Asus P4C800+ATI combination ? Mega Problems!

[CronikNL]

Hello everyone,

I hope you guys can help me out...? I had a great weekend in trying to get my new system working.
it's a P4 2.6 Mhz 800FSB + P4C800 + 2x TWIN XMS Corsair 3200 256 MB + ATI Radeon 9600 Pro.

After having everything plugged, I got it booting. Then right after it Just restarted itself! I never experienced anything like this in my life!
After many hours of troubleshooting, I eventually realized that I had to reinstall XP from CDROM. Once installed I already booted with all the famous "Error messages" You know the typical one asking you if you want to send the report to MS...

This happend constantly! Then the PC still spontaneously rebooted all the time. Consequently I ran into several BSOD in XP!!! Wow the first time in my life that I also see these!

So far I was really impressed.

I was out of any clues... I thought, is the 9600 Pro not compatible ?

I upgraded the BIOS from 1006 to 1007. Still no effect.

After several hours of constant trouble shooting, I suddenly heard 2-beeps all the time at a restart.
These are Parity Error beeps right ?

I really want to get this thing working, STABLE! But I am wondering now, what the problem(s) might be ?
Defective Memory ? Should I swap the viode card for an ATI 9700 Pro (older model, probably more compatible) ?

Pls all, I need help... I have no experiece with ATI cards. Are they so incompatible / unstable ?

Will the 9700 Pro work ? and do I need new memory modules ?

thank you all for your responses up front!

greetings from Amsterdam!

 

[Nebor]

I'm thinking that the P4C800 Mobo is crap... I have the same one.

 

[CronikNL]

You really think so?
hmmm I don't know. I think it has to do with the fact that this ATI 9600/9800 is so new.
If you check the BIOS version 1006 and 1007 (latest) they only fix ATI 9700 issues.
None of them mention anything about the 9600...

I'm thinking of swapping my 9600 Pro for a 9700 pro model. I though about getting the FX5800 but apaprently is sounds like a vacuum cleaner...

But the Parity Error (2 beeps) i keep getting, should that trigger me to also swap my memory modules?

 

[borgmang]

I heard that the number of beeps represent the number of USB devices that you have connected to your rig. Let me know what happens, I'm planning on getting the Asus P4 800E Deluxe mobo and a 9800 pro 128 card. I hope you fix your problem, good luck.

 

[borgmang]

I heard that the number of beeps represent the number of USB devices that you have connected to your rig. Let me know what happens, I'm planning on getting the Asus P4 800E Deluxe mobo and a 9800 pro 128 card. I hope you fix your problem, good luck.

 

[CronikNL]

OK. I'll let you know. I'm really hoping this 9700 pro will work.
the manual says though that 2 beeps means Parity Error ?

I never heard those 2 beeps before ? only like after 10 or so hours of troubleshooting later ...
These beeps relating to USB devices is also not mentioned anywhere in documentation ?
This whole situation is quite frustrating...

 

[shootinyou]

As far as the beep codes I'm not sure, check your manual.

Is your power supply up the task??

Try reseating memory and your 9600. On the video card look closely
where it goes in AGP slot if you can see any of the cards contacts it
is not all the way seated.

Also so try relaxing your memory timings to like 2.5-3-3-7 or 8.
You can download Memtest86 to check your memory.

and welcome to the forums BTW

edit: also look at mechbgon's replies in this thread alot of what I've learned has been by reading his replies.

 

[borgmang]

Sounds frustrating, hopefully the 9700 helps. I know I read or heard that the beeps from the mobo reprensented the # of USB devices. I could be wrong, but maybe try the Motherboard threads.

 

[CronikNL]

Hello Shootinyou, nice name!
Thanks for the warm welcome ;-)

Trust me when I say, I went through every thing I could think of during my 48 hour or so trouble shooting weekend ;-)
I have an ANTEC case with a P4 compatible 400W PSU.

In my BIOS, I had everying on "default" or "auto" so I let everything up to the hardware unit. I didn't want to "intervene".

About the 2 beeps, in the Manual it clearly (section 4) says taht 2 beepe = Parity Error.

Today I'm gonna swap the 9600 pro for the 9700 pro. I am still doubting though. I always had great experiences with the Nvidia cards, but the FX5800
apparently sounds like a jet on afterburners. I'm not really looking for such a sound barrier braking video card.

some extra info:

BIOS 1007 (official, for the bare P4C800 ONLY!!!)

Rename "Quiet Boot" item to "Full Screen Logo"
Revise DMI System Slots information for AGP slot.
Revise DMI Memory Controller and Port Connector information.
Support Intel OSB.
Support CPU FSB frequency 301 - 400 MHz
Fix users 256-color logo cant be shown correctly
Add "Performance Mode" item
Fix the system spends a lot of time booting when the non-bootable CD-R inserted into the IDE CD-ROM drive.
Support power up the system by pressing specific key of the PS/2 keyboard.
Remove the redundant blank line in option pop-up window of "Restore on AC Power Loss" setup item.
Fix "RTC Alarm Date" setup item will be hidden if "Every Day" is selected


BIOS 1006 (official, for the bare P4C800 ONLY!!!)

Fixed the system can not boot when setting CPU FSB to be 166~199 MHz.
Fixed EZ flash fails if some VGA cards are used.(ATI 9700 pro,ASUS X4000, 3DLabs Wildcat II 5110...)
Fixed Win2000 server becomes unstable if ATI 9700 Pro VGA card is used.
Fixed the FSB frequencies of Willamette CPUs are detected as 133MHz.
Add "CPU VCore Voltage" setup option to 1.9500V.

