Replacement Board need A7N8X Bios Settings?

[neddog]

Well I just got a new board from another supplier, what is real strange about this is that the board I had before was screwed, I phoned Vendor #2 to acquire a board and he refused to sell it to me given all the problems he said he has been having with them ( 4 out of 5 dead), according to him. I then phoned Vendor #3 who said they have no problems at all with them, and assured me a seven day no questions asked across the counter warranty, go figure.

Anyway I got this one to work, as you can see I have a 2400+ and am a lot confused at what I should be trying in the bios for settings... BTW the "auto" settings did not seem to work, with two boards now all it detected was a 1800+. When I started messing with the settings on the last board I had is when it went dead, coincidence? Who knows!

I have now set the CPU frequency to 133 (I think this should be 166, no? cause of the Corsair PC3200 Ram?)

Here is have I have at this point... 133 CPU Frequency, 8X/15X Multiplier, with these settings I can boot fine and it shows with WCPUID that I am indeed running a 15X133 with a System Bus of 267DDR. If I change to a 166 CPU Frequency and try to lower the Multiplier to 8X I get a failure due to overclocking, but is this not what this equipment should do?


What should I be trying with these settings, I thought these boards unlocked the CPU.. does that not appear to be wrong on this board?


NeDDoG

 

[BigJ]

If this is whats causing a "failure" of these boards, then people should research a little bit more before they put systems together, or at least read the manual. CPU frequency IS NOT the same as Memory Speed on alot of motherboards. The ones where it is usually have a setting of 133/100, 133/133, 100/100 etc. There should be a seperate section in the BIOS allowing you to set the memory to its rated speed or higher/lower. The boards have not been dieing, theyve simply been unable to boot because attempts by people to run the processors erroneously overclocked have left the boards unable to post (clearing the CMOS and BIOS would fix that). Read your manual for information on setting the RAM timings etc.

 

[neddog]

I not sure what you are saying... but there is no additional information in the manual as i have read it or at least nothing i understand... and the CPU FREQUENCY setting includes clock speeds upto 200 in increments of one, in advanced, in Optimal I believe it had a selection of 100/133/166 hence the question of which i was supposed to use. It has nothing to do with oclocking as i do not wish to do so..


As far as the motherboard failures.. there is a known issue with corsair pc3200 RAM running as cas 3 rather than Cas2, however talkin to Vendor number two above, he had said there are a great many different failures including sound and Lan.

My question above is to determine where the settings should be under the Advanced settings to run properly, NOT to overclock. What are the settings in your A7N8X?

Note: one of the failures of my first board was that the CMOS did not clear (All Directions followed from the manual),no matter what I did and seemed to be a result of the Corsair Problem...


NeDDoG

 

[BigJ]

Yes, there are numerous problems concerining Corsairs PC3200 w/ the Asus Nforce2 board. This said, Corsair and Asus have been working together to correct this problem, but if you know there is a problem and the two don't work together, what do you expect? it to magically work for yourself? What normally has to be done is boot into the BIOS using a different stick of ram, setting the timings accordingly, shutting the computer down, then inserting the PC3200. Not truly a problem with Asus, but a problem with Corsair.

Furthermore, look here: Anandtech BIOS shot

See where it says Memory Frequency? Set that to asynch, and adjust memory speed accordingly. The CPU External Frequency which you're referring to is used for overclocking the processor, or setting it to 166mhz for the Thoroughbreds that run natively on the 333mhz FSB. An XP 2400+ runs on a 266mhz FSB (133 in bios) so setting it to 166mhz is overclocking it. You processor is rated for 15x133, not 8x166 (yes they compute to the same number, but there is a HUGE difference). Memory Frequency will have the option to set it at your memory speed.

 

[neddog]

Unfortunatly I found out about the Ram issue after i had acquired the parts from a out of town vendor.. When i went for a relacement Board I was going for an Epox and couldnt get one locally. As far as using PC2100 ram to access the bios, that is what I did, but eventually it flaked out. I also used the old ram to set this new board up comletely then changed to the new ram now it seems ok.This board does seems a lot more stable.


Thanks for the info on the frequency, i was getting very confused with a that stuff.. My memory speed at boot up shows as 200...

NeDDoG

 

[BigJ]

Np, and enjoy your board. I'm still deciding whether to uprade to an XP 2400+ and Nforce2 or 2.4B P4 and a GraniteBay Board.

