Asus a8n-e..

[neurosis666]

Originally posted by: vernsh

Originally posted by: neurosis666
I just picked up an Asus A8N-E the other day, and am having a problem with the onboard NIC.

Problem - about 80% of the time, I can't load webpages. SSH sessions freeze when too much text scrolls by. It's not dropping packets, but I have no idea what it IS doing. It's just wrong. This was with a multitude of drivers, in both Linux (nvnet & forcedeth) and Windows. I did disable CRC Offload, to no avail.

So I disabled onboard NIC, installed my known-good trusty DFE530TX. Seemed to work great -- until I started downloading alot of stuff (demos, STEAM downloads, etc). Suddenly 'A network cable has been unplugged', and then instant reconnect. Tried a variety of cables.. Moved the card to different slots. Even went out and bought a new NIC (Linksys LNE100). Same problem. Everytime there's high traffic to/from the card, that error pops up.

Also getting windows bootup freezes.. I did disable command queuing, hoping that would help. Also freezes while navigating BIOS menu. Weird huh?

There are no temperature issues, everything is nice and cool.. memtest clean.. Powersupply should be sufficient.. No overclocking going on...

Is this a defect or what?

You have to take a further step if you're using 3rd party antivirus and/or firewall. Nvidia's NV4 has a (to me) nasty little program which runs by default called "active armor". My system went BSOD continuosly until I shut it down. Go to Nvidia Corp > Network Access Manager to disable it.

Thanks, but I knew to steer well clear of the NVidia network software.. No firewall, no A/V. I'm just trying to get basic network functionality out of this thing!

Ooh. Apparently my network cable is unplugged again.

 

[imported_vernsh]

[/quote]

You have to take a further step if you're using 3rd party antivirus and/or firewall. Nvidia's NV4 has a (to me) nasty little program which runs by default called "active armor". My system went BSOD continuosly until I shut it down. Go to Nvidia Corp > Network Access Manager to disable it.

[/quote]

Thanks, but I knew to steer well clear of the NVidia network software.. No firewall, no A/V. I'm just trying to get basic network functionality out of this thing!

Ooh. Apparently my network cable is unplugged again.[/quote]

It's possible that's the source of your problem. The freaking nv4 chipset software has to be installed. You then have to go in and disable the stuff you don't want.

 

[EndGame]

May sound stupid, but I suppose you've checked and double checked all your connections?

 

[neurosis666]

Thought I would update everyone. I took the board back to the store and they replaced it on the spot (shoprbc.com - great guys). I'm back up and running now.. and the ethernet controller works! Time to test everything else now..

 

[neurosis666]

Scratch that. Just tested under high network load and I still get the 'Network cable unplugged' error.

Webpages load consistently now, which is more than I can say than the last A8N-E I had.

Wish I had a Marvell to switch to, but this board only comes with one NIC.

 

[iRONic]

Evening all.

I put my A8N-E and FX-60 box together today and I have a minor self-induced problem; I installed the nVidia IDE driver instead of M$'s.

What's the best way to fix it?

Many thanks!

 

[sandeep108]

I put my A8N-E and FX-60 box together today and I have a minor self-induced problem; I installed the nVidia IDE driver instead of M$'s.

Any problems you are facing? I much prefer the nVidia IDE 6.70 drivers over the M$ ones. System is rock stable and very fast.

 

[walk2k]

Is it a bad thing if my 12v line regularly drops below 11.5?

 

[sandeep108]

Is it a bad thing if my 12v line regularly drops below 11.5?

Yes, if you measure using a multi-meter. Asus Probe with this board generally reports low voltages for all lines. The thing is to check for fluctuations. In my case Probe reports 11.648.

 

[walk2k]

It flucuates between 11.9 and 11.4 or so.
I'm using Asus probe... Guess I won't worry about it.

 

[Amaroque]

Mine says 11.77v, and 4.97v. I've measured with a DMM, and I get 11.95v, and 5.00v.

If you're really concerned, measure it with a DMM.

 

[msb0b]

It's great to see a support thread for the A8N-E board. Maybe someone can comment on the problem I am experiencing.

First, the setup. I have an Opteron 165 on A8N-E rev. 2 board with BIOS version 1010 in a Lian-Li PC-7B plus case with 120mm intake and exhaust fans.

With the stock fan, the system was stable at 266MHz HTT (2.4GHz CPU). Recently, I replaced the nForce heatsink/fan with a Zalman NB47 heatsink and AS5. Now prime95 can pass at higher HTT, but games crash after 10 minutes of playing. Now I have HTT set at 250MHz (2.25GHz CPU) to have the games run stably.

I think the Zalman heatsink is enough to dissipate the heat from prime95 running, but not the additional heat from PCIe bus activities.

Any suggestion on how I can fix this problem? Or other experiences with passive chipset cooling? I know I can stick a 40x40x10 fan on the NB47, but I want to avoid that and the additional noise. Thanks in advance.

 

[sandeep108]

It flucuates between 11.9 and 11.4 or so.

+/- .5v? I am not too sure that that is a good thing. What PSU are you using? My 12V line is flat - no fluctuations.

 

[werty316]

Originally posted by: msb0b
It's great to see a support thread for the A8N-E board. Maybe someone can comment on the problem I am experiencing.

