P5E3 BIOS question

I recently bult a new PC. Here are the specs:

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Quad Core LGA775 45nm Penryn Processor, 3.0GHz,
12M L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB
Mobo:
Asus P5E3 Deluxe Motherboard - Intel X38, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI
Express 2.0, CrossFire Ready, Dual Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, USB 2.0, Firewire,
eSATA, RAID
Memory:
Patriot 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel
Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC34G1333LLK
Video Card (Dual Crossfire):
Diamond 3850 256MB ATi Radeon HD 3850 3850PE3256 PCI-Express 2.0 X16 Video
Card with CrossfireX, Dual DVI, TV-Out, UVD, PowerPlay, DirectX 10.1
Hard Drive(s):
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial ATA150
Hard Drive (x2 for RAID 0 Volume #1 - OS Drive)
Western Digital WD10EACS Caviar GP 1 TB SATA II 3.5-Inch Hard Drive (x2 for
RAID 0 Volume #2 - Storage Drive)
Case:
SILVERSTONE TJ09-BW Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Power Supply:
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W Power
Supply
DVD-CD Burner:
SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black PATA Model SH-S202G (black to match case)
FDD:
Samsing (black to match case)

I installed everything, set up the RAID volume and everything went fine.
Installed software and all was OK. Last night I made the mistake of going
into the BIOS. I am always very careful of what I select in there. One
option I decided to bump was the AI Transaction booster. It goes from 1 to
8 for the options. In the manual it did not have a warning next to this
item, like CPU voltage, etc. have. I know those can be dangerous to mess
with. Anyway I changed the setting for AI Transaction booster from 1 to 4
(half way up the list of options). It said it would optimize system
performance. Well, after I saved the changes in the BIOS the PC would NOT
reboot. ABSOLUTELY nothing. No Express Gate, No BIOS, absolutely nothing
but a black screen. I couldn't boot from a floppy or from the ASUS CD (what
they recommend for a corrupted BIOS).. It's like Express Gate, the BIOS,
and everything disappeared. My monitor wouldn't even get any signal to
click on. It was all black.

I tried to unplug it, cut all power and reboot. Nothing.

Finally I had to take out the battery and clear the RTC RAM. Luckily that
worked, otherwise I would have an expensive paperweight. I had to reset all
the customized settings and RAID settings in the BIOS, but I'm back running
fine now.

I checked in the DMI info and found my BIOS version is 0601 (released
11-7-07). There is a beta version out with support for new CPU's
(presumably mine?). Should I install that beta BIOS or wait for a full
release? Clearly there is something amiss with the BIOS where it crashes
that bad from only moderately changing an AI setting. Anyone else heard of
this happening to others?

Thanks.

Toonces wrote:
> I recently bult a new PC. Here are the specs:
>
> CPU:
> Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 Quad Core LGA775 45nm Penryn Processor,
> 3.0GHz, 12M L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB
> Mobo:
> Asus P5E3 Deluxe Motherboard - Intel X38, Socket 775, ATX, Audio, PCI
> Express 2.0, CrossFire Ready, Dual Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, USB 2.0,
> Firewire, eSATA, RAID
> Memory:
> Patriot 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual
> Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PDC34G1333LLK
> Video Card (Dual Crossfire):
> Diamond 3850 256MB ATi Radeon HD 3850 3850PE3256 PCI-Express 2.0 X16
> Video Card with CrossfireX, Dual DVI, TV-Out, UVD, PowerPlay, DirectX
> 10.1 Hard Drive(s):
> Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM 16MB Cache Serial
> ATA150 Hard Drive (x2 for RAID 0 Volume #1 - OS Drive)
> Western Digital WD10EACS Caviar GP 1 TB SATA II 3.5-Inch Hard Drive
> (x2 for RAID 0 Volume #2 - Storage Drive)
> Case:
> SILVERSTONE TJ09-BW Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
> Power Supply:
> PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W
> Power Supply
> DVD-CD Burner:
> SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black PATA Model SH-S202G (black to
> match case) FDD:
> Samsing (black to match case)
>
> I installed everything, set up the RAID volume and everything went
> fine. Installed software and all was OK. Last night I made the
> mistake of going into the BIOS. I am always very careful of what I
> select in there. One option I decided to bump was the AI Transaction
> booster. It goes from 1 to 8 for the options. In the manual it did
> not have a warning next to this item, like CPU voltage, etc. have. I
> know those can be dangerous to mess with. Anyway I changed the
> setting for AI Transaction booster from 1 to 4 (half way up the list
> of options). It said it would optimize system performance. Well,
> after I saved the changes in the BIOS the PC would NOT reboot. ABSOLUTELY
> nothing. No Express Gate, No BIOS, absolutely nothing but
> a black screen. I couldn't boot from a floppy or from the ASUS CD
> (what they recommend for a corrupted BIOS).. It's like Express Gate,
> the BIOS, and everything disappeared. My monitor wouldn't even get
> any signal to click on. It was all black.
> I tried to unplug it, cut all power and reboot. Nothing.
>
> Finally I had to take out the battery and clear the RTC RAM. Luckily
> that worked, otherwise I would have an expensive paperweight. I had
> to reset all the customized settings and RAID settings in the BIOS,
> but I'm back running fine now.
>
> I checked in the DMI info and found my BIOS version is 0601 (released
> 11-7-07). There is a beta version out with support for new CPU's
> (presumably mine?). Should I install that beta BIOS or wait for a
> full release? Clearly there is something amiss with the BIOS where
> it crashes that bad from only moderately changing an AI setting. Anyone
> else heard of this happening to others?

I had the same symptoms recently after plugging in a USB tv tuner connected
to an outside antenna. My hand slipped and I inadvertently caused a static
discharge into a nearby port that somehow corrupted the BIOS. Had to take
the battery out and leave it for a while before it came good.

As far as your setting of 4 for Transaction Booster (aka Static Read Control
Delay and Performance Level) being moderate. Well I would have thought that
starting at one would have been moderate. Anyhow this site discusses
overclocking of that board
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3156&p=5
And in the section dealing with the MCH (Memory Controller Hub) timings they
have this to say.
"Keep in mind that workable values are in the range of 1-3 (boost or relax)
only; selecting values from 4 through 8 will always result in a POST
failure.
HTH