Official - ABIT AT8 Crossfire Thread -

[tvdang7]

still at 315 FSB after bios fix?

 

[snor]

Originally posted by: tvdang7
still at 315 FSB after bios fix?

my cpu can't do 9x 315 in any bios setting, but it is possible to lower the divider and do 315. Currently, I'm still doing 9 x 300, not at the fault of the mobo of course.

 

[gobucks]

AAAARGH!!!!! Now my system is restarting on its own almost constantly. I tried re-installing windows, and it took forever to do because it kept restarting mid-install. I currently have the lowest possible clock settings, 1.8GHz, DDR333, 3-4-4-10 2T timings, 3x HTT multiplier, etc. The system still isn't stable. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be? I'm not getting a BSOD, just random restarts. Does this sound like a mobo, CPU or memory problem? I've never had problems with the CPU (winchester, stable up to 2.55GHz), the mobo is new, and the RAM is freshly RMA'd Crucial Ballistix PC4000. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Neyd3400]

Have you tried some different ram.

 

[gobucks]

Unfortunately, I don't have any other sticks of RAM to try.

 

[Heidfirst]

Oh well, having seen the price for the new ASUS RD580 board (£140 in the UK roughly the same as an A8N32) & assuming that Abit's AT8 32X will be similarly priced I've ordered an AT8, should be with me on Monday hopefully.

 

[rox1co]

i'm thinking about getting this board, if i can score a X1900XT from my friend then w00000000t

i read the Asus A8R-MVP has a few issues, but anyways

gobucks, if i get mine, would you help me out if i have any problems

 

[amd4life]

Originally posted by: gobucks
AAAARGH!!!!! Now my system is restarting on its own almost constantly. I tried re-installing windows, and it took forever to do because it kept restarting mid-install. I currently have the lowest possible clock settings, 1.8GHz, DDR333, 3-4-4-10 2T timings, 3x HTT multiplier, etc. The system still isn't stable. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the problem might be? I'm not getting a BSOD, just random restarts. Does this sound like a mobo, CPU or memory problem? I've never had problems with the CPU (winchester, stable up to 2.55GHz), the mobo is new, and the RAM is freshly RMA'd Crucial Ballistix PC4000. Any help would be appreciated.

its your ballistixs, they are having a rather high rate of failure for some reason

I had to RMA mine too, check the dfi-street board, there is a 60 page thread on them

 

[Neyd3400]

Is it possible that this paticular board is already discontinued with the rd580 around the corner. I've only seen one review so far and none of the big E-tailers have it in stock.

 

[rox1co]

when is that board suppose to come out? and you got a price range?

 

[DanaGoyette]

rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33840399

From what I've found on Abit's own site, it's supposedly the 23rd (February).

 

[gobucks]

well, i still got errors after replacing the mobo, but maybe the install was corrupted from the old RAM. I'm reinstalling now and it seems to be working so far (crosses fingers....)

 

[snor]

when you say 'reinstall', did you actually format the previous partition before actually reinitializing the windows xp intall?
As far as I know, it can retain some previous OS settings or some part of your HD is bad and you keep rewritting that bad sector.
good luck

 

[gobucks]

yeah, i reformatted. unfortunately, i think i have a defective mobo AND memory. the memory is just flat-out dead, cause crucial ballistix blows, but at least they're offering a buyback for them. That was causing the reboots. But the lockups occur no matter what memory is used, and I guess that must be the mobo. Newegg said I could RMA it, but they don't have it in stock right now, so i guess I'll be waiting a while for it.

 

[Marko1021]

Hi Everyone,

Have been reading the forums for a while, but this is my first post.

I just got done with my first build using an AT8. Is anyone having a problem with RAID 0 and this board?

I am running RAID0 with 16K stripes with my 2 150G WD raptors. I have them partitioned into a 40G Windows partition and a 260G Partition for Game programs etc. I have twice installed windows in this environment, First time it was unstable after the first couple of hours. I deleted the RAID, Reinitialized with Raid0 16K stripes and again set up the 2 partitions as before. Refomatted the partitions, installed windows, programs, etc...

This was stable for about 3 days. Today when booting Windows started complaining about corrupt files. Today I lost my desktop. a Mcaffe agent file, and a Microsoft font file. CHKDSK runs about every other time I reboot and is discovering errors.

No overclocking yet (except a little on the graphics card) and everything is running with auto detect timings in the BIOS. Prime95, Memtest86+, WD Data lifeguard all run clean.

