Hardware issue?

[Joep L. Blom]

On 03/07/11 18:56, Carlos Alberto Alves wrote:
> On 07/03/2011 07:38 AM, Curt Tresenriter wrote:
>> I just put together a new system. AMD Phenom II AM3 X4 965 Black on an
>> Asus M4A88TD-V EVO USB3 motherboard and some Mushkin DDR3 (2 x 2048) RAM.
>>
>> Initially the installation went well (Natty) but things were acting
>> flaky, mouse movement was delayed and/or jerky and L clicks were often
>> without result until the button was clicked a third or fourth time.
>>
>> I suspected the RAM, since these particular sticks (1333 MHz) were not
>> on the Approved Vendor List. There are a few approved Mushkin modules
>> that are rated at 1600 MHz but none at 1333, I just went with what the
>> salesman recommended - also at that time I didn't know all the
>> particulars of the board, only that it was highly rated for Linux use.
>>
>> I ran memtest for a couple hours, RAM passed several tests with no
>> errors and I decided to shut it down and try another install.
>>
>> This time the machine just kept going to the BIOS setup page - without
>> my hitting the Del key - six or seven times in a row. I'd save the
>> changes and exit and on re-start I was back at the BIOS setup page again.
>> The next time it went to the Asus gate page, where you can choose to go
>> to the boot sequence, Bios setup or Bios flash pages. I double checked
>> that I had the correct drive in the first boot position and proceeded to
>> save changes. Now it's going to the Asus gate page - as it should but
>> only for a few seconds and ought to then proceed to booting to the DVD
>> and let me start the install - but it just hangs there. Tried this
>> numerous times, last night and again this morning. Same result.
>>
>> I was able, once, to get it to the boot seq by hitting Del and f8
>> consecutively as soon as I heard the beep but it never showed the popup
>> and just hung there.
>>
>> I still suspect the RAM and am planning on returning the sticks and
>> getting one of the brands and model numbers approved by Asus for the
>> board, but I'm wondering if the motherboard itself could be the problem.
>> I would need to exchange the board by Tuesday as I have one week before
>> I'll have to deal with an Asus RMA if I decide to exchange it.
>>
>> I did also try clearing the CMOS - first by moving the jumper to pins 2
>> and 3. Since that seemed to do no good, per the manual, I then removed
>> the CMOS battery and then moved the jumper. This also produced no
>> noticeable result.
>> Since I'm only using two sticks of RAM (and they are matched and a kit,
>> not two separately packaged modules), I also tried putting them in the
>> other two slots - A2 & B2, according to Asus either of the two
>> configurations should work for dual channel operation.
>>
>> Does this sound like the RAM is the most likely culprit?... or should I
>> just exchange both RAM and mobo? Or maybe there is some other
>> possibility or something else I could try to narrow the problem down?
>> Could the processor itself be causing the problem?
>>
>> Not sure what to do next.
>>
>> Thanks for any input!
>>
>
> My bet would be the MOBO. Take it to the vendor and ask him to run some
> tests...
For your information: modern AMD processors shutdown automatically when 
reaching a preset threshold. It was known that the AMD K^-range didn't 
have an internal heat control but depended on an external (Motherboard) 
heat sensor for thermal protection.
But my bet would also be on the MoBo.
Joep