A8N-E locking up

[Steve Brazelton]

About 2 months ago I assembled a PC for a friend with the following
components:

A8N-E
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
1GB(2x512MB) Corsair VS PC3200 DDR memory.
XFX 6600GT PCI-E video card
NEC 2540A DVD drive
WDC 74 GB Raptor
250 GB Seagate SATA drive
Cooler Master case
Cooler Master 400W Power Supply
MS PS2 keyboard
Kensington PS2 mouse
Dell 17" LCD monitor.

About 10 days ago she called me saying that the system had begun locking up
after the second BIOS screen and randomly in winXP. She brought me the
system(sans monitor) and I ran Memtest86 for several passes and the
respective extended hard disk diagnostic utilities. There were no errors. I
then set the system into a 40 second reboot loop in WinXP and ran the system
for 16 hours straight without any errors or lockups. I told her I didn't
find anything wrong with the system and gave it back to her at her
workplace. After running it for a couple hours she called me and said it
was still locking up. She brought it back to work(she lives 50 miles away
and works about 5 miles away) and I picked it up and again ran the test apps
and ran the reboot loop overnight without any errors. I then took it to her
workplace and set it up there. I put it into the XP reboot loop and told her
to let it run until it locked up. Four hours later she called me and said
"Come look". Sure enough the system had locked up. The second BIOS screen
was still on the screen and the cursor was blinking in the botton left had
corner. And it was completely locked up. Except for a different monitor
everything else is the same. What the hell? Site specific errors? I took the
case back to my place and put in an Antec 350W Smartpower power supply that
I had laying around. Ran it for a couple hours and then took it back to her
workplace. Within ten minutes of starting the XP reboot loop it had again
locked up at the second BIOS screen.

I have been assembling desktop computers for myself,relatives and friends
for almost 20 years and I really thought I had seen it all. But this problem
has me completely baffled. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

 

[name]

I'm by no means an expert, but could the system be overheating at work
because it's in an enclosed cabinet or the like?

 

[BC]

About 2 months ago I assembled a PC for a friend with the following
components:

A8N-E
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
1GB(2x512MB) Corsair VS PC3200 DDR memory.
XFX 6600GT PCI-E video card
NEC 2540A DVD drive
WDC 74 GB Raptor
250 GB Seagate SATA drive
Cooler Master case
Cooler Master 400W Power Supply
MS PS2 keyboard
Kensington PS2 mouse
Dell 17" LCD monitor.

About 10 days ago she called me saying that the system had begun locking up
after the second BIOS screen and randomly in winXP. She brought me the
system(sans monitor) and I ran Memtest86 for several passes and the
respective extended hard disk diagnostic utilities. There were no errors. I
then set the system into a 40 second reboot loop in WinXP and ran the system
for 16 hours straight without any errors or lockups. I told her I didn't
find anything wrong with the system and gave it back to her at her
workplace. After running it for a couple hours she called me and said it
was still locking up. She brought it back to work(she lives 50 miles away
and works about 5 miles away) and I picked it up and again ran the test apps
and ran the reboot loop overnight without any errors. I then took it to her
workplace and set it up there. I put it into the XP reboot loop and told her
to let it run until it locked up. Four hours later she called me and said
"Come look". Sure enough the system had locked up. The second BIOS screen
was still on the screen and the cursor was blinking in the botton left had
corner. And it was completely locked up. Except for a different monitor
everything else is the same. What the hell? Site specific errors?

Dear Steve,

bizarre.

Possibly: (?) the keyboard and/or mouse? You didn't mention if she had
brought those in too--if you hooked up different ones, or, didn't use
them, perhaps some sort of damaged mouse or keyboard cable? (Hate to
admit it, but, my son's pet rat chewed on my mouse cable, which caused
all sorts of weirdness....didn't lock PC up, but, got frustrating
clicking on things, and having cursor fly around randomly....)

