gigabyte 7VAXP probs LAN USB2.0

[freeflap]

I just assembled a Gigabyte 7VAXP mobo, athlonXP 2000+, Geforce4mx, microsoft windows XP home for my wife and kids computer. initially, worked ok but I couldn't get the USB2.0 to load on the device manager. Then, after a couple days, the built in LAN would not work. tested my cables and router. all seem good. The realtek is reading that everything is ok on the device manager. Yet, it simple will not connect to the network and my rounter (linksys BEFSR81) does not recognize that anything is connected to it. Also, I dual boot to linux Mandrake, and that doesn't load the lan either. So, I'm thinking it's either a BIOS problem, or a hardware issue. I flash the cmos, and upgrade the bios to v7. I check the bios and make sure the LAN is active. Still no go.

any suggestions?
thanks

 

[Iron Woode]

which board revision do you have?

There are tons of problems with rev 1.0

 

[freeflap]

not sure. How can I check?
thanks

 

[Iron Woode]

It is usually silkscreened near the AGP slot or the 1st PCI slot.

 

[freeflap]

thanks. I found it. It's revision 1.1

how do you know that there's tons of problems with 1.0 (other than # of complaints on this forum? Is it also true of 1.1? can this also affect the AGP port and give me low 3d scores? On 3d mark, my old Athlon 850 with an original geforce 256 sdr (2300+) beats this new computer: athlon XP 2000+, geforce 4mx 420 (2085) hands down.

do you have suggestions for tweaking the agp function on this board?
thanks

 

[Iron Woode]

rev 1.0 is the first rev. They are usually troublesome. Try some of the Gigabyte forums. Amdmb has gigabyte forums and you can see the issues with the 1st rev.

Most people say rev 1.1 is much better.

You could have a bad board or a bad OS install.

 

[jbritt1234]

I bought the 7VAXP a few weeks ago. There are two places in the BIOS that you have to enable USB support. One for regular and one for 2.0. Also, there are updated drivers for USB 2.0 on the gigabyte website, as well as updated BIOS and a few other drivers including a NIC Driver. Install all those.

 

[freeflap]

thanks for your input. Again, I did all that. upgraded the bios to F7, enabled both regular and USB 2.0 as well as updated the NIC driver. I think it's a bad board since it doesn't see the NIC in linux either.
Well, I'm waiting for my RMA to arrive and I'll let you know. Just for kicks, I tried the easytune4 utility. I can't believe that OC is that easy. Jumped my CPUmark score ~900 points.