[A7N8X-Deluxe Rev2] - Looses BIOS settings

[Brian E. Cole]

Hey all, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and now for my problem.

I've got the above mobo, very nice, love all the features, but it seems that
whenever the computer is reset by a power loss, the BIOS losses all it's
settings, and does not auto-configure the CPU/RAM speeds/multipliers, etc.
properly. The system doesn't even POST. I have purchased two CPUs thinking
that I had fried them both in the power outages, but just tested both of
them in another board and found they work fine. The only way around this is
to pop the case, clear the CMOS through the hardware jumpers, and everything
is good to go.

I have also noticed that I cannot make all the changes in my BIOS at once.
In this I mean, I can't go through, disable all the onboard stuff I don't
want, set RAM speed, set AGP bus speed, and other little settings I like to
change. If I do the system will no longer POST, just as above. The monitor
will go into sleep after the system shuts down, and never receive signal
from the mobo. I can go through, make a change one page at a time, and with
the RAM, I have to change the settings one at a time between reboots in
order for the system to take.

Has anyone else come across this problem? I have flashed the BIOS to 1007,
but the problem persists. I have even taken everything off the computer
(add-in cards, hard drives, floppies, etc.) and have had the same results.

If it helps, here is my configuration:
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Rev2
2 x OCZ PC-3200 512mb CL-2 RAM (6-3-3-2) running at 120% bus speed 200mhz,
dual channel
AMD Athlon 2800+ (Barton Core)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy
LinkSys WMP11 Wireless NIC v2.7
Sapphire Radeon 9800SE 128mb (had same problems with previous card Elsa
Gladiac GeForce2 Ultra 64mb)
Adaptec 29160N SCSI Adpater

Any help would be greatly appreciated....Thanks a bunch!

Brian E. Cole
(e-mail address removed)
Network Systems Support (e-mail address removed)
============================================
Conrad N. Hilton College
Computer Lab & IT Department
University of Houston
Office: (713)743-2494 Cell: (713)539-4672
============================================
"I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them"

--Isaac Asimov

 

[Nero]

To start with your XP2800 if a Barton runs at 333 and the ram needs to run
166.
If a T-Bred 333 then as above.
You can't run the above on a 200 buss unless you want to overclock.
Second thing is your GeForce is not 8X agp and you have to set AGP to X2 or
4.
Third thing you say you have two graphics cards in.....
how so?

 

[Brian E. Cole]

I only have 1 graphics card, it is currently the Radeon.
BC

 

[sdlomi]

Hey all, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and now for my problem.

I've got the above mobo, very nice, love all the features, but it seems that
whenever the computer is reset by a power loss, the BIOS losses all it's
settings, and does not auto-configure the CPU/RAM speeds/multipliers, etc.
properly. The system doesn't even POST. I have purchased two CPUs thinking
that I had fried them both in the power outages, but just tested both of
them in another board and found they work fine. The only way around this is
to pop the case, clear the CMOS through the hardware jumpers, and everything
is good to go.

I have also noticed that I cannot make all the changes in my BIOS at once.
In this I mean, I can't go through, disable all the onboard stuff I don't
want, set RAM speed, set AGP bus speed, and other little settings I like to
change. If I do the system will no longer POST, just as above. The monitor
will go into sleep after the system shuts down, and never receive signal
from the mobo. I can go through, make a change one page at a time, and with
the RAM, I have to change the settings one at a time between reboots in
order for the system to take.

Has anyone else come across this problem? I have flashed the BIOS to 1007,
but the problem persists. I have even taken everything off the computer
(add-in cards, hard drives, floppies, etc.) and have had the same results.

If it helps, here is my configuration:
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Rev2
2 x OCZ PC-3200 512mb CL-2 RAM (6-3-3-2) running at 120% bus speed 200mhz,
dual channel
AMD Athlon 2800+ (Barton Core)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy
LinkSys WMP11 Wireless NIC v2.7
Sapphire Radeon 9800SE 128mb (had same problems with previous card Elsa
Gladiac GeForce2 Ultra 64mb)
Adaptec 29160N SCSI Adpater

Any help would be greatly appreciated....Thanks a bunch!

Brian E. Cole
(e-mail address removed)
Network Systems Support (e-mail address removed)
============================================
Conrad N. Hilton College
Computer Lab & IT Department
University of Houston
Office: (713)743-2494 Cell: (713)539-4672
============================================
"I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them"

--Isaac Asimov

Hi, Isaac. Having recently bought the non-deluxe version of the same
mobo, you are frightening me. Have gone thru agony of a cheaper mobo doing
the same you describe. Please check and report back that it was something
simple, like a flakey cmos battery or loose battery clip.
Hoping to make your day and relieve mine. sdlomi

 

[Nero]

166x12.5 for the XP2800(Barton) gives 2075.
The XP2800 is listed as 2083(2.08 GHz)
CPU External freq.(MHz) = 166 MHz and not 333
CPU frequency Multiple =12.5
Sys performance =Optimal
Cpu interface = Optimal
Memory Freq = auto
Resulting frequency = 166 MHz
Memory Timings = Optimal
FSB Spread spectrum = disable
AGP Spread spectrum = disable
CPU core = auto
CPU Vcore setting -

 

[Creeping Stone]

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Rev2
2 x OCZ PC-3200 512mb CL-2 RAM (6-3-3-2) running at 120% bus speed 200mhz,
dual channel

Not necessarily the problem, but I think that way to run the ram could
cause problems, iirc better to run nForce mem in sync -100% of fsb speed.
And those could be quite low latencys settings for 200MHz operation, okay
for 166 though.

