ASUS Striker Extreme and Corsair ISSUES

Mr. Analog · July 19, 2007, 08:49:53 PM

So before I had my little Windows problem, I ran into the extra fun of ASUS not being prepared in any way for the Memory I was going to stick in it. When I booted I was getting the oh so helpful "DET DRAM" error message which, thru some digging means that the Striker Extreme has no idea what timing and voltage to set for the memory. So if anyone else is thinking about this board (which in all honesty is great otherwise) just remember you are going to have to @%&# around with it a bit before it will work.

So, here's what I was able to do to make it should work:

Remove all but one stick of memory
Was able to get past DET DRAM error message
Logged into BIOS and set the following
SLi ready: Disabled
Memory Voltage: 2.0v
NB Core Voltage: 1.4v
TCL: 4
TRCD: 4
TRP: 4
TRAS: 12
Command Per Clock: 2
TRC: 24

I've got 2 of the 4 sticks in and working now BUT I don't know if this will do the trick for all four sticks (I hope it will) at any rate this was a HUGE pain in the butt and many, many, many other Striker Extreme owners experienced the same problem.

And just for thoroughness (in case someone else hits this thread), the memory I was using was:
CORSAIR DOMINATOR XMS2-6400

Mr. Analog · July 19, 2007, 11:09:28 PM

Well, I tried all four; nothing
I tried three; then the BIOS chokes on the USB drivers.

Either:
a) It's a power issue (doubtful, but plausible)
b) It's an IRQ sharing issue
c) ASUS is @%&# and I should have gone with a different mobo...

If I can't get the memory working by Saturday I will be going back to the shop to get a motherboard that can run with 4 GB of DDR2 instead of being self crippled...

I will try a BIOS update before then, but I'm thinking this isn't something ASUS has solved yet (well, according to forums that I've found so far...).

Tom · July 20, 2007, 12:22:24 AM

Theres a slight possibility its one or both of the other sticks that are bad as well. If two work, and three don't (and you didn't switch the sticks around to see if it was just a limit of two, or only the two you tried work, etc), it sounds a tiny bit like bad ram. but then again, even bad ram will let you boot most times. So meh.

Mr. Analog · July 20, 2007, 12:49:11 AM

Quote from: Tom on July 20, 2007, 12:22:24 AM
Theres a slight possibility its one or both of the other sticks that are bad as well. If two work, and three don't (and you didn't switch the sticks around to see if it was just a limit of two, or only the two you tried work, etc), it sounds a tiny bit like bad ram. but then again, even bad ram will let you boot most times. So meh.

Tested each stick in slot 1 they all work...

Tom · July 20, 2007, 01:07:41 AM

Ah. Then yeah. Very finicky motherboard. If its like the ASUS board I had, it has some rather odd rules about what speed and banks it supports in what and how many slots.

PC3200 in 2 banks aka, 1 double sided DIMM, or two single sided, and PC2700 in 4 banks. Otherwise it runs in PC2100 mode. The performance difference between PC2100 vs. PC3200 is very very noticible. My machine actually felt 2x faster when I managed to boot into 3200 mode. Though I only had 512MB ram, or ran with some hacks that caused it to run quite unstable.

Actually, I think the MSI board I got from you has the same sort of issue. Except its supposed to support PC3200 for all 4 slots afaik. Yet it won't run at that speed without being quite unstable. So I run at PC2700 and lower the CAS to 2.5 (1.5 wasn't stable

)

Mr. Analog · July 20, 2007, 02:24:10 AM

I'm going to update the BIOS probably tomorrow, who knows what fixes ASUS might have. To be honest this is the first ASUS board I've had "with problems"...

Tom · July 20, 2007, 02:57:55 AM

QuoteTo be honest this is the first ASUS board I've had "with problems"...

The asus I had can't rightly be called an "Asus" board, its really a ASRock board. Asus just likes to release -X branded boards under thier name, even though they are pretty much dups of the ASRock boards (DO NOT BUY).

Melbosa · July 20, 2007, 09:00:13 AM

Striker and Commander are very new boards, but as you guys have said, ASUS is usually pretty good about their system motherboards. I've never had an issue with one, and numerous with Gigabyte, MSI, Intel and ABit.

As for your problem, that is a real wierd one. Especially that the RAM wasn't auto-recognized by the bios the first time... haven't seen that since the PII days...

Hopefully that BIOS update does the trick, but usually Memory Express does that for you before you leave (well if you have them mount the CPU, RAM and test the Motherboard - for free). I'm guessing this isn't the case with your purchase.

Mr. Analog · July 20, 2007, 10:22:02 AM

Ah well, hopefully the revision will fix this li'l problem...

Mr. Analog · July 26, 2007, 01:37:36 AM

AHA found 1 stick of bad memory. I thought I tested them all but apparently not...

Tom · July 26, 2007, 02:15:50 AM

Yay! Fully specd out machine for teh palooza!

I might get one too

If I can manage it (not sure), it'll happen thurs, or fri, and it'll consist of the newly on sale Core2Quad Q6600, 4GB ram, 7900GS (or maybe a 8600 of some sort, but the 7900GS is actually faster than the "mid range" 8800 cards, quite funny if you ask me), and maybe a new LCD