Boot message for A7N8X Deluxe Rev2, some times says 'System failed memory test-system booting from operating system'.

[unbiased]

I have A7N8X-Deluxe rev2 mobo, with ath1700+@1755ghz(10.5*166) and 512 MB Pc2700 Kingston ram.
While booting my system the boot message most of the time says 'system completed power on self test-system now booting from operating system' but sometimes(particularly while booting first time) it says'system failed memory test-system now booting from operating system'.
In both the cases system boots normally with no apparent problems.
What can be the reason?Will somebody throw some light.

 

[11427]

Mine does this too. I have tried three bios rev. four sets of drivers, and six different sticks of ram, I even replaced the board. It still does it, so I just ignore it. Anyone else? Anyone know why?

 

[unbiased]

Hey Docs on the forum, now there are two patients; any prescriptions?

 

[Buz2b]

I saw something similar to this reported on another forum. However, it dealt with a constant error report about the CPU, not memory. There is a ton of info of various sorts here , on the A7N8X MB and you may find something in that collectionn. I did not spend a lot of time on it. However, one person got a reply from ASUS (about the failed cpu error report that wasn't) that is rather cryptic.

Dear customer:
The leakage of electrical stream on Monitor, which affects the +5V power on MB through a VGA card without protection technology of
electrical stream leakage, leads to that Winbond C VERSION ASIC chip on MB reports error message . Besides, the leakage of power
supply may cause the problem too. But presently many VGA cards don't have protection technology of electrical stream leakage, so here
we recommend you only install CPU on the motherboard without other components on it to check if the problem persists. And you may try to
change VGA card or power supply for a try.


Thanks for Contacting ASUSTeK.

Thanks to choose ASUS & Any further information will be appreciated if you still have problems or have more questions about it.
Thanks!

Best Regards,
ASUS Customer Service Center Shanghai

Seems to place blame on the design of some AGP cards but it is difficult to translate. Also might just be general BS. At any rate, you might want to look through that info I linked to. There is a thread on the constant cpu error and a "fix" or workaround is posted. Sorry, but that's all I've found so far.

 

[MDE]

Mine did the same thing with a GeForce4 Ti 4600, Radeon 9600 Pro, FX 5700 Ultra, and two different FX5900s, and two different power supplies. Shoots Asus's idea to hell. They need at least one person in China that can speak English too...

 

[unbiased]

Thanks buz2b
The link has data for a lifetime of research.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: unbiased
Thanks buz2b
The link has data for a lifetime of research.

LOL! Yeah, it's a LOT of reading. I hope it helps though.

 

[unbiased]

buz2b
Oh yeah! It did help. I already have five pages from useful links saved for future reference.
The info in the pages is about recovering a bad bios flash.
BTW i have been dilly-dallying as far as bios upgradation is concerned. I have got all the useful suggestions from you and more from others tone or two fellows on the link you provided advocate very strongly to do the upgrade via asus utility while you have recommended old fashined way through floppy.is there a downside to old fashioned way? Personally I also would like to do it with foppy so as not to let anything else interfare with the process.
One more thing.Do I clear CMOS before upgrading?Or just set it all up to defaults?What about the checksum error one gets until the date and time is updated in bios? What I visualise is that-
- I set to defaults and then update the date and time.
- Then reboot with the boot floppy with the bios and awdflash on it.Right?
Thanks alot for your help.

 

[Buz2b]

Actually you don't have to do anything before you do the flash; nothing at all. But, you do need to get involved after the flash. Here's the deal: First boot to the floppy that you made for this. Do the flash as per the instructions. You will then have to restart the system. When you do, press Delete (or whatever you have to do get into the BIOS) to go immediately into the BIOS. Set the BIOS to Default and reboot. Then, restart the system and go back into the BIOS and make the necessary changes, like setting the FSB, memory timings, etc. Good idea to write down your settings, page by page before you do this so that you can put everything back to normal. OK, so maybe there is something you need to do before the flash. Sorry.
At any rate, it's that simple. And no, there's really no downside to flashing by floppy. Just remember two points: Do not, for any reason, turn off the power or shut down the system during this procedure and remember to reset to Default in the BIOS on the first boot. Change things back to normal in the BIOS on the next restart, as your CPU will not be recognized at the correct speed until you do so.

 

[unbiased]

I may sound like a stuck record but again thanks for the useful hint.I was under the impression that one has to set everything to default before bios flash.
One more thing, On some forums people have specifically mentioned the floppy to be win- 98 ms-dos startup disk. Why is it so? Can't one use startup disk made under win XP?

 

[Buz2b]

You should be able to just create a bootable floppy with XP by doing a Format/s on it. Honestly, I have never used an XP floppy. Like others you mentioned, I use a Win98 dos version. Actually, I recommend you go to Bootdisk.com. Click on the first link and then scroll down to the XP version and give that a try. I've used boot files from this site before and they are reliable.