**Official Epox 8K5A Series (KT333) Thread** (Files, Reviews, and Info Inside!)

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: RideFree
Insane,

I have no floopy drives in my systems, so I use a boot CD,

You might mention the 1 caveat to this TIKO, namely that this is not compatible with NT4s RDisk as it insists on writing to the "A" floppy (at least I'm not aware of a work around to this). If you know differently, please advise.

Also, how does this work if you need Ghost (for example) to create the boot disk(s) for access to the CDRWs, network, tape &/or SCSI boot drivers.
I've thought for quite some time that we should be able to get rid of the 'ol floppy but due to the above, haven't ventured into that area again after being so resoundly defeated by WinNT.
Wouldn't one of your systems require at least 1 floppy?

Not sure on NT4 RideFree, but it has worked for me on any board that allows booting from a CD. I have an boot CD image I got from somewhere that loads up nothing but CD drivers and drops you at a "A" prompt. The system at that point sees the CD drive as "A:". It will also assign letters to the other CD drives in the system. I just boot from that, wait till it dumps me to the A: prompt, throw in my CDRW with the AWDFlash and bios files, and run it.

I know what you are saying about NT4 I think, but this is more of a problem with loading Windows, not flashing the bios. There is one thing that couldn't be done without a floppy on this board when loading the OS however. If you are trying to do a fresh install of XP to a HD or RAID array on the HP controller, you would need to have the HP drivers on a floppy for the OS install to "see" the HP controller. So the hitting "F6" operation when loading XP onto drives on the HP would require a floppy.

So, yes, there are some specific times when a floppy may be needed, but I haven't come across any that affect me, so I am happily "floppy free".

One other thing, if you don't have a boot CD image, I used to use an old Win98 CD that would load drivers for the CD drives.

 

[Insane3D]

I just got a new sound card, so I can ditch the onboard sound on my 8K5A2+. Before I use my sound card do I need to disable the onboard sound in the bios? Where is the option at in the bios?

Yes, you would need to dsable the onboard sound in the bios. Go to the Integrated Peripherals ---> Via OnChip PCI Device menu and set "Via AC97 Audio" to "Disabled". Doesn't anyone look at the manual anymore (Page 4-15)?

Also, I heard before udating the BIOS you should set everything back to default (disable all your OCs, ect) Is this true?

Yes, this is important. You should never flash your bios when o/c'ed. It's best to restore your system to stock speeds first, then after flashing either load optimized defaults, or even better, clear your CMOS to make sure non of the old bios settings screw up the new bios. Then go back into the bios and set everything like you had it. It takes a few extra minutes, but it's worth it IMO.

EDIT: forgot one thing, I am getting an internal ZIP drive, can I plug it into one of the extra 2 IDE ports(the red ones) without installing the highpoint drivers?

You can't use ATAPI devices (CDROM, Zip, etc) on the HP controller, only HD's. You would need to connect the Zip drive to one of the blue IDE ports for the chipset. If you decide to use the HP for a HD or HD's, you will need to enable it in the bios, and load the drivers for it in windows.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: FriedRiceBob
Hey ya'll just a little note on updating to 11/01 BIOS.
I first downloaded and installed the latest windows High-point RAID drivers, to be certain of compatibility after flashing. restarted computer, windows still works fine. next, i tried using the winflash program to flash the bios. seemed to work great, restart computer. upon restart, computer hangs after the highpoint v2.34 utility detects drives. also of note, it does not find the RAID 0 array that i have, instead listing both WD400bb drives. Attempts to enter the highpoint utility (ctrl+h) are unsuccesful. next step, disable raid controller in bios, boot from floppy, re-flash new bios. bios flash was successfull, once again with the 11/01 bios release. same problem. finally, i flashed back to 8/15 and got my raid array back. Highpoint v2.32 utility detects it fine. windows is back and that's where i am as of now. Any clues as to what caused my problems with the v2.34 highpoint utility that's included in the latest bios?

SO: anyone with a RAID 0 array, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP OLD BIOS AND FLASH UTILITY HANDY, just in case v2.34 doesnt like you

guess that's all for now...any insight on the raid problem is appreciated.
Fried

Mine did that but under different circumstances. I overclocked too high and I thought I had scragged my drives because when they detected they can back with their drive types like you said, not the RAID identifier I had assigned. I am using a RAID 1 BTW. It refused to go past that point and would never get to Windows. It acted like it just locked up or something. I eventually figured out that if I rebooted and went into the BIOS and chose the Safe Defaults option and rebooted I got my RAID array back. Weird, but it worked. Try it and let me know. It might be a bug we need to point out to Epox/Highpoint.

techfuzz

 

[FriedRiceBob]

