That sounds better. Now set idle Vcore to whatever it takes to maintain a loaded (drooped) Vcore of ~ 1.4v. Let 'er rip on everest for a bit. I'll bet it'll run there. Everest 1st, then on to Prime. Keep an eye on the Tjs. Around 80 is fine.

The only trouble is Sam that even if I get 3.6GHz stable with said 1.4V actual core, it still doesn't solve my original boot problem. I've tried Vcore anything up to 1.6V @ 3.6GHz but she just won't budge on a cold boot :-hmmmGary

Let's see: 1) Initial cold boot OK. 2) Reset (non-power down) Boots OK. 3) FULL power down, then (warmish) boot resets bios to defaults. Boots at 9 x 266 = 2.4 and all settings revert to default.4) From 2.4, Reset boot, then bios set 400 x 8 = 3.2 OK5) From 3.2, Reset boot, then bios set 400 x 9 = 3.6 OKAt this point all I can think of is to try it with a single stick of ram. If it's still doing it there, I'm really thinking mobo (Change the battery?). One of the power supplies or capacitors or some other mobo gizmo is giving up the ghost."But doctor, it hurts when I do dat." "Then don't do dat!"There is a workaround. Don't shut it off. For instance I use Vista's sleep mode and Never shut off my box. I ran a power meter on it and Sleep really does cut power use to virtually zero. Carbon footprint wise, this strategy is probably more power efficient than constant booting . . . or even the cost of a new mobo. How much power (carbon) is in a mobo? The Taiwanese 2nd shift mobo makers drive cars too . . . and that factory needs heat/cooling/lights/machinery/etc . . . and the shift needs pizza from time to time . . . and I just spent $100 for a tank of gas. Geeze. Virtual airplanes are gonna be all that's left.

I'll give the single stick a go tomorrow morning. Although I am thinking that if the 3.2GHz and 3.6GHz boots both use exactly the same memory frequency of 800MHz, and the former works fine, then memory should not be the culprit. Nonetheless, I'll give it a shot!If it turns out the mobo is just plain fussy in its old age, then I'll end up either putting it to sleep as you suggest or just pulling back to 3.5GHz and be done with it.Gary

Hi Guys,Slightly off topic, but I was always under the impression that C1E and Speedstep should be turned off when overclocking?Do you find it still works ok with an overclock enabled?I currently have my E6400 running at 3.2 GHz 24/7 (400x8). I might look at enabling these features again if it's no problem.Thanks,

Sometimes the Only way I can get mime to boot (after and especially exuberant O/Cing session) is to boot with only one stick installed. I don't know why, but it's unrelated to anything I can imagine. However if it works with only one stick, that may indicate a mobo power issue. That information might not be helpful, other than to support the old-age conclusion. And I've been using sleep without an issue with a [email protected] and speedstep enabled. It's really a convenience. I like running at 2.4 for emailing,etc (the power conscious warm fuzzy factor). In sleep, it uses virtually no more power than OFF, and power-ups are < 10 second non-events. I'll reboot maybe a couple times a week, or when things get weird. No problems. . . . 'cept until I installed that dumb GTX260. The driver disables the sleep function. It also disabled my 2nd Vcard. I'm sitting here looking at 2 dead monitors. It also cuts frame rates by 75% in window's mode. Unless they get this stuff fixed in 23 days (and counting) that thing's going back. It is not ready for prime-time and defiantly no help for FS.

Alrighty, I just tried booting at 3.6GHz with one stick of RAM. It got to the first boot screen, but then quickly returned to its reboot to default behaviour. I even added in another 500W power supply just to run the mobo and it still won't drop this behaviour. As such, I now officially give up on 3.6GHz and will now have to go ALL the way back to 3.5GHz ;-). Thanks to all who provided input to this thread, especially the ever persistent and helpful Sam!Gary

Oh darn! Well, my Abit is7 gave up last year. The old p4 is still a good internet machine. There were absolutely none around. I finally stumbled across an Abit Out-of-Warranty program. For $25 they sent me an only slightly used board. Still running fine. Maybe GB has a similar program.