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

[tecnomuzik]

I've tried setting the AGP aperture to the highest the board supports... 256mb
I've tried enabling the AGP instead of the PCI graphics in the BIOS

I get video corruption immediately after powering on the system, not even a clean post... I can't see the post because of the corruption.

I originally had the Geforce3 videocard but I've since wiped the sytem and still the same problem. Right now there is no OS installed and I still have corruption.

I've tried removing my 3 sticks of ram and used just one stick of corsair, same problem. I may look at my powersupply next. It's an Antec True430.

As for ATI they seemed pretty surprised that I was still having the same problem with a second card, so now they're sending me a third card to try.

What did you mean by the +12v rail?

Thanks for all the ideas! My head is sore from all the banging against the wall I've been doing between this and the Cubs.

 

[Assimilator1]

Did you try each of the 3 sticks of RAM seperatley?

Am I right in saying that you've tried the Radeon (2 of) & GF3 & you get the same corruption?
If so it'll either be a bad mbrd or PSU ,assuming you've elimanted RAM as mentioned earlier.
(I guess its remotely possible that your CPU has gone bad but try the others 1st)

Re 12v rail ,he's talking about the 12v output of the PSU.

If you don't have a spare PSU you can swap it out with get hold of a voltmeter/multimeter & measure the 3 '+' lines (3.3,5 & 12) when its booting up (hit the 'pause' button if needed) ,they should vary by no more than 5%

OLtimrNewbie
Swapping vid cards does prove a point if your only checking upto POST

Inccidentley ,anyone know the answer to my earlier question?

Btw I noticed in Asus's BIOS download page there's 1008 ,but it was released before the 1007 bios! ,What's going on their? (& no it wasn't for rev2.0 mbrds)

 

[tecnomuzik]

The only stick of RAM I tried by itself was the one stick of Corsair. The 3 sticks I'm currently using are all the same brand, but I will try some more things tonight. The computer works no problem with the Geforce3 videocard, but the fan on that card only works sometimes. Part of the reason why I upgraded.

I even updated my Bios to the 1008 and still have the same problem.

I do have a spare PS that I will try and will post the results sometime later tonight.

 

[rbV5]

Btw I noticed in Asus's BIOS download page there's 1008 ,but it was released before the 1007 bios! ,What's going on their? (& no it wasn't for rev2.0 mbrds)

Are you sure?

1008...2004/06/18
1007...2003/10/09

are the dates I see for the bios here.

 

[Assimilator1]

Yep I'm sure ,I was looking at this page which is for the non deluxe version.
The dates seem to be screwed up there whilst their not at the deluxe page!

tecnomuzik
As I said you need to test out each RAM stick seperately to elimnate that possibilty

 

[tecnomuzik]

Thanks for the info. I'll test out the RAM sticks tonight.

While looking for info about this card, I've seen reviews with pictures of the card, but in the pictures of the videocard, the card has a 4-pin Molex power connector. My card has the small 4-pin floppy type connector. Is it possible I don't even have a 9800 but a 9700 instead? Does ATI use both a molex and floppy type connectors for the required added power?

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

OK; so it isn't drivers !! How about AGP card Voltage? The handbook Page 18 says AGP8X at 1.5V AGP card. When you get the next card... Specify 1.5 Volts. If you are using a card that uses 2.6 or 3.3 you won't be powering up the card adequately. Maybe; just maybe that is the problem. On the other hand if the AGP slot was of the older type with 3.3v. and you were to stick a 1.5v card in it. Smoke will appear on power up. KABLOOOIE
ALSO: read the CAUTION on page 18.

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

technomuzik; Please let us know what the problem was when you get it fixed. The suspense is way too much!

 

[Linflas]

Ok I am stumped. I have a 200 GB Seagate drive in a machine with an A7N8X-Deluxe and suddenly I can no longer boot XP with this drive hooked up. I can boot up with the Seagate tools CD and run diagnostics all night with no errors but still no boot. The drive access light stays lit constantly with the drive hooked up. I popped it into another machine and am currently copying all the stuff I want off of it but I am stumped as to why it seems to not work in the other machine. I did try a new cable etc and other drives work on that controller. Anyone have any ideas of something to look for?

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

Is the new 200 gb the only drive connected? Is it a master or slave ? Are the master/slave pins jumpered for what you want? Is windows looking for that large a drive or is it expecting a 137Gb maximum. Simple things really; but sometimes overlooked.... What Bios version is your board at.?

