Asus a8n-e..

[Van G]

Cheers, Just read this in the thread. Going to use install with SP2.

Any thoughts on Bios and nForce drivers versions?

 

[Painman]

I just purchased one of these boards in order to build a system for my niece and nephew with a 3500+ Venice, 1 GB CVS RAM and an X850XT. No hotrodding on this one, just a good, stock gaming box. Hope it goes together well, wish me luck!

 

[mopudding]

SATA drive isn't recognized after cold booting

Help - I'm having a heck of a time figuring out how to make my A8N-E BIOS remember it's boot priority.

I have two drives: 1st SATA on port 1, 2nd PATA (IDE) on Primary IDE channel as Master. I want to boot from my SATA drive because my XP is on that drive. I'm running BIOS version 1011 004 (I downloaded version 1011 from Asus, but after flashing, it shows as 1011 004 -- go figure?!)

Here's what happens:

I set my BIOS boot order to go to SATA drive 1st, IDE 2nd. Saved that, rebooted and it works perfectly.

I shutdown for the night -- but when I cold boot, the SATA drive isn't recognized - so I get a non system disk error.

I hit CTRL-ALT-DEL, this time the SATA is recognized but still the same non system disk error.

I hit CTRL-ALT-DEL again, this time I go into the BIOS to check the boot priority and find that it's changed to boot to IDE first, SATA second. So I switch it back to boot SATA 1st, IDE 2nd and the system boots properly again.

Everytime I cold boot, it causes the BIOS to not recognize my SATA drive and therefore it messes up my boot priority, by returning the IDE to boot first. And here's the kicker - if I shutdown and cold boot right away, it works fine. It only messes up if I shutdown for an extended period (i.e. overnight).

I've contacted ASUS and they suggested I short the CMOS (which I've since done), but still the same problem.

I don't think the battery is bad because none of my other BIOS settings disappear.

Any fix for this or is my mobo defective?

thanks in advance!


chris.

 

[sandeep108]

Any thoughts on Bios and nForce drivers versions?

I am very happy with bios 1006 and nVidia 6.70 drivers. Since all is working well, have not bothered to update bios.

 

[sandeep108]

Any fix for this or is my mobo defective?

Try downgrading your bios to 1010 or 1008 and see.

 

[Van G]

Do I install the Nvidia Audio Drivers? (came in the 6.70 nForce 4 driver pack)

Or, the Realtek ALC850 Drivers off the Asus site?

 

[lorinser75]

Originally posted by: Van G
Do I install the Nvidia Audio Drivers? (came in the 6.70 nForce 4 driver pack)

Or, the Realtek ALC850 Drivers off the Asus site?

Use the Realtek ALC850 drivers.
If I'm not mistaken, if you install the Nvidia audio, you'll have missing drivers in device manager.

 

[imported_vernsh]

Originally posted by: sandeep108

Any thoughts on Bios and nForce drivers versions?

I am very happy with bios 1006 and nVidia 6.70 drivers. Since all is working well, have not bothered to update bios.

The 1011 BIOS and Nvidia 6.85 N4 drivers cleaned up a lot of BSOD problems I was having. Do NOT use the N4 firewall or active armour.

 

[lorinser75]

The 1011 BIOS and Nvidia 6.85 N4 drivers cleaned up a lot of BSOD problems I was having. Do NOT use the N4 firewall or active armour.

Man, I think I've to reiterate that statement. DO NOT INSTALL NV Firewall !!! And I also have to agree BIOS 1011 works great.

BTW, I just found some interesting result for A8N-E. It seems my A8n-E mobo has some issue with DDR333 divider. If you read my previous thread, I seemed to have serious stability problem using DDR333 with my DDR500 ram, but when I changed it to DDR400 (1:1) in the BIOS, Everything is stable, except I have to settle for 2T bec. of 250 HTT

Well I just want to let you guys know so if anybody has the same issue as mine, try 1:1 divider. it may work

 

[Painman]

The board I got was operational for the first couple of times I powered it up just to test, but then it went unresponsive. Powers up, fans spin up, but no POST. Lights are on, but no one home. Just got done testing my other core parts on my main rig, they're fine. Doesn't appear to be a short.

My first dead motherboard in 10 years of building.

This really sucks, this box is for my niece & nephew who were supposed to get it as a surprise on Sunday. Newegg won't touch the mobo for either refund or RMA. Gotta deal with ASUS, this could take weeks to turnaround. I'll have to buy a replacement board at Micro Center over the weekend, and try to unload any RMA replacement from ASUS in FS/FT.

