*NEW* A7N8X Deluxe: What does it take to get it working?

[John Q Public]

A little over a week ago, I received a version 2.0 A7N8X Deluxe. It
replaced the A7M266 that was running rock solid for the 3+ years that
I had it. All other componets in my system remained unchanged, except
for the changing of the motherboard.

I have yet to get this !@#$% board running without constant, random
blue screen crashes with various stop codes.

I have run memtest 86 3.0, which when run on each single 256 module,
is not showing anything. When both modules were plugged in, one time
some errors showed up. To be safe I went and picked up a PC2700 256MB
Kingston stick at circuit city. No change.

I have done several harddrive reformats and fresh WinXP Pro
re-installs, no change. The power supply is only about 6 months old,
Antec, 400 watt. Tried moving the ram sticks to different slots, no
change. Ran scandisk (thorough) nothing found.

I tried replacing the videocard with a brand new out-of-box Geforce FX
128MB, since SOMETIMES (not always) the blue screen crashes mentioned
try changing video adapters. No change.

The voltages and temps are always fine, according to Asus's PC Probe.

I also tried disconnecting EVERYTHING except the bare hardware needed
to boot the system and install WinXP (in otherwords ONE harddrive, and
ONE CDR drive, and the floppy) No change, still crashes.

After all this, a BIOS reflash (it was already at the current 1005
version when I received it) SEEMED to REDUCE for a while the blue
screen crashes. They don't happen in all places they used to, all the
time (shutting down, executing some programs, attempting to play a
DVD, installing some programs, etc)

I have tried replacing some IDE cables, though most are new and
shouldn't be damaged yet. I have ordered a stick of the exact Kingston
on the Asus page and will try that when it arrives...

I think I can only conclude that this board does have some serious
BIOS corruption issues, or It is bad in some other way.

This is completely ridiculous.

Any ideas? I'm about out

 

[Ben Pope]

A little over a week ago, I received a version 2.0 A7N8X Deluxe. It
replaced the A7M266 that was running rock solid for the 3+ years that
I had it. All other componets in my system remained unchanged, except
for the changing of the motherboard.

OK, so WHAT components?

I have yet to get this !@#$% board running without constant, random
blue screen crashes with various stop codes.

Care to mention any of them?

I have run memtest 86 3.0, which when run on each single 256 module,
is not showing anything. When both modules were plugged in, one time
some errors showed up. To be safe I went and picked up a PC2700 256MB
Kingston stick at circuit city. No change.

WHAT errors?

I have done several harddrive reformats and fresh WinXP Pro
re-installs, no change. The power supply is only about 6 months old,
Antec, 400 watt. Tried moving the ram sticks to different slots, no
change. Ran scandisk (thorough) nothing found.
Fine

I tried replacing the videocard with a brand new out-of-box Geforce FX
128MB, since SOMETIMES (not always) the blue screen crashes mentioned
try changing video adapters. No change.

OK, so rule out Vid Card.

The voltages and temps are always fine, according to Asus's PC Probe.

OK, so rule out PSU.

I also tried disconnecting EVERYTHING except the bare hardware needed
to boot the system and install WinXP (in otherwords ONE harddrive, and
ONE CDR drive, and the floppy) No change, still crashes.

When does it crash? What do you mean by "crash"?

After all this, a BIOS reflash (it was already at the current 1005
version when I received it) SEEMED to REDUCE for a while the blue
screen crashes. They don't happen in all places they used to, all the
time (shutting down, executing some programs, attempting to play a
DVD, installing some programs, etc)

I have tried replacing some IDE cables, though most are new and
shouldn't be damaged yet. I have ordered a stick of the exact Kingston
on the Asus page and will try that when it arrives...

I think I can only conclude that this board does have some serious
BIOS corruption issues, or It is bad in some other way.

If it currupted the BIOs, you'd have more serious problems.

What memory settings are you running?

I presume temperatures are sane?

Try flashing to 1004, running memory in synch with FSB - let us know if that
changes anything.

Ben

 

[John Q Public]

OK, so WHAT components?

Sorry. My other posts outlined the componets, but they are:

A7N8X Deluxe
Antec 400 Watt Power Supply, about 6 months old
Original All In Wonder Radeon 32MB DDR Sdram OEM
IDE Channel 1
30GB 7200 Maxtor Primary
80GB 7200 WD Secondary
IDE Channel 2
TDK VeloCD 24/10/40x Primary
Sony DRU500a DVD burner Secondary
Promise FastTrak TX2000 with two Maxtor 40GB 7200 drives running RAID0

Care to mention any of them?

