**Official Chaintech Zenith VNF4 nForce4 Motherboard Thread**

[shleepy]

Thanks for the info on updating BIOS!

GadgetBuilder - temps are good (about 30). I haven't tried Memtest86 yet, but this doesn't seem to be a RAM problem, if that's what you're thinking, though I might try it later today. I've reset the BIOS a couple times, but considering I only tried changing RAM timings early on, and then set it back to default, it's probably not that, either. I'll try doing a couple things related to that today, though.

What do you guys think about APIC and MPS? Should I leave those Enabled and 1.4, respectively?

 

[GadgetBuilder]

The reason I asked about the memory is that a Chaintech S1689 board recently had VERY similar symptoms to those you describe and it turned out to be a bad stick of RAM, see:
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?p=3389747#post3389747

I think it pays to check the simple things first like memory, PSU voltages, and BIOS configuration then go on from there if needed.

Please keep us up to date on how you are progressing.

Always remember when helping a friend build a system: No good deed goes unpunished

 

[OVERKILL]

Ahill,

Whats the status of your RMA?


Also, This board sounded good until I got to reading all the problems people are having with it. :frown:

It's a little annoying that most of the better overclocking AMD 64 PCI-E boards are around the $140 range.

 

[Xenophoebic]

I just got my VNF4 and a Chaintech GF6600GT also. I hooked everything up, got the 20 pin power adapter correctly installed into the 24 pin slot, have 2 hds hooked up, one Sony Dual Layer DVDRW, 1g(2x512) Dual Channel OCZ DDR400 ram, Sound Blaster Audigy, and Linksys Wireless-G w/ Speed boost.

I powered on teh system, and all the fans went on, but i got no video to my monitor.

The monitor, sound card, and wifi card are all from my old system so i know they work. The powersupply too. Any ideas on what might be wrong? Mobo defective? Video Card defective?

 

[shleepy]

Xeno, you should check that the video card is getting power, first of all. Secondly, I know that when I didn't have the power for the video card plugged in, everything turned on, but there was a message saying that the power to the video card must be plugged in... it could be the motherboard's fault if your video card isn't supposed to have that message, but it's more likely that it's a defective video card (in which case, it wouldn't even give that message or something like it, to ya). Also, make sure your cables are all alright (i.e. from video card to monitor) and that your monitor is alright.


Now, about my problem: Gadget, what I'll try to do is replace RAM one stick at a time and try loading Knoppix to see what it says. However, my problem isn't quite like the one in the link you gave me. Also, I am almost sure it's an IRQ problem. The bad part about that is that it's probably very hard to fix.

 

[Xenophoebic]

nvm! in my haste i forgot to lock down the cpu. reseated it and everything is working, installing OS now!

 

[Xenophoebic]

double post, sorry.

 

[shleepy]

OK, now I honestly have no clue what to do.

First of all, I tried taking out one RAM module at a time to see if I can stop the error messages when loading Knoppix. That accomplished nothing. Then, I tried moving the IDE cable for the DVD drives (they share one) to the second IDE slot. Not only did that not help, but Knoppix does not even load any more.

Now, the main part - I tried memtest86 and I get about 500 errors or so in test 5 (at the end of the test) and somewhere around 300,000 on test 7. I tried setting APIC on and off and I tried setting the timings to 2-2-2-7, instead of the default Mushkin ones, with the same results, except that with APIC on, during the second run of all the tests, test 2 gets a huge number of errors, as well.

Finally, whenever I turn the computer on now, it tells me that it's now booting in Safe Mode and that I should reset CPU frequency in CMOS. I never tried changing the CPU frequency or anything like that. In fact, I loaded up Optimized Defaults, just in case, but I still get that message. Memtest86, nevertheless, boots.... I just have to press F1 to continue.

A couple of questions: What timings should I try and what voltages? I have Mushkin PC3200 Black Level One (2x 512Mb). I don't know much about AMD chipsets and suggested timings for them (I just have my P4 running at 2-2-2-5 with Turbo on, heh). Also, does anyone know what the memtest86 errors might mean? I doubt (and hope) the RAM isn't defective. And, finally, what does the blue box on the second loading screen in the top right corner mean? It says 96, I believe. I'm thinking it might be a POST code, but it's on the screen following all the POST code stuff and it's in a blue box.

 

[GadgetBuilder]

The booting in Safe Mode and Memtest86 seem to be trying to tell you the same thing: the memory is flaky. You should probably simplify the situation as much as possible: disconnect everything that isn't needed to run Memtest86 and use 1 stick of memory. Clear the CMOS, ensure the floppy is the boot device and start it up - don't fool with the other BIOS settings. If you get the Safe Mode error or Memtest86 doesn't run flawlessly, try the other stick of memory. You shouldn't have to set memory speeds or APIC by hand, just power it up and it should run Memtest86.