I am about ready to pull the Raid and just run the 2 hard drives seprately. Could this be an error with the Uli 1575 or Raid driver.

Any thoughts? Other than this problem The install has been very uneventful and the board looks solid and the updated bios onthe ABIT forum does fix the CAS timing problem.

 

[snor]

I found that it is possible to create Raid strips two ways.
you can either make it using the raid-rom (you have to enable the rom option in the bios) or set it up through windows and using the raid utility.
For me, I used the windows raid utility because that is the only way i can install it in x64. But it is possible to install regular 32bit OS by using the raid-rom.

As for raid-0'ing your raptor, I would suggest against it. The speed increase you gain in relation to the file stability isnt worth it.
I have 1 disk as a backup and 2 raid-0 to transfer/pull/temp/etc. If you can't get it to work with Raid, you should definitely use it seperately.

 

[Marko1021]

Thanks snor, I agree after reading a number of other discussions. I am dumping the RAID0 and just going with the 2 disks native. hopefully this will fix the file corruption issues, Once past that I look forward to OCing this rig and seeing what it can do.

 

[CrimsonKnight]

this board seems to have been taken off virtually all the well known online shops (newegg, monarch, zipzoomfly, tigerdirect) what happened? is it not coming out anymore?

 

[snor]

I think demand outlasted supply. It is also possible that the xfire32 is coming out and might sell that instead

 

[gobucks]

I think it's definitely a supply/demand problem. ATI mobos have never been super hot selling mobos, but the feature set on this one is just better than anything else out there, especially for $110. I guess they're making a whole bunch of them, and I think they're gonna come out March 29th.

I think that first batch might have actually been engineering samples, cause when I disabled the full-screen bios picture, it said "AT8 - Engineering Sample." That probably explains why my mobo is having stability issues, and I have to RMA it. Hopefully I'll actually be getting a good board this time......

Oh, and I kinda doubt that they will end of life the RD480 just because of the RD580. After all, the Xpress 3200 boards cost twice what the AT8 does, for what is essentially extra PCIe bandwidth that will not be used, and the claim that X1600's work better in Crossfire, which is kinda pointless anyway. Plus, the official Xpress 3200 calls for the crappy SB450 southbridge anyway, which has no SATA-II and no Azalia Audio

 

[Demian0]

Originally posted by: Marko1021
Hi Everyone,

Have been reading the forums for a while, but this is my first post.

I just got done with my first build using an AT8. Is anyone having a problem with RAID 0 and this board?

I am running RAID0 with 16K stripes with my 2 150G WD raptors. I have them partitioned into a 40G Windows partition and a 260G Partition for Game programs etc. I have twice installed windows in this environment, First time it was unstable after the first couple of hours. I deleted the RAID, Reinitialized with Raid0 16K stripes and again set up the 2 partitions as before. Refomatted the partitions, installed windows, programs, etc...

This was stable for about 3 days. Today when booting Windows started complaining about corrupt files. Today I lost my desktop. a Mcaffe agent file, and a Microsoft font file. CHKDSK runs about every other time I reboot and is discovering errors.

No overclocking yet (except a little on the graphics card) and everything is running with auto detect timings in the BIOS. Prime95, Memtest86+, WD Data lifeguard all run clean.

I am about ready to pull the Raid and just run the 2 hard drives seprately. Could this be an error with the Uli 1575 or Raid driver.

Any thoughts? Other than this problem The install has been very uneventful and the board looks solid and the updated bios onthe ABIT forum does fix the CAS timing problem.

I had exactly the same problem: 2 x WD 150 GB Raptors / RAID0 / connected to onboard SATA-RAID-Controller M1575.
Couldn`t get my RAID0-array stable. CHKDSK after almost every reboot though WinXP had been shut down without lockup before.

As I wasn`t able to find a solution after reinstalling XP for 5 times, I disabled onboard SATA and put in a Promise TX2300 PCI-SATA-RAID-controller. Stability problems disappeared but the Promise-array is much slower...

Did anybody find a solution to this problem ?

@Marko1021: Which driver did you use ? The one wich came with your mobo or ULI-driver from their website ?

CU

Demian

 

[Marko1021]

Hi Demian,

I used the drivers that came with the mobo. I have decided that for my needs the stability I was seeing was not worth the risk and I did not want an array bad enough to invest in an additional controller. I am running both disks as separate disks and all has been fine.

