who can offer it.

SYSTEM SPECS

Power Supply: Thermaltake Silent Purepower 480Watts
Motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
CPU: P4 3GHz, 800MHz FSB
RAM: Corsair TWINX1024-3200LLPT 1GB DDR400 XMS3200

Video: ATI Radeon 9600
Audio: SoundBlaster Audigy 2
Hard Drives: 4 IDE disk drives
Optical Drives: 1 CD-R/RW, 1 DVD
Fans: 7 case fans

O/S: Windows XP Pro SP1 with all Updates

THE PROBLEM

Essentially, my system will freeze when it is idle and will stop
responding to all commands, including Ctrl + Alt + Delete. As long as I am actively using the mouse or keyboard, the system won't lock up. The only option once the system freezes is to perform a hardware reset to reboot the computer.

STEPS I HAVE TAKEN

RAM TESTS
I have contacted Corsair Micro, the manufacturer of my RAM chips and discussed the problem with them. I have followed their instructions to ensure that the settings for the RAM are set correctly. Additionally, I have performed extensive tests of the RAM chips using Memtest86. After tests on separate ocassions of 11+ hours and 8+ hours, the chips passed without any errors.

CPU TESTS
I have also performed a 6+ hour test of the CPU using Hot CPU Tester Pro 3 (Lite Edition) from http://www.7byte.com. The CPU passed all tests without any errors. (I don't have the Pro edition, so I couldn't run all the tests, but the core CPU stuff passed without any problems.)

SOFTWARE
I have tried re-installing the operating system, as well as updating the drivers for my ATI Radeon 9600 video card, and for my SoundBlaster Audigy 2.

BIOS Update
I would like to update the BIOS for the motherboard to see if that fixes the problem. However, I cannot find the 1009 version of the BIOS on the Asus website. My understanding of the BIOS updates is that they should be applied sequentially: 1008, then 1009, then 1010, then 1011. Does anyone have a copy of the 1009 BIOS for the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe motherboard? (Note: I tried updating to the 1008 and then to the 1011, but that didn't help any. After I did that, I was told that the updates weren't cumulative and had to be applied sequentially.)

QUESTIONS: Please Help!

Does anyone have any other suggestions to try? Could it be a defect in the motherboard? An incompatibility between some combination of CPU, motherboard, or RAM? Does anyone know of other good message boards to post this question to? I'm beginning to reach the point of desperation.

Thanks for your help!

[ale_x13]

i dont know who told u that u have to update sequentially, but without trying to offend anyone, im pretty sure they are wrong (though I may be)

I updated my own BIOS only a week ago (almost lost the whole computer... be CAREFUL!) and i went straight from F2 to FA, thats quite a few steps.. (then again, i have a different BIOS to you, my mobo uses Phoenix AWARD BIOS)

you seem to have plenty of power so that cant be the problem, unless u have a faulty psu...

have you tried updating all the drivers available on the ASUS website? if not, here is the link

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/downl...800-E%20Deluxe

try updating the drivers for the mobo, reset the BIOS to default settings, then read through the mobo manual to set up for your RAM etc (you may have jumpers on the board set wrong etc)

[ale_x13]

if you click on the BIOS tab, then BIOS History in the above link, it lists the previous BIOS updates

it also says not to use Aflash.exe to update BIOS

actually, i just did some more research, and it does seem that you have to update the AMI BIOS sequentially. thats very strange, ill try to locate an old BIOS for you but dont hold your breath

[ale_x13]

try going to http://www.esupport.com/biosupgrades/index.cfm

u will have to fill out a form, but i think its free and you may be able to get your BIOS from there... (note - select American Megatrends, thats your BIOS manufacturer)

the other way is to try and contact asus support, they may be able to help u out with getting older versions of the BIOS (i couldnt find anything)

[ale_x13]

i think v1010 may be integrated into v1009, as on the BIOS history there is no mention of v1010. try updating to v1010 then to 1011, maybe that will help...??

[ale_x13]

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/

go into the mb folder, socket 478, then select ur mobo (under p4c800e-dx i think)

it has v1010, v1011 and v1008A (though i see no 1009, so i believe 1010 will work...)

[ale_x13]

or just click here

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/P4C800E-DX/

[andrew82net]

Thanks for the help locating the BIOS updates. I'll test them out this weekend and see if that makes any difference. I actually found a copy of 1009, so I'll apply 1008, 1009, 1010, and 1011 and see if that (hopefully!) solves the problem.

[ale_x13]

where did u find the copy?

[andrew82net]

After several days of testing, I am prepared to pronounce my problem solved (praise God!).

Here's what I did: I opened up my computer to check all the connections to make sure they were secure. They were. Then, I updated the BIOS from 1008 to 1011 in order. After doing that, everything worked fine. Then, I plugged back in my two USB devices which I hadn't yet plugged back in after I took my case apart. After doing that, my problems re-appeared; the computer would freeze when idle. So, I said, "ah ha...so it's the USB" and proceeded to unplug them. Presto! Problem gone again.

Now, I thought that I had tried unplugging the USB devices before and that it didn't solve the problem. So, it may be that I had two problems: BIOS and USB devices.

At any rate, my computer is working just fine without my printer and scanner plugged in. So now, the question is how do I get my non USB 2.0 printer/scanner to work? I'm going to try going into the BIOS and setting the USB 2.0 to run at "FullSpeed", which is apparently the speed of USB 1.1. Perhaps that will solve the problem. If not, I guess I'll have to use parallel for the printer and sacrifice my scanner and get a new one (which stinks).

Thanks to everyone for their help. It was much appreciated!

P.S. The BIOS updates were found at: ftp://ftp.cizgi.com.tr/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478