a7n8x deluxe won't power on with 9600xt - help

[doo_the_scooby]

I got a new 9600xt card today. Put it in my pc, which until now has
run flawlessly. Passed the post and started to load windows, then
shut down completely. Tried to turn it back on, but nothing. I
noticed that the agp warning led was on. I replaced the card with my
old one (gigabyte radeon 9200, 128mb). The computer stared up fine.
Put the new card in, the agp led came on. Put the old card back in,
no problems at all.

Does anyone know if there are compatibility problems between the a7n8x
deluxe and the 9600xt? And if there are, how do you know what agp
cards will be compatible with this mobo?

Computer:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0
Gigabyte Radeon 9200 128MB (trying to use ATI 9600XT 256MB)
2 Corsair PC3200 DDR 400 - 512MB each
1 Kingston HyperX PC3200 DDR 400 - 512 MB
1 120MB Maxtor HD
2 120 WD HD
AOpen DVD-RW
Memorex DVD-RW
500W Power Supply
MSI TV Tuner Card

 

[Paul]

I got a new 9600xt card today. Put it in my pc, which until now has
run flawlessly. Passed the post and started to load windows, then
shut down completely. Tried to turn it back on, but nothing. I
noticed that the agp warning led was on. I replaced the card with my
old one (gigabyte radeon 9200, 128mb). The computer stared up fine.
Put the new card in, the agp led came on. Put the old card back in,
no problems at all.

Does anyone know if there are compatibility problems between the a7n8x
deluxe and the 9600xt? And if there are, how do you know what agp
cards will be compatible with this mobo?

Computer:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe 2.0
Gigabyte Radeon 9200 128MB (trying to use ATI 9600XT 256MB)
2 Corsair PC3200 DDR 400 - 512MB each
1 Kingston HyperX PC3200 DDR 400 - 512 MB
1 120MB Maxtor HD
2 120 WD HD
AOpen DVD-RW
Memorex DVD-RW
500W Power Supply
MSI TV Tuner Card

The red LED is AGP warn. When I traced the circuit before,
it appears to be connected to the TYPEDET# signal, on pin A2.
Your motherboard is a 1.5V only motherboard. The pictures of
the video card show it has the 1.5V slot cut in it, meaning
the video card also is 1.5V only. The video card should
be grounding TYPEDET#, indicating it wants to run at 1.5V.
If the pin doesn't manage to pull down the signal on A2, the
red LED lights, and the power switch is gated off.

What does this mean ? A couple of possibilities. The AGP warn
circuit could have failed (but your 9200 still works, so it
likely isn't that). It could be that the company that made your
9600XT, used a resistor to pull pin A2 to GND, when the AGP
spec says to connect the pin directly to ground. I've read
of at least one case, where the person posting measured the
resistance from A2 to GND, and found there was a low value
resistor there (like maybe 50-100 ohms or so). In a manufacturing
environment, a test engineer could insist that the design
engineer add a resistor to aid in automated test (which is
stupid, but that is how the game is played). The design
engineer should tell the test engineer to get stuffed,
but it is hard to predict which engineer will win
If the test engineer wins, then his video card will likely
have occasional problems in Asus motherboards (the ones
equipped with the AGP warn protection circuit).

I would swap for another brand of 9600XT and try again.
I don't think that pair is totally incompatible, but it
could be a simple problem with the current brand you bought.
Maybe another pair of design and test engineers will reach
a different decision.

Here is some "fun with A2", back when 1.5V only motherboards
were first invented. The Asus circuit does the job of the
multimeter, measuring the resistance from A2 to GND, automatically
protecting the user from a dead motherboard. I have noticed
that more recent AGP motherboards have had the circuit removed,
presumably to save $0.50 or so.

http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/2001/october/011029_i845_AGP/011029_i845_AGP.htm

HTH,
Paul

 

[dino]

swap video cards as said...I am running an ATI9600XT in my A7N8X-deluxe with
no issues what so ever.

 

[doo_the_scooby]

Thanks for your help, Paul. I'm going to go to my local pc store and
see if they can test it for me, just to be sure.

Let me ask you this - my mobo only accepts 1.5v boards, and the specs
for the 9600xt voltage are AGP 4X (1.5V), 8X (0.8v) or Universal AGP
3.0 bus configuration (4X/8X).

Does this mean my AGP will only be 4X?

There's no mention of the voltage on my ATI box. How do you find a 8X
card that operates at 1.5v?

 

[doo_the_scooby]

Thanks.

I guess it was asking too much to be simple and believe that an 8X
mobo will run an 8X card at 8X.

I guess that's why I like building 'em. You learn something new every
day.

 

[Paul]

Thanks for your help, Paul. I'm going to go to my local pc store and
see if they can test it for me, just to be sure.

Let me ask you this - my mobo only accepts 1.5v boards, and the specs
for the 9600xt voltage are AGP 4X (1.5V), 8X (0.8v) or Universal AGP
3.0 bus configuration (4X/8X).

Does this mean my AGP will only be 4X?

There's no mention of the voltage on my ATI box. How do you find a 8X
card that operates at 1.5v?

There is a difference between "power supply voltage" and "signal
voltage".

The I/O power source is either 3.3V or 1.5V. The TYPEDET# signal,
on video card pin A2, indicates whether the card prefers 3.3V or
1.5V as its power source. Virtually any modern card will ask
for the 1.5V powering option (by grounding pin A2).

And, that is why there are only two slots/keys used in the
AGP slot. Because there are only two "powering" options to
worry about, from a device destruction point of view.

The address/data signals themselves can operate at 3.3V, 1.5V,
or 0.8V.

In fact, when a video card is offered a 1.5V power source, the
signals on the AGP connector can operate at 1.5V or 0.8V. The
difference is how the signals are terminated (a parallel resistive
termination in an AGP 8X card, causes the signal amplitude to
be cut in half, and that causes the 1.5V signals to be trimmed
down to 0.8V high signals). So, either 1.5V signals or 0.8V
signals can happen with a 1.5V power source.

When a card offers to run from 1.5V, it could support operation
at 4X (if it doesn't terminate the bus) or at 8X (if it terminates
the bus).

Your A7N8X offers an AGP 8X connector, and I see no reason you
won't get 8X operation with an AGP 8X card.

HTH,
Paul