Originally posted by: techfuzz

Mine did that but under different circumstances. I overclocked too high and I thought I had scragged my drives because when they detected they can back with their drive types like you said, not the RAID identifier I had assigned. I am using a RAID 1 BTW. It refused to go past that point and would never get to Windows. It acted like it just locked up or something. I eventually figured out that if I rebooted and went into the BIOS and chose the Safe Defaults option and rebooted I got my RAID array back. Weird, but it worked. Try it and let me know. It might be a bug we need to point out to Epox/Highpoint.

techfuzz

thanks for the similar experience. after reading your post, i went ahead and re-flashed to 11/01 and then entered the bios and set "fail-safe" values. it recognized the raid array, so i rebooted and tweaked the bios back out. so basically, if you have RAID you might have to re-tweak all your bios settings

 

[battousai2020]

i have the abit at7e right now, and whenever I oc the motherboard the onboard sound and onboard NIC both die. I am not 100% but i think its because the fsb is too high. Does anyone know if this happens with the epox 8k5a 2+??

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: russr
Insane3d and others interested. I tried out the new 11/01 BIOS and I found one thing that is different in it compared to the older 8/15, 9/05 and 9/09. The 11/01 BIOS slightly underclocks the FSB and hence the CPU clock. For example...I have my FSB running at 166mhz according to BIOS, but WCPUID and CPU-Z report it as 165.6 to 165.7. It also reports my RAM accordingly as 332.3mhz.

The older BIOSes slighly overclocked so at 166mhz in the BIOS I would be at 166.5mhz actually.

Worth nothing I think. Would appreciate any comments and whether or not you've noticed this.

Yep, I had heard this, but it really shouldn't be anything that would affect performance. I think for now I might stick with the 9/9 beta from the AOC forums since those seem to be tweaked for speed a bit more than the official ones.

 

[JustStarting]

I ordered the 8K5A2+ today- switching from a KR7A-Raid. It will compliment my XMS3200 and unlocked AGOIA nicely.

A few questions for the "experts" on this mobo.

1). I'm going to install Win98 and XP in this box- each on different hdd's. Should I set up the OS'es before installing the hdd's on the raid channels? I'm not going to use the raid, but I like my hdd's on the raid channels and my burner and cdrom on the standard IDE channels.

Guessing here- hdd on IDE#1- install 98- install 4 in 1's, HPT, video, sound- shift hdd to IDE#3- install programs. Repeat the same for XP while the other hdd is unplugged (safety). Or- could I just set everything where it will end up and install OS'es.

IDE#1- CDRW
IDE#2- CDROM
IDE#3- hdd w/XP
IDE#4- hdd w/98

 

[Live]

Originally posted by: battousai2020
i have the abit at7e right now, and whenever I oc the motherboard the onboard sound and onboard NIC both die. I am not 100% but i think its because the fsb is too high. Does anyone know if this happens with the epox 8k5a 2+??

I have not heard anything about this. To my knowledge both onboard sound and nic handles 200+ FBS on the 8K5A2+.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: FriedRiceBob

thanks for the similar experience. after reading your post, i went ahead and re-flashed to 11/01 and then entered the bios and set "fail-safe" values. it recognized the raid array, so i rebooted and tweaked the bios back out. so basically, if you have RAID you might have to re-tweak all your bios settings

I think Insane3D pointed out in a previous post in this thread that the recommended procedure for flashing a BIOS is as follows:

1. 0 - Copy down your BIOS settings
   1 - Start Computer
   2 - Enter BIOS, reset BIOS to "fail safe" defaults
   3 - Save & Exit
   4 - Flash BIOS
   5 - Clear CMOS or enter BIOS and choose "fail safe" defaults
   6 - Begin re-tweaking your settings

Fried - I'm glad you got it working!

 

[Insane3D]

Ok guys, I've got some very important info on o/cing the 2400+ and up Tbred "B" cores on the 8K5A2 series. Apparently, on all other KT333 boards, you need to close the last L3 bridge to get access to the 12.5X and below multipliers. After several unsucessful tries, I did some research on the AOA forums, and found out that the Epox 8K5A series need a different mod to unlock the lower multipliers...specific to the 8K5A2, 8K5A2+, and 8K5A3+ boards only. On the 2400+, the last two of the five L3 bridges are cut. On the Epox, to get the 12.5 and below multipliers, you need to close both of the last two L3 bridges.

I just succesfully unlocked my 2400+ after several unsuccessful tries with the "normal" last L3 closing only. After the procedure is done, it boots up as a 1ghz Athlon, or 7 x 133 when it's set on default. I was able to test all the multipliers from 7 up to 12.5 and they all worked fine.

I thought this would save some 2400+/8K5A o/c'ers some of the headache I went through.


