Asus a8n-e..

[sandeep108]

Well, you simply have to try it and see. If you are happy with the performance with 2 sticks / 1GB, IMO quite adequate, why try 2GB/4 sticks and downgrade?

 

[imported_vernsh]

Originally posted by: sandeep108
Well, you simply have to try it and see. If you are happy with the performance with 2 sticks / 1GB, IMO quite adequate, why try 2GB/4 sticks and downgrade?

Well I've already paid $85 for the additional 1GB memory and would kind of like to use it.
For one thing, you don't need a swapfile with 2GB so I'll probably try it as you suggest.

 

[sandeep108]

For one thing, you don't need a swapfile with 2GB so I'll probably try it as you suggest.

You are quite mistaken, windows will use a swap file regardless. The 2GB helps (and that too only somewhat) only in certain games which have memory hungry textures/maps AFAIK.

Everybody recommends for AMD systems only 2 sticks so if you want 2GB, you are better off with 2 1GB sticks. If you are really keen on the 2GB, I suggest return/sell all the memory and buy 2 1GB sticks. You will get benefit of 1T timing (again effect of this is debatable and varies from system to system), plus DDR400 and better overclockability.

 

[ProviaFan]

2GB of RAM is not enough to safely disable the swap file in Windows if you do a reasonably large amount of multitasking. That doesn't mean that if you add 2GB of RAM, Windows won't go to the swap file a lot less, but for its sanity, let it think that it can still get to the swap file if it needs to.

 

[imported_vernsh]

Originally posted by: ProviaFan
2GB of RAM is not enough to safely disable the swap file in Windows if you do a reasonably large amount of multitasking. That doesn't mean that if you add 2GB of RAM, Windows won't go to the swap file a lot less, but for its sanity, let it think that it can still get to the swap file if it needs to.

I have my 4 sticks in place and have the pagefile set to 0. I had this setting for 2 years with my P4 3.06ghz Intel system but maybe AMD is different. I'll just wait and see what happens but so far, it SEEMS to be a little faster.

 

[drinklime]

Guys I have a HUGE problem

I just bought the A8N-E, a Sonata II case with 450W ps, EVGA 7800GT, seagate hard drive, and the zalman heatsink

I put it all together and it was running great for a day. Then yesterday it started making screeching high pitch noises, I thought it was one of the fans, now I'm not sure. I have crucial TWIN-X 2-3-3-6 memory that was set at 3-3-3-8, so I went into the BIOS to change things. I wasnt sure which setting was which, so I backed out and hit exit WITHOUT saving. Then I booted into windows. Five minutes later, I get the "Windows is shutting down" screen. Huh???? I tried to turn my computer back on, and the front power switch does nothing. The system now shuts off and turns on by itself. I cant even get into BIOS reliably anymore, my system makes these high pitch squeals then turns off. I tried disconnecting everythign but the videocard and its still shutting down.

The strange thing is, when I did get into the BIOS and change some settings, the computer would work for a while. I even had a chance to set the memory at 2-3-3-6 and it worked fine through memtest86+. I turned off my computer and came back in a few hours, hit power, and it shut down on boot again, then randomly turned on and off. The only way I can control my computer now is through the main power switch on the power supply.

Is this Antec power supply screwed?? I cant believe I might have to pay shipping to return this stupid case and power supply. What brand is reliable? Please help

 

[Unkno]

Antec power supplies are pretty good (not as good as the more expensive and high end ones...) but they are far superior than generic and some other brands.


My advice would be to listen for the sound and see where it comes from, open the side of your case and listen.


(Note: I myself have a Sonata II case with the 450W included PSU and an A8N-E"

 

[drinklime]

oh my god, i found the poblem
look at this pic

i hooked up those LED's and speaker and switches wrong, and they burned themselves up

i swear to god... does the sonata have them backwards or something???? is black always ground? For some reason all the plugs had the little arrow on the black wire, i thought they were supposed to be on the colored wire.

do i get a replacement front panel from antec?

what is the right way to hook up those wires!@!!

 

[Zoomer]

Black is always ground.

Guess you screwed up.

 

[StanFL]

I've had the A8N-E for about 10 days now. Flashed to 1010 final bios. Running X2 3800 at stock. Question revolves around the onboard sound. I've had some problems with my Revolution 7.1 (it may be dying) and have switched back and forth between it and the onboard sound a few times. There does not seem to be any uninstall utility for the onboard Realtek. After disabling it in the bios I've had a few bsod's saying unknown driver...probably the missing Realtek.

The next time I go back to the Revo I'll try using the uninstall feature for the Realtek in Device Mgr. Any other suggestions to purge the drivers from the sys?

