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

[afmcanuck]

Looks like I got one with a bad sata controller, tried latest bios, tried using different sata drivers (don't worry, I didn't use subfolders/any of the other mistakes ppl make) and XP still freezes everytime after rebooting and trying to continue with the installation... going into the shop tommorrow to get it switched with another. So frustrating taking everything out and then having to put it all back in tommorrow!

Hopefully the next one works! Anyone know if this is a common problem with these boards?

 

[electrifier]

My son got one of these boards and it will not allow him to install Windows XP. Part way thru the installation process the computer just shuts down. He has both the a7n8x Deluxe and the a7n8x e Deluxe boards and the same thing happens with both boards. He is running the Athlon 2800+ processor in these boards. He has tried a different power supply so that potential problem is eliminated. Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm not sure what else to include with this so PM me with questions and we'll address them to get past this problem. Thanks much.

 

[imported_Bunter]

Without knowing more, it is hard to say. I'm always suspicious of memory when something like that happens. That is often the prime candidate on something like this if the power supply has been ruled out.

Things that might help to know:
Is he using the same components with both boards when he tries to install windows?
If not, is there anything other than the Windows CD that is common?
Memory, amount and speed?
video card?
No problems on the POST during power up?
hard drive and where is it connected?
BIOS version?

I'd first reset the BIOS to the factory default. If the memory modules are a common part, try a different one.

 

[electrifier]

He took a working computer and changed the motherboard and put it into a new case with new power supply. The processor, memory, hard drive, 8X AGP card is all the same as with the other board. He took the power supply out of the first computer and tried it with this new motherboard and it crashed after a couple of hours. He was able to get Windows loaded with this power supply. Now he gets an error message saying some file is missing that Windows needs. It almost acts like the temp is getting too high and shutting down the computer but now the missing file error comes up. This is very confusing. The processor is running at the listed speed, not being overclocked. He is using a new DVD RW drive and CD R drive but the hard drive is Primary master just like always and the DVD and CD are on their own cable on the secondary. It's set up just like with the other motherboard.

 

[imported_Bunter]

I'm still suspicious of the memory, probably because it is the most common problem after the power supply. The only time I have seen a problem similar to this was due to RAM, and that was the type of contacts on the module. It would pass the POST and seem to work okay, but Windows would die during the installation (it was either 95 or 98 back then).

I'd start there. He may have already done this, but if he has more than one memory module, try installing just one and if it still happens, try the other by itself. I think we need to either "convict" or eliminate the memory at this point.

I guess it could be something with the hard drive, particularly with the electronics of it, but RAM seems more likely at this point.

Problems like this during an installation are very aggravating, because they usually don't provide enough of a clue to avoid the step by step trial and error troubleshooting.

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: electrifier
He took a working computer and changed the motherboard and put it into a new case with new power supply. The processor, memory, hard drive, 8X AGP card is all the same as with the other board. He took the power supply out of the first computer and tried it with this new motherboard and it crashed after a couple of hours. He was able to get Windows loaded with this power supply. Now he gets an error message saying some file is missing that Windows needs. It almost acts like the temp is getting too high and shutting down the computer but now the missing file error comes up. This is very confusing. The processor is running at the listed speed, not being overclocked. He is using a new DVD RW drive and CD R drive but the hard drive is Primary master just like always and the DVD and CD are on their own cable on the secondary. It's set up just like with the other motherboard.

Did he boot into the BIOS and check the CPU/Case temp? Strange problems like this are OFTEN power/heat related.

 

[ToxicMussels]

The best chance for your problem sounds like the RAM. Just as Bunter had said.

I would go get Memtest86 and check out that RAM. It's a bootable cd and needs no OS to run. BTW, it's free!

 

[tbalon]

I would also check to be sure that the heatsink is seated properly. Without good contact this type of problem may occure since the Asus board has the ability to shutdown the system if it senses the temp of the processor is too high.

I have the a7n8x-dlx rev 2.0 version of this board and am OCing a Barton 2500 to 200 FSB giving me the equivalent of a 3200+ chip. For the longest time I had the notorius "cold boot problem" I had tried every trick in the book and read as many forums as I could find about this and was ready to give up until I discovered that if I turned down the speed of the CPU cooling fan, the problem went away. I have a CPU fan and heatsink which has a built in rheostat that allows you to vary the speed of the fan ( I don't recall the name at the moment but they are readily available on the market. )

Hope this helps...........