STOP 0x0000008e IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL
STOP 0x0000004E PFN LIST CORRUPT

To name a few. What does ir really matter though? You look them up at
the MS Knowledge base and most of them tell you it could be any one of
5 or more things (and I've already ruled them all out anyhow) I can't
see it being memory, I even went out a bought a new Kingston PC2700
stick to be sure

OK, so rule out Vid Card.


OK, so rule out PSU.


When does it crash? What do you mean by "crash"?

I mean BSOD. Blue screen crash, Blue Screen Of Death

If it currupted the BIOs, you'd have more serious problems.

What memory settings are you running?

I manually set them to 6,3,3,2.5. The auto setting was setting them at
6,3,3,2, and the CAS on the decal on the ram says 2.5, so I set it to
2.5. It din't help anyhow, still get random blue screen crashes

I presume temperatures are sane?

Yes as I said above temps and voltages are fine. The room even has a
window air conditioner and is kept realtively cool (76-78F). No there
is not condensation forming nor has there ever been.

Try flashing to 1004, running memory in synch with FSB - let us know if that
changes anything.

It started looking really promising. Several things that used to cause
instant crash no longer seem to, however when I try to install a
program (either from CD or the HD) it blue screen crashes still. This
has been the case with MANY programs, regardless of installed from CD
or HD. In fact most programs I have installed I had run the install
several times and only after BIOS flashes did some of them actually go
through all the way to completion.

Maybe I'll try 1003 Bios next?

 

[Ed]

Just curious, what mobo drivers did you install?

Sorry. My other posts outlined the componets, but they are:

A7N8X Deluxe
Antec 400 Watt Power Supply, about 6 months old
Original All In Wonder Radeon 32MB DDR Sdram OEM
IDE Channel 1
30GB 7200 Maxtor Primary
80GB 7200 WD Secondary
IDE Channel 2
TDK VeloCD 24/10/40x Primary
Sony DRU500a DVD burner Secondary
Promise FastTrak TX2000 with two Maxtor 40GB 7200 drives running RAID0


STOP 0x0000008e IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL
STOP 0x0000004E PFN LIST CORRUPT

To name a few. What does ir really matter though? You look them up at
the MS Knowledge base and most of them tell you it could be any one of
5 or more things (and I've already ruled them all out anyhow) I can't
see it being memory, I even went out a bought a new Kingston PC2700
stick to be sure


I mean BSOD. Blue screen crash, Blue Screen Of Death

I manually set them to 6,3,3,2.5. The auto setting was setting them at
6,3,3,2, and the CAS on the decal on the ram says 2.5, so I set it to
2.5. It din't help anyhow, still get random blue screen crashes


Yes as I said above temps and voltages are fine. The room even has a
window air conditioner and is kept realtively cool (76-78F). No there
is not condensation forming nor has there ever been.


It started looking really promising. Several things that used to cause
instant crash no longer seem to, however when I try to install a
program (either from CD or the HD) it blue screen crashes still. This
has been the case with MANY programs, regardless of installed from CD
or HD. In fact most programs I have installed I had run the install
several times and only after BIOS flashes did some of them actually go
through all the way to completion.

Maybe I'll try 1003 Bios next?

 

[Ben Pope]

Sorry. My other posts outlined the componets, but they are:

A7N8X Deluxe
Antec 400 Watt Power Supply, about 6 months old
Original All In Wonder Radeon 32MB DDR Sdram OEM
IDE Channel 1
30GB 7200 Maxtor Primary
80GB 7200 WD Secondary
IDE Channel 2
TDK VeloCD 24/10/40x Primary
Sony DRU500a DVD burner Secondary
Promise FastTrak TX2000 with two Maxtor 40GB 7200 drives running RAID0

STOP 0x0000008e IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL
STOP 0x0000004E PFN LIST CORRUPT

To name a few. What does ir really matter though? You look them up at
the MS Knowledge base and most of them tell you it could be any one of
5 or more things (and I've already ruled them all out anyhow) I can't
see it being memory, I even went out a bought a new Kingston PC2700
stick to be sure

Well it might throw some light, even though they are probably rasonably
random.

