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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Don't fix it if it aint brokeShould 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.
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.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?
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.
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
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).
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.
Originally posted by: The Pentium Guy
Don't fix it if it aint brokeShould 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.
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
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.