EPoX "EP-9NPA+Ultra" NVIDIA nForce4 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard

[RobbyG]

Manual is not too bad, you can download it from the website and see for yourself here

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: RobbyG
Manual is not too bad, you can download it from the website and see for yourself here

Definitely better than the piddly little pamphlet DFI ships their boards with.

 

[uberowo]

I've been having some major stability issues with my Epox and Corsair XMS TwinX (or whatever) ram. Tried 4 different 1GB sticks now all getting the same errors in Prime fairly fast.. So. I'm about to replace my Epox with a DFI.

 

[imported_meatball]

How about replacing your Corsair with OCZ or Patriot......

 

[funks]

uberowo, are you overclocking? I'm using 4 corsair value ram (cheap stuff) 512MB (2 gig total) running at 200 MHZ (PC3200) CAS 2 and it's been rock stable for me..

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: uberowo
I've been having some major stability issues with my Epox and Corsair XMS TwinX (or whatever) ram. Tried 4 different 1GB sticks now all getting the same errors in Prime fairly fast.. So. I'm about to replace my Epox with a DFI.

No problems at all with my Crucial Value ram (4 x 512 sticks)...FWIW I hear DFI Hates Corsair memory, you might be better off sticking it out with the board and getting new memory.

 

[uberowo]

Well I bought 4gb of Corsair RAM now so buying more memory is out of the question. Might replace my mobo AGAIN though if the DFI causes problems. I'll cross that bridge when I get there..

I should add that I have been having some other issues with the Epox mobo, like the cpu temp thingy being completely loco and randomly showing 250 degrees etc. (Trust me, its not 250 degrees. ) So I guess I may have been unlucky with my card specifically. Seems like a decent mobo all in all, just throwing in my experience, not at all trying to suggest all Epox mobos are bad.

 

[imported_meatball]

Originally posted by: uberowo
Seems like a decent mobo all in all, just throwing in my experience, not at all trying to suggest all Epox mobos are bad.

Good cuz i just bought one. :shocked:

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: uberowo
Well I bought 4gb of Corsair RAM now so buying more memory is out of the question. Might replace my mobo AGAIN though if the DFI causes problems. I'll cross that bridge when I get there..

I should add that I have been having some other issues with the Epox mobo, like the cpu temp thingy being completely loco and randomly showing 250 degrees etc. (Trust me, its not 250 degrees. ) So I guess I may have been unlucky with my card specifically. Seems like a decent mobo all in all, just throwing in my experience, not at all trying to suggest all Epox mobos are bad.

Well not saying that you are suggesting they are bad, just letting you know there is a very very good chance the DFI isn't going to play nice with your current Corsair memory, possibly MSI or Asus would be a better choice?

 

[MadScientist]

I just flashed the latest bios, changed my bios settings to what I was running with the old bios, but could not boot into Windows. I tracked it down to the 1T/2T Memory Timing which I had set at 1T. It will only boot into Windows when set to Auto/2T. It ran fine at 1T with the old bios, no errors with Memtest86. Flashed back to old bios and ran fine at 1T, new bios again, no go at 1T. I'm using 2-512 mb sticks of older PC3500 Kingston HyperX at the SPD settings, 2-3-3-8. These are the only settings this memory will run stable on this board.

Anyone else run into the 1T/2T Mem Timing problem with the new bios?

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

Originally posted by: MadScientist
I just flashed the latest bios, changed my bios settings to what I was running with the old bios, but could not boot into Windows. I tracked it down to the 1T/2T Memory Timing which I had set at 1T. It will only boot into Windows when set to Auto/2T. It ran fine at 1T with the old bios, no errors with Memtest86. Flashed back to old bios and ran fine at 1T, new bios again, no go at 1T. I'm using 2-512 mb sticks of older PC3500 Kingston HyperX at the SPD settings, 2-3-3-8. These are the only settings this memory will run stable on this board.

Anyone else run into the 1T/2T Mem Timing problem with the new bios?

