Asus A8n SLI-Deluxe Beta 1005-03 Released

[Thorsson]

Cable Select only works with PATA and needs a compatible Cable. SATA has only one device per cable and Boot order is determined in the BIOS. The terms Master and Slave have no meaning with a SATA disks.

To quote from the manual you have linked to, "SATA has no user changeable configuration jumpers" (Section 3.4.4).

I have a funny feeling you're talking through your butt...

 

[sharpnsmart]

Originally posted by: Thorsson
Cable Select only works with PATA and needs a compatible Cable. SATA has only one device per cable and Boot order is determined in the BIOS. The terms Master and Slave have no meaning with a SATA disks.

To quote from the manual you have linked to, "SATA has no user changeable configuration jumpers" (Section 3.4.4).

I have a funny feeling you're talking through your butt...

How old are you? 13?
You are a HUGE idiot! In the first post I refer to my HDD jumpers, and you somehow mangled that into something to do with SLI.
Now it's been clarified that this HDD does indeed have jumpers (the pdf even shows the diagrams for the different settings), and you still have no idea what it means.
I am successfully running the Maxtor DiamondMax9 SATA drive on the nvidia SATA controller for one month now. My jumper is on MASTER. If people out there are having problems, perhaps they have the jumper set on Cable Select. This may or may not be the problem, but it's worth a try. As mentioned, my SATA Maxtor Diamondmax9 160G drive is 100% flawless with my A8N-SLI Deluxe, so if these drives are not working for others, they must be doing something wrong, or their board is toast.

Originally posted by: Thorsson
There are no HDD jumpers.

This statement just shows you have NO idea what you are talking about. Have you ever seen a hard drive close up? Those little black plastic thingys that are plugged into the 2 pins are called JUMPERS.
Here is a page that will explain it to you in lamen terms, with pictures!
http://www.build-your-own-cheap-computer.com/computer-internal-drives.html

Btw, here is an image of the Maxtor SATA 160GB drive. See the jumpers near the power connector on the left?
http://www.devhardware.com/rhinoCms/__goJ6gi0PAn/img/connections.jpg

 

[mofrack]

Thorsson,

Do you own this particular hard drive that Sharpnsmart is talking about?

I thought not. Turns out I own 2 of this same drive, and even though it IS a SATA drive, it has jumpers on the back for Master, Slave, and Cable Select. Ooooh, BURNED! So stop giving people a hard time and shut your cakehole unless youre SURE you know they're wrong.

Sharpnsmart, thanks for the info. I have tried using these 2 drives with the Nvidia RAID controller with every BIOS revision that has been released for the A8N SLI D... and have always had the drives get lost after a while. If it turns out that Cable Select (what the drives have been set to) is the issue, then I will be in your debt. Cheers.

 

[sharpnsmart]

Thanks Mofrack.
I hope it helps, if so, please let me know.
I just find it strange that this drive works so perfectly for me, but others report problems.
I just learned a long time ago to switch my new HDD's to master, as Cable Select was always a problem for most people. So, I hope that fixes the problem. Good luck.
If it doesnt fix the problem. again, the drive is flawless for me, so I really have no idea what the problem could be.

 

[lotus503]

Originally posted by: sharpnsmart
Thanks Mofrack.
I hope it helps, if so, please let me know.
I just find it strange that this drive works so perfectly for me, but others report problems.
I just learned a long time ago to switch my new HDD's to master, as Cable Select was always a problem for most people. So, I hope that fixes the problem. Good luck.
If it doesnt fix the problem. again, the drive is flawless for me, so I really have no idea what the problem could be.

Well, reading about the jumper selection got me thinking. Not because it worked mind you, but because you actually have a drive that works. So I finanlly setup my Diamond Max 9 on the Silicon Image Raid Controller, Set it up as a JBOD, single disk and low and behold it fing works.

I did try it set as master with a jump on the NV controller and it did the same crap.

So either

1. You have your 160 setup on the Silicon controller
2. Have a different firmware version on your HD

Because Jumpers have nothing to do with it.

But I do thank you for getting me thinking

 

[sharpnsmart]

I have my 6Y160M0 setup on the Nvidia SATA controller.
I have the Silicon Image controller disabled as I don't use it.
I've used bioses 1002,1003, and now 1004 and they all work perfectly and have done so for 1 month.
My HDD is one of the first made, I bought it when it first came out.
I am going to double check if I have it set as Master or Single. All I know is that I changed it from Cable Select to either Master or Single when I bought the drive because I knew Cable Select always causes problems.

