*** Official ABIT NF7/S (nForce2) Thread ***

[Links4me]

 

[Links4me]

oops.....I was a little to quick on the enter button.....I just updated to the NF7D18 bios a couple of days ago and everything is fine for me....so far.

 

[Links4me]

Originally posted by: Mustanggt

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i'm at 211 fsb right now
what about the rest of you ??

Mine is at 227 fsb wish I knew how to copy pics of benchmarks to show my Mem scores and FSB. this is a great board

Try screenhunter....if you go to www.download.com and do a search for screenhunter it is a free program. It works well..

 

[Megatomic]

Well, last night I found the limit to how high I could set the FSB on my NF7-S. I was fine at 215MHz, the system was running normally at ~2260MHz. I then got greedy and set the FSB up to 220MHz and the mult. down to 10 for a CPU speed of 2200MHz. And damned if it didn't corrupt my winblows install. The board has a Vdd mod in place, the actual Vdd was about 1.9V at the time. Vcore was 1.7V, the chip runs 200MHz x 11 (2200MHz) at 1.65V just fine.

I'll just stick to 200MHz for a while.

 

[pelikan]

Yeah, I usually hose my windows every time I get new parts and find their limits. However, I just got some great advice on how to not do that: After changing bios settings boot into memtest86 and run test 5 (enter C - 2 - 5 - 5 - 0). If it passes test 5 then it is safe to go into windows.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: pelikan
Yeah, I usually hose my windows every time I get new parts and find their limits. However, I just got some great advice on how to not do that: After changing bios settings boot into memtest86 and run test 5 (enter C - 2 - 5 - 5 - 0). If it passes test 5 then it is safe to go into windows.

Thanks. :beer:

 

[bullion416]

This may have been posted before, but I didn't want to read through 8+ pages of posts on the NF7-S. When you are installing win xp pro and you select to install a third party driver........which driver do you install from the disk? Do you install the Intel 82801ER driver or the Silicon Image Sil 3x12???

 

[wluk]

Originally posted by: Links4me

Originally posted by: Mustanggt

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i'm at 211 fsb right now
what about the rest of you ??

Mine is at 227 fsb wish I knew how to copy pics of benchmarks to show my Mem scores and FSB. this is a great board

Try screenhunter....if you go to www.download.com and do a search for screenhunter it is a free program. It works well..

just hit the "print screen" key or alt "print screen" (to capture the active window only) on your keyboard and paste it in paintbrush then save it as jpg.

 

[bullion416]

Any ideas why my computer restarts itself instead of shutting down when I go to shut down the computer???

 

[Links4me]

Originally posted by: Links4me

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i'm at 211 fsb right now
what about the rest of you ??

Still where I was a couple of months ago, running stable w/ win2k. Prime95 no errors for 20hrs+, memtest no errors for 20hrs. WinXP is a different story.....with the same specs cpu 1.8v, mem 1.8, chipset 1.7v, prime95 ran 20hrs no errors one day and the next, failed after a few hours, then another time after 20mins....then the blue screens.....I looked up the error (it says it is a memory error) and lots of others have had the same problem and they all pretty much said, "I just lowered the fsb on the memory and it was fine" or something like that. I personally am not going to run pc3200 memory at anything less than pc3200. I tried various mem settings in the bios, voltage settings etc.....still the same. Weird tho', sometimes it took a whole day after a fresh install of winXP (this is pro I'm talking about), before the blue screens came. (also, I always load the OS at default settings for cpu,mem etc...then overclock) Anyway, back to win2k w/ no problems after a month.....Oh well....

Ok, so I don't read so good......took a look at the mobo manual and it said that if you are running pc3200 memory.....it MUST be in slot 2 and 3.....sure enough, I changed to those slots and loaded XP and no problems.....prime95 for 22hrs w/ no errors........

 

[bullion416]

The NF7-S keeps downgrading my PC3200 memory to DDR 200 instead of DDR 333............I have one 512mb stick.........I just read the previous post and it said something about the memory needed to be ina different slot..........well, since I only have one stick of memory.....what slot should it be in and do you think is is what is causing my problem?

 

[bullion416]

Sure enough, that was my problem. I had the memory in slot 1 instead of slot 2 or 3. Thanks

 

[Actaeon]

Just ordered and NF7-S v2 from ExcaliberPC. I am quite worried about this whole data curruption with the BIOS. Has this been resolved, and is there really any good way to make sure this doesn't happen? I've read most of the posts here, but nothing really gives me a straight answer.

Thanks.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: Actaeon
Just ordered and NF7-S v2 from ExcaliberPC. I am quite worried about this whole data curruption with the BIOS. Has this been resolved, and is there really any good way to make sure this doesn't happen? I've read most of the posts here, but nothing really gives me a straight answer.