Also, from a couple of other posts I found during my research, the Epox KT400 boards allow the full range of multipliers on the 2400+ with no modification. The upcoming Nforce 2 will likely also have this ability.

I should have some initial 2400+ o/c results up sometime tonight..

 

[bupkus]

OK, I'm back on the subscription cause I got a problem with the raid on my 8k5a2+.

I transfered my single hdd from ide1 to ide3, enabled raid and booted. All is ok but I've got a multi-boot system with win98 as C: and XP as D:
Now I can still boot 98 but not xp. Seconds after xp starts the system reboots. Can multi boot work in a raid system? Do I need to reinstall all the OSs?

Soon I will install my new 120GB hdd with multi-boot.

 

[JustStarting]

have you tried swapping the hdd back to IDE1 to see if XP will boot?? I hope XP will run on a dual boot system connected to IDE3 or 4. This is how I plan to set my system up. Maybe I'll try installing the OS'es while connected to the raid channels. It worked on my KT7A-Raid. I was also thinking like you- install OS'es on the primary IDE channels then swap the hdd's to the raid channels. LMK how this turns out.

 

[techfuzz]

Originally posted by: bupkus
OK, I'm back on the subscription cause I got a problem with the raid on my 8k5a2+.

I transfered my single hdd from ide1 to ide3, enabled raid and booted. All is ok but I've got a multi-boot system with win98 as C: and XP as D:
Now I can still boot 98 but not xp. Seconds after xp starts the system reboots. Can multi boot work in a raid system? Do I need to reinstall all the OSs?

Soon I will install my new 120GB hdd with multi-boot.

bupkus, It sounds like when you say you "enabled raid" you turned it on in the BIOS? Is that correct? If so, then it was likely disabled when you were booting to XP on IDE1 and the drivers weren't installed. Put your HD back on IDE1 with RAID enabled and boot into XP. Go get the highpoint raid drivers (link is in the first message of this thread) and install them. Then shutdown and move it back to IDE3 and reboot. I have a feeling that Windows doesn't like booting from and unknown device like a RAID controller without proper driver support. LMK

techfuzz

 

[AMDBOY]

Epox8K5A2+ won't post with Corsair XMS2702v2.1??
New system (Epox 8K5A2+) only works with PC2100 I stole from another system. The 512MB DIMM (XMS2702v2.1) XMS2700 cas 2 wouldn't post in either system I have that uses DDR. That led me to believe that I had a bad DIMM. I RMA'd it back to Googlegear. The DIMM they sent me won't post either. Both systems work fine with different combinations of DDR sticks in different slots etc, BUT; whenever the 512 MB XMS2700 is introduced into either system, the system won't even post. Just get the long beep code & C1 memory error on the Epox board. Did Googlegear send me my same DIMM by mistake?? How can this be mobo error when different mobo's work fine with other DDR RAM ?? Sounds like a bad DIMM to me, how about you? What do you all feel it might be? Thanks for all your help,--- Amdboy---

 

[deerslayer]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Ok guys, I've got some very important info on o/cing the 2400+ and up Tbred "B" cores on the 8K5A2 series. Apparently, on all other KT333 boards, you need to close the last L3 bridge to get access to the 12.5X and below multipliers. After several unsucessful tries, I did some research on the AOA forums, and found out that the Epox 8K5A series need a different mod to unlock the lower multipliers...specific to the 8K5A2, 8K5A2+, and 8K5A3+ boards only. On the 2400+, the last two of the five L3 bridges are cut. On the Epox, to get the 12.5 and below multipliers, you need to close both of the last two L3 bridges.

I just succesfully unlocked my 2400+ after several unsuccessful tries with the "normal" last L3 closing only. After the procedure is done, it boots up as a 1ghz Athlon, or 7 x 133 when it's set on default. I was able to test all the multipliers from 7 up to 12.5 and they all worked fine.

I thought this would save some 2400+/8K5A o/c'ers some of the headache I went through.


Also, from a couple of other posts I found during my research, the Epox KT400 boards allow the full range of multipliers on the 2400+ with no modification. The upcoming Nforce 2 will likely also have this ability.

I should have some initial 2400+ o/c results up sometime tonight..

What a wealth of knowledge in this thread and it's not at the top :Q

^^^

 

[BZeto]

I have my hard drive (I only have 1) hooked upto one of the RAID IDE ports. I've been having problems with booting up, I cant even get into windows. I noticed it is the secondary master. I have it hooked upto the top RAID IDE port. Does it need to be the primary master? So I would need to move it down to the bottome RAID IDE port?

here is my IDE setup

Blue IDE ports

Primary master- ZIP 100 drive
Primary Slave- none
Secondary master- Lite On CDRW drive
Secondary Slave- Samsung CDROM drive

Red (RAID) IDE ports

Primary master- none
Primary slave- none
Secondary master- Seagate 40gb HDD
Secondary slave- none

I got into windows XP once with this setup, but after using the system restore feature b/c my PC was kinda screwy it had to restart and I haven't been able to get back into windows since.

