Can't overclock my AMD X4 Phenom 940 with M57SLI-S4

[dizzean]

The problem lies within the Cool N' Quiet I think.  Any changes I make to any of the settings overclocking or underclocking will disable Cool N Quiet (as it should) and as a result my computer fails to boot into Windows.  It POSTS just fine but I get a black screen with a small white rectangle in the upper left hand corner when any changes are made to my CPU (even simply disabling Cool N Quiet in the BIOS).

I am using the latest BIOS the F15E. I am aware that this is a newer processor on what is now considered a well aged board (though the CPU is a few years old now too) but it is still a heck of a good rig for everything I want to do, I am not trying to get a whole lot of OC done with this CPU, maybe from the stock 3.0 Ghz to a stable 3.5Ghz.  Everywhere I look people seem to be able to get higher speeds with stock cooling and I have a Xigmatec aftermarket heatsink that I just installed on mine so 3.5 Ghz doesn't seem too hard.  Also, this processor is the Black Edition so I know that it has unlocked multipliers and OCing with it should be fairly simple, so really my only problem is this Cool N Quiet nonsense.

Has anyone had any issues like this?  Would rolling back my BIOS to a previous version help?


EDIT:  I actually just realized I have the rev 2.0 mobo and I am probably running FHL Bios

EDIT2: I found out I actually have the FHh BIOS, so I am going to try the FHL from the website.

EDIT3: Updated BIOS to FHL and still the same problem, so it must be this CPU and MOBO when paired.

EDIT4:  I just used QFlash to update again to the FHm BIOS and I am still having the same issue.
Thanks!

[absic]

Hi there,

I haven't tried to overclock on this motherboard but I have to say I'm not surprised that you are having problems.

Sadly, on these older mobo's the BIOS chip is only 4MB and there is only so much information these chips can hold. With each addition of the BIOS, where support for new CPU's and other hardware has been added, it becomes inevitable that some features have to be removed. Quite often these are the features that are considered "extras" such as core unlocking (on newer boards) and overclocking which are normally used by very few  users. This is actually happening on some of the newer boards with an 8MB chip too so that they can support the new AM3+ processors when they come along and you are given the choice of updating the BIOS for the new CPU support or staying with an earlier version and keeping the Core unlock and overclocking capabilities.

I know this doesn't help you in any way whatsoever but it least it might help you in understanding why you are struggling.

[dizzean]

So my BIOS chip needs a HD upgrade?  lol

Well, it's good to know what is going on I guess.  You are correct, it doesn't seem like I can do anything at this point.

There is no way to "delete" the support for the older CPUs eh?

[absic]

You could try contacting Tech Support and see if there is anything they can do but my guess would be that there isn't.