I flashed to the new BIOS as well, and I began testing with MemTest86 per my usual method of checking after BIOS updates and started getting errors, especially during test 8. The timings were the same as the old BIOS. I am using G.Skill Winbond based DDR400 at 2-2-2-8, 1T. I was able to retain 1T, but had to enable two new options in the DRAM Configuration options--S/W Memory Hole Remapping and H/W Memory Hole remapping. I am not entirely sure what these options are, but by enabling them I was able to pass MemTest86 five times without issue. Weird. EPoX did make changes, at least two of them, to how the board uses memory in the latest update, so I would either stay with the old BIOS or try what I did and see if that works.

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: ChicagoPCGuy
I was able to retain 1T, but had to enable two new options in the DRAM Configuration options--S/W Memory Hole Remapping and H/W Memory Hole remapping. I am not entirely sure what these options are, but by enabling them I was able to pass MemTest86 five times without issue.

I tried your suggestion of enabling S/W and H/W Mem Hole Remapping but no go, still could not boot into Windows with 1T Mem Timing. It could be memory specific. Flashed back to old bios and 1T Mem timing setting works fine. At least with Epox's Magic Bios software it's easy to flash and reflash your bios.

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

Originally posted by: MadScientist

Originally posted by: ChicagoPCGuy
I was able to retain 1T, but had to enable two new options in the DRAM Configuration options--S/W Memory Hole Remapping and H/W Memory Hole remapping. I am not entirely sure what these options are, but by enabling them I was able to pass MemTest86 five times without issue.

I tried your suggestion of enabling S/W and H/W Mem Hole Remapping but no go, still could not boot into Windows with 1T Mem Timing. It could be memory specific. Flashed back to old bios and 1T Mem timing setting works fine. At least with Epox's Magic Bios software it's easy to flash and reflash your bios.

I say we both report our respective experiences to EPoX at the same time. Hopefully they will look at this and correct it. Obviously they broke something....

 

[hanbalfrek]

Just a quick question.

I bought parts to build an AMD 3200 Venice with the Epox 9NPA Ultra board.

Should I flash the latest bios (6/29/05) before I do anything else, or wait until everything's set up and then try to upgrade the bios.

Thanks for any input.

- John

 

[hanbalfrek]

Hmm...I guess what I said wasn't the latest bios.

Though the latest was released August 1st, ChicagoPCGuy and MadScientist posted on 7/31/05...are they/you guys talking about the same one?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Should I flash the latest bios (6/29/05) before I do anything else, or wait until everything's set up and then try to upgrade the bios.

Don't fix it if it aint broke
If it doesn't work, then flash it.

-MiniRant-
With my friend's MSI Neo2, each bios update is a risk. Once he updated his bios to the latest version because his temperature probe was fubar'd....but uh....I guess you could say that he couldn't boot up after that without crashing. Naturally he didnt' keep track of what bios he used before... so he tried about 3-4 different bioses and finally found one that WORKED. Needless to say, things were crashing/unstable (it only fixed the crashing for a certain amount of time). He reflashed the same bios again and .... things worked again.

Moral:
(1) Update bios when neccessary
(2) NEVER do a bios update in windows (things don't get flashed properly)
(3) Bonus (Hidden Meaning layered within the rant!): Make sure ahead of time (use your all-seeing crystal ball) that your power won't go out when you flash your BIOS.

As you can see. My friend took a risk flashing in windows, when his computer kept crashing. I guess you could say that he was very lucky that his computer did not crash in the middle of a BIOS update.

-The Pentium Guy

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: hanbalfrek
Though the latest was released August 1st, ChicagoPCGuy and MadScientist posted on 7/31/05...are they/you guys talking about the same one?

If you go to Epox's global site there's more bios versions listed than on their USA site. The version I flashed to was 05.07.28. It was actually available on 7-28-05. If you have bios version 05.03.22, 3-31-05, on your motherboard you are good to go. This gave it Rev. E (Venice) support. I flashed back to this bios and that's where I'm staying for now.

Global Site
USA Site

I agree with Pentium Guy,"If it ain't broke don't fix it". I suppose what we are all hoping for with upgrades is a little boost in performance, or having the latest but not always the greatest.
Epox does makes it very easy to flash your bios with their Magic Bios software, but you are taking a big chance flashing in Windows. Beads of sweat were forming on my forehead as the bios was flashing. We had 2 short power brownouts the day before.