I did look for enhanced RAID Drivers on the ULI website. They have a 210 and 213 version out there for the 1575 chip. But there was no reference in either readme file that there were ANY RAID drivers contained in the packages. So the version I used is the 1.01 version that came with my mobo. I also searched the Uli website and could find no reference to RAID drivers.

All has been fine, no problems with file corruption without a RAID array.

The only problem I have (very minor) is that the Realtek HD Audio Manager keeps popping up a message that a jack has been unplugged. I have reinstalled the drivers a number of times and still happening. But that is a minor nuisance really.

But if anyone has seen this and knows how to fix it. I would appreciate knowing....

 

[Demian0]

Originally posted by: Marko1021
Hi Demian,

I used the drivers that came with the mobo. I have decided that for my needs the stability I was seeing was not worth the risk and I did not want an array bad enough to invest in an additional controller. I am running both disks as separate disks and all has been fine.

I did look for enhanced RAID Drivers on the ULI website. They have a 210 and 213 version out there for the 1575 chip. But there was no reference in either readme file that there were ANY RAID drivers contained in the packages. So the version I used is the 1.01 version that came with my mobo. I also searched the Uli website and could find no reference to RAID drivers.

All has been fine, no problems with file corruption without a RAID array.

The only problem I have (very minor) is that the Realtek HD Audio Manager keeps popping up a message that a jack has been unplugged. I have reinstalled the drivers a number of times and still happening. But that is a minor nuisance really.

But if anyone has seen this and knows how to fix it. I would appreciate knowing....

Hello Marko,

glad to hear your raptors are running now.
First I was also thinking of disabling RAID-BIOS and using the HDDs separatly but after benchmarking disk-performance with HD-Tach, I was so much disappoited, that I put the Promise PCI-SATA-RAID-controller in.
In my optionion, running harddisks as separate disks on a RAID-controller is not the way fast and expensive rators should be used...
Using the Promise-controller diskperformance is a little better now, but I think the onboard-RAID-controller MUST work without problems or it should be totally removed...

Would be very happy, if ABIT - or ULI - could solve this problem ASAP !

CU

Demian

 

[Marko1021]

Originally posted by: Demian0

Originally posted by: Marko1021
Hi Demian,

I used the drivers that came with the mobo. I have decided that for my needs the stability I was seeing was not worth the risk and I did not want an array bad enough to invest in an additional controller. I am running both disks as separate disks and all has been fine.

I did look for enhanced RAID Drivers on the ULI website. They have a 210 and 213 version out there for the 1575 chip. But there was no reference in either readme file that there were ANY RAID drivers contained in the packages. So the version I used is the 1.01 version that came with my mobo. I also searched the Uli website and could find no reference to RAID drivers.

All has been fine, no problems with file corruption without a RAID array.

The only problem I have (very minor) is that the Realtek HD Audio Manager keeps popping up a message that a jack has been unplugged. I have reinstalled the drivers a number of times and still happening. But that is a minor nuisance really.

But if anyone has seen this and knows how to fix it. I would appreciate knowing....

Hello Marko,

glad to hear your raptors are running now.
First I was also thinking of disabling RAID-BIOS and using the HDDs separatly but after benchmarking disk-performance with HD-Tach, I was so much disappoited, that I put the Promise PCI-SATA-RAID-controller in.
In my optionion, running harddisks as separate disks on a RAID-controller is not the way fast and expensive rators should be used...
Using the Promise-controller diskperformance is a little better now, but I think the onboard-RAID-controller MUST work without problems or it should be totally removed...

Would be very happy, if ABIT - or ULI - could solve this problem ASAP !

CU

Demian

Agreed, Abit and/or Uli should address the problem. I just needed to move on and get the PC up and running and could not find any fix available and could not wait for one

 

[gobucks]

That's it, I'm officially done with this mobo. I was trying to send the mobo back to Abit for a replacement, and they called me to tell me they had no replacements, nor did they have any idea when replacements might arrive. I personally believe that there is a problem with the first batch of mobos (which would explain why my bios says "engineering sample") and they had to go back to fabrication to make an adjustment. I think that those ETAs of march 30th on newegg, zipzoomfly and others are actually optomistic; it might be even longer. So I'm sending my mobo back to newegg and I'm gonna buy a DFI Lanparty nf4 ultra-d instead. Sure, it doesn't have Azalia audio, but everything else is great, and I can always buy an X-Fi for under $100 if I need to.

Way to screw things up, Abit. Take what is probably the best mobo you've come up with in years and totally ruin it. Good job.