Monitor short? If I read your note correctly, sounds like you set it up
at her workplace with a monitor different than the one she uses at
home--again, some sort of cable issue? I can't believe how expensive
DVI cables can be, so, I assume that they are somewhat complex
inside....some sort of cable defect? Causes video card to 'crash', and,
from that point on, no video output to give error reading, because video
card is 'crashed'? (If that is correct, I am playing lotto tomorrow.
Similar odds.)

You eliminated wall power as the problem by duplicating it at her work.
Unlikely that a commercial building would have flaky grounds or
voltage spikes/surges/dips. And, temperature problems: eliminated by
your stress tests.

Must be mechanical, i.e. a cable, some connector, (lan cable connection
shorting something out? Is she hooking it up correctly? Direct
DSL/cable modem connection causing some out of spec voltage that stops
boot? Has to be something external to the system you built (awesome, by
the way) and, I would eliminate the cables one by one first--and, hook
it up to a different monitor at home with the first cable, and, if it
happens, use a different cable....

Also, wonder if she has it hooked up to a printer? Sounds like she is
pretty computer savvy, having such a nice system, but, might be good to
check all physical connections....

HTH,

BC

 

[Steve Brazelton]

I'm by no means an expert, but could the system be overheating at work
because it's in an enclosed cabinet or the like?

Thanks for your reply. The system is not enclosed. According to MotherBoard
Monitor all temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds are fine.

 

[Steve Brazelton]

Dear Steve,

bizarre.

Possibly: (?) the keyboard and/or mouse? You didn't mention if she had
brought those in too--if you hooked up different ones, or, didn't use
them, perhaps some sort of damaged mouse or keyboard cable? (Hate to
admit it, but, my son's pet rat chewed on my mouse cable, which caused all
sorts of weirdness....didn't lock PC up, but, got frustrating clicking on
things, and having cursor fly around randomly....)

Thanks for your reply.
Several different keyboards, mice and monitors have been used.

Monitor short? If I read your note correctly, sounds like you set it up
at her workplace with a monitor different than the one she uses at
home--again, some sort of cable issue? I can't believe how expensive DVI
cables can be, so, I assume that they are somewhat complex inside....some
sort of cable defect? Causes video card to 'crash', and, from that point
on, no video output to give error reading, because video card is
'crashed'? (If that is correct, I am playing lotto tomorrow. Similar
odds.)

All monitors are VGA. The XFX card has two DVI interfaces so I had to use a
VGA to DVI converter. The converter is currently on my list of things to
swap out.

You eliminated wall power as the problem by duplicating it at her work.
Unlikely that a commercial building would have flaky grounds or voltage
spikes/surges/dips. And, temperature problems: eliminated by your stress
tests.

Must be mechanical, i.e. a cable, some connector, (lan cable connection
shorting something out? Is she hooking it up correctly? Direct DSL/cable
modem connection causing some out of spec voltage that stops boot? Has to
be something external to the system you built (awesome, by the way) and, I
would eliminate the cables one by one first--and, hook it up to a
different monitor at home with the first cable, and, if it happens, use a
different cable....

I disabled networking early on in the process. Today I was finally able to
exactly use all the same components at her workplace as I used at my place.
The system ran in a reboot loop for about 4 hours before locking up at the
second BIOS screen.

Also, wonder if she has it hooked up to a printer? Sounds like she is
pretty computer savvy, having such a nice system, but, might be good to
check all physical connections....

No printer has been hooked up since I started testing the system. I am just
about ready to start swapping the components inside the case. Obviously the
most baffling aspect of all this is that the system does not lockup when I
run it at my place.

 

[Steve Brazelton]

If you're positive that the problem is site specific, then I guess

you'd have to try it with a UPS, but that's very far out.

My next guess would be faulty or undervolted RAM (I think the
ValueSelect defaults to 2.5v, and it might want more juice). If it
stops during POST, are you suspicious of a BIOS glitch? Would
reflashing it make sense?

