P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

[SWOOORDs]

Hello, first post here. OK, so I built myself a new PC 6 months ago now and all was fine up untill around 2 months ago. Basically the CPU multiplier in the P31 bios is stuck at 6. It absolutely will not budge from 6. I'm running an Intel E6850 which should be running at 3ghz but instead is running at 2. As i said earlier the PC was running fine at 3ghz for all of 4 months but recently it's been driving me insane.
All other BIOS settings save when I change them, except for the CPU ratio. I set it to 9, which is what the CPU should be running at, save the BIOS, it restarts and when I go back into BIOS it's back at 6.
I've searched for the solution everywhere. Reset the CMOS, flashed the BIOS, disabled Intel Speedstep, disabled USB Legacy support, re-seated the CPU and it just will not run at anything other than 2ghz with a 6x multiplier.
Could my voltages be wrong? If so why did it run at 3ghz without any voltage tweaking what so ever for 4 months? Basically I'm out of ideas and would appriciate any advice anybody can give me.

Thanks.

Specs:
P31 DS3L (Bios V 10a)
C2D E6850
Akasa 450W PSU
x1900XT
2GB Corsair XMS

[VorLonUK]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

Hello, first post here. OK, so I built myself a new PC 6 months ago now and all was fine up untill around 2 months ago. Basically the CPU multiplier in the P31 bios is stuck at 6. It absolutely will not budge from 6. I'm running an Intel E6850 which should be running at 3ghz but instead is running at 2. As i said earlier the PC was running fine at 3ghz for all of 4 months but recently it's been driving me insane.
All other BIOS settings save when I change them, except for the CPU ratio. I set it to 9, which is what the CPU should be running at, save the BIOS, it restarts and when I go back into BIOS it's back at 6.
I've searched for the solution everywhere. Reset the CMOS, flashed the BIOS, disabled Intel Speedstep, disabled USB Legacy support, re-seated the CPU and it just will not run at anything other than 2ghz with a 6x multiplier.
Could my voltages be wrong? If so why did it run at 3ghz without any voltage tweaking what so ever for 4 months? Basically I'm out of ideas and would appriciate any advice anybody can give me.

Thanks.

Specs:
P31 DS3L (Bios V 10a)
C2D E6850
Akasa 450W PSU
x1900XT
2GB Corsair XMS

I see you are using a Beta bios. Has the CPU run at 3Ghz with this particular bios?
Also when the PC boots onto the very first startup screen, does that indicate you are now running at 333x6?

[SWOOORDs]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

I see you are using a Beta bios. Has the CPU run at 3Ghz with this particular bios?
Also when the PC boots onto the very first startup screen, does that indicate you are now running at 333x6?

You know what, I can't remember. But I did roll it back to 9 and back again to 8. It's the same problem on every BIOS version I've tried. Yes, after I've tried to change the multiplier to 9, I save it and after the restart the startup screen says it's reverted back to 6.

[VorLonUK]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

Are you loading up the optimised bios defaults after flashing the bios, saving then rebooting, before you set anything?

[SWOOORDs]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

Yes, I'm loading the BIOS correctly each time. It's got me completely stumped. Bad Mobo or CPU? Temps are fine, CPU idle at about 28 degrees. I'm at a loss.

[VorLonUK]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

So if you flash the bios, reboot, loadup optimised bios defaults, save, reboot that the multiplier is shown on the bios reporting startup screen (not in the bios) as 6 x 333 ?Has your latest bios got the CPU multiplier Fine adjustment ie 0.5x multiplier?

It's almost as though the bios has either become corrupted or a register/value is not resetting.
When you reset the Cmos, did you also remove the battery?

[SWOOORDs]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

So if you flash the bios, reboot, loadup optimised bios defaults, save, reboot that the multiplier is shown on the bios reporting startup screen (not in the bios) as 6 x 333 ?Has your latest bios got the CPU multiplier Fine adjustment ie 0.5x multiplier?

It's almost as though the bios has either become corrupted or a register/value is not resetting.
When you reset the Cmos, did you also remove the battery?

Yes, I flash and loadup optimized defaults, which puts the multiplier to 9x333, save then restart and straight away on the startup screen it displays the multiplier as having gone back to 6.
The BIOS dosn't seem to have the fine adjustment setting, can't see it anywhere. I took the CMOS battery out today and left it for an hour or so but have the same problem.

It's very strange that all other BIOS settings save without a hitch, it's just the multiplier. I don't understand it at all.

[VorLonUK]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

Although mine shows the minimum and maximum multiplier for when Eist is enabled, it will save the highest multiplier and boot accordingly.

Just a long shot as I don't know your board, try disabling C1 and EIST in the bios.

[SWOOORDs]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

Disabling C1 and EIST was one of the first things I did when the problem first started. Seems it isn't a Speedstep issue at all. Thanks for the suggestions though. Possibly is a corrupt BIOS but why would it save all other settings except the multiplier? It's a very strange problem.

[VorLonUK]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

I've almost run out of ideas, hopefully Lsdme (the forum mod) might be able to shed some more light on the problem.

Out of interest, on your bios do you enter a decimal number for the multiplier, between 6 & 9? What happens if you say set 6, 7 or 8 manually. I'm assuming 6 will stay as 6, but its worth trying a 7x and 8x multiplier.

[SWOOORDs]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

The multiplier can be manually changed to 7,8 or 9 but all of them revert back to 6 after saving and restarting.

[VorLonUK]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

I suppose too, that CPUz CPUID indicates that the maximum multiplier either under load or with EIST/C1 disabled is still 6x whilst in windows?

Otherwise I suppose it could be a CPU of Motherboard fault. Although i wouldn't give up flashing the bios, with an old version (although not so old it didn't recognise the chip) and trying a few more attempts of that.

Short of that, it's worth seeing if anyone else can give you some more feedback.

Just another thought:-
Have you tried reducing the FSB down or even up for that matter (memory permitting) to see if the CPU is refusing to clock any higher.

IE Underclock to see if the CPU multiplier can be raised. Overclock to see if the the CPU Speed can be increased, whilst the CPU multiplier remains the same.

You could also change the Memory multiplier to 2.00x , as to drop that right out the equation.

[SWOOORDs]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

That's interesting, I never thought of doing that before. I just tried it and it does underclock and overclock from 2ghz absolutely fine untill it reaches 500. 500x6= 3ghz. It just refuses to run at 3ghz and above.

[VorLonUK]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

That's interesting, I never thought of doing that before. I just tried it and it does underclock and overclock from 2ghz absolutely fine untill it reaches 500. 500x6= 3ghz. It just refuses to run at 3ghz and above.

Thats very good a 2000Mhz (Quad FSB). So if you did put and I'm assuming you did your memory multiplier to 2.00x, then if you are using 800Mhz PC2-6400, that is probably running at it's peak, ie 1000Mhz and maybe the limiting factor in this experiment - rather than the CPU.

Just out of interest, I assume your ATX12volt 4 pin connector is connected?

If you underclock, say to 300Mhz or lower, can you push the CPU multiplier up?

[SWOOORDs]

Re: P31-DS3L CPU ratio stuck. Help!

Actually I just did abit more testing, It stops saving the FSB when it reaches 475. So I can get it to 2.85ghz before it dosn't like it. What does this mean then? Just a bug in the BIOS? The 12 volt 4 pin is connected.
I still don't understand how it ran fine with a 9x multiplier when I first put it all together and now it just won't budge from 6.
Tried underclocking the FSB and rasing the multiplier. No luck, back at 6.