 

[lotus503]

Originally posted by: sharpnsmart
I have my 6Y160M0 setup on the Nvidia SATA controller.
I have the Silicon Image controller disabled as I don't use it.
I've used bioses 1002,1003, and now 1004 and they all work perfectly and have done so for 1 month.
My HDD is one of the first made, I bought it when it first came out.
I am going to double check if I have it set as Master or Single. All I know is that I changed it from Cable Select to either Master or Single when I bought the drive because I knew Cable Select always causes problems.

Spoke to soon, I transfered an 8 gig file no issues, then got a BSOD, drive acts better off the sili controller but still isnt fixed. Oh and BTW this drive works perfect on my Asus P4C800 Deluxe.

I need to update my sig I have been using the 1004 final for a while now.

SO thats it, it has to be the Firmware you have on your 160. Who knows at this point, My Raptors work fine, my ata maxtors work fine. Just this 250 gig doesnt with this MOBO.

Its cool I am just going to sit tight until I find out if any large NCQ drive works with this board for sure, then I'll buy em.

 

[sharpnsmart]

The thing I loved about the A8N-SLI Deluxe is that it was/is the most flawless board I've ever had. It also was the easiest, most trouble free install of an operating system I've ever had.
The thing I was most impressed with was that I could install XP on the SATA harddrive without any third party driver needed. The A8N makes the SATA drive look like an IDE drive, and you can install XP as is, and once you get everything up and running, the Nvidia Unified drivers install the proper SATA drivers. Amazingly simple.
Also, the A8N makes the SATA drive show up in the Removable Devices icon on the taskbar near the clock, exactly as it should since SATA is hot swappable.
I'm building another board for a relative this week, and we will probably use the same Maxtor 160GB sata HDD. I will let you know if it works as well.
Good luck.

 

[arswihart]

sharpnsmart, there's really nothing special about being able to install to a SATA drive without third party drivers, in fact you never need to do this. I agree though, that it is amazing that the A8N is smart enough to put the SATA drives as Removable Devices. On second thought, no, thats totally not amazing at all actually.

I've seen much more problems and frustrations on this board concerning the A8N-SLI than any mobo in recent memory. That you are amazed by things that all motherboards should do, well I guess that is kind of a theme among ASUS fans. You have a very low threshold for satisfaction. But its good to see someone with a success story using the A8N-SLI.

 

[Framelord]

Ok!

As I say,I am happy with this board to!!Running from day 1 with NO PROBLEMS!
I have 4 friends, 3 with deluxe and 1 with SLi non deluxe and NO PROBLEMS!

So I think the problems are with people NOT with the ASUS.But this is just my opinion!
And sry for bad english.

 

[vegse]

If you do not have anything constructive to say please be quiet, were not all as good as you when it comes to getting buggy hardware to run acceptebly.
A forum is for people who need help, not for gloating

 

[lotus503]

Originally posted by: Framelord
Ok!

As I say,I am happy with this board to!!Running from day 1 with NO PROBLEMS!
I have 4 friends, 3 with deluxe and 1 with SLi non deluxe and NO PROBLEMS!

So I think the problems are with people NOT with the ASUS.But this is just my opinion!
And sry for bad english.

Dude that just ridiculous. I too have this thing functioning without any problems.
As long as I don't have my 250 Maxtor SATA installed. im 35 years old and have been building systems for a reallllllly long time. Yes some issues are caused by people not knowing what they ae doing, but to ignore that this board has problems just because you get it to work with your particular hardware config, is silly.

1. The 1002 bios most of these were shipped with had huge issues with NCQ (I see you dont have an NCQ drive)

I also notice from your SIG you are running htt X4 with a 275 mhz FSB thats 1100, I know this board has problems over 1000. You are running 1t at 275, you just may be the only person that can get 1t that high.

If I didnt know that sometimes people get lucky with hardware, I would say your full of crap. Once again mine is running with no issues, But I have seen problems first hand.

You dont get 90 pages on a thread and its all user error, just doesnt happen.

Now I am happy that you are able to push the board to the specs in your sig, It gives me hope that The BOARD CAN in fact do it, that crappy bios revs and hardware incomatibility is what is holding people back

 

[runestone]

Regarding the Maxtor NCQ probs: has anyone been able to update firmware from Maxtor?
All my drives were detected(non-Maxtor); hope there is some resolution for those using them.

