The Intel PC has finally settled down. I spent the 1st days scratching my
head but finally upgraded the m/b bios from the default 04041 to 0404; and
then to 0502. This became necessary because the PC would only run for
20-35 minutes before it just re-booted itself. Odd. At bios 0502 this
behavior has stopped.
It now seems that JMicron SATA logic does NOT work happily with the ICH10
logic on the P5Q3. And, sadly, the JMicron logic owns/controls the single
EIDE/PATA connector on the m/b (along with its' two hard drive only SATA
connectors). Another odd, but OK.
Initially, I tried one of the Sabrent SATA/IDE converters on my dvdrom. It
was not recognized on the SATA connector. Once I finally decided the
converter was toast and used a different Sabrent converter, Bingo! The
dvdrom (pata) is now a fully recognized SATA client! And, I was able to
disable the JMicron logic in bios. The PC is now stable and has logged
some 50hours of continuous on-time with a single glitch. I have
temporarily given up on JMicron. I will do more study, but for now, this PC
will be fully SATA.
Now that the aluminum case is fully buttoned up, I have used the newest
Asus Probe II to monitor the power, cpu temp, m/b temp, and, fan
speeds. Currently, my E8400 is cruising along at ~117F. The m/b reads
~110F, but this seems odd. Perhaps this is just where on the m/b this
sensor lives.
The last version of Asus Probe I used was v2.04. This new Probe II is
hugely improved. Certainly more eye candy, but it also seems to have
included most/all of the old H.Oda tool for checking out a cpu and the
associated I/O. It now lists information about everything I have plugged
into the m/b; in full detail! I do like this program.
The new PC has proved that my old 160GB pata hard drive and old AOpen
dvdrom are AOK. I did complete a fully patched w2ksp4 install. The OS is
still a bit confused, but working. I still have duplicates of primary
eide controller, primary and secondary channels, system board, and, what
seems like too many 'm/b resources' and USB stuff. The USB stuff is not
an issue ATM. This m/b has 12 USB ports! I see lots more USB in my future!
All in all, I am very happy with this new kit. It provides plenty of
challenge and growth in the next several years for me. And, it runs stock
at 3GHz which is plenty fast for what I need to do. I will pass on
dabbling on the AITweaker section of the bios. I do not see a need to OC
this PC ATM.
Just my initial impressions for now. Suggestions and comments are welcome!
Best,
Duncan