 

[Batman534]

Hi - I just bought the A7N8X-E board with a Mobile 2500+ chip. Coupled with this I have a 120 WD 8 MB HDD and some random 256 memory (mem will be upgraded later). Anyways - when I boot up for the first time, there is not speech like the board says there is. Do I need to plug in a speaker to line out to get the vocal post?

Further, it takes FOREVER to detect IDE drives. Any idea why it takes so long? It also takes awhile to begin to get into the process of reading the Windows CD in my CDROM drive.

Lastly - it says it's 800 mhz right now. What should i change to get it higher? THanks.

 

[imported_Bunter]

In some random order:

You need to plug the speaker in to line out to get the "bitchin' Betty" vocal POST. If you still don't get it, make sure it is turned on in the BIOS (Advanced BIOS Features/Speech POST Reporter), although I think the default for that is "on."

How long is forever for detecting drives and for reading the CD? While our hard drives are SATA, it detects a DVD, CD/RW and ZIP without any delay on ours.

What is the speed of the memory? It will detect and use the memory speed to determine the FSB speed. That could mess up your CPU setting. However, even if it thinks it is 100MHz memory, it still should say the 2500+ is 1100MHz, not 800MHz. You can see what it thinks in the BIOS under Advanced Chipset Features, or as it zips by during and immediately after the POST.

I'd reset the BIOS to the defaults. It is possible the CPU woes are caused by something in there.

 

[Batman534]

So if I get the vocal POST - that means i'll lose the ability to use line out and speaker in on the back of my MB? THat's a bad trade off.

My memory is 3200 DDR - after reseting to defaults still @ 800 mhz. Odd. Says memory is running @ frequency of 133 mhz.

Lets say I overclock to 200 FSB and 11 Multiplier - what should my vcore be? Should it be at the lowest possible?

Lastly - what is the purpose of an audio cable that comes with a CDROM drive? Should I plug that into something?

Thanks

 

[imported_Bunter]

After getting a decent night's sleep, I reread your original post and we may have a problem. The one thing I can not guarantee, or even find reference to on ASUS or AMD's sites, is that the A7N8X is compatible with Mobile XP processors. Nothing says it isn't, but nothing says it is, either. Given the AMD discusses the Mobile XPs as a completely different product, I would expect that any motherboard that supported them would specifically mention them. I'm not all that familiar with the particulars of the Mobile XPs, but I know the voltages are different and this would be a roadblock to any board (chipset) not designed to work with them. My best guess is that you need to get an Athlon XP of some flavor, not a Mobile XP.

That said, in the BIOS there is a section called Advanced Chipset Functions, where I think the memory speed, multiplier and a few other things are located. I asked you to do a BIOS reset thinking it would clear out any junk that might be in there. Take a look at it and see what it says.

When you plug the speaker into your line out, that same speaker (speakers, actually) will be used for all audio output, not just the "Bitchin' Betty" in the POST. "Bitchin Betty" speaks out of the integrated sound card, but does not monopolize it.

The audio cable on the CD gets audio from the CD drive to the sound card, or in this case, the motherboard. If I remember (I'm at work and don't have the manual handy), there are two connectors for such cables on your motherboard. I remember them being near the back, behind some of the PCI slots, but I'm getting old and that could be some other motherboard. One is probably marked CD or something like that, the other AUX. No harm in plugging it into the wrong one, it will just respond to controls on the AUX sliders rather than CD in the software.

My systems are not in a role that makes overclocking all that useful, so I will let someone else deal with that. If I were to guess, I would think the lowest power settings that are stable are the right ones.

 

[KyFan]

Back to the updating of the Bios.

I have an older Retail Asus A7N8X Deluxe board bought on 1/20/03 and would like to update the bios I think in the newest easiest (safest) way.
I am a newbie to this bios updating and never have done it before. First I need to know WHICH update version Bios is right for my board and second if I REALLY need to update.
My board runs (IMO) great now but I have not tried to do anything but run stock settings.
It is capable of great amounts of over OCing but have not done so.
Here are the values I've found for the Current Bios numbers. This is confusing to me.

First I found= "Phoenix Technologies, LTD Asus A7N8X ACPI Bios Rev. 1017 Beta 005 T9 12/6/2002"
SMBios Version 2.2

Second thing I found=Bios Rev. 1001.G

What do I look for as far as what I have now and what to update to? What board revision do I have?
THANKS........