I've had good luck with ASUS, I bought another ASUS to avoid problems like this... Bah. :thumbsdown:

 

[SeeingWhite]

Originally posted by: lorinser75

Well I just want to let you guys know so if anybody has the same issue as mine, try 1:1 divider. it may work

I have had issues using dividers with my board and RAM as well, and I have a newer E4 processor. I really think it's hit or miss with different RAM and processors, etc.

 

[lorinser75]

I have had issues using dividers with my board and RAM as well, and I have a newer E4 processor. I really think it's hit or miss with different RAM and processors, etc.

Actually you could be right bud. I heard from a guy in OCforum, A8N-SLI series are known to have issues applying memory dividers on *Venice* core, and he has the same exact problem as me. So I'm not really sure, I guess between my A8N-E, RAM, & X2, there is some sort of "bad design" or something.

 

[werty316]

I have a Rev E Venice and can OC 1:1 upto 230MHz. Everything after that and I get BSOD because of the 1T bug. Speaking of that does anyone know who has tried bios 1011 if the 1T is fixed? For those who don't know the 1T bug is where you can't OC your memory past 230-240MHz, its all different for eveyone.

 

[skuri]

Please post here about 1T bug New ASUS forum.

Maybe they'll fix it in the next BIOS release!!

 

[rox1co]

got a problem, i'm reading and bios for CPU voltage and it goes up to 1.650V but mine only reads 1.5V

error? any way to fix this? i would really love to be able to give my CPU more Volts

 

[corsa]

got a problem, i'm reading and bios for CPU voltage and it goes up to 1.650V but mine only reads 1.5V

Hey was just browsing the Asus Support site and found this for you ...

Question : When I set the CPU voltage to 1.575V or higher in BIOS, the system will detect the CPU?s real voltage is only 1.55V with defult Vcore at 1.4V. Why?

Answer : Due to AMD CPU?s limitation, the voltage of AMD CPU can only be raised to +0.15V higher at most. So when you set the CPU voltage to 1.575V or higher in BIOS, the CPU?s real voltage will be limited at 1.55V with defult Vcore at 1.4V.

While i am here, just recently pulled my pc to bits ( install Big TT, clean up wiring and such) Then after restart had windows freezing at boot screen? had to do a repair which has me up and running now, but pc still buggy so lookin at a reformat now...any reasons why this could happen??

 

[rox1co]

it's not when i set it, i flat out don't see any voltages higher than 1.5 listed in my bios

 

[Papageno]

Hey, all, earlier this year I got the "newer rig" from my sig, which has an A8N-E motherboard from ASUS, and it came with two 512 MB sticks of Corsair XMS DDR CMX-3200C2 (2-3-3-6). My machine as shipped was detecting the RAM as dual-channel--it had one stick in the first slot of each of the two banks.

So I decided I wanted more RAM to play Oblivion, and I picked up exactly the same kind of RAM, but as one 1024 MB DIMM. I think I installed it with both 512 MB DIMMs in the two slots of the first bank, then the 1 GB DIMM in the first slot of the second bank (I figured that would be the requirement for dual channel-- the same amount of RAM in each bank). Well, now it's detecting it all as single-channel.

Is it even possible to get it to detect it as dual-channel with this configuration of RAM, or should I have bought another set of two 512 MB sticks? If I stick the orginal 512 meggers back where they were and just put the 1 GB stick into the second slot of the first bank, will that work?

 

[sandeep108]

Is it even possible to get it to detect it as dual-channel with this configuration of RAM, or should I have bought another set of two 512 MB sticks? If I stick the orginal 512 meggers back where they were and just put the 1 GB stick into the second slot of the first bank, will that work?

A64 is very finicky about number of sticks, since it has a very high speed controller on chip AFAIK. If you want to run at best speed/dual channel, with large RAM, your option is 2 sticks of 1GB each in place of earlier 512MB sticks. If you add another 1GB, your memory will slow to 2T/333MHz, plus overclocking may be a problem. If identical pairs are not there in the banks as per dual channel, e.g. as you have 3 sticks, it will default to single channel. Again as to what final effect all this has on your system performance you have to use trial and error and see for yourself.

 

[Lucu]

I just can´t seem to use dividers 100(1/2) and 133, it just wont boot into windows.

However i was able to change to those dividers with a64tweaker and get my 3000+@2500 with clockgen.

I can use 166 divider just fine, but as i have cheap ram (infineon 3-3-3-8), the 133 divider would be very useful, anyone knows what's the problem ? is it my ram or my mobo ? or even the bios (1011 by the way)?

 

[Zoomer]

Originally posted by: lorinser75
Hey guys,
I need a 2nd opinion here, or maybe a technical explanation on why.
I'm running A8N-E with X2 3800+, and able to run @2.4 ghz (240x10, HTT 4X, DDR333 setting -> 200 mhz actual, 2-3-3-8, 1T, 2.85Vram, 1.45 Vcore) with no problem at all, pass Memtest, PCmarks, 12 hrs Prime95 stable, Play games, Edit Video etc.