 

[tecnomuzik]

Well well well, sorry for the delay, but it was my power supply that was causing the problem. I ended up swapping out a PS from another computer and it worked, but then I had to still buy a new PS because my original one wouldn't power all the drives in my other system. Oh well. It all works now though. THANKS FOR ALL THE IDEAS! I've decided to update my hard drive during the whole process so now I have the Western Digital Raptor 36GB, 10K RPM I'm finishing up the install now, and I can't wait!

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: OLtimrNewbie
Is the new 200 gb the only drive connected? Is it a master or slave ? Are the master/slave pins jumpered for what you want? Is windows looking for that large a drive or is it expecting a 137Gb maximum. Simple things really; but sometimes overlooked.... What Bios version is your board at.?

Drive is configured for cable select, was up and running fine in the machine until one night when I shut down and the machine would not complete the shutdown. I have a RAID 0 array in the machine to boot off of along with 2 CD devices on the 2nd IDE controller and 2 drives on the Primary IDE controller. I tried it with just the one drive connected and still no boot. As I said it runs all the Seagate diags in the same machine flawlessly and when I moved it to another box Windows sees it just fine. I have not tried to move it back over to the A7N8X machine yet.

 

[OLtimrNewbie]

Bumped

 

[ruefy13]

Hi everybody,

I have a major problem and it's really wierd. Ok first off as you can see in my sig i have a successfully running A7N8X Deluxe rev 2.0....and havn't had any problems for the last 5 months since i Oc'ed my 2600+ to 2.2Ghz. Well now i have some problem and it's got me confused. By the way my OC was completely stable and system was running cool so that didn't cause this.

Well here's the prob......i came home today from work and i have my PC set up so that when i am away for more than 30 minutes the monitor shuts off....nothing else no standby or anything just the monitor shuts off.....well i came home and the PC was running and i moved the mouse to get the monitor to come on, it came on for like 1 second showing windows and then BAM it lost its connection and acted like no PC was present. So, then i thought the monitor may have died and i restarted the PC but it wouldn't even POST.....i hear the HD spin up and the HD activity light comes on and all of a sudden it just sits there with no POST beebs or anything........What do i do now??>

I've already cleared the CMOS and still the same, right now i removed all power from the PC and see if that does somethoing if i leave it awhile.

It almost seemed like when the monitor came on it fried the PC.....is that possible?>?

What can i do? everything worked great until today and i've had the PC over a year now.

Any suggestions would be great
Thanks

 

[Assimilator1]

Its more likely something died in the PC & thus you lost the picture (especially as you mention thiers no POST beep) ,unless your saying the monitor literally went 'BAM' ?

You need to cut the system to the bare bones & see if it boots like that.Disconnect,remove everything except CPU,CPU fan,graphics card & one stick of RAM (& ATX plug of course!) ,if it does boot then add back the non essentials 1 at a time rebooting each time until it fails.Then you've found your faulty h/w

If it doesn't boot swap the RAM sticks over.
If it still doesn't boot swap out the graphics card (even an old PCI one will do)
If it still doesn't boot swap out the PSU ,or you could probe the ATX plug with a voltmeter whilst attempting to boot,max variance of 5% on the '+' lines.

If it still doesn't boot & assuming you've got a good PSU then either the mbrd is faulty or the CPU is(more likely the mbrd).
Swap out the CPU if you can to discount that

Let us know how you get on

 

[ruefy13]

Thanks for the reply,

I've actually been working trying to fix the system for a day now, and unfortunately i don't have another PC here that i can swap parts with( i'm a poor college kid). As wierd as the problem came about i think i've narrowed it down to the Mob, probably a corrupt bios, how that happened in the situation i described i can't explain, but i have ordered a bios chip from badflash.com and it should be here on Tues. If that doesn't work i'll prob RMA the mobo.