 

[sharpnsmart]

Originally posted by: arswihart
sharpnsmart, there's really nothing special about being able to install to a SATA drive without third party drivers, in fact you never need to do this. I agree though, that it is amazing that the A8N is smart enough to put the SATA drives as Removable Devices. On second thought, no, thats totally not amazing at all actually.

arswihart, the same couldnt be said for my last board, the A7N8X Deluxe. You had to install third party sata drivers, and the sata drive was not shown as a removable device.
There are sure alot of people around here who say things they think is fact, but actually they are dead wrong.
Again, I've built lots of boards, and this A8N-SLI Deluxe is by far the most trouble free board I've ever used. I almost have to agree with Framelord in saying the problems must lie with the people who build the system, or perhaps damaged hardware.
If my system works perfectly, including the maxtor sata drive, then there is no reason it shouldnt work for everybody.
Again, my system works 100%, not a glitch, not a hiccup. I guess that IS a low threshold for satisfaction. This board should also be doing my laundry and making my meals too.

 

[mofrack]

Sharpnsmart,

I set my Maxtor drives (the same drives as you have) to Master and Single trying to get it to behave on the Nvidia controller, and it still gets dropped using the 1005.003 BIOS after a while.

So it does indeed appear that you may have an earlier (or somehow different) firmware revision than most others who have this drive. Still, thanks for opening up another variable to try.

As far as not installing SATA drivers to install Windows on SATA drives, I think the reason for this is because the Nvidia controller is built into the chipset. I also upgraded from an Asus A7N8X board, and we had to install drivers to install Windows then due to the controller not being built into the Nforce 2 chipset.

To stay on topic, bios 1005.003 seems to be about as overclock friendly as 1004 betas I've used. It would be nice if someone could post the changes made in each revision from 1004 final to the 1005 betas, Asus' site doesnt say what they are. I guess their policy is to only include changelogs for final releases.

 

[Framelord]

@S0Lstice

Let me put some things cleare.

Memory as from my sig is @230Mhz not 275!I am on the DDR333 devider,My RAM is only DDR400!But I can ran it on DDR460.So this is good for me.

And I can ran HTT on this board @1150Mhz I have test it!

I bought this board in the late of January heare in Evrope,so maybe this has something to do with it.

And No I dont mean to flame somebody.I am realy sry if I did that!

 

[sharpnsmart]

Mofrack,
That's too bad. I don't know what to say. I'm building a similar system tommorow, and I will let you know how it goes.
The only other possible thing I can think of is that I don't overclock, and I dont run any beta drivers or bioses.
I might pop my computer open today, and have a look for the HDD manufacture date, and see if it mentions anything about firmware, etc. I will also double check the jumper setting. I know for sure though that I changed it from the default Cable Select.

 

[MeatHead88]

FYI:
I have given up on the DiamondMax 9s. They drop or are not even found with all bios revisions with TWO different motherboards.

I ordered 2 250 DiamondMax 10s. We'll see if this resolves the problem.

I'm guessing those with no issues are not running the NVidia controller in a RAID mode with more than one drive.

Oh and btw, don't hate on each other. Our hate should be directed toward ASUS who has made us all uncompensated beta testers. They have failed with their hardware. They failed with their customer service. Their entire RMA dept should be canned and they should start over and hire ppl from this country, not import them from India. There's nothing more unnerving than repeating your credit card number countless times to some
.head. I can't wait to see the charges she puts on my card when she uses it to import her entire family.

 

[lotus503]

Originally posted by: sharpnsmart

Originally posted by: arswihart
sharpnsmart, there's really nothing special about being able to install to a SATA drive without third party drivers, in fact you never need to do this. I agree though, that it is amazing that the A8N is smart enough to put the SATA drives as Removable Devices. On second thought, no, thats totally not amazing at all actually.

arswihart, the same couldnt be said for my last board, the A7N8X Deluxe. You had to install third party sata drivers, and the sata drive was not shown as a removable device.
There are sure alot of people around here who say things they think is fact, but actually they are dead wrong.
Again, I've built lots of boards, and this A8N-SLI Deluxe is by far the most trouble free board I've ever used. I almost have to agree with Framelord in saying the problems must lie with the people who build the system, or perhaps damaged hardware.
If my system works perfectly, including the maxtor sata drive, then there is no reason it shouldnt work for everybody.
Again, my system works 100%, not a glitch, not a hiccup. I guess that IS a low threshold for satisfaction. This board should also be doing my laundry and making my meals too.