So I thought, hey let's bump this to 2.5 ghz (250x10) and see if it is still stable. So I changed the setting to: 250x10, HTT 3X, DDR333, 2.5-3-3-8, 1T, 2.85Vram & 1.475 Vcore. Guess what?, I can't even boot to windows. It freezed at the first screen boot-up (the CPU, Ram, HD info). So I thought let's relaxed the RAM a little, so I changed the setting 2T, and increase Vram to 2.9V. But Problem still exists, Can't even boot to windows. Then I relaxed the RAM setting further, DDR266 -> 166 Mhz actual, 1T, 2.9V, 1.475Vcore, and everything ran PERFECT. Able to complete all PCMARK tests, and 12 hrs Prime95 stable @250x10. Then for the fun of it, I changed the Ram setting again to DDR333 -> 208mhz actual, 2T, 3-4-4-10, and this time I was able to boot to windows, but Freeze when I ran Sandra RAM test.

So from this I can only conclude, the RAM is the culprit. What I don't understand is, the RAM, Ballistix DDR500, should be able to withstand DDR333 setting -> 208 Mhz actual as the RAM is rated @250, 2.5-4-4-10, 2.8V. Has anybody came across this problem? I know about the 1T/2T issue with A8n-E @240 & above, but at this point I think it's more towards RAM incompatibility with the Mobo.

Any ideas? BTW, here is my rig spec:
A8N-E
X2-3800+ with Panaflo XP120 (31 idle / 50 load)
2X512 DDR500 CRUCIAL BALLISTIX
X800XT PE
(2) WD 120 GB SATA @RAID0
ANTEC TRUPOWER 550

What chips are the ballistix using? That'll shed some light.

One more thing, I think the 1T command rate issue is also tied to the HTT too. I'm using dividers to keep my ram clock >200mhz, and I can't really get past 250HTT without 2T. Bummer.

Wonder if 2.4ghz @1T is faster, or 2.9ghz @ 2T. For gaming, that is. The rest doesn't matter.

 

[Zoomer]

Originally posted by: mopudding


I have two drives: 1st SATA on port 1, 2nd PATA (IDE) on Primary IDE channel as Master. I want to boot from my SATA drive because my XP is on that drive. I'm running BIOS version 1011 004 (I downloaded version 1011 from Asus, but after flashing, it shows as 1011 004 -- go figure?!)

Did you clear your cmos settings before flashing? And is your floppy controller enabled?

Someone suggested this procedure:

Boot into BIOS -> Clear CMOS -> Save and Exit
Use the dos flashing utility to clear cmos again. There's a switch that does it.
Flash to 1011
Reboot
Clear CMOS again
Set everything in your bios again

In theroy, either shorting the clear cmos jumper, doing it in the bios or using the flashing utlity is the same. But it sometimes clears things up, and it doesn't hurt to try. Maybe its a bug?

Write down your settings if you think you won't be able to remember them.

 

[AznKwaiJai]

Does anyone know for sure what one long beep and two short beeps from the bios mean?

 

[cool]

Is it safe to run the chipset fan at 5V?
I connected it to the Zalman VF700 multi-connector because of the noise. I've got a revision 2.01G board but the fan is still too loud for me...

 

[chrnochime]

I have a problem with cold-booting my PC on a seemingly irregular basis.

The specs:

A8N-E Rev 2.0(with the 5500rpm fan and rev. HS)
Venice 3000+ E3, no oc
Geil Ultra 2x 512MB DDR 500 Dual Channel kit


Newegg

Seagate 160GB Sata (C drive )
Maxtor 250GB Sata
MSI Nvidia 6600 256MB, DVI to monitor

From time to time, when I try to start the PC, it would get stuck right after detecting the CPU. The line where "memory installed...." would not show up, and pressing ctrl+alt+del doesn't do it. Have to hard reboot using reset or shut it down and try again. I think the second try to boot always gets past the memory detect place and proceed as usual.

I thought it had something to do with bios, and finally gotten around to update to the newest version of BIOS, 1.011.004. However that still does not solve the problem.

I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with windows itself, but I'm running XP prof with SP2. Same problem with only SP1 of course.

Once I do get into windows, keeping the computer on for a ~12 hours proved the PC hums along just fine with no problems.

My suspicion is this is due to the RAM.
I read from someone else's post that some RAMs need to be forced to some voltage setting to work properly on this motherboard. Might that be the case? I think the RAM voltage is set to auto right now so.

Thanks to all for suggestions. If I could get this weird bug taken care of my system would be perfect(for me).