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ASUS A8N-Sli Premium - unstable (yes - another one)

B

Bungleman

Junior Member
DISCLAIMER:
There are so many threads on this motherboard that it is almost impossible to know if this has already been answered - but from what I saw it has not (except: Sell the motherboard - which is starting to sound good in my ears). If this is a duplicate thread, I am sorry!

I bought new components a week ago, and I was REALLY looking forward to playing around with my new (in my opinion) really cool computer. But, alas: I have been trying for over a week now to get my new components to behave, but there is a gremlin somewhere inside my case that makes the system very unstable. Any help and/or suggestion is greatly appreciated, as this is really driving me insane!

The Setup:

Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ? Driver: nForce AMD 6.70 - Bios: 1011-005

CPU: AMD 64 4200+ X2

Memory: Geil GE2GB3200BDC 2x1GB DDR PC3200 400MHz CL3 Value Dual Channel (@2.8V) ? inserted in slots A1 and B1.

Graphics adapter: ASUS EN7800GTX/2DHTV/256M PCIe - Forceware 81.98

Case: Antec P180 with the three included 12cm fans running

Hard drive: Samsung Spinpoint P120S 250GB "SATA2" ? attached to the SATA1 port (sort)

PSU: MIST 500W Modular

OS: Windows XP SP2 ? all patched up.

CD-ROM: Plextor PX-716A

Note that the CPU is water cooled using the Zalman Reserator 1 plus ? the graphics adapter however (for now) has its original cooler.

The Symptoms:
The problems are several, so I am listing them separately.

1. Windows installation fail 9/10 times.
I?ve started doing windows installation on an ATA/133 drive as a test of the systems stability. I unplug the SATA drive mentioned above, and hook this one up as MASTER on the IDE1-port. In the window setup I delete all partitions, create a new one and start the installation on a freshly formatted partition.
6/10 times right after complete network installation (which is about halfway through the installation I would guess), suddenly the CD-ROM is nowhere to be found, and so the installation is brought to a complete stop (?Please insert Windows XP Professional CD in drive D:?).
3/10 times there are other errors. My favorite of them so far is: ?Could not install the following hardware: System? :|
1/10 times it actually installs.

2. The installed Windows is not very stable at all
I have never seen Windows behave like this before: Programs won?t start / will crash during startup ? however after a reboot usually the programs that did not want to start will now start, while programs that worked will now crash. So, after a reboot I never know what programs I can use ? it is like a lottery! Programs that have stopped working and then started working again include Thunderbird, Firefox, Internet Explorer, NOD32, Call Of Duty 2, Automatic Update and more. Very strange behavior indeed!

3. Event viewer reports disk problems
I know this is not the root of the problem, as the system also is unstable with the ATA/133 drive mentioned in 1. , but every day there are a few of these warnings in the System log (these are the only warnings/errors):
Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 51
Description:
An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk0\D during a paging operation.

Analysis:
I have done some analysis of course, and tried to eliminate as many sources of instability as possible.

1. Rightmark Memory Analyzers stability test (a one hour test) said it could not find any faults with the memory.

2. The program ?CPU Stability Test 6.0? also said everything is OK

3. S.M.A.R.T.-analysis of the hard drive reports no errors.

4. Reading the sensors on the mother board indicates that heat should not be a problem (although the only time I have seen the Windows Installer behave like this earlier, heat has been an issue).

5. I am running the latest nForce drivers for the chipset, using the latest BIOS for the mother board and the latest Forceware drivers for the graphics adapter.

6. After talking to support where I bought the components, I was told to increase the voltage of the memory to 2.8V ? but this brought not noticeable changes.

All neccessary info about my system can be found here: Detailed System Specification



Any help at all to help me locate the culprit is very much appreciated ? and might even save my sanity (or at least prolong it). 😉

 
OK, couple of things off the bat.........I don't see a poers supplu listed........what brand and what wattage? Also, uninstall the nVidia IDE drivers..........

EDIT....found the P/S.....never heard of it but I also take it you're not here in the US. I can't really comment on it since I don't know the specs and can't really tell from the page, but, I'd try the IDE driver uninstall and if that doesn't work, I'd at least consider trying another power supply.......are Seasonic available where you are? Also, Enermax and of course, PCP&C........
 
The PSU is listed above: MIST 500W modular power. Won pretty much all tests it has been in - but only sold in Germany and Norway (for some reason or another). Link (with detailed info (in Norwegian, but the for the important info - it is all in watts, volts, etc. anyways) : http://www.microplex.no/product.aspx?pid=MIST500BHE12CF&mcat=c345

I'll try uninstalling the nVidia IDE-driver to see if that helps, but that will not help me install windows though.

(I did not install the nVidia firewall driver - I read way too many bad things about it to even concider it (at least before everything else is stable).

 
Sound Card ?

I had an IRQ conflict with my sound card & Video card that caused pretty much what you're describing.

It wasn't easy to spot until you looked in the Device Manager under view resources by connection.

Oh, and welcome to the forums 🙂
 
LOL! This is kind of funny because my wife lived in Norway for 3 years....but she's not home!😉

Do you have another P/S to try with the system? I agree, it looks fine by specs. but it could just be faulty. The errors you're receiving tend to make one think that could be the cause..............🙁
 
Thanks! 🙂

There are no conflicts and no "unkown devices" in the Device Manager - everything looks perfectly fine on the surface...

And btw: I am in Norway, and I do have access to Seasonic, Enermax and most other brands - though the MIST PSU is supposed to be top of the line and is much used by OC enthusiasts here.
 
Originally posted by: Bungleman
Thanks! 🙂

There are no conflicts and no "unkown devices" in the Device Manager - everything looks perfectly fine on the surface...