Thanks.

i dunno about this bios corruption business... never happen to me once and flashed the bios many times..

as long as you don't power off when it's flashing or when teh bios settings have been changed you should be fine...

 

[Actaeon]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim

Originally posted by: Actaeon
Just ordered and NF7-S v2 from ExcaliberPC. I am quite worried about this whole data curruption with the BIOS. Has this been resolved, and is there really any good way to make sure this doesn't happen? I've read most of the posts here, but nothing really gives me a straight answer.

Thanks.

i dunno about this bios corruption business... never happen to me once and flashed the bios many times..

as long as you don't power off when it's flashing or when teh bios settings have been changed you should be fine...

Apprently, from what I've read, BIOs can become currupted just by adjusting BIOs settings. I'm not sure exactly why this happens, or a way to get around it. Or even if it still exists. Which is what I hope to find out. Anyone have any incite on this?

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: Actaeon

Originally posted by: Shimmishim

Originally posted by: Actaeon
Just ordered and NF7-S v2 from ExcaliberPC. I am quite worried about this whole data curruption with the BIOS. Has this been resolved, and is there really any good way to make sure this doesn't happen? I've read most of the posts here, but nothing really gives me a straight answer.

Thanks.

i dunno about this bios corruption business... never happen to me once and flashed the bios many times..

as long as you don't power off when it's flashing or when teh bios settings have been changed you should be fine...

Apprently, from what I've read, BIOs can become currupted just by adjusting BIOs settings. I'm not sure exactly why this happens, or a way to get around it. Or even if it still exists. Which is what I hope to find out. Anyone have any incite on this?

Bios corruption problems have been fixed in the rev. 2 boards. It was a problem with the rev. 1 and 1.02's.

 

[bullion416]

What is the deal with the option that appears when you first boot on the computer that gives you the option to flash the bios......I think the hot keys were "alt + f" or something like that. What is the difference between flashing the bios that way or just using the flashing program from abit's website?

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: pelikan
Bios corruption problems have been fixed in the rev. 2 boards. It was a problem with the rev. 1 and 1.02's.

Unfortunately this is not true pelikan. My NF7-S R2 is down right now waiting for a new BIOS chip for this very reason. It might be safe to say that the problem is not as widespread with the R2 boards but it has not been fixed.

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: pelikan
Bios corruption problems have been fixed in the rev. 2 boards. It was a problem with the rev. 1 and 1.02's.

Unfortunately this is not true pelikan. My NF7-S R2 is down right now waiting for a new BIOS chip for this very reason. It might be safe to say that the problem is not as widespread with the R2 boards but it has not been fixed.

Hmm.. too bad. That's the first case I've heard.

 

[Megatomic]

Go to nForcersHQ forums, see for yourself.

 

[DrStrange]

Does anybody know if the Zalman 7000A CPU cooler will work with the revision 2.0 of this board. I am considering buying it but the Zalman site states that it needs the four mounting holes and the NF7S 2.0 is not compatible as it does not have them but I know the board does have them.
Are they maybe in the wrong position

Thanks

Peter

 

[Megatomic]

The NF7-S I have has 4 holes around the CPU socket and they are laid out identically to the holes around the CPU socket on my Epox 8RDA+. I believe it's a standard not some arbitrary thing. If the Zalman heatsink is designed to be installed on socket 462 boards it should work on the NF7-S.

 

[Actaeon]

I already ordered the NF7-S V2, and I'm getting the board soon.

Is there anything I should know about when installing/configuring this board? Still looking for a firm answer and solution for the BIOS problem. I also read up about a multiplier problem, something about 9-11 can't be accessed or something. Don't remember the whole problem. Any idea about that?

Thanks
Jonathan

 

[Megatomic]

Some people can't use 10 and 10.5 but I was able to use all the multipliers from 9 through 12.5 myself. I didn't try any other settings so I can't say for sure they all work.

 

[Links4me]

Originally posted by: Actaeon
I already ordered the NF7-S V2, and I'm getting the board soon.

Is there anything I should know about when installing/configuring this board? Still looking for a firm answer and solution for the BIOS problem. I also read up about a multiplier problem, something about 9-11 can't be accessed or something. Don't remember the whole problem. Any idea about that?

Thanks
Jonathan

I was worried about the bios thing when I got mine, but I haven't had any problems. I have the latest bios and have not had any problems with the multiplier thing either(as you can see below, I'm running at 10.5 multiplier). I would just make sure if you are overclocking to take very small steps when changing the FSB and multiplier. I think this board is a very big seller and the problems are happening with a small number of people. You should be ok. I posted above about pc3200 memory having to be in slot 2 & 3 only....that is the only thing I ran into and the errors I had only came up with WinXP pro sp1. The NF7-S is a great board and I think you will enjoy it.......