Apollonios wrote on 2025-04-02, 19:12:

i can't get my Asrock 775Dual VSTA (sata1) to run stable with 4gb. i have tested 3 different DDR2 2x2 gb kits. All of them cause […]
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i can't get my Asrock 775Dual VSTA (sata1) to run stable with 4gb. i have tested 3 different DDR2 2x2 gb kits. All of them cause problems.

Which RAM can you recommend?

The errors manifest themselves with strart problems or that memresr86 freezes although it finds no errors.

With 2x 256MB DDR1 RAM there are no problems.

But I want to use Win 8.1 as well as Win98se, so I need more than 512mb...

Kingston DDR 2-667 2 x 2 GB kit is fine on my 775DUAL-VSTA with beta bios 3.19

Hello, I've been using a 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0 for a few months now and suddenly it would not accept DDR2 anymore... I was running a 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix kit without any flaw for months but now it doesn't accept any DDR2 at all. I managed to get it to run DDR1 but one stick was not detected, then both were detected but running at DDR200 instead of DDR400. I've been able to get the ram running at the correct speed by reseting CPU bus freq to auto.

Therefore it's also become very finicky to boot after fiddling with any setting related to the CPU and would not start at all (like being completely dead, no power on at all) unless I do a clear CMOS, and only after emptying any residual electricity off the MB (checking the numlock LED while pressing power multiple times until it vanishes) and clearing CMOS after that...
The thing is, after a clear CMOS it wouldn't run the CPU at its correct frequency, meaning I have to go into the bios to set the correct speed settings, just for it to start and not post, staying stuck in code D0 (i have one of those ISA/PCI boot diag cards).

I have managed to get it running for now but it would be interesting to now if there is something I can do to make it behave properly.

I'm rocking an E7600 on it. I had sloghtly O/C'd it (266->280 FSB) before it failed, maybe it's related but it had been running flawlessly for hours without overheating (my cooler is a Zalman CNPS7700Cu)

Check caps

I forgot to mention, I have checked them visually, they all look flat. I will post a picture later, maybe better eyes will see what I can't 😀

Iryngael wrote on 2025-07-21, 07:36:

I forgot to mention, I have checked them visually, they all look flat. I will post a picture later, maybe better eyes will see what I can't 😀

The first. Capacitors can visually looks fine. But electrolyte can drying. So only desoldering and then measuring .
Second. Northbridge can just slowly dying.
Third. BGA soldering between chipset and mobo were damaged or in process of degradation...

Hi all,
i have a 775Dual-Vsta that is blocked with 6x cpu multiplier, changing CPU doesn't solve the issue. Even on the boot screen CPU speed is reported with 6x multi so it seems it's not OS related. This board doesn't seems to have Speedstep/c1e option available in the bios.
Flashed different bios versions, doesn't solve the problem.

If you didn't tried it, you need the moded beta BIOS for it (v3.19A).
Another option is to install first a Celeron D or Pentium 4 CPU for a bit, reset BIOS to defaults with them installed (with load defaults option in BIOS), and then try to install again whatever Core 2 CPU you have.
Note : 775Dual-Vsta is oldest board with Core 2 support, and it's not meant to support Quad Cores.

Q : What CPU you are trying to use ?

agent_x007 wrote on 2025-07-26, 11:42:

If you didn't tried it, you need the moded beta BIOS for it (v3.19A). Another option is to install first a Celeron D or Pentium […]
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If you didn't tried it, you need the moded beta BIOS for it (v3.19A).
Another option is to install first a Celeron D or Pentium 4 CPU for a bit, reset BIOS to defaults with them installed (with load defaults option in BIOS), and then try to install again whatever Core 2 CPU you have.
Note : 775Dual-Vsta is oldest board with Core 2 support, and it's not meant to support Quad Cores.

Q : What CPU you are trying to use ?

Thx agent_x007,
Bios 3.19beta did solve my problem.
It was happening with an e5700, e8400, e5400 but not with P4 and e6320 that i tested prior to the bios update.