I brought the system back to my place and started my XP reboot loop and this
morning it was locked up on the second BIOS screen. So it is no longer site
specific. And that started the wheels turning. I have basically the same
system and that is why I recommended that she get mostly the same
components. I've got the same motherboard, memory, CPU, and Raptor hard
drive. The only problem I have ever really had with the system is with the
SATA data cables. Two or three weeks after I assembled my system back in
03/05 one of my Raptors would suddenly disappear from the system. Sometimes
the BIOS didn't see it on boot. After I assembled the system I had dressed
all the wiring as best as I could. This included the SATA data cables. So I
unbundled the SATA data cables and disconnected and reconnected the cables
and made sure that they were hanging freely without touching anything. I
haven't had any problems since then. When she first called me about the
problem the very first thing I suggested was to disconnect and reconnect the
SATA data cables. Didn't help. I then suggested that she replace the cables
with the other 2 that Asus includes with the motherboard.
She also has a 250GB Seagate SATA drive in addition to the Raptor. She did
this but had the same problem. At that point I asked her to bring me the
system and I started looking elsewhere for the problem. Opening up the case
this morning I notice that she had put a cable tie around the 2 SATA cables
which frankly I hadn't noticed before. I have removed the cable tie and
removed ,reconnected and repositioned the cables. I now have the system in a
reboot loop. I guess only time will tell.

 

[Steve Brazelton]

Hi,

My A8N-Deluxe arrived Xmas Eve, and I have the same CPU and RAM..

Merely eliminating potential P's of F :-

Which BIOS / chipset drivers are currently loaded ? My board arrived 24th
with BIOS ver. 1010 (and said ..."overclock error...") but they're up to
1017 already and it solved this. Updated BIOS on 21st Dec for her board on
the website (not all changes are listed !), so *may* be worthwhile
updating :-
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us . Also
check "Utilities" ?

Has any undue pressure been placed on the mobo at anytime, e.g. with the
addition of new kit ? (I did this many years ago thinking it was OK, until
it was pointed out that it breaks solder tracks when the board bends, and
leads to fiendishly annoying, intermittent faults, such as hanging at odd
times).

If the fault only occurs in the workplace, could it be 1) the monitor
(drivers up to date ?) 2) the workplace network cable connection 3) Any
other kit / *physical interface* / software levels for anything attached
to it only at work?

I can only suggest that the workplace environment is the problem, as there
seem to be none when the system is isolated.

Can't think of anything else.

S.

Thanks for your reply.
The problem is no longer site specific. I have duplicated the problem at my
place. As noted in a previous message in this thread I am leaning toward the
SATA data cables as the source of the problem.

Steve

 

[Mark A]

Thanks for your reply.
The problem is no longer site specific. I have duplicated the problem at
my place. As noted in a previous message in this thread I am leaning
toward the SATA data cables as the source of the problem.

Steve

That is one reason I spent the extra $10 for WD SureConnect SATA cables
(only work on WD drives). I have heard many horror stories about loose SATA
cables.

 

[Steve Brazelton]

That is one reason I spent the extra $10 for WD SureConnect SATA cables
(only work on WD drives). I have heard many horror stories about loose
SATA cables.

Turns out that it was a BIOS issue. The board shipped with 1006. I have now
flashed it to 1008 and the problem seems to be gone. Flashing a system that
is known to lockup is not my idea of a good time. My theory is that, on a
ramdom basis, the BIOS was enumerating the hardware differently when
starting up. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Asus no longer has the
1006 BIOS on its website. At least I didn't see it. I certainly agree with
you about the SATA cables. The spec should have mandated a much more secure
mechanical connection.

