Biostar M7NCG 400 MoBo wAMD3300_any Ngroup for help

"Bud in FL" wrote in message
...
Is there a NG for this Moboard? Purchased TIGER's BareBone
special last week. I'm up & running but have a few questions
not answered in the very slim-manual or nothing in FAQ on
their home site. I saw the solution, I think, while looking
at the multiple reviews for this board, but now I can't find
that site with the 250+ reviews. It has to do with the 400
FSB settings in the BIOS [maybe?] at half rate in order for
it to show correct results. Mine read at posting "Freq for
DDR 333" when it is "Ultra's DDR Memory 1024MB PC3200 DDR
400MHz"....The jumper on the MoBo is soldered over & the
settings for OC are in the BIOS,, but which & what?

Thanxs for any pointers
SPAM-KILLER- If you really want to contact me,
then -budinflatcfldotrrdotcom

DDR400 RAM is run at an actual clock speed of 200MHz. Most mainboards will
allow you to run asynchronously, meaning that your RAM speed is in no way
related to any other component. Your BIOS is telling you that the RAM is
running at 166MHz (DDR333). Your RAM is under-clocked, which is not good.

It's POSSIBLE that your RAM is being clocked in relation to your Processor
"FSB", which could be 166MHz, if it is an older Sempron (3000 or lower).
BUT, any processor you bought last week should PROBABLY be running at some
multiple of 200MHz.

It looks like your CPU or RAM or possibly BOTH have been incorrectly
identified by BIOS. Try the following:
Remove CMOS battery and move CMOS jumper to CLEAR setting for about 15
minutes. After that, enter BIOS and load default settings (not optimized
default settings). If your system reboots and still shows DDR333 for RAM,

Enter the BIOS settings for RAM manually, changing the frequency to 200MHz.
If simply upping the frequency to 200MHz causes a problem, then you've got
defective (misidentified?) RAM or a defective mainboard or possibly you
might need a BIOS upgrade already. (!) -Dave

Thanks for the reply Dave,,, I did as you suggested & moved
CMOS jumper,Waited with power unpluged & replaced, then
booted into BIOS. I can not find the "default" settings for
a couple of the choices. The AWARD Bios is dated 12/24/2005
Version 6.0 PG,,,NCG 1221 BF 400. It showed Processor AMD
XP 1100Mhz MEMORY 1015808k OK + 32M shared. Freq for DDR
333.. This CPU is AMD Sempron 3300+ should be 2G.

The choices in BIOS a
System Perform [Optimal-Expert]
CPU Ratio ,,[Default- or x5..to x12.5]
FSB Freq,,[ I set to 200]
CPU interface,,[Optimal- Auto]
Memory Freq,,,[by SPD-Auto] what is" spd"??
Resulting Freq....= 166Mhz
Memory Timings...[Optmal-Expert]
If I change the System Perform to EXPERT..then
CPU Interface becomes,,Agressive
& the Mem Freq can be 200 in AUTO
Resulting Freq gets 400..

Trouble is It stalls & will not boot. The only way I can get
it to boot is Hit "Insert Key" & Turn on power at same time.
That sets it back to low readings to boot. The DDR 200
reading gives me a tan screen with verticle dark lines &
sometime a black screen with white blips in rows accross the
screen.

I wonder if this board is not equiped to take RAM 400Mhz??
The manual calls forRAM Access Time: 2.5V Unbuffered DDR
200/266/333 MHz Type required. DRAM Type:46MB/128MB/256MB/1
GB DIMM module (184 pin).. I intend to try a stick of DDR
333 256MB to see what it does.
The System Properties reads AMD Athlon,,,,I thought it was
like XP 1100 Mhz DDR 200 or something else before but shows
1.10 Ghz 992MB of RAM.
Thanks for any ideas, Bud
SPAM-KILLER- If you really want to contact me,
then -budinflatcfldotrrdotcom


****. Ummmm . . . From what you just wrote, it appears that your RAM is OK,
but you've got a bigger problem (MUCH bigger). I just reviewed the Biostar
web site because at first what you wrote didn't make any sense at all. How
could a BIOS have a 200MHz setting and only support DDR333 RAM??? But, it
appears that is EXACTLY the situation you are dealing with. Your mainboard
will clock at FSB200, and yet is only rated to handle DDR333 RAM. Soooooooo
.. . . changing the RAM settings on your mainboard will do no good. Your
DDR400 RAM is timed at DDR333 speed, because that is the fastest RAM setting
that your mainboard was DESIGNED to accept.