And btw: I am in Norway, and I do have access to Seasonic, Enermax and most other brands - though the MIST PSU is supposed to be top of the line and is much used by OC enthusiasts here.
Click to expand...

Hey..just because I haven't heard of them don't mean jack!😉 They could be the best ever but even the best turn out a few duds and maybe you've got ahold of one...........it doesn't sound to me like a bad motherboard.............and with the disk error.......I'm still leaning to a P/S problem..........at least that's what I'd check out first....

 
hehe... Well, she could help you translate when she gets home! 🙂

Well, looks like I'll try another PSU (I actually have another one just like this one as I am to build two computers that share 93.5% of the parts (my wife does not get a 7800GTX - I have however been generous and given her a 7800GT 😛) If that should not work, I have my old computer here with the noisiest PSU ever (but it has worked for more than two years, so at least I know that it works).

 
Originally posted by: Bungleman
hehe... Well, she could help you translate when she gets home! 🙂

Well, looks like I'll try another PSU (I actually have another one just like this one as I am to build two computers that share 93.5% of the parts (my wife does not get a 7800GTX - I have however been generous and given her a 7800GT 😛) If that should not work, I have my old computer here with the noisiest PSU ever (but it has worked for more than two years, so at least I know that it works).
Click to expand...

Exactly my thoughts.........when she gets home..............she lived in Molde (sp?) and a few other towns.......her ex was in the Norweigan Air Force..........

 
Try burning a CD with Memtest86+ on it and running that for a few hours, since programs running in Windows can't test all of your RAM. I had one generic stick of PC2100 that passed every memory test in windows, but made the system horribly unstable and failed Memtest pretty much instantly. Also, make sure you installed Service Pack 2 before you install the chipst drivers (and DO NOT install the nVidia IDE drivers or the firewall!). If none of that works, then I guess you should probably start swapping out parts from your wife's machine.
 
Thanks for the hint! 😀 It has been quite some time since the last time I needed to run this kind of software, so I really have no idea which ones are good anymore. I just started the MemTest86+ (smallest ISO I have ever burned - and still probably one of the more useful ones 😛) before going to work, so it will get a decent amount of hours in before I come back and try exchanging PSU (if the memtest86+ does not find anything).
 
It may not be the HD, but just for the sake of isolating each component, just try a different HD. Maybe the HD doesn't have any issue by itself, but it's firmware may not be compatible with your mobo.
 
Thanks!

I've been a busy bee today, and a lot has happened. I think everything is ok now actually - although the system has only been running for some hours now (but without even one small hickup).

The memtester suggested by pkrush really came through... After running it 20 minutes the lower half of the screen turned red... the memory modules were faulty - or at least faulty with this motherboard! YIPPIE!! The question then was whether or not these modules would work at all with this motherboard! As I am building my wifes computer as well, I opened hers (which is not hooked up yet) and "stole" her RAM. Inserted the modules into my computer, and starting running memtest86+ again. 5 hours later the screen is still a pleasant, happy, strangly calming blue! It was time to conclude that my memory modules were faulty!

So, being optimistic I started with the windows installation procedure again, and guess what? The Plextor "disappeared" midways through the installation AGAIN. At this point, at you guys suggestion (and my own intiution as well of course) pull the sob out of the case, go into my storage room, look around, find an old Sony 32x CD-ROM (yupp, not even a burner) and insert that one. Trying to install windows again, and ... IT WORKED!

So far, so good. But will Windows behave? Well, I've installed a ton of software on it now... And started and stopped different kinds of software a lot - rebooted a lot etc. etc. So far it is rock solid! 😀

I guess I will update the firmware on the Plextor now to see if it can avoid being put out of its misery! Thanks a lot for the link!! If no improvements, I guess I'll just go for the NEC-burners. Cheap and people seem to have no problems with them as far as Ive read.

(and btw: I did try exchanging the HD, but it didnt change anything... Thankfully the system now seems stable with the HD I was planning on using!)

Thanks to all of you for your help... I'll update this thread on Sunday when the computer has been running long enough for me to give the system a verdict of stable or unstable.

Thanks again! :thumbsup:


 
Sorry to hear you're having all kinds of problems - I used to have the same board and had to get rid of it because of fluctuating voltages. Good luck.
 
It's funny I use computer at work (I configured it), using:

A8N-SLI Premium
X2 3200+
2x1GB of cheapass memory (Nanya I think)
Superflower 520w PSU (detachable cables)
4x WD caviar 250GB 8MB SATA (in RAID 0+1, on silicon image controller)
LG Burner
Lian-Li PC-61 Plus Case
2x Cheapass Fan Bay (3x 40mm) things with filters
6600GT of some brand
Current nVidia Chipset Drivers everything installed (IDE even) but the Firewall

...And the thing works flawlessly all the time (bit noisy) and except when Illustrator or Photoshop has a UI freeze or something.

It was only purchased recently so it may be a better board revision and BIOS.

But is is stable.
 
After using the computer quite a bit this weekend I see nothing that indicates that it has any problems what-so-ever! 😀

Thanks for all the great suggestions and comments! I am convinced that I would have used many times as long to figure everything out if not for the help from you guys! Thanks a lot!

(As a little side story, I did get a bit "nervous" after installing Thunderbird 1.5 on Saturday, and hooking it up the IMAP server at work it got constant time outs on the connection - and I was getting the feeling that "uh-oh - here we go again!". However after a bit of googling, this proved to be a known issue with Thunderbird (fairly old one at that) when used on an AMD X2-processor! *phew* (Fix for this issue can be found here btw: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Timeout_on_dual_core )).

Thanks again for all the help!
 
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