 

[imported_goku]

If you have to write the word Epox and a phrase pertaining to the reliability of the board, then automatic answer is NO, it's not reliable/a good idea. Epox=teh cheap POS just like shuttle and ECS (ecs is probably the best of the three but thats not saying much).

 

[hanbalfrek]

A stupid question, but where do I see the bios version?

At startup, first screen tells me video card model/type and bios.
Is this the MB bios or video card bios?

If that wasn't it, would I see the bios version in the bios itself?

Thanks!

- John

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: MadScientist

I tried your suggestion of enabling S/W and H/W Mem Hole Remapping but no go, still could not boot into Windows with 1T Mem Timing. It could be memory specific. Flashed back to old bios and 1T Mem timing setting works fine. At least with Epox's Magic Bios software it's easy to flash and reflash your bios.

"Magic Bios"???

What you talkin bout willis??

When they had me flash my bios I had to put it on a floppy....is there an easier way to do it or are you just talking about putting it on a floppy and then hitting alt+F4...thanks

 

[RobbyG]

hanbalfrek - the boot screen should show the Bios date.

bozack - the "Magic Bios" is a program on the Epox utility CD that allows you to download and flash the Bios from within Windows. I would stick to the floppy method if you're already used to doing it that way since it's safer to do it outside of Windows.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: hanbalfrek
Just a quick question.

I bought parts to build an AMD 3200 Venice with the Epox 9NPA Ultra board.

Should I flash the latest bios (6/29/05) before I do anything else, or wait until everything's set up and then try to upgrade the bios.

Thanks for any input.

- John

I have a 3000 venice and had to flash to the 6/29/05 bios in order for my system to be stable..however now I cannot use the latest bios they offer as that isn't stable..but 6-29-05 works well on my system

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: goku2100
If you have to write the word Epox and a phrase pertaining to the reliability of the board, then automatic answer is NO, it's not reliable/a good idea. Epox=teh cheap POS just like shuttle and ECS (ecs is probably the best of the three but thats not saying much).

Do you have a clue about what your talking about?? you do realize that this board recieved an "Editors Choice" from this site right??

might want to try getting a clue before posting.

 

[bozack]

Originally posted by: RobbyG
hanbalfrek - the boot screen should show the Bios date.

bozack - the "Magic Bios" is a program on the Epox utility CD that allows you to download and flash the Bios from within Windows. I would stick to the floppy method if you're already used to doing it that way since it's safer to do it outside of Windows.

Thanks Robby, just discovered it last night...I tried it twice but each time windows wouldn't load properly (or at all) and flashed back to the old bios...

my system currently doesn't have a floppy so flashing is a bit of a PITA as I have to yank one out of another system and put it in...oh well just made a bios CD with a known good version.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy

Should I flash the latest bios (6/29/05) before I do anything else, or wait until everything's set up and then try to upgrade the bios.

Don't fix it if it aint broke
If it doesn't work, then flash it.

-MiniRant-
With my friend's MSI Neo2, each bios update is a risk. Once he updated his bios to the latest version because his temperature probe was fubar'd....but uh....I guess you could say that he couldn't boot up after that without crashing. Naturally he didnt' keep track of what bios he used before... so he tried about 3-4 different bioses and finally found one that WORKED. Needless to say, things were crashing/unstable (it only fixed the crashing for a certain amount of time). He reflashed the same bios again and .... things worked again.

Moral:
(1) Update bios when neccessary
(2) NEVER do a bios update in windows (things don't get flashed properly)
(3) Bonus (Hidden Meaning layered within the rant!): Make sure ahead of time (use your all-seeing crystal ball) that your power won't go out when you flash your BIOS.

As you can see. My friend took a risk flashing in windows, when his computer kept crashing. I guess you could say that he was very lucky that his computer did not crash in the middle of a BIOS update.

-The Pentium Guy

Hey if no one beleives me, check out this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1654040&enterthread=y

well I am kicking myself as I said I wasn't going to bother with flashing the bios as the system was fine however I just discovered that magic bios utility and decided why not test it out....flashed the bios and restarted the system only to discover that I could no longer boot...reflashed back to the older bios and the problem persisted...tried booting in safe mode only to have it hand at MUP or something...oh well trying a repair now on windows.

Eh. Sorry Bozack.