I think the best way to optimise the combination, is to run fsb/mem in sync
and with the nForce PCI lock in place, increase fsb/mem until you can
detect instability -plenty get to 400/400ddr / 200/200 Mhz. With Nforce and
Athlon 2800, but AthlonXPs ~can start getting flaky around 180Mhz FSB.

If the CPU's not one of the brand new ones with locked multiplier, try
finding its optimum fsb while multiplied a bit slower, then find its stable
speed limit. If it is locked, you just got to be careful with heat and
overall CPU speed.

Maybe the async mem, combining with errors from too low latency settings is
stopping the mobo from booting and its reseting to defaults to try and boot
(?)

With everything set to optimal, stability couldnt be gauranteed. Find a
stable default base and then optimise and test one step at a time.

 

[Creeping Stone]

Asus A7N8X-Deluxe Rev2
2 x OCZ PC-3200 512mb CL-2 RAM (6-3-3-2) running at 120% bus speed 200mhz,
dual channel

Not necessarily the problem, but I think that way to run the ram could
cause problems, iirc better to run nForce mem in sync -100% of fsb speed.
And those could be quite low latencys settings for 200MHz operation, okay
for 166 though.

I think the best way to optimise the combination, is to run fsb/mem in sync
and with the nForce PCI lock in place, increase fsb/mem until you can
detect instability -plenty get to 400/400ddr / 200/200 Mhz. With Nforce and
Athlon 2800, but AthlonXPs ~can start getting flaky around 180Mhz FSB.

If the CPU's not one of the brand new ones with locked multiplier, try
finding its optimum fsb while multiplied a bit slower, then find its stable
speed limit. If it is locked, you just got to be careful with heat and
overall CPU speed.

Maybe the async mem, combining with errors from too low latency settings is
stopping the mobo from booting and its reseting to defaults to try and boot
(?)

With everything set to optimal, stability couldnt be gauranteed. Find a
stable default base and then optimise and test one step at a time.

oh Yeah, Merry Crimbo

 

[Brian E. Cole]

Thanks for the response, I will make check these settings, they look a
little more conservative that what I have setup.

The problem is not really that my settings are too aggresive, but it looses
the settings if the power is unexpectly shut off. If I properly shut down
the computer i.e. let the mobo shut the power supply off, but if it loses
power unexpectedly, it looses all it's settings.

I guess what I'm after is is this a hardware issue, perhaps powersupply (I
think I've got a 300W, or 350W PS, and seems to hold close to all specified
voltages [I have one of those fan controlers which also displays voltage &
temp]), or is something wrong with my motherboard? Or just a "quirk" of
this mobo...

This did happen once before with an Athlon XP 2400+, and an Athlon T-Bird
1400+ (I think 1400....don't remember). The simptons all appear that the
mobo is choosing a higher clock/bus/frequency than what the CPU actually is.

--BC

 

[Caroline]

Hey all, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and now for my problem.

I've got the above mobo, very nice, love all the features, but it seems that
whenever the computer is reset by a power loss, the BIOS losses all it's
settings, and does not auto-configure the CPU/RAM speeds/multipliers, etc.
properly. The system doesn't even POST. I have purchased two CPUs thinking
that I had fried them both in the power outages, but just tested both of
them in another board and found they work fine. The only way around this is
to pop the case, clear the CMOS through the hardware jumpers, and everything
is good to go.

Y'know, it sounds like a bad battery or a bad connection to the battery.
The battery should maintain those settings when mains power is off and
it isn't doing it. I'd try a new battery first

HTH!

Caroline
Caroline Picking, (e-mail address removed)
Milton Keynes, England.

 

[Creeping Stone]

Y'know, it sounds like a bad battery or a bad connection to the battery.
The battery should maintain those settings when mains power is off and
it isn't doing it. I'd try a new battery first

- clever clogs

 

[Brian E. Cole]

hmmm....sometimes the simplest may be the best....or something like
that...I'll give that a shot...Thanks

BC

Y'know, it sounds like a bad battery or a bad connection to the battery.
The battery should maintain those settings when mains power is off and
it isn't doing it. I'd try a new battery first

- clever clogs

 

[Brian E. Cole]

I've done a little research on the net for this too, and have dug up some
interesting leads, seems like this is a fairly common problem with this
board. I haven't done the battery replacement yet on it, but am planning to
within the next few days). I also flashed my BIOS with the Uber BIOS
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/michael.mcclay/) and have found that it
automatically detects my 200mhz RAM, and allows me to overclock a little
without giving me the no POST syndrome (and WinXP Pro doesn't crash either).

Thanks for all your help.

BC

 

[Creeping Stone]

hmmm....sometimes the simplest may be the best....or something like
that...I'll give that a shot...Thanks

- I dunno either op, I just found it funny no one had thought to mention it