*** Official ASUS A7N8X/Deluxe (nForce2) Thread ***

[Huntress]

To the best of my knowledge that is the temp fix with reduced performance from Silicon... date issued makes it seem so.

 

[Huntress]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Ok, I have the PDF version of the manual I downloaded, and I've heard that not everyone's manual is this version, so bear with me... but it's item #8 on page 25 and is called "IDE Activity LED (2-pin)" in mine, right after the descriptions of the parallel, serial and audio jacks. HTH

I got it... THANKS!!!!

 

[Huntress]

Originally posted by: Huntress
I have two of these boards, one I am setting up now.

Couple of questions with setup of this board.

1) How do I get this board to recognise only one single SATA harddrive (using IDE drive with RocketRaid converter) as boot device? I only have one harddrive hooked up and would like to obtain the added performance of the SATA controller. I would be using RAID 0, but until the Sil / nForce2 issue is addressed, I would just like to use one drive. I have the SATA controller enabled, and it detects the harddrive. I have the boot sequence as Floppy, CRROM, SCSI or HDD0 (neither of which work). On boot it trys everything (including the network) to boot from except the HDD.

One note: I did install XP Pro from the IDE controller initially because of this.

2) This one seems dumb... but WHERE THE HELL do you hook up the HDD LED to this board??? The manual remarkably doesn't say, nor do I see markings on the board to indicate this. Does this board not support that?

Thanks!

Diana

Still looking for an answer to question one please

 

[mechBgon]

Hmm, have you tried the other option (a one-drive mirror)? Maybe it would tolerate that concept better than striping, now that I think about it. I certainly hope it's capable of simply functioning as a non-RAID controller... nothing's coming to light at Asus' support site.

 

[edmundoab]

Originally posted by: squidman

Originally posted by: edmundoab
hi, I've recently purchase the A7N8X PCB 2.0 Deluxe from newegg,

While setting up the system , I came upon this RAID feature which I have failed to disable,

according to the manual, a menu is suppose to pop up once you hit Ctrl+S or F4
but mine is just a black screen
the only thing that appears is some figures when I move the arrow keys,

can anyone help me with this RAID utility?

You gotta disable it via the jumper, which is called, as i remember SATA_ENABLE, and move it from pins 1-2, to 2-3

thank you so much,
it is disabled and my sistem start up runs a fair lot faster right now

 

[Jim123]

Hello, I'm new to AMD Processors, and my BIOS detecked it with a 100fsb, and I don't know what the CPU should be listed as 1.83 GHz? its now listed as 1.01 GHz in winXP. I just need help in how and what to change within the Bios to have it run at its correct speeds.

MB: A7N8X (Ver 2.00, BIOS 1003, CPU FSB Jumper set to 1,2 FSB333/266/400
CPU: Athlon XP 2500+ Barton 333 FSB (with retail hs/fan)
RAM: CORSAIR XMS CMX256A-2700C2, 2 - Sticks 256MB ea, PC2700 333MHz, (on Asus's tested list) installed in socket 2 and 3

Real unsure how to set it up in the BIOS, need help.

Thank you
Jim

 

[mechBgon]

Sure, go into the BIOS > Advanced > Advanced Chipset Features and change the top item (CPU External Freq.) to 166MHz (since you've got a 333MHz-based CPU). Save & exit, and your CPU should be reported as a 2500+ now

 

[mechBgon]

Also, if you want dual-channel DDR, switch the memory module from slot #2 to slot #1

 

[Jim123]

That was very easy, I've been tyring to find that, but what I found was OC steps.

Thank you very much, It is realy good to see it running correctly.

Again, thank you
Jim

I'll change the memory slot tomarrow.

 

[edmundoab]

set it to user defined if you want a specific internal cpu clock
otherwise the only available options are
100
133
166
200

 

[squidman]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Also, if you want dual-channel DDR, switch the memory module from slot #2 to slot #1

Doesnt slot 1 and 2 have the same controller?

 

[Jim123]

Everything is working great, I'm now planning on just sitting back and enjoying.

Thank you
Jim
:beer:

 

[Coherence]

This may already be covered somewhere in here, but I wasn't successful with a search on it (and I'm not about to read all 450+ messages, hehe).

Does anyone know what the differences are with the A7N8X Deluxe revision 2?

 

[pelikan]

Rev. 2 will run at 200 MHz fsb or more thanks to a revised chipset.

 

[Jim123]

:brokenheart:I've asked the lady in the PC, but she won't say. Where is the software bundle that comes with the Deluxe version? the only thing I'm going to use off of the CD that came with it will be AsusUpdate. I was counting on that DVD software saving me $50.00

Was that stuff included in a deluxe deluxe version?

