Asembling System with Asus A8N SLI - Tips??

[kjackson09]

I have finally purchased all of the components for my new rig, they are:

Asus A8n SLI - Deluxe (s939)
AMD Athlon 64 - 3200+ (s939)
1GB OCZ Premier Dual Channel Ram (2 x512 with copper heat spreaders) - (2.5-3-3-7)
eVGA 6600GT - PCI-E
Western Digital 160GB HD /8MB cache - SATA
NEC 3520 Dual Layer DVD Burner
LG CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Driver
Antec Performance Plus 1080 Case
Antec 430W True Power

I know there have been a lot of threads of people working out little issues here and there with the ASUS A8N-SLI deluxe board. My system does not appear to be out of the ordinary (ie. only one video card, my HD doesn't have NCQ etc).

I am noobish, but will have some assistance during assembly.

I am looking for tips to ensure a smooth assembly tomorrow. Are there any key points to consider when putting together my Asus A8N SLI board tomorrow. Or anything regarding the other components listed on this thread. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Kerry

 

[imported_2x]

Looks good to me. My suggestions are - don't try to overclock right away. Get it up and running at defaults first, make sure all is well for a bit and then start pushing if you choose to do so. Also I would not flash the bios right away either. If it comes with 1002, stay with that until everything is running. Also take your time and ground yourself often etc. Follow the manual's directions in terms of what parts to put together first. You have high quality components so it should work fine. Good Luck.

 

[kjackson09]

Good to know.

Note Taken:

1. Setup system with original bios, once system is stable upgrade to latest final version.

Another question is regarding, system load tests etc. Once the system is up an running, is there a program I can run for a period of time to ensure my components are good?

 

[imported_slippy]

My advice is to connect everything first before a test boot, take your time, and ground yourself frequently (don't wear a static-y shirt or pants, touch the metal of your case often, and an electric socket- well don't stick your finger in the holes or anything- but the screw between the two sockets is also a great ground- just touch that screw with your finger- and touch the metal of your case again- if you have carpet- make sure to ground often.)

You should have a rag handy to dry your hands with in case your hands get sweaty, you don't want any oil getting on any of your parts from your hands. Oils do effect processors and other parts.

a8n-sli specific- Most boards come set in dual mode, opposed to what the manual says. That will be your first issue to deal with.

When screwing the motherboard in... do not make it tight! This could damage the board. It shouldn't be loose either... just firm.

Do not use thermal paste if you use a stock heat sink that has a square pad on it. Or use the thermal paste but take that pad off. It's either one or the other, not both.

The operation is fairly simple and the November issue of maximum pc has a step by step build which uses an asus board which is similar, the a8v deluxe. I just went step by step with that guide and had no problems.

Other things to know... do not use nvidia IDE drivers. Your hard drive should be picked up automaticly.

Also, once you have a boot, comp will say no boot disc... this is the point where you use windowsxp, and let it do its thing. Then do drivers afterward. I wouldn't play with alternative bios until you had the system running stable for a few days. Then read forums and find out which bios are considered good, and use them if you want to.

I'm using bios 1003 without incident.

When putting the processor in, take a good look at the pins a few times before you put it in the board. With my first look I thought I had it correct, but on second glance i realized I had it sideways in alignment, which was a shock. This was before I tried putting it in though. Like a carpenter, measure twice and cut once.

 

[ahurtt]

One thing I had happen was I started to install Win XP without making a nVidia sata driver disk and just using the stock XP drivers first but it only saw 137 Gig of my 250 Gig drive. My xp cd is really old, pre-SP1. At that time xp couldn't detect drives over about 128-137 Gigs. I did a couple things to remedy it. First I created the driver disks off the motherboard CD. Then I used Maxtor's MaxBlast 3 tool to pre-partition and format my drive with NTFS before I started the windows install. This seemed to fix it. You didn't mention if you are installing windows or linux or what but if you are putting on windows you might hit this problem. If you have a newer windows CD than I do you might not have it either. If your using XP and your CD is not SP 2 then I recommend upgrading to SP2 straight off before you install any other drivers or anything.

