SP2 doesn't work on AOPEN AX4SG Max m/b

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gulliver
  • Start date Start date
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Gulliver

http://club.aopen.com.tw/forum/viewmessage.asp?forumID=17&MessageID=64193

Someone else is having the same problem with an EA65, see:
http://club.aopen.com.tw/forum/viewmessage.asp?forumID=49&MessageID=64192

Who's to blame? Microsoft or AOpen?


<< Posted to Motherboards on 8/16/2004 7:54:49 PM by Jonathan Swift >>
I think I've exhausted all the testing I can do, and with the prospect that
AOpen won't be able to find the problem either, I'll have to return this
board for a refund (to DABS.COM). I purchased it in February and it cost
quite a bit, so I'll try install XP SP2 on a Shuttle I have around, to
verify my media are all perfect, then I'll have to get an Abit, or
Supermicro, or something instead. I see there is also a Max II version, but
obviously I wouldn't want to be in the same boat all over again.

If Tech Support can just get back to me and tell me if it's all my fault, or
Microsoft's, or whether it's a problem with this motherboard. I know XP SP2
hasn't been out even a week yet - which was why I was starting to test it !!


<< Posted to Motherboards on 8/16/2004 3:41:16 PM by Jonathan Swift >>
Also disconnected CD-ROM drives (NEC 107D and SONY CRX300), disable LAN
during one re-build, and did the "disable mup" trick - nothing worked. When
I disabled mup.sys the next instance to load was NDIS - disabled that and
got a crash - NDIS is a required component (as far as I know). But, does
this point to a problem with the Broadcom gigabit firmware? I see there is a
new firmware/diag download for this.


<< Posted to Motherboards on 8/16/2004 2:56:08 PM by Jonathan Swift >>
I forgot to mention, I also swapped the DIMMS, tried with just one DIMM, ran
Microsoft's memory testing software (link posted elsewhere on this forum).
As I said, I read posts across the net, and from this forum, before I
considered posting. I like to solve problems on my own, by searching
extensively first, but some problems are so embedded in the BIOS, or
software, that all you can do, once you've exhausted all your own testing,
is to refer it to Technical Support. You can waste days testing something
only to find out it's a BIOS/mb issue, but equally it may well be a major
problem with XP SP2!


<< Posted to Motherboards on 8/16/2004 2:16:40 PM by Jonathan Swift >>
As I already said, I installed XP from scratch (original media), then
applied SP1a, then applied SP2 - both with and without 3rd-party drivers. I
also did a build from XP, then went directly to SP2 - same problem every
time. XP SP1a and all patches work just fine, and previously worked for six
months. I've fiddled with every setting in the BIOS that could be connected.
I also read this article, and many more (search the Internet for hours
reading material) before posting. I hadn't loaded any applications at all -
these were fresh installs every time.


<< Posted to Motherboards on 8/16/2004 9:00:51 AM by Pedro Lezama >>
Isn't the AX4SG Max. Is the WinXP´s SP2.

Here are the link.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=884130&product=windowsxpsp2


<< Posted to Motherboards on 8/16/2004 4:49:05 AM by Jonathan Swift >>
Firstly, I love Aopen kit - it's well made, has good documentation, and good
support.

Now the problem. I have an AX4SG Max motherboard with 1GB (2x512) Corsair
memory and a P4 2.8 1MB (Extreme Edition) cpu. I had a 250MB SATA Maxtor
drive, and I'm using the onboard LAN and VGA - no other components. I
installed WinXP SP2 and the machine wouldn't boot - hung at mup.sys (or
whatever's next). I then replace the drive with a 40GB Seagate and
re-installed XP and SP1 from scratch - no 3rd-party drivers added, then
upgraded to SP2 - again, hung when booting. Re-installed again, SP1, added
3rd-party drivers (latest), installed SP2, hung again. So I've gone back to
using SP1a and all the patches - works like a dream. I have the latest
(1.09) bios. My unit number is: 918AT1040133900105JE39 but have no idea if
this is a problem with this motherboard not working with SP2. Any helpful
suggestions gratefully appreciated. I'm currently using the 40GB drive as
the boot device, and all the data is, thankfully, on the 250GB Maxtor. NOTE.
I thought I'd lost 10 years and 200GB of data as when I installed XP it
didn't see any data on the drive - until I installed SP1 which supports
really big drives ! I've got 20 years experience in all this sort of thing,
I work as a Server Development Specialist - specialising in hardware testing
and automated OS and OS-related software installation, so I tried a lot of
the obvious - re-setting BIOS defaults, turning off hyperthreading, etc.
 
Just did another test: Installed XP (no SP) on my Shuttle (FV25) and then
went direct to XP SP2 - all works perfectly.

Therefore, the problem seems to be with AOpen's AX4SG Max motherboard,
and/or BIOS and XP SP2.
 
Hi

It appears to be an Intel 865G based mobo. I have no experience with the 'G'
format... Needless to say 865 should work 100% out of the box.

Gulliver:

Some steps you could try to isolate which part of the mobo / bios is causing
issue.
Have you tried a separate PCI graphics card and disabling the on board vga?
I would also try disabling LAN, USB2, Firewire - just for XP install.
What are/were the settings for AGP Aperture & Graphics Memory?

Have you tried a cmos reset, load defaults?

Sounds like faulty h/w or bios. I take it you have tried a couple of
different bios versions?

- Tim
 
I do have a FX5200 (MSI) VGA card in another machine - I could try that, but
others have tried this card on another AOpen system and still had the same
problems as me.

I did try disabling LAN, USB2, Firewire during one install - less for it to
get upset about !
AGP Aperature has always been 128MB, and the video memory allocated was
either 16MB or 32MB - depending upon which install I was doing, e.g. I tried
both !

I did reset CMOS default, e.g. load default. Also did a load turbo defaults
at one point.
 
If the second PC is running a Prescott CPU, on an i865/i875 chipset, disable
L1/L2 caching in the BIOS and it will startup. Then remove SP2 reboot and
re-enable L1/L2 caching.

that's all we can do right now till the problem is fixed.
 

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