The reason i think it is the mobo....i've had probs with the mobo in the past with bios corruption and having to reflash it with a floppy, but it hasn't happened in the last 4 months so i thought it was fine.... i was always too lazy to RMA it before becasue i could fix it with a quick bios flash per floppy disk. Unfortunatly this time like i said i get no POST whatsoever. I've already pulled out the RAM and cpu, and Gfx card and different times and i can't even get a Bios error Beeb!? The monitor still works and didn't blow out, it actually tries to come on first when i turn on the PC but then a No signal sign comes up on the screen a second later, and the PC just sits there. I hear and watch the fans come on, the CD drives work but it never POSTs or even accesses the floppy, it s gotta be the mobo i think but let me know if you think i should try something else. By the way i was not moving the PC when this happened so nothing should have moved, it just came about....pretty wierd......i figure i got a bad mobo from the start when i built this pc a year ago because i've had multiple probs with it.....I built the exact same PC for my parents and they havn't had a single prob so somethings up.....and the A7N8X Deluxe has a history of corrupt bios chips i've read. I also don't think it is my PSU because it is a quality Antec but hey it could be, i have no way of testing though and everything turns on so how could it be that?

Any other advice? Also if i swap mobos, say i get a new A7N8X Deluxe-E will i be able to boot into windows or have to reinstall windows cauz i want to rescue some stuff on my HD???

 

[Assimilator1]

I can't really help you any further ,if you can't swap out stuff then your screwed really ,can't you borrow bits from a mates PC?

Btw re Antec PSU

I also don't think it is my PSU because it is a quality Antec but hey it could be,

That's exactly what my mate John said about his failing PC ,I told him to swap it out anyway just incase.
Guess what? ........ the PSU was faulty
Also 'thinking' isn't knowing ,you might be right about the bios chip ,if you dont mind the hassle & expense of getting another chip then fair enough but the process of elimnation is cheaper

Keep us posted

Re Windows ,in theory it should be ok ,but in practice you can never be certain until you've done it! ,sorry I can't be more helpful there

 

[ruefy13]

Thanks for the replay again. I'll keep you posted and let you know if swapping the bios chip works.....i'm getting the new chip today or tomorrow in the mail. Yeah i know thinking isn't knowing, but unfortunately none of my friends are into computers at all, so without traveling 4 hours to my parents house i can't really swap anything.....i really hope it isn't the PSU but i could see that it might be. But, wouldn't i still get some kind of POST even if it was? or how can the PSU being faulty just not let the system POST but everything comes on like fans and CD drives and the HD spins up, and the system has been working fine for the last year....so i just don't understand how it coul be the PSU. I'm just praying this works when i swap the chips.

One other questions, say that my gfx card was bad would this prevent the system from Posting or should i get at least an error beep in that situation? i know i'm not giving anyone much to work with but thanks for the advice.

 

[unitee311]

When I power up, the boot screen (that says a7n8x-e deluxe and is sorta green) RARELY is not screwed up. It flickers and is illegible. Any ideas??

 

[Assimilator1]

Have you tried a different graphics card?

ruefy13
Re PSUs they have 3 different voltage lines ,it is possible that 1 line could go weak & the other 2 being ok.It does depend on the build of the PSU though.
Fans are 12v, & if I recall rightly HDDs &CDs are 5v whilst the CPU & chipset line is 3.3v

 

[unitee311]

No I haven't.

I'm also having the problem that whenever I use my tv the computer is completely unstable and almost always will end up blue screening or causing some sort of memory error before restarting the whole system.

This is actually the more disturbing of my problems

 

[Assimilator1]

That sounds like your mains voltage isn't holding up!:Q ,not overloading the sockets or ring main are you?
Does it do the same to the PC if you switch on a kettle in the same socket as the TV?

 

[ruefy13]

Well, I got a new bios chip today, installed it and still no luck, no POST at all......wierd thing is that if i take the comouter and eveything out of the board and start it i get a CPU not present error.....but when i add the CPU i again get no POST at all.,..i read in another forum that this happened to some people and it looks like it would be the CPU but the other people that experienced it RMA'd the mobos and all was fine so thats what i'm doing now.......gotta wait for the RMA......lots of fun.......any other suggestions......could also be the PSU but i don't know how it could be the CPU after riunning fine for a year with great cooling.

Anyone know??

 

[Assimilator1]

PSUs could fail at any time potentially ,whether it be some months or years.

Check out my earlier posts for diagnosing/elimanting faulty parts

 

[Hikari]

Anyone know what the best CPU I can probably use is?

I have the A7N8X Deluxe 1.04 with 1008 BIOS. My ram is 2x512 of some Corsair Low Latency PC3200.

Right now I'm using an XP1700+ running at 167x11.5. I've tried doing 200mhz on it at 9 and 9.5, but it just blue screens, so I don't know if my board can't handle the 200mhz bus, or if it is just my CPU.

I take it I will have the multiplier problem on some of the mobile Bartons?

TIA!