I also found that it appeared the nVidia SATA controllers were flip-flopped in the bios in ver 1002. Although it could be just with my particular Maxtor drive since there seem to be problems with them and the A8N. I have my SATA drive plugged in to the #1 nVidia SATA port and no other SATA devices connected. However, if I disable ports 3, 4 in the bios, it stopped detecting my drive. If I reenabled ports 3, 4 but disabled 1, 2 it would then detect the drive (even though my drive is in port 1 but that port is disabled in the BIOS). Disable 3, 4 again and drive disappears. . .you be the judge. And don't know if your drive has NCQ or not but if it does DO NOT ENABLE IT.

I think the boards come with the SLI selector card inserted in the Single graphics card position. If you don't need to change it, DON'T! I had to flip mine over to dual cuz I have 2 6600GT's but I didn't get it seated perfectly even though it really looked like it was. It took me almost 5 hours to figure out why my 2nd card wasn't being detected. . .that little bastard selector card was not seated straight byless than a millimeter. . .had to look rreeeeeeaaaally hard to tell. The motherboard briefly mentions that you need to be sure this card is seated properly but MAN they should've put it in flashing neon lights.

Other than that, don't be surprised if you get some seemingly random crashes and wierd behavior which I think can mostly be attributed to immature BIOS and nVidia drivers. And I am just planning on waiting a while before I eve try to overclock my system since right now it doesn't even run stable at stock speeds on the current drivers / BIOS. My system is similar to yours:

Asus A8N SLI Deluxe
AMD 64 3200+ Winchester
1 Gig (2x512) Corsair PC3200 (DDR400 in dual channel config) rated @ 2-2-2-5
2 x BFG 6600GT OC PCI express
Maxtor SATA 250 Gig DiamondMax 10 w/ 16 MB cache and NCQ (currently disabled. . .grrr)
Sony ATA Sony DVD ROM / CD-RW combo drive (OEM)
Generic 1.44 MB legacy floppy (since it looks like I'll be doing a lot of BIOS flashes haha)
OCZ ModStream 450 24-Pin modular PSU

Let us know how it goes!

 

[ahurtt]

Oh, and I looked at your PSU. . .if you ever plan to go with SLI in the future, you might need to get a beefier PSU, especially if you go with anything more power hunger than 2 6600GT's. (Like the 2 6800GT/Ultra's). The general consensus around here lately is that you are better off with a good strong single rail PSU with at LEAST 25A on the +12V than with a dual rail model for this motherboard. The one you have is rated at PEAK 26A. So you wouldn't want to operate it at peak capacity constantly. But you can always try it and see. . .worst that might happen is the system is unstable and crashes. But your PSU should be fine for what you have right now.

 

[ahurtt]

Originally posted by: slippy

a8n-sli specific- Most boards come set in dual mode, opposed to what the manual says. That will be your first issue to deal with.

--------------------


Other things to know... do not use nvidia IDE drivers. Your hard drive should be picked up automaticly.

I thought mine came in single mode and I had to switch it to dual. . .but maybe I just took it out to see how it worked in which case I wish I hadn't. . .I don't remember. Just whatever you do, be certain this little ah heck is nested in nice and snug and snapped in properly. If you have any video card detection issues, this should be prime suspect #1.

As for the nvidia drivers, I have been seeing that they offer faster performance than the default windows drivers but are not as stable. And like I said, if you have an older xp cd it is possible that not using the nvidia drivers *could* contribute to the xp installer not seeing your whole HD capacity.

 

[kjackson09]

Wow,

Great responses. Exactly the kind of information I was looking for. I am installing Windows XP (I think it is Pro)

This statement doesn't make sense to me:
"it doesn't even run stable at stock speeds on the current drivers / BIOS. My system is similar to yours: "

I thought that once you are up and running you should be relatively stable. Crashing in the beginning is normal? I don't plan to overclock right away, I am very cautious and will do a ton of research before I intentionalty subject my new toy to a potentially premature death.

My initial goals are pretty simple. Assemble system, install windows and hope everything runs fairly stable. Surf the net, install a game, test a DVD movie, burn a CD and that is it for now. (in the course of a couple of days probably)

 