Steve

 

[Steve Brazelton]

Turns out that it was a BIOS issue. The board shipped with 1006. I have
now flashed it to 1008 and the problem seems to be gone. Flashing a system
that is known to lockup is not my idea of a good time. My theory is that,
on a ramdom basis, the BIOS was enumerating the hardware differently when
starting up. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Asus no longer has
the 1006 BIOS on its website. At least I didn't see it. I certainly agree
with you about the SATA cables. The spec should have mandated a much more
secure mechanical connection.

Steve

My bad. The 1006 BIOS is still on the Asus website.

Steve

 

[Bill]

Turns out that it was a BIOS issue. The board shipped with 1006. I have now
flashed it to 1008 and the problem seems to be gone. Flashing a system that
is known to lockup is not my idea of a good time. My theory is that, on a
ramdom basis, the BIOS was enumerating the hardware differently when
starting up. Perhaps that is one of the reasons that Asus no longer has the
1006 BIOS on its website. At least I didn't see it.

I'm not using RAID, but I have the A8N-E board and it came with 1008. I
decided to flash it up to 1010 for the heck of it, and I had problems
whenever the system rebooted. The BIOS would report a checksum error and
the BOOT-BLOCK feature would ask for a disk to re-flash. Using the 1010
BIOS would work until the next reboot, and it would give me the same
error again.

I tried downloading the 1010 BIOS a few times to make sure it wasn't a
corrupt copy, but it never worked, even with a clean install of Windows.
So I flashed back to 1008 and it's working fine again...go figure.

I haven't found anything on the Asus forums or Google like this.

I certainly agree with
you about the SATA cables. The spec should have mandated a much more secure
mechanical connection.

While I haven't had any problems, I agree they should have made a small
clip on the cable, perhaps like the better CD/DVD audio cables that snap
into the connector on the motherboard. They don't come out unless you
release the clip.

 

[Steve Brazelton]

I'm not using RAID, but I have the A8N-E board and it came with 1008. I
decided to flash it up to 1010 for the heck of it, and I had problems
whenever the system rebooted. The BIOS would report a checksum error and
the BOOT-BLOCK feature would ask for a disk to re-flash. Using the 1010
BIOS would work until the next reboot, and it would give me the same
error again.

I tried downloading the 1010 BIOS a few times to make sure it wasn't a
corrupt copy, but it never worked, even with a clean install of Windows.
So I flashed back to 1008 and it's working fine again...go figure.

I haven't found anything on the Asus forums or Google like this.


While I haven't had any problems, I agree they should have made a small
clip on the cable, perhaps like the better CD/DVD audio cables that snap
into the connector on the motherboard. They don't come out unless you
release the clip.

Good to know that there may be issues with the 1010 BIOS. My friends system
has now been running for almost 48 hours without locking up. I am just about
ready to pronounce it "cured". I tend to wait at least a month before
updating a BIOS to a new version. I like to let the early birds find the
problems.

Steve

 

[EdG]

I'd heard those same stories, but I wanted SATA drives anyway. To my
surprise and delight, the cables Asus shipped with my A8N-SLI Premium
seem so secure that they almost "snap" into place. I can find no
fault with them. Has Asus started using an improved SATA plug?


Ron

I have an A8N-E v2.0, one WD raptor using the ASUS sata cable, it's
harder to pull out the it is to get it seems, no problems here.

EdG
--
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
x86 Family 15 Model 43 Stepping 1
--------------------------------------------
BIOS: 08/22/05 Video BIOS: 09/14/05
AMD CPU Driver: 1.2.2.2
--------------------------------------------
Stock......... 2200 MHz
Detected...... 2596 MHz
--------------------------------------------
CPU Speed..... 2596 MHz
DDR Speed..... 236.00 MHz
HyperTrns..... 944 MHz
Clock......... 236
Multiple...... 11x
HyperTrns..... 4x
Vcore......... 1.35V
Vcore OC...... 1.375V
VDimm......... 2.8V
VDimm OC...... 2.75V
% OC CPU...... +18.0%
% OC Vcore.... +1.85%
% OC VDimm.... -1.79%
--------------------------------------------