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New system having troubles.... please help.

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Strykar

Registered
Joined
Sep 13, 2004
Setup:

Asus A8V Deluxe
AMD A64 3000+ S939
Kingston HyperX KHX3200
ATi 9800 Pro
One 20 gig WD400 (no that's not my main hard drive, i just knew something would mess up so I didnt risk it, thank goodness i didnt)
One CD-RW connected to the secondary controller

Ive gotten the system to a semi-stable point, but it's no where near complete imo.

Upon boot, no IDE devices post and I recieve the dreaded "bios not installed message"

So, I enter setup. Walaa! Devices are there, and apparently the bios is actually installed, because what am i tweaking? Duh...

Memory is set at PC200 1:1.... and im thinking... WTF? PC200 is more like 1:2 with the 3000+ is it not? For kicks, i can set it to PC400, but it will boot loop after the Windows boot screen, grrf.

So im stuck with BH-5 that can't run over 100mhz, what a friggen drag!

So, im curious... is there anything I can do?

Yes, I can get into Windows and access everything fine, playing HL2 quite well, but obviously, it could be better if the ram were running correctly.

Already I have:

Fdisk'd and performed a CLEAN install of XP, which I finally got to finish installing after numerous attempts that ended with bluescreens, different errors every single time.

Flashed the Bios to 1008

Disabled AI Overclocking and Cool and Silent, made no difference though.

Ran memory tests, got 2 or 3 errors towards the end, but they were very small and seemed insignifficant. I've already contacted Kingston regarding that, just in case though.

Im really at a loss... ive heard of needing a clean harddrive for S939 systems, but this is far and beyond that...


Thanks in advance... id really appreciate your help guys!


Think the 1009 bios set would do anything substantial?
 
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Maybe these will help... the fsb looks fine and shouldnt be limiting the memory speed at all....

I can get bios screenies if you need.
 

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Well, the post message was simple enough, just had to disable the onboard RAID, but i dont know about the memory problem yet.
 
Anyone else having problems with BH-5 on this board?

Just got an email from Kingston

Dear Alan,

Some customers did have trouble running hyperx and they had to adjust these
timings:

Cas: 2
Ras to Cas delay: 3
Ras Precharge: 3

Then the system ran stable.

Also make sure you are not confusing memory speed with FSB speed. To run
DDR memory at 400Mhz, the FSB should be 200Mhz.

Be aware, HyperX is not a recommended part for any system listed on our
website. It is a high performance part with settings that are higher than
standard memory. Because of this, it may not work in some systems.

Aw, i wanted to run PC800 :(

lmao, thats kinda screwed up that they dont reccomend the ram, but they sell it.... how do you market something like that? "BUY OUR XTREME MEMORY @ 2-2-2-5 EVENTHOUGH YOU CAN'T RUN IT AT THOSE LATENCIES, MWAHAHAH" Kinda sounds like false advertisement, eventho an extra bar on recharge isnt that big of a deal imo.

Setting it to 2-2-3-5 just gets it to boot, mind you, it's still running half speed.... grrrf....
 
Here's a few bios screenies.... obviously it recognizes the CPU fine....
 

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O.K. The best solution would be to try a compatible RAM first. If you still have problems (even after the tests I asked you to perform), RMA the board.
 
Ran my friends Kingston Value Ram, PC3200 2-2-2-5, read it all fine... sigh....'


Looking for the 1009 bios now
 
Well, then the problem was with your RAM. Did your RAM work on your friend's computer?

Value RAM runs at 2-2-2-5??? Thats strange.
No way man. Value RAM runs at 2.5-3-3-x or 2.5-4-4-x.

AFAIK the 1009 BIOS has fixed an incompatibility issue with the S939 3400. Yes the 3400 has a S939 version with 512K L2 cache.
 
Super Nade said:
Well, then the problem was with your RAM. Did your RAM work on your friend's computer?