 

[vlist]

Greetings from Rotterdam
I bought the same memory and run into many problems installing Win XP. After I change my memory for Twinmos 2 x 256 Mb all my problems were gone.

 

[CronikNL]

Hey kerel!

Lets keep it in english
thanks for your reply. So you think it is not directly related to the 9600 pro card ?
I think that anyhow Im going to replace both memory + card.

What video card do you have ?

 

[CronikNL]

I have the choice of the following memory modules.

Corsair XMS eXtreme Memory, 256Mb DDR, 400Mhz, CL2 99 72.00

Corsair XMS Low Latency, 256Mb DDR, 400Mhz, CL232 99 89.00

Corsair TWINX DChannel, 2x256Mb DDR, 400Mhz, CL232 99 199.00



I have Corsair TWINX DChannel, 2x256Mb DDR, 400Mhz, CL232 running in pairs

 

[dartworth]

Look at the P4C800 Deluxe DDR400 Memory Qualified Vender List here.

It's towards the bottom of the page.

 

[vlist]

Hello again,

Here a Dutch email from my suplier about Corsair Twinx Dchannel 2 x 256 DDR memory.

Het geheugen is voor u in bestelling gezet. Volgens mijn collega hebben we het hier over een Asus P4C800 moederbord. U moet er rekening mee houden dat hier alleen het 434Mhz geheugen stabiel op draait. Deze hebben wij daarom ook voor u in bestelling gezet. Zodra het geheugen uitleverbaar is, wordt u hier uiteraard over op de hoogte gebracht.
Met vriendelijke groet,
Informatique computers en componenten BV
Peter Buijsman
Technische ondersteuning

I dont no the results of the 434 Mhz because I took the Twinmos memory and I am very happy wich my system. I downloaded also the newest bios in Germany 1008.004 for the p4c800 de luxe.

 

[CronikNL]

Hoi Vlist!

what Video Card do you use?

OK, the shop offers the following : Twinmos Dimm 256Mb DDR SDram PC3200

Will this module work in 800 FSB (with my 2.6 gig 800fsb) ?

 

[vlist]

My Set:

Intel 875P Chipset
800 MHz FSB
Dual-Channel DDR400 Memory
Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Pentium 2.6c 800 Mhz supporting Hyper-Treading Technology

Asus Videocard V7100 Pro 32 Mb Geforce2 MX-400

Asus P4C800-de Luxe version 3.0

Bios (downloaded from Asus Germany) (Beta) versio 1008.004

 

[OddTSi]

Don't replace more than one thing at a time. If you do that you won't know what the problem was.

And what have you already swapped out in testing this problem? Changing settings in the BIOS is a tiny portion of troubleshooting.

 

[CronikNL]

Hi all,

I have GOOD news. I swapped my Corsair for TwinMOS 4*256... So i got 1 gig now!
I got More RAM for a little less money (I received $30) and went from 2*256 to 4*256 !!!

This memory really ROCKS!!!

Thanks for everyones help !

One more thing though... I keep getting 2 BEEPS at the startup of the PC ?! Anyone have any ideas about this ?

ciao

 

[shootinyou]

Any luck with the 9700? IMHO I do not think your vid card is the problem.

I wouldn't replace memory without testing first. Have you downloaded and run Memtest on your memory?
As stated on Asus's site"(For optimum performance and overclocking stability)", just because your
specific ram is not listed doesn't necessarilly mean it won't work.

I think the memory timings may just be to aggressive by default for your memory.

edit; glad to here the memory change worked.

 

[CronikNL]

Hi Shootingyou,

I stuck to my 9600 Pro, The guys at the shop even tested mine on their system without any problems!

 

[vlist]

Hoi Cronik,

Why did you buy 4 x 256 instead of 2 x 512 Winmos?

Vlist

 

[vlist]

Originally posted by: vlist
Hoi Cronik,

Why did you buy 4 x 256 instead of 2 x 512 Winmos?

Vlist

:Q

 

[CronikNL]

they didn't have them in stock anymore. Plus 1 gig is sufficient for me. I even got money back!

 

[CronikNL]

Hey Vlist,

what did you put your Memory timings on in the BIOS ?
I took a picture of mine, but I need to FTP it later on...

 

[capricorn]

I recently put together a similar system. From my newegg invoice:

CASE ANTEC|MID TOWER SONATA RET
MB ASUS P4P800 DELUXE SPRINGDALE RT
ATI |RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB 8X RTL
TV LEADTEK/DELUXE TV2000XP TV/FM R
CPU P4/2.6CGHz,800M 478P/512K HT RT
DDRAM 1GB TWINX1024-3200LL COR RT
FD 1.44MB|SAMSUNG SFD321B/LBL1 OEM
KB&MOUSE MS|OPTICAL DESKTOP PRO RET
CDRW+DVD|LG GCC-4480B BLK CMB%
LOGITECH Z-340 3 PC SPEAKER

It's been very stable under Windows XP so far. The only BSODs I've had came from a rather difficult install of the TV2000XP drivers. (Needed to get a newer set and install them via the ".inf" method.) Since that's been installed, I don't think I've had any crashes at all. All settings / timings are at the original defaults. I'd try a bit of overclocking, but I'd have to pry my daughter's cold dead hands from the keyboard. (She's discovered EverQuest again.)

-cap