The memory controller is built into the A64 so there isn't much to go wrong other than the CPU socket or the memory socket on the mother board. Memory itself is the most likely suspect, the CPU, memory sockets, and board itself are less likely. You might check the CPU and memory seating to ensure they are set properly and also the heat sinks (CPU and NF4) and temps to make sure they are OK. Check voltages reported by BIOS to ensure the PSU is OK. The usual suspects

If all looks good and it still doesn't work, do you have memory from another machine you could try?

 

[shleepy]

Long delay between posts, but as soon as I posted last time, I tried just running memtest on one stick of RAM at a time and there ya have it Gadgetbuilder was right all along (props and cookies to GadgetBuilder)! One of the sticks was bad.

 

[Burts]

I just built my 1st pc
Chaintek vnf4 Ultra
Leadtek 6600Gt pci Express
1 gig of Mushkin ram
Windows Xp service pack 2
Firewalls Off, virus Off
I got the latest bios and got the drivers that came on the cd's
Everything is going good but I cant play any of my online games
In Quake 3 in Multiplayer I get locked up after 5 seconds in some servers and have to reset. In another I can play fine then when I quit it locks up, after every reset the resolution returns to 800x600. Punkbuster enabled
In battlefield 1942 I can play for like 8 minutes then it locks up, resolution stays the same after restart.
6.6.93 is my display driver 10/29/04
Uggh help me please

 

[Othelo1]

Just recieved two of these babies from Newegg, one for myself and another for my wife. Paired em with an AMD64 3200, 2 512 sticks of Kinston DDR 400 value ram, XFX GF6600 non gt model card, a Seagate ST# 120 gb SATA HD and a Samsung TS-H552 DVD Drive (hers has a generic 480 watt PS, mine a 500W Rosewill RE-502).

So far so good on both systems have had some minor issues with power going out on my wife's system but I think that may be a card not seated properly. When the system goes out I simply open up the case and push on the cards and it powers up fine.

I have (thusfar) had 0 problems with any hardware recognition, memory configuration or sound.

But the reason I'm posting is related to the passive cooling system on the mobo. I may have solved that problem in kind of a round about way. I also purchased an Arctic Cooling heatsink for the AMD, and its one big momma it has a fan mounted on the side, some huge heat dispersers and a couple of copper tubes leading up through them. It is so big that the fan not only disperses heat from the CPU but also seems to blow air along the top edge of the MOBO's passive heatsink! Even though her case has 3 fans and mine only 2 my MOBO runs about an average of 2degrees cooler!

This was a complete accident on my part, but a happy one nonetheless.

One small complaint though, not with the board itself but with the firewall softwere that comes with it. I would suggest HIGHLY NOT using it. It seems to interfere with many different applications that access the internet for updates. Norton liveupdate in particular. Use Zonealarm or some other firewall that auto configures instead ans avoid the headache of shutting it down every time you want to update.

Oh and incedentally and only vaguely related to the above, I will NEVER buy another Dell again, period. I made the mistake of assuming that I could replace the MOBO on my system and boy was I wrong. Yes I should have known that Dell would pull such a stunt but when I opened the case and found that not only the case itself but the MOBO were both proprietary, I about lost it. So, in addition to buying all the parts I had to buy myself a case and an additional copy of WinXP, needless to say I was NOT happy. Yes I should have checked beforehand but the simple fact that any upgrades I would have made on that system would have had to been made through Dell left me fuming, That would have meant that I was stuck with a MOBO almost impossible to overclock and an overpriced and underperforming Intel CPU.

Oh well lesson learned....

 

[Othelo1]

Originally posted by: Burts
I just built my 1st pc
Chaintek vnf4 Ultra
Leadtek 6600Gt pci Express
1 gig of Mushkin ram
Windows Xp service pack 2
Firewalls Off, virus Off
I got the latest bios and got the drivers that came on the cd's
Everything is going good but I cant play any of my online games
In Quake 3 in Multiplayer I get locked up after 5 seconds in some servers and have to reset. In another I can play fine then when I quit it locks up, after every reset the resolution returns to 800x600. Punkbuster enabled
In battlefield 1942 I can play for like 8 minutes then it locks up, resolution stays the same after restart.
6.6.93 is my display driver 10/29/04
Uggh help me please

Do you have the Nvidia firewall installed and running? If so this may be the culprit. As I mentioned before this thing is very good, almost too good.

UGH NM I reread your post and discovered you turned the firewalls off. May be a onboard LAN issue then, any other hiccups when downloading files etc. ?

 

[Cyrus78]

Hi all,

I've just upgraded my Barton+NF2 based rig to the newer A64 based config and I chose Chaintech VNF4 Ultra Zenith VE as the base of my new rig. I own this board only for 2 days and I've a question in connection with the C'n'Q. Does this work on this mobo ? Does it work during overclocking ? How can be activated ? In BIOS it is set to AUTO (the other option is Disabled).