Value RAM runs at 2-2-2-5??? Thats strange.
No way man. Value RAM runs at 2.5-3-3-x or 2.5-4-4-x.

AFAIK the 1009 BIOS has fixed an incompatibility issue with the S939 3400. Yes the 3400 has a S939 version with 512K L2 cache.


Its some kinda cheapo ram, but mine ran fine on his at proper settings and his ran fine on mine.. ran memtest86 on his and got like 3 errors near the end of the loop, but that was all.
 
Hmm, hadn't really thought twice about it until you mentioned the 9800 Pro, I do get a "cannot find graphics card information" boot error...
 
Ohho..Memtest errors @ stock settings on any computer is bad news.
Ask the guys in the memory section to double check. Maybe the memory is faulty and you need to RMA it.

Are you using the latest version of memtest? The earlier one had bugs.
 
Didnt get a chance to run memtest86 because I upgraded to SP2 out of curiosity and lost video all together.... what a frustrating setup.
 
I highly recommend NOT using the stock ATi drivers. The ATi Control Panel is buggy as hell. Use the hacked Omega drivers instead. You can find them here:-
http://www.omegadrivers.net/

Completely uninstall the exsisting ATi Catalyst before you install the Omega's.
 
Super Nade said:
I highly recommend NOT using the stock ATi drivers. The ATi Control Panel is buggy as hell. Use the hacked Omega drivers instead. You can find them here:-
http://www.omegadrivers.net/

Completely uninstall the exsisting ATi Catalyst before you install the Omega's.



I guess I could do that if i slipstreamed XP... but I dont even see a post message anymore... :grrf:

Emailing ZZF about an RMA now.

Probably gonna stay with Asus, it's a good board and the support rocks... I just wasn't one of the lucky ones.
 
Did you try reinstalling windows? Before you RMA the board, get to the root of the problem so you'll recognize it the next time, if theres trouble (based on the same symptoms).

May be Windows for all you know. I recommend reinstalling XP or if you don't have important data, doing a clean format and reinstall. I say this because if its a software problem a new board won't help anyway.
 
Super Nade said:
Did you try reinstalling windows? Before you RMA the board, get to the root of the problem so you'll recognize it the next time, if theres trouble (based on the same symptoms).

May be Windows for all you know. I recommend reinstalling XP or if you don't have important data, doing a clean format and reinstall. I say this because if its a software problem a new board won't help anyway.

It's not a Windows problem, if it were I would atleast get a post screen.
 
Super Nade said:
Sounds like a Windows problem to me :D



I dunno what it is now, clear the cmos and reset the jumper, I can boot into Windows now, 200mhz on the ram and everything for like 5 minutes... then all of a sudden.... whooosh.... cpu fan goes off.... ambient fans go off.... crash....


Grrf....
 
Your fans should not power off regardless of either a BIOS or a Windows problem:-

This particular symptom points to two things only:-

1.Faulty Power supply
2.Faulty Motherboard.

Test your mobo with another PSU. If that does not work either this:-
Take out all components except Fans, 1 stick of RAM and video card.
See if you can POST. Now add the boot HDD only and see if you can make it to windows. If you can without shutting down for about 20 min then:-
a. Your suspect may be in the other components. You can narrow it down by adding compents sequentially. Once you start seeing instabilities, test that particular component on your buddy's computer. If it checks out then:-

b. Your PSU is faulty because it can't handle the added components.

The voltages on your PSU lines should not vary by more than 5%.
 
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Finally, this may sound dumb but do you have the Rev 2.00 board :D?

Got this message from Saaya @ xtremesystems:
same for the nf3 boards, theres a problem with 240mhz+, most likely a bios issue! people expirienced this on the 9nda3+ and k8nsnxp-939 and k8ns ultra-939, boot at or above 240 seems to not work for SOME people with the latest bios files, for others it works...

they can however reach a higher fsb bumping the fsb in windows.

What he means is you can try for better results using clockgen. Try it and lets see what happens?
 
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