DFI Nightmare - which alternative!?!

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snaxo

Junior Member
Feb 24, 2005
12
0
0
All,

You can see my system below - I am just building it.
I am not having fun with my DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra SLI-D and I am not the only one. A lot of folks with this board are reporting difficulties on dfi-street.com - usually related to booting windows and RAM.

My system will only boot and run ok if I put a single stick of RAM in DIMM2 - else it won't boot. I am about to RMA the board because I concluded it must be faulty - but having read all the other folks with similar issues it could well be a bios issue. Trouble is I need to get my system up and running and stable.

So - looking on here the two main other boards to go for are obviosuly either the MSI or the ASUS.

Which one would people recommend for:

a) stability
b) compatability with the RAM I have

Overclocking is not a priority right now - that can come later. Stability and performance are #1 requirements for me at the moment.

Your help much appreciated

Damian
 
Sylvanas

Sylvanas

Diamond Member
Jan 20, 2004
3,752
0
0
this post has definitely given me something to think about. i will be building my SLI-D based system (very similar specs to yours) hopefully this weekend when my 3200+ comes in. ill post back with my experiences and see if i can help in any way :)
 
A

akassasin

Member
Jan 30, 2005
159
0
0
I had the same problem with the same board.. and on top of that i couldnt get the onboard LAN to work.
RMA'd it this morning and went with the Chaintech VNF4
 
S

snaxo

Junior Member
Feb 24, 2005
12
0
0
The more research I do, the more I think I should just RMA this board to get a replacement (in case it really is faulty) - and if it's the BIOS - wait for DFI to sort it...
 
J

jose

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
2,079
2
81
I have a similar setup but w/ a larger power supply & tccd ram. Not one problem....

Just check the hundreds of problems w/ the Asus mobo & any other NF4 mobo's out there now..

It seems that the NF4 based mobo's are very pickey about power supplies & memory....
I'm getting my VNF4 monday, should have zero problems because I'm using good components...

Another thought is that I don't use sata at all, maybe that's why I don't have any problems....

Good Luck on whichever board you pick... all seem to have problems for some ppl..

Regards,
Jose
 
H

homercles337

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2004
6,340
3
71
Originally posted by: jose
I'm getting my VNF4 monday, should have zero problems because I'm using good components...
Click to expand...

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Thats hillarious! Guess what? I went through TWO RMAs with the VNF4 before i wised up, got a refund, and bought an MSI neo4 instead. Now that build had "zero problems..."
 
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hondAS2ooo170

Senior member
Aug 12, 2004
451
0
0
Yes, naturally, as there are with any build.

I personally would do it this way:

Set up the mobo, VC, PSU, mem, HSF altogether OUTSIDE the case. Just to see if you can get into the BIOS. First thing in the BIOS, turn off the Lanparty splash screen so you can see the version of the BIOS you're using when POSTing. If it's 1/25, you can go ahead and proceed, just know many have had issues and flashing to the 2/1, 2/9, or even one of the more recent ones might help. I'm personally using 2/9 on the SLI-D. Didn't *need* to though. The Ultra-D is still using the 1/25 (don't trust my old man to flash his).

If all works with it outside the case, THEN begin installing into the case. Make sure mem is in slots 2 & 4 (orange). If you have problems installing windows with both sticks (as this is a known issue and is being investigated.... my dad had it, but I did not and we have exact same components except for SLI-D vs Ultra-D), use 1 stick in slot #2 only.

The best bet, with any issues, is to use the Safe Boot jumper, Clear CMOS jumper, and Load Optimized Configs in the BIOS. If it doesn't boot when using these tools, post a message and someone can help you through it.

Visit DFI-street.com and xtremesystems.org, both of which have many users with these boards and are very knowledgeable
 
C

century child

Member
Dec 27, 2004
112
0
0
Originally posted by: snaxo
All,

You can see my system below - I am just building it.
I am not having fun with my DFI LanParty NF4 Ultra SLI-D and I am not the only one. A lot of folks with this board are reporting difficulties on dfi-street.com - usually related to booting windows and RAM.

My system will only boot and run ok if I put a single stick of RAM in DIMM2 - else it won't boot. I am about to RMA the board because I concluded it must be faulty - but having read all the other folks with similar issues it could well be a bios issue. Trouble is I need to get my system up and running and stable.

So - looking on here the two main other boards to go for are obviosuly either the MSI or the ASUS.

Which one would people recommend for:

a) stability
b) compatability with the RAM I have

Overclocking is not a priority right now - that can come later. Stability and performance are #1 requirements for me at the moment.

Your help much appreciated

Damian
Click to expand...

There was a guy on here with a similar problem about a month ago. He could only run with one RAM module installed at a time. It turned out that the OCZ RAM he had, even though he bought both modules together as a "matched set" kit, were not actually the same revision or at least had different SPD values. He stumbled across this when he ran memtest on each module to check for faulty RAM. Even though he left the RAM timings set to default by SPD in BIOS, memtest was reporting different timings for each module. He further verified this by booting into windows and using CPUZ to look at the SPD timings for each module. At first, he thought it was his motherboard too. Just goes to show you can't rule anything out.
 
S

snaxo

Junior Member
Feb 24, 2005
12
0
0
Good news - I got it fixed....by doing this:

) cleared CMOS on board
2) at first only connected CPU, CPU cooler, Floppy drive, one CD drive and one stick memory to the MB
3) booted to latest released bios and installed. Booted again - all ok - ran optimized defaults - booted again to bios
4) in BIOS - then disabled aspects I didn't need right now (e.g. firewire and audio)
5) updated BIOS settings with specifics advised by one of the mods on DFI-Street
6) on my other pc created a slipstream install of XP SP2 (previously I installed just XP)
7) booted to XP CD and ran install - all worked fine
Cool booted to bios and re-enabled firewire, audio...
9) loaded directx 9 and chipset drivers from DFI CD
10) ran windows update to download latest patches...

And all is looking rosy at the mo (fingers crossed)! Memtest showwed that Memory is ok and Prime95 is currently looking good!

Would advise anyone who gets a new DFI NF4 board to go through the above!

Damian
 
J

jose

Platinum Member
Oct 11, 1999
2,079
2
81
Well, I just ordered the new Asus A8N-E NF4 Ultra mobo from atacom. Should get it Wednesday...

I'll see which one to keep the Chaintech or the Asus. Personally I'm leaning toward the Asus because I've never had problems w/ them in the past.(24 mobo's)

homercles337,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thats hillarious! Guess what? I went through TWO RMAs with the VNF4 before i wised up, got a refund, and bought an MSI neo4 instead. Now that build had "zero problems..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's so funny, I didn't have any problems w/ the DFI Ultra-D mobo, I just need a parallel port.. This is going to be my Linux server mobo.... ;)

Regards,
Jose
 
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