I have the newest revision of this board with active cooling on the chipset (which is extremely quit, I would say this active cooler is noiseless), and with the newest bios version (black PCB).

I'm running my 3000+ winchester at 2500MHz with 1.45V (waiting for a newer bios version which has perfect voltage control between 1.45V and 1.6V), the FSB(HT) is ~310MHz, CPU freq multi is 8x, ram divider is 5/6, HT multi is 3x. I'm using WinXP SP2.

Awesome board, I like it very much !

So could anyone answer to my C'n'Q related question ?

 

[Burts]

Ive got no other issues doing things online, only my games, does anyone else play online games with my setup?

 

[Cyrus78]

I play Counter-Strike online, my firewall is set to High, it works without any problems.

 

[gobucks]

i had a lot of problems with my firewall, so i just turned it off and used the windows firewall.

 

[crucibelle]

Cyrus,

Where did you buy your new revision board at?!?

 

[Burts]

I just installed half life counter strike with steam, it plays just fine with no lock ups. Might be punkbuster and my new hardware???Help

 

[thunderroller]

i had bad exprience with Zenith

 

[crucibelle]

thunderroller,

Are you talking about the VNF4 Ultra, specifically? What types of problems did you have?

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

I just build a computer with this Mobo:

A64 3200+
Zalman 7700 AlCu
2X 512 MB Corsair Value CAS 2.5
NEC 3500 DVDRW
2X WD Raptor RAID 0
ATI X800XL

So far, everything seems to be working well. I play WoW and had no problems last night. Tonight I had two crashes, but my friends in the group had crashes at the exact same time so I think it's a game issue. Problem is now I can't get back in because the crash happens as soon as I enter the world. We'll see what happens there.

My network stuff seems to be working fine, but when I tried the NV Firewall, I couldn't access any websites. I didn't want to figure out how to configure it (was set to medium, so I'm not sure why it didn't work), so now I am just running windows firewall. I am also behind a hardware firewall, so I'm not too worried.

My Zalman CPU Cooler also cools the passive heatsink, so I'm pretty happy with that setup. I have it running @ the lowest speed, and I think my temps are around 30C for the mobo and 23 C for the CPU. I think my CPU got to 33 after playing WoW for a while, but it never reached higher than that. House temps are usually high 60's, so that's part of the reason my comp temps are so low.

Overall I am very happy with the board and my overall setup. I would like to find a way to slow down the video card fan speeds if possible, so if any of you know a way, please post. I saw a program called ATI Tool, but it didn't seem to have any fan control.

Also, if anyone knows a way to monitor mobo temps, let me know. I tried the NV Tune program, but it says the BIOS doesn't support NV Monitor. I also tried MBM, but that doesn't have a preset config, and all I could get was CPU temp of -123C and a mobo temp of 70C and then I gave up. Currently I'm using a program called Everest, but it doesn't really let you do any realtime monitoring unless you open the entire window (at least that I could see). If anyone knows how to enable NV Monitor or knows of an alternate program to check temps and fan speeds, please let me know.

Thanks,
D'oh!

 

[Cyrus78]

Originally posted by: crucibelle
Cyrus,

Where did you buy your new revision board at?!?

Well, I bought it in Hungary (as I'm Hungarian -> Center-Europe). I was also surprised when I opened the box and I saw that this board is the newest one. :thumbsup:

 

[GadgetBuilder]

Cyrus78:

I don't know what the CnQ setting in BIOS does. I added the CnQ available from AMD:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Tec...alResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html

CnQ drops the CPU idle temp about 7C. I also added SpeedFan and set the fan speed to 60% when temp is below 30C -- this makes the AMD fan inaudible at idle - the CPU temp rises 1C at 60% fan. Under load, SpeedFan turns the fan to 100% and it becomes audible.

I don't overclock so I don't know how CnQ affects it.


AnnoyedGrunt:

The info for the VNF4 to use MBM:

CPU diode temp: ITE8712F-1 Diode
CASE Diode temp: ITE8712F-2
Voltages: ITE8712F Standard 1
Fan1: ITE8712F-1 Fan Type /1, divider 4
Fan2: ITE8712F-2 Fan Type /1, divider 8 (makes it agree with BIOS)

MBM isn't being updated any more so I switched to SpeedFan 4.20 It finds the VNF4's sensors automatically and works well for monitoring fans, temps and voltages plus it controls the CPU fan speed.

I uploaded my SpeedFan configuration to the SpeedFan site but it is well hidden: go to Beta (upper right button) and pretend you're going to upload a VNF4 configuration; eventually it will allow you to download the VNF4 configuration. Put the file in the Program Files folder for SpeedFan and try it - I suspect it will do all the configuration work automatically. It is Beta so test at your own risk, of course.

 

[shleepy]

AnnoyedGrunt, for your WoW issue:

Go to worldofwarcraft.com and in the Support category on the left (or something like that), there's Tools. Click on that link and find the repair utility.