First, the setup. I have an Opteron 165 on A8N-E rev. 2 board with BIOS version 1010 in a Lian-Li PC-7B plus case with 120mm intake and exhaust fans.

With the stock fan, the system was stable at 266MHz HTT (2.4GHz CPU). Recently, I replaced the nForce heatsink/fan with a Zalman NB47 heatsink and AS5. Now prime95 can pass at higher HTT, but games crash after 10 minutes of playing. Now I have HTT set at 250MHz (2.25GHz CPU) to have the games run stably.

I think the Zalman heatsink is enough to dissipate the heat from prime95 running, but not the additional heat from PCIe bus activities.

Any suggestion on how I can fix this problem? Or other experiences with passive chipset cooling? I know I can stick a 40x40x10 fan on the NB47, but I want to avoid that and the additional noise. Thanks in advance.

I am using the same Zalman fanless chipset cooler and had BSOD and reboots when OC'd to 2.2GHz on my 3000+. I took the cooler off and used Arctic Ceramique instead of OCZ Ultra 5+ thermal paste and everything is stable.

I doubt it was the different thermal paste so I came to the conclusion I had to reseat the heatsink so I guess try re-seating the heatsink. I am using a 80mm fan blowing on the Zalman heatsink. Also check your RAM settings too as this board has a 1T bug.

 

[Amaroque]

If you really want to do any good OCing with this board, and are using a NBJ47 for the chipset cooler, you will need an additional fan on the NBJ47. The chipset runs too hot to OC good w/o any additional cooling. Here is a pic of what I did.

Originally posted by: werty316
Also check your RAM settings too as this board has a 1T bug.

I have no problem running 1T @ 466 MHz (check my sig).

 

[werty316]

Yeah the Zalman fanless cooler was meant for a cooler that produces no noise and vibration. OC'ing would require a fan to cool it. You must be using an older model of the northbridge cooler. I am using this one the ZM-NB47J:
http://www.zalman.co.kr/upload/product/zm_nb47j_c_p.jpg
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=71&code=014

 

[cesto]

i've been reading through this, and have been unable to locate a situation like mine. as some of you may have seen, in the techincal forum, i am unable to get my computer to display any video.

Here is my setup:
amd 3800+ x2
a8n-e mobo (obviously)
sapphire x1600xt
ocz 2gig mem
550 antec psu
lcd: E171FP (analog)

my monitor seems to detect some sort of signal, but only black is displayed. i'm trying to use the beeps to help debug but i'm unable to get this setup correctly. no matter what i try (stripped wires set to positive or ground...im not srue which is which) i still get no LEDs nor speaker beeps. has anyone else had this problem? if so, how did you remedy it.

i'm working on trying to setup the barebones to debug the issue. this should be video card, mobo, psu and memory only right?

any info is welcome...thanks!

 

[werty316]

So the green LED is not on? Make sure you have the 4-pin connector plugged in. Try another video card if you can or try a PCI video card if you have one.

Reconnect everything barebones with one stick on memory. Try one stick of memory in each of the dimm slots.

Does your computer even POST and even power on?

Did this all happen just recently or did you buy a new part or is something else new or everything?

 

[iRONic]

If you don't get the green LED I'd suspect a short to ground or a DOA board.

Recheck the case standoffs underneath where the mounting screws go through the motherboard. If they appear fine try powering the motherboard up outside the case. Do that on a non-conductive surface.

Good luck.

 

[cesto]

thanks for the replies.

the green light on the mobo does indeed come on. the led, speaker etc. wires to the case are connected and the led does not come on..nor are any beeps heard through the speaker.

...hope this clarifies things

---
i just tried hooking up only the memory, vid card, to the mobo...along with the speaker and power sw & power led wires. when powering on, i don't hear any beeps nor do i see the LED on the case. (i know the wires are setup correctly now because if they are reversed, i can't power up the machine through the case button). does it look like the mobo is shot? i don't know when the beeps should occur.

;/

 

[imported_vernsh]

ASUS has released a new BIOS, 1011.004 BETA. Does anyone have any information on how it affects performance or what it fixes?

 

[rox1co]

hey guys i'm about to get this mobo

does it include SATA and IDE cables? cuz i'm buying OEM dvd/floppy/harddrives

thanks

 

[iRONic]

The Egg has a full compliment of cables.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131530

 

[cesto]

hello again guys...

I don't want to RMA this thing if it's not the real problem. Here's the latest of what I tried, and I'm out of ideas.

Hooked up to mobo:
1. cpu, memory, vid card (no beeps)
2. cpu, only (no beeps)
3. i was thinking about trying to bootup just the mobo..would a properly functioning mobo give beeps with the mobo hooked up only?

Also, I hooked up my power supply from my other case to this mobo, along with the power led and speaker wires. Once again no case LED or beeps were heard. This tells me the PSU i'm using is probably ok, along with the case wires & speaker being ok.

What do you guys think? What else can I try to make sure this is indeed a problem with the mobo?

Thanks again.

 

[msb0b]

werty316 and Amaroque, thanks for your replies and picture. I guess I just don't have enough airflow over the northbridge even with a 120mm fan in the front of the case. I now have a 40x40x10 fan attached to the NB47J, and the problems I had before are gone.