Asus A7V8X / Radeon 9700 AGP 8X No Boot Issue Explained?

[Technonut]

I posted this in GH, but think it should be here also:

Just read this at HardOCP:

In certain cases, after installing the RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB in an AGP 8x capable motherboard, the system will not post, or boot up.

This is one of the things that comes with being first to market with new technology and you guys need to be aware of it. The Asus KT400 is the only board we have found so far that it does not work with.

Our buddies over at Asus had their two cents to add as well...

The problem is caused by a combination of power supply and motherboard +5V voltage ramp curves creating a situation where certain process corners in the ASIC will intermittently return an incorrect value for the ASIC ID after a cold boot. Fix:

* Short-term solution is diligent screening prior to shipping.
* Long-term there are 2 options:

1. A modification to the motherboard BIOS (system BIOS) to create an extra read of the ASIC ID, the return value of which is ignored. The second read of the ASIC ID will then return the correct value

2. A board modification to monitor the read of the ASIC ID using programmable logic which will generate a NAK command back to the Northbridge controller while allowing the Radeon 9700 Pro to act as if the read command were executed successfully in order to cause the Northbridge to reissue the read command.

 

[Technonut]

Bump.. I think that this is interesting considering that this appears to be a mobo issue confirmed by ASUS.