Asus A7N8x-E and 9600XT startup problems

[Steven Roberts]

I've seen this problem on here a couple of times before but no solutions
have been presented. I was wondering if there was anymore information now.

Basically my PC doesn't always start correctly, full spec below but it's
an ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe with ASUS Radeon 9600XT graphics card.
Sometimes on switch on the computer fails to start. The fans and drives
start but there is no video or TV output. Also there is no BIOS beep or
POST messages. When it hangs like this the only way to boot it is to
remove the graphics card, attempt to start again, which produces a
correct POST message and the replace the card and start again. I've only
had the system for a month and don't switch off very often so am not
sure of the frequency of failure.

System
ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe
ASUS Radeon 9600XT
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (thoroughbred not overclocked)
Corsair Value Select DDR PC 2700 2*256MB
Seagate SATA drive
350W PSU

 

[kim & jeffrey]

Hi,

Check your CPU Cooler if it fits good .
Worked for me


jeff

 

[Ron]

Hmm. Steven, is there any chance the vidcard is improperly seated? Also,
have you verified that all connectors are securely seated?

I ask because this sounds a bit like one of those annoying issues that SEEMS
to be vidcard-related, but turns out to be a loose connector somewhere which
gets bumped *during the re & re of the vidcard*.

Please post a follow-up.
Ron

 

[Steven Roberts]

Hmm. Steven, is there any chance the vidcard is improperly seated? Also,
have you verified that all connectors are securely seated?

It's always possible that the card isn't seated correctly but I have
checked this and feel confident that it is ok. I have even removed the
mobo from the case to check that there are no 'extra' mounting lugs
causing a shorting problem.

I ask because this sounds a bit like one of those annoying issues that SEEMS
to be vidcard-related, but turns out to be a loose connector somewhere which
gets bumped *during the re & re of the vidcard*.

When it's running it's really stable and will happily reboot too. But
when
switched off overnight it won't always restart. Sometimes when it
crashes I walk away for a few mins and then it will restart ok, no
card pulling required.

I've seen the same problem posted here before:

Newsgroups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus
Subject: A7N8X-E Deluxe, Asus 9600XT...no video
Date: 10 Feb 2004 10:36:11 -0800

but this thread has no solution! I was hoping one of these earlier
posters would have a fix now.

Please post a follow-up.

thanks for your help

 

[Steven Roberts]

Hi,

Check your CPU Cooler if it fits good .

It's the AMD cooler and is seated correctly. It looks flat and the CPU
doesn't overheat at all when running

Worked for me

Did you experience this same problem then? Do you have a simliar
hardware setup?

 

[Bogo]

This problem has haunted me from the first day after I built my
system: A7N8X-e deluxe 1.006 and 1.008 Bios, Asus 9600XT, 2800+ (no
over clocking), 1G TWINX Corsair PC3200LL, Zalman 400W PS, Seagate 80G
Baricuda. You can imagine my disbelief when my system failed to post
the following morning.

My observations:
Occurs on cold boot after many hours off (AC off).
Fan on 9600XT does not start when this occurs. No speaker beep or
video. Fans turn on and hard disks spin.
Reset button never gets it to post.
Only AC removal and many tries will allow system to post.
Fiddling around in case with cables, reseating cards, removing memory,
etc. is inconclusive. Sometimes something works othertimes it does
not. I conclude it is a random type event and false indication of a
possible solution.
I had a prolonged period of a few days with no problems after I
increased AGP memory to 128MB and/or disabled APG 8X support in Bios.
It then started to occur after I tried to do experiments to determine
this was the solution.
No problems at all in Windows XP Pro after booting OK.
Asus Smart Doctor is flaky in regards to voltage readings.

My gut impression: a low level fundamental problem with either this
card or combination of card and motherboard. I do not expect a real
resolution to this and expect it to cost me several hundreds of
dollars to eventually solve completely i.e., different motherboard or
motherboard and different video card. There is no gurantee what works
for one person will work for another.

I've researched this from every angle possible: memory, power supply,
video card, corrupted BIOS, motherboard, CPU, etc. etc.. It is
happening to many people and I chaulk it up to me being one of the
unlucky ones along with the others.

