Gave AMD another Shot - Massive Problems

[Lorek]

Hey all, I usually use intel chips just because I've had less problems with them during setup. But for whatever reason I decided i'd give AMD another try.

I bought an Asus A7N8X Deluxe 1.06 Revision.
The Chip is AMD 2800+
9200 Radeon Ati AGP Card
1 256mb kingston, 1 512mb kingston ram.
1 WD HD Approx 6gb
1 IBM HD Approx 40gb

I'm having several problems with this machine.

- Slow IDE Detection @ Bios.
- Detect's CDROM @ Bios, Can't Read CD-ROM after bootup
- Won't boot from CD-Rom
- Videocard has Latest Drivers however Desktop Graphics Corruption is Prominent.
- The Graphics Corruption isn't that bad however every once in awhile
the screen goes from semi corruption to full chaos.


What I've done so far.

The bios started out with 1002 so I Flashed that after backing up the original. All of the above problems occured with both bios vers. I'm running 1008 version of bios now. The board is 1.06 revision.

I've downloaded the latest Nforce2 drivers from the Asus Website and Installed those. No change. The Chipset Drivers are bundled in the Utility.

I've downloaded the Silicon IDE Driver package available from the Asus Website as well however this appears to be only for Raid Installs and not general IDE.

I've switched out the new cdrom I bought with a working CDROM i had from a different computer. Same problems.

When in Windows Xp and double clicking the drive I get an error popup saying the disc is corrupted or in a format not readable. The disc runs on other machines no problems.

I'm unsure about what I should do next, If you guys have any suggestions on things I could try that would be wonderful.

[caveman]

Hmmmm, I`m no expert but maybe try running the bare essentials...Ram, Proc, HDD and see how ya go from there, Maybe also try a different brand of RAM or maybe even just a different stick!

Also try a different GC

Just a few to tide you over

[maroon]

I'm running ver 1.04, but the only problem I had was the slow boot. If you're not using an SATA drive, it's best to disable SATA in the bios. That fixed the problem for me.

If you're gonna run both of those sticks of ram make sure they are both running on the same memory channel. Check your manual, it should show which slots go with which memory channel. Dual channel won't work with different size sticks and could be causing some of your problems. However, I would advise setting up with the 512 stick first then trying to add the 256.

[ScottE]

I'd look at your cables and make sure they are 80 conductor cables. and not bent or broken in any fashion. That's usually the problem.

[Scott]

Hey all, I usually use intel chips just because I've had less problems with them during setup. But for whatever reason I decided i'd give AMD another try.

I bought an Asus A7N8X Deluxe 1.06 Revision.
The Chip is AMD 2800+
9200 Radeon Ati AGP Card
1 256mb kingston, 1 512mb kingston ram.
1 WD HD Approx 6gb
1 IBM HD Approx 40gb

I'm having several problems with this machine.

- Slow IDE Detection @ Bios.
- Detect's CDROM @ Bios, Can't Read CD-ROM after bootup
- Won't boot from CD-Rom
- Videocard has Latest Drivers however Desktop Graphics Corruption is Prominent.
- The Graphics Corruption isn't that bad however every once in awhile
the screen goes from semi corruption to full chaos.


What I've done so far.

The bios started out with 1002 so I Flashed that after backing up the original. All of the above problems occured with both bios vers. I'm running 1008 version of bios now. The board is 1.06 revision.

I've downloaded the latest Nforce2 drivers from the Asus Website and Installed those. No change. The Chipset Drivers are bundled in the Utility.

I've downloaded the Silicon IDE Driver package available from the Asus Website as well however this appears to be only for Raid Installs and not general IDE.

I've switched out the new cdrom I bought with a working CDROM i had from a different computer. Same problems.

When in Windows Xp and double clicking the drive I get an error popup saying the disc is corrupted or in a format not readable. The disc runs on other machines no problems.

I'm unsure about what I should do next, If you guys have any suggestions on things I could try that would be wonderful.

If you recently bought it I don't understand why you have a 1.06 version board, unless you bought it used. The 2.0 boards have been out for sometime now.

Did you go back a load the defaults after the flash?

[Scott]

Also, I believe the Silicon drivers are for the SATA not IDE drives. Make sure all your jumpers on the board are set properly as well.

[Lorek]

I did not reset the defaults after flashing the BIOS, I thought it was supposed to be the 2.0 revision however the AWDflash utility wouldn't flash the bios with the 2.0 revision and it would with the 1.06. I switched the ram out, with some 3200 ram still having the same problems.

I've taken the second HD out and hooked the CD-rom up to that cable, that's still not working. All the jumpers on the board are set correctly.

[maroon]

I agree with ScottE. Sounds like a cable problem, but if you're sure cables aren't damaged and are seated properly...

...you could try:

1. clear CMOS by removing battery or doing the jumper trick
2. load default settings
3. turn off all extra stuff in BIOS: sata, serial ports, printer ports, usb, etc.
4. format HD and load XP
5. you are doing a fresh install, right?

Have you tested memory with memtest86? You never said whether you bought it used or not. Is this a new mobo?

[Lorek]

Motherboard is used, the ram is brand new.I haven't completed Memtest86 yet but all of the hardware works fine on my other system with the exception of the video card, I haven't had a chance to test that yet.

Because the CD-ROM can't be read its making it really difficult for me to create a fresh install.

What I had to do was hook the hd up to my old machine and install windows that way. I haven't tried resetting the cmos yet. The only problem with the windows fresh install on the previous machine is my previous machine is Intel Chipset, When I moved the working boot from my previous machine back to the box It won't boot up in safemode or regular mode. it gives me a blue screen, saying it had to shut down before it damaged parts by continueing.
I'm thinking this happens because Windows Auto Installs a bunch of stuff depending on the current configuration (mobo, chip, etc) during setup and that might be what's causing that.