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

Hello Bunter; I just tried that install of RAID 1 as you describe on your Jun11 post. That works slick with XP home. One thing tho.. You still have to put in the Raid Driver at the beginning of the install; or XP doesn't find a HDD part way into the installation of the O/S. After the O/S is in and updated etc.; then I hooked up the second drive and I created the Raid 1 and went to manual configuration to build it into the added HDD. Seemed to go in faster, and with none of the previous hiccups I've had. Thanks for the tip.

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

Hi KyFan; Open your case and look between the PCI card slots (probably between slot 1&2); you will see the card name A7N8X followed by Rev. 1.03 - 1.04 - 1.06 or maybe 2.0) That's the card rev #. Then go to the ASUS site ( www.asus.com )> your country > Motherboards > find your MB in the list > select 'downloads' from the left hand choices > BIOS > and look for updates for your board Rev #. There will be updates for Rev. 2.0 as well as Rev 1.03 etc. Don't put the updates for the wrong Rev in or you've got problems. Clicking on the blue "more" at the end of each BIOS offering; will let you see what the BIOS revision is about; and you decide whether you need it or not. I suggest; if your happy with the performance of your board; don't bother updating the BIOS. " If it ain't broke - Don't fix it " Good Luck.

 

[KyFan]

Originally posted by: OLtimrNewbie
Hi KyFan; Open your case and look between the PCI card slots (probably between slot 1&2); you will see the card name A7N8X followed by Rev. 1.03 - 1.04 - 1.06 or maybe 2.0) That's the card rev #. Then go to the ASUS site ( www.asus.com )> your country > Motherboards > find your MB in the list > select 'downloads' from the left hand choices > BIOS > and look for updates for your board Rev #. There will be updates for Rev. 2.0 as well as Rev 1.03 etc. Don't put the updates for the wrong Rev in or you've got problems. Clicking on the blue "more" at the end of each BIOS offering; will let you see what the BIOS revision is about; and you decide whether you need it or not. I suggest; if your happy with the performance of your board; don't bother updating the BIOS. " If it ain't broke - Don't fix it " Good Luck.

Thanks for the help.

I found it >>>I have a 1.04 rev. Mobo. Should I keep that Rev. or bump it to 1.08. I think that's what 1008 means, that's the latest Bios update for my Rev. 1.04.
Also should I update my N-force2 drivers too. Latest is Ver. 116 for the Asus A7N8X deluxe?
As for the Performance , I have a Hot Rod computer but it's set up like a Beatle.....all stock MAYBE EVEN LESS. BUT SOLID ROCK STEADY.

Motherboard Properties
Motherboard ID 12/06/2002-nVidia-nForce-A7N8XC-00
Motherboard Name Asus A7N8X Deluxe

Front Side Bus Properties
Bus Type DEC Alpha EV6
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 267 MHz
Bandwidth 2133 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties
Bus Type Dual DDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 200 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 400 MHz
Bandwidth 6399 MB/s


Bus Type HyperTransport v1.0
Bus Width 8-bit

Motherboard Physical Info
CPU Sockets/Slots 1
Expansion Slots 5 PCI, 1 AGP Pro
RAM Slots 3 DIMM
Integrated Devices IEEE-1394
Form Factor ATX
Motherboard Size 240 mm x 300 mm
Motherboard Chipset nForce2-SPP
Extra Features Q-Fan, CPU Overheating Protection, Serial-ATA/150, RAID

Motherboard Manufacturer
Company Name ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

Chipset Bus Properties

CPU Properties
CPU Type AMD Athlon XP, 1733 MHz (6.5 x 267) 2100+
CPU Alias Thoroughbred-B
CPU Stepping B0
L1 Code Cache 64 KB
L1 Data Cache 64 KB
L2 Cache 256 KB (On-Die, Full-Speed)

CPU Physical Info
Package Type 453 Pin PGA
Package Size 4.95 cm x 4.95 cm
Transistors 37.6 million
Process Technology 6Mi, 0.13 um, CMOS, Cu
Die Size 84 mm2
Core Voltage 1.50 - 1.65 V
I/O Voltage 1.6 V
Typical Power 44.0 - 64.0 W (depending on clock speed)
Maximum Power 48.5 - 74.3 W (depending on clock speed)

CPU Manufacturer
Company Name Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Product Information http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118,00.html

CPU Utilization
CPU #1 0 %


Running 512 meg's matched GREEN color Mushkin PC-3200 Dual 400 useing slot 1 and 3.
Have SLK-800 with tt.Smart-Fan 2 and AS-3 applied.
I think I'm running sub par for this board and Memory.