[ahurtt]

well by that statement I was referring to the problems I have been having w/ hard drive detection and some crashes I had where it appeared the cause was some nvidia driver or another. The detailed information about the crash would have some driver or dll listed like nVxxxxx as the place where the crash occurred. I tried to overclock by 10% once (2.1GHz) and the system didn't stay up long at all once I started a game. Then one time, the scariest thing that happened when I was running at default speed and most of the BIOS settings at default. . .I was playing Half-Life 2 and the system just froze, buzzing / chirping noises started coming from the speakers, and the video went all whacky. It came up back when I rebooted twice but didn't detect the hard drive on the first reboot. Also on the morning after I had finished building it and installing all drivers and everything, I turned it on and it comleted POST but then at the point where it should have started to load XP, the screen just went black. On the reboot it POSTed again but the screen stayed black. . .I removed the monitor cable from the back and plugged it back in and the screen came on with a message about some corrupt or missing windows system file. I totally powered down and unplugged the PSU then turned it back on and it came up fine. I have a sneaky feeling this is the immature nVidia drivers acting up. And this was with no overclock. Just annoying stuff like this. But my system is very nice as long as it stays up They will sort this stuff out with time.

 

[karmadharma]

"I thought that once you are up and running you should be relatively stable."

it depends, my system packed it in after 2 days of running stable:

= went in the BIOS to disable 'cool'n'quiet'
= save & exit
= on reboot monitor stays black, mobo beeps 1 high/1 low (no voice messages)
= tried a few times no dice, still the same
= put in the mobo CD so it does the bios autorecovery
= computer reads the CD then starts beeping high continuously beep-beep-beep-beep...
= turn off, turn back on nothing happens (no beeps, no POST)

computer is back at the shop where I bought it right now, hopefully they'll exchange the mobo and won't give me grief. Things I wonder:

= why were there no 'voice' POST messages but only beeps?
= how can just changing a setting in the BIOS cause things to die like that?
= why oh why my 4x512MB Kingston low latency ram never worked in dual channel?

[edit] also this was with no overclocking whatsoever, dual 6800gt, 2x200GB in RAID 1, antec 550 psu

 

[ahurtt]

I have the same kind of questions about those supposed voice post messages. Is it possible you need to install and run that winbond voice editor application from the CD at least one time to set up the initial messages? Maybe it doesn't come preconfigured. . .I dunno. . According to the manual there should be a voice message telling you when the bios detects no hard drive and lord knows that has happened to me plenty of times. But I never got any voice message telling me so.

Also, I think I remember GuitarDaddy saying something about if you want to run dual channel with all four DIMM slots filled, you have to lower the command timing to 2T. . .or something like that. Search for posts about it, it has been discussed I'm sure.

[EDIT] Are you sure that you did ENABLE the voice post messages in the BIOS? And then did you enable all the voice options? There are 3 options under the voice menu. Speech IC reporter, Report IDE Error, and Report System Booting.

 

[karmadharma]

hmmmm, as soon as I get back my system from the shop (hopefully sooner rather than later, I just called and they seem to have figured out that it's a mobo issue (gee, thanks, no POST and it takes you TWO DAYS to figure that out?)) I'll check all the voice options are enabled. Also thanks for the GuitarDaddy tip, I found a lot of post talking about 1t/2t and so on.

 

[karmadharma]

hah, replying to myself, I just called the shop and they told me they put in a new mobo but it STILL doesn't POST. I really wonder what's going on! What could be preventing a mobo from posting? the HDs? the video cards? the PSU? that's so weird!

 

[mlc]

Good luck with your build... I just completed mine last weekend....

Sounds like you've got some good feedback here..
1) as others have stated.. doublecheck the position of the selector card for the SLI mode.. and make sure its set for a single VGA... .. Seems like they get shipped in either position....
2) don't change the bios version just yet.. if you have 1002.. keep it .. that seems to be fairly stable if you're just looking to get it up and running...

Some good programs to start out with for stability ...

1) Prime95
2) 3DMark01 and 03
3) SiSandra..

 

[imported_slippy]

And to clarify the selector card orientation... in single mode, the single side of the chip would be pointing towards the blue pci-e slot. I'm sure you would figure it out, but the manual is in no way clear about it.

 

[dmdmd]

Be aware that when you get it up and running, do not unplug or switch off your power supply...there's a bug with this thing where it will not post after losing power (if that green led goes off). You'll need to reset CMOS if this happens. I don't know if newer bios fixes this, as the following is ASUS's response to that question:
Dear Friend :
Thank you for contacting ASUS Customer Service.
My name is ***** and I would be assisting you today

Sir, Sorry for replying you so late , i see your this mail at just now .

For 1003,007 bios , it upswing and improve on system performance and compatibility . You could try it !

Best regards !