 

[edmundoab]

it has RAID, serial ATA

firewire..

additional 3 com lan port, including the default nvidia lan port given

 

[Tetsuo316]

I am unable to flash my BIOS. I have an A7N8X non-deluxe board. I've tried the Alt-F2 method as well as creating a boot disk and flashing through awarddflash. Neither way works. In awardflash I can backup my old BIOS, but as soon as I press 'Y' to proceed with the programming of the new BIOS, it halts with "Checksum 7188H" or something like that the last thing it displays. I've left it like that for ten minutes before hoping that maybe it was secretly doing something despite the inactivity of my floppy drive. No go. It just freezes. I've tried the 1002, 1003 and now 1004 BIOSes and the same thing has happened every time.

I reset, and then reload my old BIOS just to make sure, and I'm back up and running again, but I would love to move on from this 1001E. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

 

[pelikan]

Are you using the NON-Deluxe bios? You could also try the Asus Update utility and flash from Windows.

 

[Tetsuo316]

To the best of my knowledge I am using the non-deluxe BIOS. I'm downloading the BIOS directly from ASUS's Download Page. The only way I could be downloading the inappropriate file is if they've uploaded the incorrect file.

I have not tried using the ASUS Update Utility, but it is not listed on the A7N8X Utility page. I assumed that it was incompatible with the board as the manual makes no mention of it either.

 

[pelikan]

The utility is on the disk that comes with the board. It works great for me. Good luck.

 

[Psychosylph]

Tetsuo-

Had the same problem last night. I finally managed to get it to flash by loading the default BIOS options and using the Alt+F2 flash utility. BTW, it killed my board even though it seemed successful. I only did it because I was trying to get the SATA RAID to work properly - my question to you is, do you need to do this? I did it for a very particular reason but I now have a dead board that was working fine before the flash...

Anyway, anyone in San Diego that can help me out with fixing it? Barring that, anyone want an A7N8X Deluxe that just needs a new BIOS chip?

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: Psychosylph
Tetsuo-

Had the same problem last night. I finally managed to get it to flash by loading the default BIOS options and using the Alt+F2 flash utility. BTW, it killed my board even though it seemed successful. I only did it because I was trying to get the SATA RAID to work properly - my question to you is, do you need to do this? I did it for a very particular reason but I now have a dead board that was working fine before the flash...

Anyway, anyone in San Diego that can help me out with fixing it? Barring that, anyone want an A7N8X Deluxe that just needs a new BIOS chip?

You can RMA it.

 

[amcdonald]

I'm interested in getting a rev. 2.0 deluxe, and I'm wondering where they have been coming from.
I see that a7n8x non-deluxe is now rev. 2.0 at newegg. I've heard people are getting rev 2.0 deluxes from newegg, but I'm wondering if anyone can confirm this. Also, to save me from reading through the 400+ posts in this thread, are there any known issues with this board/bios/overclocking? Thanks a lot

 

[Tetsuo316]

The newer BIOS is supposed to be better for overclocking - which is what I want. Now for your BIOS problem, Psycho, I came across this in the FAQ for the A7N8X at the NforcersHQ forum.

Q. I flashed with the wrong file. Or my flash was incomplete. Is there any way to recover?
A. If your floppy drive seeks on power up and then stops after a short period of time, you may have a chance to recover. The following information was obtained from Wim's Bios http://www.wimsbios.com/ FAQ's. Corrections on AWARD Bios by Terry McGuire.

Award: The boot-block BIOS will execute an AUTOEXEC.BAT file on a bootable diskette. Copy an Award flasher & the correct BIOS *.bin file on the floppy and execute it automatically by putting AWDFLASH *.bin /sn /py /cc /r in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file. The * would be the correct bios .bin file and there must be spaces between the slash marks. Put it in the floppy and turn on the computer when the floppy seeks it will load the correct bios and reboot by itself. When it finishes you have to remove the floppy and enter the CMOS SETUP and modify the CMOS for your configuration.

Good luck with that. Also, you can RMA the board as was said earlier.

AMC, newegg has been shipping 2.0 boards. as far as issues go, there are issues. The NforcersHQ forum has a nice FAQ.

 

[sterling]

HI All

I need to build a computer for my office. Im not going to be playing games or overclocking. Do you guys suggest using this Asus Nforce2 or an Intel based board?

Also, I am going to be using 2 new sticks of Crucial 2100ddr thats been sitting around for about a year. I have heard these nforce boards have trouble running this memory. Are any of you guys running 2 sticks of 2100ddr in this board? Would 2 sticks of 2100ddr running in a dual setup be faster than running one stick of 3200ddr?

Im also gonna be using my Matrox G550 4agp card with this board. Do u forsee any compatibility problem here?

Bases on this matrox/crucial combo would I be better off with Intel?

thanks in advance