A7N8X Deluxe Problems

[Ateryx]

Specs:
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Mobo
Athlon 2700 XP CPU
CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series, Low Latency (Twin Pack) 1GB(2 x 512MB) 2x(64MX64) PC-2700LLPT
Western Digital 7200 120 Gig HD
NVIDIA Asylum GeForce4 Ti 4200 (128mb)
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Sound Card

The Problem Part 1:
Originally, my system wouldn't boot, not even a beep of warning from the bios/cmos. My friend and I swapped in his Athlon 1400?1600? and adjusted the bios down to a lower speed for both cpu and memory. Only then my own cpu worked and bios loaded.

The Problem Part 2:
I brought my computer home and put in my version of WinXP Corporate Pro. Everything appears to be in order (everything recognized) and it begins loading the software "Setup is configuring hardware". The setup begins loading (blue screen, white lettering, gray bar along bottom with loading status) until the setup reads "Setup is starting windows". Everything seems to stop at this point. My harddrive activity light stops blinking, and I've let this page sit for over half and hour.

I have tried every possible pin setup on the hard drive (single, single default, duel master, cable select), and the cable is connected correct as the master hd. Also, I tried another copy of the WinXP Corporate Pro that I used on my old computer, that did indeed work. As a desparation move, I tried booting with my cd of WinME, which did not get me past the "Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM".

Any ideas as to what I should do? I think this is a motherboard problem, could it be a HD prob? After 4 weeks (busy at school) of hardware/software problems, suicide seems like a viable option to end this suffering.

 

[Ateryx]

I also tried taking out the soundcard and booting... same problem as before.

 

[mechBgon]

Is your Windows CD a legitimate one from Microsoft? If not, I'd suggest getting the real thing, or at least don't discuss your illegal one here. 😉 Ah so...

Try cutting the red wire in your HDD's IDE cable, and the ground wire immediately inboard of it. It's a Western Digital problem and they will RMA your drive if it won't work without this treatment (I think).

 

[Ateryx]

Cutting a ground? I've read your other post which seem to be outstanding... still I'd like to try some other options first. Why do I have this problem in the first place?

 

[Ateryx]

Cutting a ground? I've read your other post which seem to be outstanding... still I'd like to try some other options first. Why do I have this problem in the first place?

 

[mechBgon]

If you have any other drives you could test with, that would be easy to try too, as a fact-finding step. Maybe an older Maxtor or IBM?

 

[mechBgon]

If you have any other drives you could test with, that would be easy to try too, as a fact-finding step to see if it's specific to the WD's. Maybe an older Maxtor or IBM?

 

[scorched03]

yuck. i just installed mine today. didn't dexluxe's have issues with PC2700 memories? just a thought

btw. I got mine installed and worked. however I have a xp 2400 chip in there. a7n8x deluxe mobo only recognizes it as 1800.
any help on this too?

 

[Ateryx]

I just manually adjusted it in bios...
HOWEVER,
my retail cpu is not doing that great of job, its running at 42, 43 (at least I can see this right now in bios).
I would recommend keeping an eye on your temp when you put your cpu at its correct speed for awhile.

 

[Ateryx]

mechbgon...
picked up a new maxtor, same problem as before with the wd.
any other ideas?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: scorched03
yuck. i just installed mine today. didn't dexluxe's have issues with PC2700 memories? just a thought

btw. I got mine installed and worked. however I have a xp 2400 chip in there. a7n8x deluxe mobo only recognizes it as 1800.
any help on this too?

Yeah, there were problems with 512Mb PC2700 modules, even from companies that you wouldn't expect, such as Crucial in particular.

On the 2400+ being recognized wrong, the mobo is running it below its rated speed. Easy to correct that, just go into the BIOS, and in the Advanced menu, go into Advanced Chipset Features as shown on page 55 of the manual, set CPU External Frequency (MHz) to 133.

While you're in there, it's a good idea to set Memory Frequency to 100% so the memory runs in sync with the CPU, which will give the best system performance.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Ateryx
mechbgon...
picked up a new maxtor, same problem as before with the wd.
any other ideas?

Yeah... go to page 55 and 56 of the manual and they list the settings for the CPU and memory timings. Everything that they show as "Optimal" or "Auto," you want to set those to "User Define" if possible, or else "Aggressive," etc, so that you can get manual control over the memory timings.

Next, see the timings that the manual shows as 7, 1, 1, 2.5 and set those to 6, 2, 2 ,2. I believe that's what your Corsair LL modules are wanting the board to shake hands with. If it still won't behave, try with just one memory module. If it won't behave after that, try clocking your CPU and memory back down to the 133MHz speeds and see what happens there. Also try a different IDE cable if you didn't yet.

If the situation persists, yank that board out of the case and dangle it menacingly over the toilet for a minute or two. Then lay it on a sheet of cardboard, put a large hammer where the board can see it, and try setting up Windows on it while it's out of the case on cardboard 😉 This isn't elegant but hey, if there was something shorting the board out inside the case and preventing the IDE controller from working normally, this should eliminate that variable from the equation.

 

[scorched03]

holy crap. u guys are soooo helpful 🙂 🙂
that was a super fast reply. thanx. i will try

i will cross my fingers cuz i got bad luck with PC's. 🙂

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: scorched03
holy crap. u guys are soooo helpful 🙂 🙂
that was a super fast reply. thanx. i will try

i will cross my fingers cuz i got bad luck with PC's. 🙂

Hehe, better than emailing Asus "tech support" and being ignored, huh? 😉 Lots of nice helpful people around here, it's a great Forum.

 

[Ateryx]

okay, bad new is same f***ing issue.

good news is:
a) its probably not the memory, because we tried another ddr 256 2100 piece and it works
b) its probably not the hd, because the maxtor one had same problem.

i have a hard time believing that its shorting... will try, but first we're going to piece the parts together one at a time...

also, those user defined settings didn't change anything, and we had already tried a couple different ide cables.

 

[Chumpman]

Originally posted by: Ateryx
okay, bad new is same f***ing issue.

good news is:
a) its probably not the memory, because we tried another ddr 256 2100 piece and it works
b) its probably not the hd, because the maxtor one had same problem.

i have a hard time believing that its shorting... will try, but first we're going to piece the parts together one at a time...

also, those user defined settings didn't change anything, and we had already tried a couple different ide cables.

If you stick a different piece of RAM in and it works, then why wouldn't the error be memory?

 

[Ateryx]

maybe you misunderstood me, the memory worked the same as before... sorry for the confusion. I meant that it preformed the same as before

 

[squidman]

Lol, asus answered my question i sent them. Took em 3 weeks (i've solved the problem by then, lol) but they did it! I feel so special! ;_)

 

[pcgeekess]

I know that this might sound a bit crazy, especially since you were able to load the OS up until that point with the CD, but I have seen this many times. Try power on with the CDROM ribbon cable not connected to the drive. If it boots in normal mode you have to start playing around with jumper settings with HDDs and CDROM. My own father had this problem last week and would not believe me until I proved it.
Good luck

 

[Ateryx]

pcgeektress...
windows has never been loaded on my system...
its still in the startup blue screen.
anyone else have any ideas?