Thank you for using ASUS products and services!
If you have any problem about our products, you can also visit our support site below to search the solution!
http://www.asus.com.tw/support/support.aspx
*****
ASUS Customer Service Center (Shanghai)

 

[kjackson09]

**UPDATE**

Well the build went together without a single problem. The Antec case was a breeze to work with and I am very happy with the purchase. As for the motherboard there were no issues. I installed the latest nVidia drivers for the video card, and as per the advice kept the motheboard BIOS at stock until everything was stable.

There was a small moment of panic when the computer posted for the first time I had a message like "Warning, CPU Fan not detected!" Upon physical check the CPU fan was moving and the information in the bios confirmed that, I rebooted and never say the message again.

Now that the system is assembled I would like to test it's stability. I was told from a friend that I should run a "burn-in" program. Can someone please explain this, and or recommend a program. How long do you run this program for? Can it harm your computer?

Cheers,

Kerry

 

[mlc]

Glad to hear everything went so well....

There are "burn in" programs out there... or you can also run some of the more common benchmarking programs out there as well.. Most of these are freebies that can be found out on the web....

I mentioned a few in my previous post
1) Prime95 (there is a torture test that does a good shake out of your memory as well as other components... most people like to run this one overnight or a few hours to ensure no errors crop up)
2) 3DMark.. there are 2001, 2003 and 2005 versions out there... basically runs you through a bunch of 3d test and pops out an overall score.. which you can then compare to others to ensure you are getting results that make sense for your setup...(start with the 2001 first.. each version is a little tougher on your graphics setup...
3) SiSandra.. this is a very popular overall tool for identifying components, testing their performance etc... it also consist of a burn in program.....
4) there are a few others.. but these are a good start....

... just keep an eye on your temperatures as these run.... you should be fine as long as they stay within the acceptable range...

 

[kjackson09]

Where can I view the temperature of my CPU?

 

[remmdog]

You can use the utility on the CD provided, can't remember the name asus probe or something. It will give you the temp of the mb and cpu with the fanspeeds. Oh and if you don't like that noisy fan you could replace it if you want to. But if it doesn't bother you then don't worry about it.

 

[ahurtt]

Asus Probe utility on the motherboard CD will tell you your temps and you can also see it in the BIOS.
As for burn-in. . .just leave the computer on a few days without powering down and use it normally. Just turn off your monitor / speakers . .. whatever peripherals you have when you leave it but leave the machine on. No, it won't hurt your computer to leave it on. Unless there is a power surge or something but that could happen at any time and there's nothing you can do about it except use the best surge protector you can. That is generally a "goes without saying" anyway.

[Edit] Congratulations on your successful build!

 

[kjackson09]

Thanks,

I did have some guidance, I was just happy to see everything work out. It seems others aren't so lucky. My next step is driver updates.

What are the most important Driver updates now.

I plan to upgrade the Mobo BIOS tonight to 1003 final, upgrade the nVidia graphics driver and upgrade the nVidia nTune driver.

Anything else?

 

[ahurtt]

66.93 is the latest graphics / ForceWare driver I'm aware of. As for the nForce chipset, did you use the drivers off the motherboard CD? I'm not sure what version they are as opposed to what you can download from nVidia at the moment but I used the ones from nVidia. It is interesting though because on the nVidia website, if you go to download the unified drivers and note the chipsets the website says are supported, it only goes up to nForce 3. I haven't seen any nForce 4 specific drivers. Has anyone else? Did you end up using the nVidia SATA drivers or just the stock windows ones? You may not see any problems with your video drivers since you are not using SLI. It was when I started trying to enable SLI with the current 66.93 ForceWare drivers that I started getting more crashes and bootup issues.

I think nTune is just a utility program, not really a driver. I didn't use it though so I don't know what it does exactly.

 

[kjackson09]

**EDIT**

The only nVidia driver that I downloaded from the nVidia site was the one for "GeForce and TNT2" otherwise it would be Windows Xp Pro /w SP2 drivers and motherboard CD drivers installed.

 

[mlc]

what "ahurtt" was referring to is the nforce chipset drivers... which are also nvidia... You motherboard came with a CD which a bunch of drivers and utilities... among them were the drivers for the chipset, sata, ethernet ports, as well as utilities such as ASUS Probe, ntune, nvidia firewall, etc....

... so it sounds like you didn't use any of the supplied CD motherboard drivers ????