 

[Byte]

i got a new A7N8X-E DLX and can't seem to get the 2nd GigEnthernet to work. Only the MCP one works. I NEED the GigE working as thats why i got the board. My entire house is rigged up for GigE and we transfer huge videos back and forth its 3 times faster than 100Mb at least.

 

[rbV5]

i got a new A7N8X-E DLX and can't seem to get the 2nd GigEnthernet to work

Did you install the seperate driver for the 3com NIC? Its not a part of the Nforce driver set IIRC (its been awhile since I set mine up <A7N8X DLX btw, same I think>

 

[Batman534]

You have to install the drivers - which is on the cd that came with your MB.

Originally posted by: Byte
i got a new A7N8X-E DLX and can't seem to get the 2nd GigEnthernet to work. Only the MCP one works. I NEED the GigE working as thats why i got the board. My entire house is rigged up for GigE and we transfer huge videos back and forth its 3 times faster than 100Mb at least.

 

[Pilsnerpete]

Hey, KYFan!

You've got a lot of speed in that thoroughbred-B just waiting to be unleashed. It's not unheard of to get 2.3 or 2.4ghz out of one. It'd be a shame to let that go to waste, so here's some tidbits to help you along your way.

Start with upping the fsb as high as you can with default multi--to test out your processor's top speed.
Then lower your multi to 9.5 and raise the fsb to the limit again--to test the memory's top speed.
Test with prime95 and 3dmark2001 looping overnight or some other system-intensive program of your choosing. I go for 10-minute stress tests between changes though.

Mine is rock stable at 203 x 11 (Finally!!) with Mushkin 3500 Blue. What a quirky thing this deluxe board is. It REALLY hates Twinmos bh-5 memory. That stuff wouldn't even run stable at 200mhz, yet in my sister's IC7, it does 223 just perfect!

 

[edmundoab]

Okay, I am not sure if this question has been asked before.
But I am looking to boot up my PC faster to WindowsXP
And I have recently installed the WD Raptor SATA drive.

Now, Having installed that, I have to activate the SATA Bios.
And it takes sometime to detect the drive before proceeding to Windows Bootup.
any tips on speeding up that process?

Because my IDE detection works with a blink of an eye in contrast to the SATA drive detection.
due to that, I'm getting like an average of 40 sec bootup time.
sorry if I am being too particular

 

[compfreak999]

erm im going to be doing the same thing, maybe disable raid, cause your using the sata controller but not using the function as raid, understand? im not sure if it works but thats what im going to be trying when i get my new hard drive.

 

[yosemitemtb]

After a frustrating afternoon of searching for information on my problem, I hope someone here can help. After updating my bios from 1001 to 1007 today, my processor posts as an XP1500+. No big deal, the external multiplier needs to be reset to 133mhz, right? I've had to do that before. Well, in the BIOS setup, it is already set to 133mhz. Strange thing is that a couple of utility programs (Belarc Advisor and 3DMark2003) say it's set at 100mhz. Now I'm the first to admit that I know just enough about computers to be dangerous to any machine I mess with and this one has me a little stumped. A little help in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Jerry

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

Is the FSB jumper set for the correct freq.? CPU_FSB pins 1-2 = FSB 333/266 or pins 2-3 = FSB 200. See page 21 of user manual for position of jumper.

 

[yosemitemtb]

Originally posted by: OLtimrNewbie
Is the FSB jumper set for the correct freq.? CPU_FSB pins 1-2 = FSB 333/266 or pins 2-3 = FSB 200. See page 21 of user manual for position of jumper.

Yeah, the jumper is set for pins 1-2. When I first got the board, I had a similar problem, but it was solved by setting the cpu external frequency to 133mhz in the bios setup program, this time everything I find says the frequency is set at 100mhz, but when I go in the bios program, it is set at 133mhz. If I set it to anything else, nothing changes...if I set it to 100, it still says 100 in my utility programs, if I set it to 166, it still says 100 in my utility programs. I guess I'll have to go back to an earlier version of the bios. I did find a couple of other posts here and there on other forums describing the same problem, but I haven't found any solution yet. The reason I updatred the bios was because I'm thinking of upgrading the processor and memory, but I'd like to figure this out first! Thanks for the help!