But the main problem is that your CPU has been misidentified by the BIOS.
According to Biostar, the 3300+ Sempron is the fastest Sempron processor
that your mainboard will support. The problem is, your mainboard is NOT
currently supporting it. Clock speed on that processor should be 2GHz. As
the FSB is 200MHz, this means your multiplier is 10. If the FSB was wrong,
your CPU should be showing up as a 1.6GHZ processor or 1.7GHz processor.
But if it is showing up as a 1.1GHz processor, then I'm betting both the FSB
and multiplier are wrong, in your mainboard's BIOS settings.

First thing you need to do is to flash your BIOS to a later version. And
when I went to find an updated BIOS for your board, I discovered that the
latest BIOS version was released SPECIFICALLY to add support for the Sempron
3300 processor:

http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdownloa...el=M7NCG%20400

A BIOS flash is usually a last resort, as it can damage your mainboard if it
fails. But in this case, it appears you have no choice. Before you do
anything, prepare yourself a DOS bootable floppy. If you need one go to
www.bootdisk.com. But it appears that Biostar boards might be able to
update their BIOS from within BIOS, possibly. So you might not need it.

Good luck, -Dave

Hello "Mike T." & or Dave;
This morning I changed the 400MHz stick of 1GB RAM for a 256 MB of DDR 333.
Lo and Behold ! it booted fine & the Sys Properties Device Manager showed
it as the
correct AMD Sempron 3300+ @ 2.19 & 2.21 Mhz w/ 224 MB of RAM.
NOTE:: the BIOS V6.00 400 ,,,NCG1221 BF 400 is on the Award's splash screen
with DDR 333.. That is the one you suggested that I "Flash update" . I have
a V7.2 .

So the MoBo *will* read the chip correct, if settings are right, & it has
the 333Mhz
memory. I guess, my next move is to test changing some of the settings with
the 400Mhz
stick of RAM.
Also I understand that I'm using the "Default" CPU RATIO settings. You
mention that it
must be now using x10=default in order to show the 200 FSB=400 FSB ratings?
Is this where
the OverClocking settings are located? The jumper is soldered over on the
MoBo.
What is the FSB Spread Spectrum [Disable-.50% or 100%] & The AGP Spread
Specturm[ Disable-
..50%]?..They are set to DEFAULT now.
Thanks for replies...Bud
SPAM-KILLER- If you really want to contact me,
then -budinflatcfldotrrdotcom

That's wierd. There should be no problem running DDR400 RAM at DDR333
settings. In effect, you are running the RAM SLOWER than it was designed to
run at. That should cause no problems (should be ultra-stable that way, in
fact), although it is kind of a shame to run RAM slower than it CAN run.

OK, I'm glad you got the system running OK. If you WANT to try the DDR400
RAM in it again, try the following settings in the BIOS: (I'm going to
assume your RAM is CAS3 as I can't find the specs for it, even on the Ultra
web site)

RAM:
SPD: DISABLE
CL: (or CAS): 3
RAS to CAS (tRCD): 3
Row Precharge (tRP): 3
RAS Active (tRAS): 7
Frequency: 166MHz (this is DDR333, which is as fast as your mainboard can
handle)
Voltage: 2.5V or 2.6V (start at 2.5V)
(The above is pretty conservative, even for DDR333, so DDR400 should work at
those settings)

CPU:
You shouldn't have to touch these settings, if you disable the SPD on the
RAM.
BUT:
FSB: 200MHz
Multiplier: 10X
Or just leave the default settings in here.

If you get a setting in RAM that will not allow your computer to boot at all
(unlikely, but . . .), just clear all CMOS settings by removing the battery
and shorting the CLEAR CMOS jumper for a while. -Dave