All I can suggest is to disable 8X AGP and play around with AGP
aperture settings. I've seen too many posts of people swapping power
supplies, memory, processors, etc, with no effect.

 

[Ron]

OK...now I'm thinking a PCB [solder] crack. I'm going out on a limb a
little, but this sounds like a classic: COLD = DEAD/WARM = SIGNS of LIFE.

Unfortunately I am not aware of a way to verify this, short of assembling
everything onto a different (or replacement of existing) mobo.

FWIW.

Please post a follow-up.
Ron

 

[Steven Roberts]

Bogo wrote:

Bogo, you say you have seen this from many people, is it always with the
9600XT graphics card or have you seen anyone experiencing a problem with
other graphics cards? And is it always an *ASUS* 9600XT card?

All I can suggest is to disable 8X AGP and play around with AGP
aperture settings. I've seen too many posts of people swapping power
supplies, memory, processors, etc, with no effect.

Mine will boot with the following sequence:

1. Fails to startup after being off for some time.
2. switch off, remove graphics card.
3. Boot again - POST message "No graphics card".
4. switch off, replace graphics card.
5. Boots ok.

If step 3 is dropped then it won't boot in step 5 so I don't think that
the card is badly seated. I believe there is a problem in the BIOS.
Maybe it detects a fault condition such as overclocking so will not boot
for safety. The removal of the card causes the BIOS to recheck the
system and then it correctly identifies the CPU/fsb setting, whatever.
Just my theory though.

I am really disappointed in this ASUS combination, I spent considerable
time choosing my new system and cannot afford to get a new mobo or
graphics card to fix it. Has anyone explored this with ASUS support?
It's easy for a manufacturer to shift blame as there are so many
components in a system but I'm convinced this is a GPU/mobo problem and
they are both ASUS. :-(

I see another new BIOS has been released, V1010 - maybe worth a try but
I doubt it.

 

[Steven Roberts]

OK...now I'm thinking a PCB [solder] crack. I'm going out on a limb a
little, but this sounds like a classic: COLD = DEAD/WARM = SIGNS of LIFE.

Maybe but I think there is more evidence that negates this :-( SWMBO
started the PC the other day while I was at work. It failed to boot but
she wasn't sure what to do so left it with the just fans running. A
couple of hours later when I got back it still wouldn't reboot - should
have warmed up by then.

I appreciate your suggestions please don't think I'm just shooting them
down, it's just that I have considered most things already.

Unfortunately I am not aware of a way to verify this, short of assembling
everything onto a different (or replacement of existing) mobo.

Unfortunately I don't have a spare mobo or graphics card to try this.

 

[Bogo]

I cannot say it is only with 9600XT or Asus 9600XT. The most common
elements of systems with this problem seem to be a Nforce2 board and
9600XT/9700/9800 type card. The BIOS theory is high on the list too. I
have disabled the posting voice because I would get an ocassional
warning system failed due to overclocking which I was not. The system
would still boot fine with no later problems or indication of
incorrect settings.
One other thing I tried when it failed to post was remove one of my
RAM sticks and it started. I would have to run for a week or so in
this mode to really confirm bad memory or running dual channel
connection. I had thought the 8X to 4X AGP setting fixed it but it
happened again after working fine for 4-5 days.

Yesterday I broke down the system to check all connectors, seating of
mother board, etc. Put it back together and had it not post a few
times later in the day.

I don't know what I'll do at this point. Probably tolerate it and see
if I can try a different video card, memory and CPU by either
borrowing or on an acelerated path to upgrade to a complete new
system. I've spent much too much time on this!
Here's a good resource if you don't know about them already.
http://www.amdmb.com/

 

[@ndrew]

I cannot say it is only with 9600XT or Asus 9600XT. The most common
elements of systems with this problem seem to be a Nforce2 board and
9600XT/9700/9800 type card.

I am having no problems with my Nforce 2 board and the 9600XT (except
it refusing to release a MAC address to DHCP on my LAN)... sorry o(

regards

@ndrew