I mean BSOD. Blue screen crash, Blue Screen Of Death

OK.


I manually set them to 6,3,3,2.5. The auto setting was setting them at
6,3,3,2, and the CAS on the decal on the ram says 2.5, so I set it to
2.5. It din't help anyhow, still get random blue screen crashes

It started looking really promising. Several things that used to cause
instant crash no longer seem to, however when I try to install a
program (either from CD or the HD) it blue screen crashes still. This
has been the case with MANY programs, regardless of installed from CD
or HD. In fact most programs I have installed I had run the install
several times and only after BIOS flashes did some of them actually go
through all the way to completion.

Maybe I'll try 1003 Bios next?

1004 is probably considered pretty stable. I know some have had problems
with 1005.

I wouldn't bother with 1003.

Sounds like corrupted data here or there, and since installs are not
completed, I'd go with IDE transfers.

What drivers are you using? The Asus 1.16 or nVidia 2.03? If you're using
2.41 (I think) they had some IDE problems.

I'd try either the nVidia 2.03 or Asus 1.16 from the CD.

If it's not IDE drivers than I have no idea.

Ben

 

[Ben Pope]

...

Interesting you say this. I've read one such report about 1005 as
well. I'm using 1003 btw, it's rock solid and overclockable. I won't
upgrade from it for a while I think, as everything works fine.

I've read several here.

Ben

 

[Ben Pope]

I forgot to ask, you've never run BIOS 1004 or 1003 before? Because
over on http://www.amdmb.com I remember reading one report from a guy
whose system got unstable when he updated from 1003 to 1005. Nobody
else confirmed this experience, but that one guy reported it.

I think his board started with 1005.

I don't want to recommend you flash back in an older BIOS, as I don't
think it would get you anywhere, but I wanted to report at least what
I'd read.

I did

Ben

 

[Joachim Trensz]

Ah... got it. Strange, I'd checked the clock last night. Maybe a new battery
is due?

Achim

 

[Ben Pope]

Ah... got it. Strange, I'd checked the clock last night. Maybe a new
battery is due?

Ben

 

[John Q Public]

Just curious, what mobo drivers did you install?

Currently none, but I have tried the current latest Nvidia pack, with
no change in the problems...I still got random blue screen crashes. So
after the last format and reinstall of WinXP + service pack1 I have
not yet bothered reinstalling the nvidia drivers.

I have also tried WinXP with and Without service pack 1, same deak,
still random blue screen crashes.

 

[John Q Public]

Hi John,

I've seen this error mentioned over in Creative's Audigy2 newsgroup a few
times. It seems to in general indicate either bad RAM, or a driver problem.

Here's an article about it in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810093

I think the guy that said IDE corruption was getting somewhere. I have
done three formats/reinstalls of WinXP, so I don't see how drivers
could still be corrupt (unless caused by bad IDE cable or something,
or some physical problem with the board..IDE socket?)

I also replaced the RAM with a brand new stick by itself, and yes I
tried the last two sticks one at a time, and yes I tried moving them
around to all three sockets in different combinations

When you said you've 'disconnected everything', did that include disabling
all the onboard components from within the BIOS? That might be another thing
to try, to find the culprit, if it isn't the RAM.

I'll try that I guess. The only onboard stuff to disable though would
be what...USB, 1394, sound...other than 1394 I certainly hope I don't
have a hardware problem with any of those

And have you tried running just one stick of RAM at the slower settings,
preferrably in slot 1?

I tried 6,3,3, 2.5t and 7,3,3,3t so far. Yes one stick has been tried.
Only one stick (the one just bought) is in there now.

 

[Joachim Trensz]

Hi John,

I've seen this error mentioned over in Creative's Audigy2 newsgroup a few
times. It seems to in general indicate either bad RAM, or a driver problem.

Here's an article about it in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810093

When you said you've 'disconnected everything', did that include disabling
all the onboard components from within the BIOS? That might be another thing
to try, to find the culprit, if it isn't the RAM.

And have you tried running just one stick of RAM at the slower settings,
preferrably in slot 1?

Achim



....

A little over a week ago, I received a version 2.0 A7N8X Deluxe...

....

 

[Joachim Trensz]

I forgot to ask, you've never run BIOS 1004 or 1003 before? Because over on
http://www.amdmb.com I remember reading one report from a guy whose system
got unstable when he updated from 1003 to 1005. Nobody else confirmed this
experience, but that one guy reported it.