"If my system works perfectly, including the maxtor sata drive, then there is no reason it shouldnt work for everybody"

Lets see it works for you and doesnt work for 1000 other people, so are we to assume we are all idiots or that JUST maybe your Maxtor sata has a different firmware version?

At this point the version of bios, beta drivers, jumpers, Over clocks, or anything else for that matter doesnt make one bit of difference as to why your system runs your 160 Maxtor drive.

At this point many people have tried everything except for a firmware change which is not readily available.

Let me restate something, except for my 250 gig maxtor sata MY SYSTEM WORKS PERFECT.

I have over a terabyte of storage without the drive so I dont really care.
Fact is there are people out there with these drives as thier one and only, and there are people who want to upgrade to NCQ drives. Either Maxtor or Asus need to get thier crap together on this.



"@S0Lstice

Let me put some things cleare.

Memory as from my sig is @230Mhz not 275!I am on the DDR333 devider,My RAM is only DDR400!But I can ran it on DDR460.So this is good for me"

Yeah I saw that your 230 1t, my bad
I sure as hell cant run mine at 1100+.

Seriously this all comes down to hardware, what you have other than the damn board. Its different for different people based on that

 

[sharpnsmart]

No I'm not saying you are all idiots.
I just can't figure out why it doesnt work for you guys. The only thing I can think of is that I don't overclock, and everybody that is reporting problems is overclocking.
Tomorrow I will confirm the SATA hdd thing when I install the new system for my relative tomorrow or tonite. We already picked up the same parts I have, Maxtor SATA 160GB, A8N-SLI Deluxe, etc. So if it works on that system too, then I am totally at a loss.
I'm not that lucky, and I'm no smarter than you guys (well, except for Thorsson )
Meathead, I'm totally happy with Asus. The 2 most trouble free boards I've ever owned are the A8N-SLI Deluxe, and the A7N8X Deluxe (in that order). I've owned many other boards before, from Abit, Gigabyte, and MSI. They had WAY more bugs than either of these boards. And the nice thing about Asus is that they update bioses frequently to try to fix the problems.

"Lets see it works for you and doesnt work for 1000 other people, so are we to assume we are all idiots or that JUST maybe your Maxtor sata has a different firmware version?"

Keep in mind that for evey post you read here or in ng's where people complain about a problem, there are thousands of people who don't say anything because their setup works perfectly. People are more apt to post a complaint, than to randomly post "my maxtor sata drive works perfectly on the A8N-SLI".

 

[lotus503]

Originally posted by: S0Lstice

Originally posted by: sharpnsmart

Originally posted by: arswihart
sharpnsmart, there's really nothing special about being able to install to a SATA drive without third party drivers, in fact you never need to do this. I agree though, that it is amazing that the A8N is smart enough to put the SATA drives as Removable Devices. On second thought, no, thats totally not amazing at all actually.

arswihart, the same couldnt be said for my last board, the A7N8X Deluxe. You had to install third party sata drivers, and the sata drive was not shown as a removable device.
There are sure alot of people around here who say things they think is fact, but actually they are dead wrong.
Again, I've built lots of boards, and this A8N-SLI Deluxe is by far the most trouble free board I've ever used. I almost have to agree with Framelord in saying the problems must lie with the people who build the system, or perhaps damaged hardware.
If my system works perfectly, including the maxtor sata drive, then there is no reason it shouldnt work for everybody.
Again, my system works 100%, not a glitch, not a hiccup. I guess that IS a low threshold for satisfaction. This board should also be doing my laundry and making my meals too.

"If my system works perfectly, including the maxtor sata drive, then there is no reason it shouldnt work for everybody"

Lets see it works for you and doesnt work for 1000 other people, so are we to assume we are all idiots or that JUST maybe your Maxtor sata has a different firmware version?

At this point the version of bios, beta drivers, jumpers, Over clocks, or anything else for that matter doesnt make one bit of difference as to why your system runs your 160 Maxtor drive.

At this point many people have tried everything except for a firmware change which is not readily available.

Let me restate something, except for my 250 gig maxtor sata MY SYSTEM WORKS PERFECT.

I have over a terabyte of storage without the drive so I dont really care.
Fact is there are people out there with these drives as thier one and only, and there are people who want to upgrade to NCQ drives. Either Maxtor or Asus need to get thier crap together on this.



