A7N8X Deluxe: Almost there but . . .

[garyatrockaway]

Got all my pieces in for my monster system:
A7N8X-Deluxe
AMD 2400+
Corsair DDR 400 512 MB Stick
Antex Case (430 Power Suppy)
80 GB Western Digital (2MB cache)

Got some time. Got the MOBO, Memory and floppy installed in the case.

Noticed the BIOS was reporting I had a 1800+. Thought I got ripped by the dealer. When I switched the BIOS settings for FSB from 100 mhz to 133 mhz, the boot up read 2400+ (confused why this setting changed the CPU reporting)

The drive is formated w/ NTFS. When booting, the Detecting IDE drives takes a good 30 to 40 seconds. It correctly reports the WD drive.
Then we get the typical BIOS printout screen, IRQ settings, etc.

I have a bootable floppy in.

The drive spins briefly, I get a loading Caldera DOS (loading PQ Magic) and then the system stops.

I then installed my new Sony DRU500A DVD rom with WIN XP Pro CD which is bootable.

Restart, go through the 1 minute overall wait until the boot menu picks up for the DVD. I make my selection to install XP pro. I get the expected "inspecting system" message and then blank screen and nothing. Similiar to the floppy boot.

So, any ideas what could be going on. I have not messed with any of the BIOS settings except the FSB setting which somehow fixed the CPU being reported.

I would have thought, out of the box, it would work. Albeit maybe slow since the settings are not optimal.

As it stands now. I can get anything to load in order to partition and/or load XP Pro.

Any help appreciated.

-gg

It would be cool if their was a A7N8X guide to the BIOS for each processor type and maybe with specific, common memory Corsair for example.

 

[mechBgon]

First off, it's normal for the CPU detection nomenclature to vary depending on the bus speed.

Oh, BTW, first thing I'd do is set the RAM timings to Aggressive and make sure the CAS setting is 2, not 3.

Judging by the odd HDD-detection behavior, the next thing I would do is check the jumpering of the drive (you want it as either master or "single drive," try both ways), and make sure it's on the end connector of a standard, good-condition 80-pin flat IDE cable. In the BIOS, if it isn't already set to Auto for all IDE positions, set it that way (manual, page 4-12).

If boot-sector antivirus comes enabled in the BIOS, which I think it does, you might want to disable it. I don't really understand the ramifications of this setting, but you never know... manual has that detailed on page 4-33 and 4-34.

If that doesn't get you anywhere, try these two ideas:

• Try unplugging the hard drive's IDE cable from the motherboard altogether, and see if you can get either your boot floppy or your WinXP CD to go further than they've been doing, which may shed light on whether the hard drive has something to do with it.
• Download WD Data Lifeguard 10.0, make a DL10 diskette, hook the hard drive up again, and run the WD diagnostics if possible.

That's a nice system and you didn't skimp on the quality of the RAM and PSU (yay! ) so hopefully this ends up being something reasonable. Good luck!

 

[garyatrockaway]

I will give these a try tonight. I was leary with messing with the memory settings until I get a baseline with the thing running <g>.

Fingers Crossed!

Have a good new year,

gg

 

[tomkay]

You also will not be at full potential of mb without 2 sticks of ram. As I understand it this mb uses dual channel for fsb.

 

[garyatrockaway]

Yeah I know this. I ultimately want to get to 1 GB of RAM but could only afford the single stick. From testing that I have seen, there is not a huge difference currently. I suspect when I get one of the new AMDs late this year or next, then it will make a big diff.

-gg