Need info about the Shuttle AK35GTR...

[FrodoB]

I'm replacing a family member's ECS K7S5A that only booted 10 % of the time with this Shuttle board. I really hope this new board works out better than the ECS board. Reviews seem to indicate this. Anyway, do I need to download any special updated drivers for this board? Is it picky about power supplies? Is the onboard audio (C-Media CMI8738) better than a SB Live Value? Here's what my family's system will look like:
AMD Athlon 1.4 GHZ
Shuttle AK35GTR
Crucial DDR - 256 megs
Visiontek GeForce 3 Ti 200
20 GIG, 7200 rpm WD Drive
Acer 56x CD Drive
SB LIve Value
Generic 56K modem
300 Watt powersupply (Eagle)
Windows 2000

I am really hoping this works well. I am sick of being tech support. That damn ECS board was strange. It had problems booting up. It's so bad that they keep the computer on 24/7. I tried an assortment of different power supplies with it (from 300 watt to 340 watt). I replaced the cmos battery. I played around with the boot sequence. I tried different memory sticks. Nothing worked. My own ECS board works ok for now. It was having rebooting problems and strange lockups for a while, but it's been fine the past month. But anyway, any info on this Shuttle board would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[MichaelD]

Hey Frodo (did you get your nick from the Godfather movies? Just curious )

I recently (2 weeks!) installed the AV36GTR along w/a 1800XP in my main rig. Not a single problem to be seen. Now, I do have an Antec 400w PS, but any decent 300-watter will run it just fine. Not a hiccup to be seen. I am having a few probs with my SBLIVE! soundcard, but hey, you can't win them all! I noticed in your list that there is no soundcard listed...if you/they are planning on using the onboard CMedia sound, you'll be good to go.

As far as the install, it went very smoothly, except for loading the Highpoint drivers; no fault of the mobo though.

W2K requests "SCSI drivers" (aka RAID drivers) on a FLOPPY during the setup process. Well, Shuttle provides the drivers on a CDR. YOu'll need to create a floppy with the drivers first BEFORE wiping the HD and installing this mobo. You'll need to copy from the Shuttle CDR, from under the "RAID" folder:

1. W2K folder
2. NT folder (just in case)
3. BIOS folder
4. A file called "OEMsetup.txt".

You would think that #4 is just a README file..it looks like one, but the install won't take unless that file is in there. I don't know why, but that' what happened w/me.

Once you have a floppy w/the above files, you're good to go. I always clear the CMOS before I even bolt the mobo into the case. It's habit and a habit that hasn't steered me wrong yet. Clear your CMOS then install from there.

This is a great, versatile mobo. I'm very happy that I purchased it. Good luck.

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

I could be wrong, but I think his name is from the Tolkein books. (Frodo Baggins)

As far as your Shuttle board, it should be fine. The AK31 rev.3 board I have is almost identical to the one you will have. It's been solid as a rock since day one. I will say this about it though, the Northbridge chipset fan is notorious for failing so you might plan ahead for a replacement. The AGP slot can be picky as well so if you keep getting beeps on POST, keep reseating it...chances are it might take a few times.

 

[ccwh]

I just tried to install an AK35GTR and the machine (ChiefTec w/ 420W) starts but it never beeps and the screen remains blank. The HD (Maxtor MX6L040L2 72R ATA133) and CDRW (Cendyne24X10X40) start. The CPU(Athlon XP 1800) fan, video card (VisionTek GTS-V) fan and bridge (S.?) fan all start.

I've tried reseating the video card several times. I've tried reseating and moving the memory (Crucial PC2100 256MB) several times too. I've also cleared the CMOS several times.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[WebDude]

ccwh,
If you don't get any video, try stripping the system down to only the essentials, then resetting the bios to the default settings by shorting the jumper pins for a few seconds (make sure you remove the jumper, don't leave it on). If you still can't get any video, then I think you're gonna have to RMA it.

WebDude