"@S0Lstice

Let me put some things cleare.

Memory as from my sig is @230Mhz not 275!I am on the DDR333 devider,My RAM is only DDR400!But I can ran it on DDR460.So this is good for me"

Yeah I saw that your 230 1t, my bad
I sure as hell cant run mine at 1100+.

Seriously this all comes down to hardware, what you have other than the damn board. Its different for different people based on that

"Keep in mind that for evey post you read here or in ng's where people complain about a problem, there are thousands of people who don't say anything because their setup works perfectly. People are more apt to post a complaint, than to randomly post "my maxtor sata drive works perfectly on the A8N-SLI".


I see the point you are trying to make and I agree to a point. HOWEVER when I read a post of something not working and I have t working I post about it. Just like you did.

Overall I am happy with the board too. When I bought it I expected issues, it was a couple week old. The only way to really know why your Drive works and other do not is to know the firmware of yours compared to others.

 

[sharpnsmart]

You know what? I've noticed that there have been other posts by people who's SATA drives are not recognized by the motherboard... and the SATA drives aren't diamondmax 9's, and the motherboards arent' even Asus. So, this isn't just a supposed problem with this HDD/board combo.

Btw, I opened my case and looked at my HDD. The jumper is removed, making it a SINGLE setting.
And, I think I know why my Maxtor SATA works perfectly. This drive is from the future!!! *lol*
Check out the MFG Date:
http://images2.fotop.net/albums/sharpnsmart/miscellaneous/IMG_5141.jpg


Now that I think about it, this is the second drive I've had. The first one, bought in Sept. 2003, failed, and I RMA'd it. The drive I am currently using was newly shipped from Maxtor USA in December 2003.
Btw, I mentioned b4 that I don't overclock, and most people who are experiencing problems do overclock. I've read in various forums/ng's about people who have problems with SATA drives on overclocked systems because some systems don't lock the SATA speed. Just brainstorming.

 

[lotus503]

Originally posted by: sharpnsmart
You know what? I've noticed that there have been other posts by people who's SATA drives are not recognized by the motherboard... and the SATA drives aren't diamondmax 9's, and the motherboards arent' even Asus. So, this isn't just a supposed problem with this HDD/board combo.

Btw, I opened my case and looked at my HDD. The jumper is removed, making it a SINGLE setting.
And, I think I know why my Maxtor SATA works perfectly. This drive is from the future!!! *lol*
Check out the MFG Date:
http://images2.fotop.net/albums/sharpnsmart/miscellaneous/IMG_5141.jpg


Now that I think about it, this is the second drive I've had. The first one, bought in Sept. 2003, failed, and I RMA'd it. The drive I am currently using was newly shipped from Maxtor USA in December 2003.
Btw, I mentioned b4 that I don't overclock, and most people who are experiencing problems do overclock. I've read in various forums/ng's about people who have problems with SATA drives on overclocked systems because some systems don't lock the SATA speed. Just brainstorming.

Yeah this may be an issue with NF4 and not just board specific. However I have a pair of raptors that work no problem. go figure

 

[sharpnsmart]

Yup, and it's not just a problem with Nforce4 boards.
I've seen the same thing with other chipsets too.
Recently I read about somebody having their SATA drive disappearing on their A7N8X Deluxe (another board I successfully ran my SATA for 1 1/2 years).
I still have a funny feeling it has something to do with overclocking.
I learned a long time ago that the potential problems/headaches caused by overclocking is not worth the small gain in performance. Even extreme overclocking wont make an unplayable game playable. That's just my experience/opinion. And all I know is that while my systems (a8n-sli and a7n8x) have been 100% trouble free for 2 1/2 years I've read so many posts in forums and newsgroups about people with problems, and usually their specs/signatures show they are overclocking.
Overclocking may be fine, but just not for me.
I'm just brainstorming, and I really hope you all find a solution.

 

[mofrack]

Just something to add:

I have tried to get the drive to work consistently on the Nvidia controller running stock clocks too, and it doesnt seem to make any difference.

It does appear to be an incompatiblity between Nforce 3 and 4 chipsets, and certain versions of Maxtor firmware. I seem to recall hearing people who have NCQ capable hard drives from Hitachi or Toshiba not having any trouble with the drives being dropped, or with corruption when NCQ is enabled.

Sharpnsmart, do you know what firmware you have on your Maxtor? The pic you posted wont load for me.