I don't want to recommend you flash back in an older BIOS, as I don't think
it would get you anywhere, but I wanted to report at least what I'd read.

Maybe go to that site anyway, and ask in their forums. There are very
knowledgeable people over there.

The forum you need to go to is the 'Asus Motherboards' forum.

Achim

 

[Joachim Trensz]

....

I know some have had problems with 1005.

I wouldn't bother with 1003.

Interesting you say this. I've read one such report about 1005 as well. I'm
using 1003 btw, it's rock solid and overclockable. I won't upgrade from it
for a while I think, as everything works fine.

Achim

 

[Joachim Trensz]

and yet another article in the MS Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314063

Achim

 

[Joachim Trensz]

Hi John,

I'd, at least for the purpose of testing, disable the 1394, USB2.0 (there's
an option to set it to 1.1 only), onboard sound, onboard gameport, and the
NIC you don't use.

And yes, a reinstall (or repair install?) might be a good thing to do.
Perhaps with as little as possible devices connected. Also disable the 'USB
Legacy' compatibility if that's enabled on your system.

The problems you're seeing are not unknown, I've read about similar issues
with WinXP and this board in the early days of the 1.04 revision of the
board a few times. People got blue screens and error messages like you, and
some even got data on their C: drive corrupted.

Unfortunately, I haven't followed the issue up as I didn't have the problem,
so I don't know whether there are 'standard' solutions for it or not, and I
also don't know what's actually the cause. It _could_ still be the RAM
though, although the symptoms point everywhere else. Although, with you
having tried several different DIMMs, the probability for this has certainly
decreased.

One guy reported that the problems went away after he switch the CPU mode
from 'Optimal' to 'Aggressive' in the BIOS' chipset options. But none of
that seemed to be a safe solution. I am under the impression, though, that
everybody got their probs solved eventually.

Achim



....

 

[Joachim Trensz]

Yes, and what's wrong with that?

Achim


....

 

[Joachim Trensz]

John, I'd sincerely suggest you ask your questions in the Asus Motherboards
forum over on amdmb.com. Chances aren't bad you'll find the help you need
over there.

Achim


....

Well, thanks...I'll probably try another fresh install tonight, with
new IDE cables and everything on board disabled

....

 

[Rob]

Just tried disabling all that, still random crashes, in fact it
rebooted by itself just as it was booting back in to Windows...


It won't let me repair (always blue screen crashes), it was hard
enough a lot of times just doing the reinstall after reformatting the
drive, it would even blue screen crash during WinXP Pro installs


Yeah I don't have anything but keyboard and mouse connected via the
old PS2 ports.


Done already...


It's becoming apparent that their is major data corruption taking
place, over and over again...it's just figuring out the cause that is
escaping me. All the reformats/reinstalls in the world aren't gonna
help if it just keeps happening, and I can't figure out why it does...


I would think so. I mean what are the chances that both the old two
crucial dimms and this brand new Kingston would die or be defective
within a few days? Unless the board somehow "killed them"



Yeah I would think that would lead to decreased stability...it even
says so in the notes column


Well, thanks...I'll probably try another fresh install tonight, with
new IDE cables and everything on board disabled

Hi John,

This thread has thrown up the possibility that fault memory, faulty IDE
cables, faulty HDD's may be responsible; I'm sure you've considered that the
motherboard may have just been shipped with a fault, or has been damaged?
Just a thought, hope you get it all sorted though, I don't envy that
problem! Good luck.

 

[IanDunbar]

Just tried disabling all that, still random crashes, in fact it
rebooted by itself just as it was booting back in to Windows...


It won't let me repair (always blue screen crashes), it was hard
enough a lot of times just doing the reinstall after reformatting the
drive, it would even blue screen crash during WinXP Pro installs


Yeah I don't have anything but keyboard and mouse connected via the
old PS2 ports.


Done already...

[snip]

Hi John

Just a shot in the dark, but do any signs of data corruption appear in
system events log?

I have rev 1.04, winxpsp1 and I had a problem with ide data corruption, but
this was from overzealous overclocking ;o)

But my point is that it did show up in the event log, I can't remember the
exact errors but they stood out as soon as I looked in there.

HTH & good luck (I luv my a7n8x dlx)

Ian