Mother Board set up experts (X58B-A20

[neworldman]

Hello,

I just got a high end i7 pc from Craigslist. I had to put the components together. I want to make sure I did all of it right. It is a ECS X58B-A2 Black Series board with 6gb of high end ram Patriot 6gb (3x2gb) PC3-12800 1600MHZ. To get to the set up bios screen you hit delete key when starting. Not sure what to set up here but all seamed to be working fine. When I do a restart I see the mother board screen first and then a black screen for a mila second that says detecting drive: no drives detected....Then reboots fine. Is this normal? Also what to make sure I have me ram set for max use.

[Krispy Kritter]

If it's rebooting, there is a problem. If it's just continuing with the boot, it's likely normal. Verify the boot order.

As for the RAM, there isn't a "max" use setup. It's working or it isn't.

[redwudz]

The first thing I look at in BIOS is the 'PC Health Status' to check that all the voltages and temperatures are in the proper range. After boot, you can also look at them with a monitor program like HW Monitor: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Also check that your boot drive is set as first boot device.

Unless you plan to overclock it, the default BIOS settings should be fine. I do usually turn on S.M.A.R.T. for the hard drives and check the fan and overtemp warning settings. If that's a used MB, especially if it was set up for another CPU, or RAM, I would check to see if any BIOS settings may have be 'tweaked' by the previous owner correctly. (Or incorrectly.)

[neworldman]

The first thing I look at in BIOS is the 'PC Health Status' to check that all the voltages and temperatures are in the proper range. After boot, you can also look at them with a monitor program like HW Monitor: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Also check that your boot drive is set as first boot device.

Unless you plan to overclock it, the default BIOS settings should be fine. I do usually turn on S.M.A.R.T. for the hard drives and check the fan and overtemp warning settings. If that's a used MB, especially if it was set up for another CPU, or RAM, I would check to see if any BIOS settings may have be 'tweaked' by the previous owner correctly. (Or incorrectly.)

Thanks for the info. I went ahead and reset mother board. Here are the setting now. Do they look right?

[ogk]

From specs for ATX:

Voltage Rail Tolerance
+5VDC ± 5 %
-5VDC (if used) ± 10 %
+12VDC ± 5 %
-12VDC ± 10 %
+3.3VDC ± 5 %
+5VSB ± 5 %

Compare to the values on your picture.

[aedipuss]

well no, it's not right at all. 3.3v is supposed to be 3.3 5v is supposed to be 5v 12v is supposed to be 12v etc... either the program can't read read your m.b. or ???

[neworldman]

well no, it's not right at all. 3.3v is supposed to be 3.3 5v is supposed to be 5v 12v is supposed to be 12v etc... either the program can't read read your m.b. or ???

That is weird....Can I check the bios for the correct voltage? Here are some pic's of the setting it is at now?

[aedipuss]

strange i thought i had answered this but i guess not. check the bios "pc health status" tab to see what it says the voltages are. but it must be a problem with the other program of that pc wouldn't boot at all.

you could revert the bios settings to default using the "load default settings" option. then start making small changes you want/need.

[Nelson37]

Your RAM timings appear to have been custom-configured. Either set them by speed or make certain those settings match the specs for your RAM. They do not agree with the monitor prog.

Get another prog to check those voltages and RTFM.

So you bought a bag of parts from some unknown hunyuck on Craig's list? That takes courage.