 

[drinklime]

but would hooking up the speaker backwards cause it to burn up? I dont think that would do it

 

[Gouf07]

I just got this board in the mail today and I came across a bit of a problem. When I opened the box and took the motherboard out of the protective bag it was in, I noticed that there was something loose in the bag. I took it out and after examining the motherboard it seems that the Spdif_02 part is missing from the parallel port. I tried hooking the whole computer up and so far I haven't been able to get the computer to boot or the fans to turn on (Perhaps I connected the PSU incorrectly but I'm pretty sure I didn't). This is my first build so I checked it over multiple times but I can't find what I did wrong. The only thing I can think of is that the motherboard is broken because the Spdif_02 part is broken off. Looking through the manual it seems this part is the Optical S/PDIF Out port Do I have to get a replacement board or what?

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[ProviaFan]

If the S/PDIF port has broken off in shipment, it's impossible to tell what other invisible damage might have been done. Assuming that you do have everything connected correctly, and that every other component in the system is in working order, I think that the board has been damaged and thus isn't working. It sounds like it's time to send it back.

 

[imported_vernsh]

Originally posted by: ProviaFan
Are you using 2GB as four 512MB modules? When four modules are used, the memory has to drop down to DDR333 speed due to the physical limitation of the memory controller. However, you should not experience instability with four modules unless perhaps one of them is bad...

The solution was very simple. Go to bios, advanced, cpu config, dram config, timing; select manual and go to memclock index value and select 400. Problem solved.

 

[Gouf07]

Originally posted by: ProviaFan
If the S/PDIF port has broken off in shipment, it's impossible to tell what other invisible damage might have been done. Assuming that you do have everything connected correctly, and that every other component in the system is in working order, I think that the board has been damaged and thus isn't working. It sounds like it's time to send it back.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm wondering wether I do have everything connected properly. Since when I try to turn the computer on none of the fans even turn on. And the fans are directly connected to the PSU. I'm using an Antec Truepower II 550 watt power supply which has power connecters designed just for the fans.

 

[Zoomer]

If your board is damaged, that is possible.

Either 1) Board not activating soft-on
2) PSU safety - Perhaps a short somewhere or similar

 

[Gouf07]

Originally posted by: Zoomer
If your board is damaged, that is possible.

Either 1) Board not activating soft-on
2) PSU safety - Perhaps a short somewhere or similar

Thanks for the reply.

I just tried a power supply tester that my friend had and the PSU failed the test. I also noticed that the light on the motherboard is on. And now the led light of the case works but the computer won't power on. I even tried it with no harddrive or DVD drive hooked to it and it still didn't boot. I guess I'll try to RMA the PSU. Strange though since I thought Antec was pretty reputable but it was probably a one in a million dud.

 

[Zoomer]

Try your board with a different supply if avaliable. That'll clear things up.

 

[dutnguye]

okay, i have a little question to ask
i have a 2x512 cas 2.5, i want to add 2x1gb ram cas 2 in it. does the a8n-e let me run this fine?

 

[Zoomer]

Not possible, you'll have to set a cas speed that is common for all modules. Eg. your cas2.5 ram runs overclocked to cas2 or your cas2 ram runs at cas2.5.

However, be aware that running 4 double sided modules is a bad idea for nf4 (and most all other a64) boards. You'll be forced to use 2T command rate which really impacts performance.

 

[dutnguye]

thanks, i guess i'll just stick to 2x512. no need to purchase the extra 2gb

 

[Zoomer]

Or sell your 512 sticks.

 

[Ariaudo]

I need to install the RAID drivers but can't get the Windows XP disc to recognise my USB floppy drive when I press F6. I get the "Please insert the disk labelled Manufacturer-supplied hardware support disk into Drive A: - Press ENTER when ready" message, press enter, the system pauses for a while, there is no floppy activity and then the message reappears without anything happening.

The USB floppy works fine, is set as the first boot up device and is recognised when I power up the machine. I assume that the XP install program just isn't seeing it as an A drive.

How do I get the USB floppy recognised by XP install?

 

[imported_vernsh]

Originally posted by: Ariaudo
I need to install the RAID drivers but can't get the Windows XP disc to recognise my USB floppy drive when I press F6. I get the "Please insert the disk labelled Manufacturer-supplied hardware support disk into Drive A: - Press ENTER when ready" message, press enter, the system pauses for a while, there is no floppy activity and then the message reappears without anything happening.

The USB floppy works fine, is set as the first boot up device and is recognised when I power up the machine. I assume that the XP install program just isn't seeing it as an A drive.

How do I get the USB floppy recognised by XP install?

Even though BIOS sees your USB Floppy, the F6 function is programmed to look for a conventional floppy. Have you tried going into the BIOS Device Configuration menu and enabling NVRaid? I believe you will then be able to setup your RAID drives and load your OS

 

[Chunter]

i've got a 3500 on the a8n-e and i'm running 4x512 sticks of twinmos ram at cas of 2.5 .
I've managed to both get them to run at 400 in dual and at 1T just by going into the bios and setting it up manually...no lock ups nothing.
is that normal or am i just lucky in some way ?
Plus what is the difference between 1T and 2T ...all it is to me is numbers....i'm a noob at these sort of things...


*update*

flashed to 1010 bios wouldn't boot on 2T.went back to 1008 bios din't like it anymore so it looks like 1T is out of the window for me ..whatever it is...can still run at 400 though