[YARDofSTUF]

Motherboard is used.

Well that could very easily be the problem there.

[Joe]

What do any of those probs have to do with the actual amd chip? please dont make posts like this fooling people people into thinking amd is bad or intel is bad or whatever... The problem with the mobo is with the mobo.. the problem with the video is with the video.. I am sorry but im grouchy and this post irritated me. good night

[Lorek]

What do any of those probs have to do with the actual amd chip? please dont make posts like this fooling people people into thinking amd is bad or intel is bad or whatever... The problem with the mobo is with the mobo.. the problem with the video is with the video.. I am sorry but im grouchy and this post irritated me. good night

Video Card is simply video, however not being able to read the CDROM because of problems with different controllers that only work for the amd chipset is different. When i've put intel chipset based machines together they've had no hitches during installation unless some hardware is bad which i've found very rare.

When I've put together AMD based chipset systems, I've had to make quite a few exchanges due to defective hardware. I spent approx 17 man hours trying to get this system up and running, in the end i'd exausted all of my options, I'd switched out just about every part, double checked cables, reset the CMOS by removing the battery, and still not had it work. What it came down to was just trying different types of brands of hardware. Which I've never had to do on any intel system. I started with a Mat****a CD-Rom drive, and just started switching parts out cause I'd run out of options. My HP DVD Burner just happened to work and from there it was a breeze getting it up and running now that I had a workable CD drive to reinstall fresh.

These are my personal experiences with AMD and Intel. I usually stick with Intel mainly because I haven't recieved any illogical problems like Cd-rom being recognized by bios, and then being unreadable when its 100% in working order.
I've since read many articles and posts regarding this mobo, there appears to be a problem with that line of motherboard's IDE controller where it would drop data when more then one IDE device was being accessed at the same time.

[drdoug99]

The only problem with the windows fresh install on the previous machine is my previous machine is Intel Chipset, When I moved the working boot from my previous machine back to the box It won't boot up in safemode or regular mode. it gives me a blue screen, saying it had to shut down before it damaged parts by continueing.

if you tried this with Windows XP, you can't do that. Windows XP sets everything up specifically with the hardware you installed it on....and with moving the hard drive to a new computer, espically one that's Intel vs. AMD, it just gets all messed up like that. You'll have to do the install fresh on the AMD computer.

[Mark]

if you tried this with Windows XP, you can't do that. Windows XP sets everything up specifically with the hardware you installed it on....and with moving the hard drive to a new computer, espically one that's Intel vs. AMD, it just gets all messed up like that. You'll have to do the install fresh on the AMD computer.

i agree, run the diagnostic utility for the hard drive that you are useing first to make sure that is okay, then reformat.

[YARDofSTUF]

Dont buy used motherboards. It sounds like someone sold you a dud. I have intel and amd rigs and have had none of those problems u stated with my amds.

[Tawcan]

Dont buy used motherboards. It sounds like someone sold you a dud. I have intel and amd rigs and have had none of those problems u stated with my amds.

Buying used motherboards is a risk. Sometimes the mobo turns out ok, sometimes not.

Hmmmm you already tried switching the CD-ROM...

Try these:
1.) Hook up the CD-ROM with HD on IDE1 and see if that works or not....assuming the BIOS is detecting the HD
2.) Try hooking up only the HD to IDE2 and see if the BIOS detects it.

There's always a chance that IDE2 is busted.

Once I got an used mobo. Everything ran fine, then after about 1 month hell came lose.... I narrowed down the problem to mobo but couldn't find the problem...solution: a new mobo.

[Scott]

I did not reset the defaults after flashing the BIOS, I thought it was supposed to be the 2.0 revision however the AWDflash utility wouldn't flash the bios with the 2.0 revision and it would with the 1.06. I switched the ram out, with some 3200 ram still having the same problems.

I've taken the second HD out and hooked the CD-rom up to that cable, that's still not working. All the jumpers on the board are set correctly.

Are you saying you don't know what version of the board you have? If so, look around the PCI slots on the board, it should say what revision it is. DON'T try to flash a 2.0 board with a 1.0x BIOS, or vice versa! ASUS made different BIOS for each of the different revisions, 1.0x and 2.0. If I am not mistaken, it also has different awardflash programs for each.

Secondly, that board doesn't have an AMD chipset! It has an Nvidia chipset. AMD is the processor in this case, not the chipset.

You've made a lot of comments in this thread that have made little sense such as "wouldn't flash the bios with the 2.0 revision" "amd chipset" and "Silicon IDE driver".

Try reseting the BIOS to the defaults, check you cables, check your jumpers on board, make sure what version you actually have, and download the manual if need be.

You sound very confused.

[maroon]

Installing XP on a system with an Intel chipset then transferring the HD to this nForce2 mobo ain't gonna work.

If you're sure the memory and cable are okay and the HD and CDROM are jumpered correctly, I'd have to say you bought a bad mobo. I hope you have the option to get a refund or replacement.

[pimptrizkit]

i have 4 amd machines i have built my self. starting with lil to NONE. computer knowlage. and the first one gave me a few problems. asus a7v w/800mhz t-bird. blah blah. i thought it was super fast back in the day.. (upgraded form a pentium 2)
then built my 1600+ and one for my brother.

and built my 2500 barton thats in my sig.

after my asus set up. i formated for the 1600+ ecs board (sad) and it set up fine. had problems with the board later on down it's life but fixed them..
then when i built my current machine. i just swapped every thing right over and turned it on set up the bios and it booted. reconised all my new stuff and i still probaly have a old hard ware profile from my last machine. but every thing is runnnin so smoothly why touch it?

any ways. i dont think it's an amd problem. sounds more mobo..