Got a 4CoreDual-SATA2 here. Any advice to get the best out of it with Wolfdale? (it runs them)

Guys.. i don't know if was corrected (or could be corrected with bios update), many motherboards with VIA VT8237x southhbridge wont work with SATA HDD if hdd use sata 3.0 or above.
When I worked on PC assembly, I had to change the SATA mode to 1.5 either by jumper or by software from the HDD manufacturer, otherwise the HDD would not be detected.

Iryngael wrote on 2025-07-21, 06:54:

suddenly it would not accept DDR2 anymore...

it's a low quality board meant for budget upgrade path back then. it is a known problem that it has flimsy RAM sockets. I saw someone here use o-rings on socket tabs to hold the ram tighter in place (also do clean gold fingers with IPA)

Anyone bored enough to give this a test with a fresh install?

Win 10 /win 11 agp driver - test

(win 10 2015 agp drivers extracted/repackaged and should work on w10/11 without breaking anything.)

I'm building an Analog Video Transfer box.

I've got a VSTA Dual with a Q6600 and 2G of 533DDR2.

The reason I chose this board is because it was among the last to support both AGP graphics cards and multicore CPUs. I'm aware of it's faults (Cheap board, bad VRM, messy bios versions, capacitors, etc). I've got a fairly decent specimen. It runs memtest86 all day log at very normal temps with no errors.

The build:
LianLi LanCool 217 (Ufda, power supplies are on the bottom now, uhoh)
StarTech ATXPOW300PRO 300W PSU
ASRock 775Dual VSTA running L3.19 REV a
Intel Core2 Quad 2.4G Q6600
2 x 1024MB/266 (DDR2-533) SDRAM
Intel Core 2 Extreme Heatsink Cooling Fan
ATI All-in-Wonder 9600Pro
M-Audio Audiophile 2496
Linksys EG1032 TBase10/100/1000 Gigabit PCI NIC
2x Lexar 128GB 2.5" SATA SSDs

1. I've got the "MAC address CMOS/Flash" error thing. It shouldn't matter because this machine doesn't need to be headless, and I have an add-in network card. But it would be good to fix.
2. I'm having trouble booting from USB. I can boot MEMTEST86 from a usb stick. Linux Mint gets passed over and won't boot on the exact same USB stick. The BIOS sees the USB stick in both scenarios, and it is in the correct position in the boot order, but only memtest boots. I suspect this has to do with Legacy/UEFI but I'm not sure where to look in the BIOS to fix this behavior, or which one is the problem.
3. I have 3.5 floppy and SATA DVD drives on hand (despite the case having no place for them) and should be able to boot from them for maintenance purposes.

Fun things that have already happened:
None of my USB keyboards work at POST. Had to source a $5 PS/2 unit from ebay.
Old style PSU expects to be installed at the top of the case, wires barely fit, fans are not oriented properly. There is only one SATA style power connector.
New style case has no place for 5.25in drives, floppy drives, or optical drives. Were these ever part of the ATX spec?

The whole thing is built around the ATI card. It has the Theater200 SD video ADC chipset which is highly regarded as the best of the best for SD analog video transfer. I've attempted to pair it with a multicore CPU, and a decent amount of ram. It won't need to run games at all. The main thing it needs to do are capture video with the ATI card, Audio with the M-Audio card, and reliable writes to the HD at around 70Mbps. RAM is basically negligent. CPU speed is not important, but multiple cores should reduce the load on the the cores occupied with the capture.

bradgranath wrote on 2025-09-22, 08:17:

The whole thing is built around the ATI card. It has the Theater200 SD video ADC chipset which is highly regarded as the best of the best for SD analog video transfer.

Maybe search for Radeon AIW X600 (PCIe, same chip) and use it in any modern system?

Radeon X1800/X1900 AIW also has Theater 200. No need to use a pretty janky AGP system for such specific task.