 

[bupkus]

Ok, do you want the long story or the short?
In the previous episode, meathead(that's me )tried moving his multiboot hdd connector from ide1 to ide3. W98 as C: asked for raid drivers and did fine. XP as lets say D: drive would reboot the system 2 seconds after the splash screen went up. I tried a repair and even installing the raid drivers as the opportunity for which you may have noticed is in the earliest stages of XP installation. Nada. I moved back to ide1 and still good. I made sure my backup was current, and then tried a repair command in XP console called >bootcfg. Ok, to cut this short my xp partition was no longer visible(thanks microsoft) so I recoupled to ide3 and reinstalled barebones installations to see if it would work. It did! I had dual boot working at ide3.
Ok, so now I swap out the 40Gig IBM hdd and install my new WD 120Gig and guess what... the bios doesn't see it at ide3! I move the ribbon to ide1 and voila, there it is. So I say f*** this and leave it at ide1, install w98 and XP and after updating xp online I plug in this Ultra100 TX2 Controller by Promise and all is butta. Promise sees my dvd, cdrw and zip drives. Damn, don't you just love a happy ending?

 

[Technonut]

BZeto... Unless you have stuff on your drive that you cannot live without, I suggest that you use a boot disk and format your drive. Make sure that the drive is set as Master on the Primary Highpoint controller, and have the Highpoint driver disk in your floppy drive when you start the XP installation. When prompted, install the drivers from the disk, and proceed with the XP installation.

EDIT: After installation, keep current backups of your important updates and files with your burner...

 

[JustStarting]

there seems to be some issues with people getting dual boot systems running on the raid channels on the 8K5A2+. what is the proper method? I'm gathering my final components this week, and would like to get my system up shortly thereafter.

My wish is to set it up like below:

IDE 1= CDRW
IDE 2= CDROM
IDE 3= 20gd hdd w/ Win98
IDE 4= 60gb hdd w/ XP

Instructions or recommendations would be helpful.

THX!!

 

[RideFree]

What a wealth of knowledge in this thread and it's not at the top

Ain't it the truth!

 

[RideFree]

Epox8K5A2+ won't post with Corsair XMS2702v2.1??

AMDBOY,
Did you try the stick of 512 in slot 2 or 3?
Let us know.

 

[RideFree]

I wanted to recommend the 11/1 BIOS!
My AGOIA was just a little bit (kind of like being a little bit pregnant) flakey at 166FSB with the 8/15 BIOS and after flashing to 11/1, it's been "like a rock"!
In about a week, I'm going to try reducing the .1v boost it needed under the 8/15 BIOS version.

 

[techfuzz]

Something strange has happened to my board I think? My girlfriend comes over to my place this last Friday while I was at work. She says that when she walked in, my computer was on and was making a loud noise so she says she turned it off. The noise I can explain, I have a Tornado on the CPU. The part I can't explain was the computer being on. Because the fan is so loud, I turn the PC off before I go to bed. I also know that I didn't turn it on that morning either, I had no reason to. So sometime on Friday between the time I left to the time my g/f comes by my place that afternoon, my PC somehow powered itself on.

2 days later I'm back at my desk after along weekend of watching football. I decided to play with my new PC again so I try to power it up, I hear everything get going, hard drive and fans spinning, but nothing on the monitor comes up. I begin tinkering around with it but to no avail. I can only find one thing physically wrong with it at the moment. No matter how many times I power it on or off, the LCD for the BIOS codes never shows ANYTHING. NOTHING! NADA! ZILCH! I've tried every trick in the book ranging from pulling everything non-essential and everything essential just to get something from it but still nothing.

When this board gets powered on, does anything immediately show up? I think my board has already bit the big one! And sadly to say it is only a week old!
Any ideas short of returning it?

 

[BZeto]

Originally posted by: RideFree
I wanted to recommend the 11/1 BIOS!
My AGOIA was just a little bit (kind of like being a little bit pregnant) flakey at 166FSB with the 8/15 BIOS and after flashing to 11/1, it's been "like a rock"!
In about a week, I'm going to try reducing the .1v boost it needed under the 8/15 BIOS version.

is the 11/1 the latest OFFICIAL BIOS?

 

[RideFree]

techfuzz,
Did you try booting from a write-protected floppy w/sys files?
(A floppy that you can guarantee is clean?)
:Q