 

[halkebul]

The problems described here (Corsair memory for example) are cured by a motherboard BIOS update.

 

[neddog]

I have the newest bios in the sytem and did with both MBs I have had..... Was the first thing i checked I believe it is 1001c


NeDDoG

 

[Regalk]

Neddog Here are mine
Tbred A 1700+
Advanced chipset features - this is the most important:
Here is mine using Crucial PC2100 at 2.7V and Tbred A 1700+
CPU External Freq - 192
CPU Freq Multiple Setting - Menu
CPU Freq Multiple - 10
System performance - User Defined
CPU Interface - Aggressive
Memory Freq - Sync
Memory timing - User defined
Memory timings in this order 6,3,3,2.5
FSB/AGP Spread spectrum - disabled
CPU Vcore Settng - Menu
CPU Vcore (for my CPU) - 1.65v
Graphics Aperture Size - 128
AGP Frequency - 66
System Bios Cacheable - disabled
Video Ram cacheable - disabled
DDR ref volt - 2.7
AGP 8X Support - Enabled (this is necessary for 4X/8X support)
AGP Fast write - Enabled (only if video card supports)

Integrated peripherals
USB COntrollers - V1.1+2.0 (if not using 2.0 then do not enable)
USB legacy - disabled
USB Mouse - enable if you have one otherwise disable
Onboard audio - enable
Onboard modem - disable
Onboard Lan nVidia - disabled (I prefer 3Com)
Onboard 3Com - enabled
Onboard 1394 Device - Enabled
Serial port 1 & 2 - disabled
Onboard Game port/MIDI I/O - disabled

Remember to disable the Serial ATA jumper onboard if not using Serial ATA.
These are my settings.
I have also tried Aggressive for memory and it works great as well but remember I have 2 x 256mb Crucial PC2100 2.5 in banks 1 & 3
Sandra memory 2979/2782 (average of 5 runs)
3DMark 2001 SE - 9741 (GF3 Ti200 215/475)

My Bios which is the latest is 1001E

 

[operaghost]

I just purchased this board yesterday and I cannot get the thing to work at all. I have a new XP2100 and an older T-Bird 1.4GHz and neither processor will so much as POST. I do not get any beeps no "voice" messages or anyhting. I have power as all fans are turning and have a green status LED.

I have tried 1 stick of PC2100 (Kinston 256MB) and then my PC2100 (Crucial 256MB) Registered with ECC to no avail. I have swapped power supplies, tried PCI and AGP video cards, returned the board for a new one all with the exact same results!

No matter what I do, I do not ever get any video. Oh, all three vid cards (AIW9700, AIW7200, and POS Diamond Viper 330 PCI card) work in my other rig.

Any hints?? I am at a loss.

 

[halkebul]

Originally posted by: operaghost
I just purchased this board yesterday and I cannot get the thing to work at all. I have a new XP2100 and an older T-Bird 1.4GHz and neither processor will so much as POST. I do not get any beeps no "voice" messages or anyhting. I have power as all fans are turning and have a green status LED.

I have tried 1 stick of PC2100 (Kinston 256MB) and then my PC2100 (Crucial 256MB) Registered with ECC to no avail. I have swapped power supplies, tried PCI and AGP video cards, returned the board for a new one all with the exact same results!

No matter what I do, I do not ever get any video. Oh, all three vid cards (AIW9700, AIW7200, and POS Diamond Viper 330 PCI card) work in my other rig.

Any hints?? I am at a loss.

Could be a grounding issue due to the improper installation of a heatsink or metal-to-metal contact between the bottom of the motherboard and the metal of the case.

 

[operaghost]

I took the second board back to the vendor and they tested it there and verified it was bad. I'm 2 for 2 and have officially given up on this board. I lost a whole weekend futzing around with this.

Thanks anyway.

OG

 

[neddog]

I appeciate the information, will just help me sort some things out.. Looks like you have your CPU unlocked? I also wonder about that Video Aperture setting of 128.. is that because your vid card has 128 of ram? is that what determines this setting?

I am running my 2400 at 15 x 133..... propbably would be better to run at higher FSB but not sure is it would be worth the headache

I notice you said 1001E bios? is that correct? highest I can see is C


NeDDoG