ECS nforce4a-939 locking up like crazy

[Bbc84]

I got the same Frys combo and bought the Antec Sonata case on sale that day too.

I was gonna just try to boot it up with most of my old comps innards, and see if i could unlock the video card.

But it wont even let me boot into windows. I get past Bios, but the Win XP loading screen flashes for a split second and my entire screen goes blank for a good min before it decides to reboot and it asks if i want to do safe boot, tried that and it did the same. My friend said XP is picky about changing new hardware. so im gonna have to try and do a fresh install and hope it works.

BTW i hope its not my ram too, it came from my old computer as well.

My system specs:

Antec Sonata Case w/ 380W antec PS
AMD 64 X2 3800+
ECS A939 Motherboard
Cosair PC2100 1gb(2X 512MB)
Connect3d x800GTO 256MB
Maxtor 120GB 7200rpm HD (not SATA)

 

[Steve]

If your current installation includes the old board's chipset drivers (IDE, AGP, VGA, etc.) then yes you'll need to reinstall with the proper drivers on hand.

 

[Zap]

dovac you should at least exchange your board for another one at Fry's (making sure it is a new one and not a returned one).

For Bbc84 and mestisom...

Windows XP may or may not have problems when you switch motherboards. If the motherboards are REALLY similar, say from one brand Nforce4 to another brand Nforce4, then you probably won't have major problems. If they are really dissimilar, such as from a Pentium 4 VIA chipset board to an Nforce4, then you are guaranteed to have a non-functional Windows install. Anything in-between can be either.

All your data is not lost... just do a delete reinstall of Windows XP. All your data will be preserved. Boot off the Windows XP CD and when it gets to the place where you choose the drive to install to, choose your C: drive. Setup will say that there is an existing partition on it. You want to keep the existing partition. If at any time Setup asks you how you want your drive formatted, STOP, you are in the wrong place so just reboot out of there. If you are in the right place, Setup will let you keep your files intact and delete the Windows directory, and reinstall to the Windows directory.

Nothing is at fault when this happens, just that when Windows gets installed it configures itself to the hardware it was installed on, and a major change such as swapping a motherboard will cause Windows to break.

BTW, you will have to re-activate Windows.

 

[yukit]

Originally posted by: yukit
I am still priming at 2.4GHz default vcore with retail box HSF, PC3200 value RAM also at DDR480 (I am surprised).
The system was stable overnight.

I will try USB this weekend.

USB 2.0 works fine for me. I was running a virtual machine (http://www.vmware.com/download/player/) off the external USB disk playing a video on the USB drive in the virtual machine.

I am booting my SATA drive from port3. That is the only internal hard drive I have.
WinXP Pro SP2 was installed from scratch. Still running with an old PCI video card.

I can boot my machine at 2.5GHz, but can't keep the prime running for more than 1 hour even if I slow down the RAM to 207 (250 * 0.83). Maybe if I loosen the timings a bit, but I am fine with 240.

 

[darley]

I should find out more about the voltage and all that stuff, I am rolling with the defaults. Could that be causing problems?

CHIP: 3800+ X2
RAM: Kingston KVR400AK2 Dual Channel DDR 3200 1 GB (2x512MB)

Ideas?

 

[Steve]

Zap - wouldn't that delete (by replacing) folders like Favorites, My Documents, etc.?

 

[Zap]

yukit either you are limited by the board or the CPU. It is not unknown for either or both to occur. My CPU runs great at 2.5GHz but above that (after a BIOS update) and it starts needing voltage to hit 2.6, and can't get any higher stable. Is it the CPU or the motherboard? Well, just got an Abit KN8 to play with so I'll hopefully be able to answer that question.

darley the point of defaults is that it should work.

sm8000 with older Windows such as 95/98/ME that was true, but 2000/XP stores that information in the C:\Documents and Settings folder. Setup will only delete the Windows folder. Now, that isn't to say it will be problem free because during setup if you create a username that is the same as the one before, it will not automagically use the previous stuff but instead create a new profile and append the name. For instance if you look under your C:\Documents and Settings folder you'll see something like:

All Users
Default Users
Zap (in my case )

If you do a delete install with the same username, you'll see something like:

All Users
Default Users
Zap
Zap.1

I forgot exactly what it appends, but it basically creates a new profile with the name, a period and something else. Your old stuff will still be in the original directory. I don't know if there's an easier fix, but you can just use another name temporarily, back up your stuff and delete the old name, create a new user using the old name, put the favorites/documents/WAB back in the proper places and then switch users and delete the temp user.

Anyways, hopefully you aren't confused yet... the short of it is that if you are running 2000/XP then a delete install will not lose data.

 

[Steve]

Gotcha, thanks.

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: Zap
yukit either you are limited by the board or the CPU. It is not unknown for either or both to occur. My CPU runs great at 2.5GHz but above that (after a BIOS update) and it starts needing voltage to hit 2.6, and can't get any higher stable. Is it the CPU or the motherboard? Well, just got an Abit KN8 to play with so I'll hopefully be able to answer that question.

darley the point of defaults is that it should work.

sm8000 with older Windows such as 95/98/ME that was true, but 2000/XP stores that information in the C:\Documents and Settings folder. Setup will only delete the Windows folder. Now, that isn't to say it will be problem free because during setup if you create a username that is the same as the one before, it will not automagically use the previous stuff but instead create a new profile and append the name. For instance if you look under your C:\Documents and Settings folder you'll see something like:

All Users
Default Users
Zap (in my case )

If you do a delete install with the same username, you'll see something like:

All Users
Default Users
Zap
Zap.1

I forgot exactly what it appends, but it basically creates a new profile with the name, a period and something else. Your old stuff will still be in the original directory. I don't know if there's an easier fix, but you can just use another name temporarily, back up your stuff and delete the old name, create a new user using the old name, put the favorites/documents/WAB back in the proper places and then switch users and delete the temp user.

Anyways, hopefully you aren't confused yet... the short of it is that if you are running 2000/XP then a delete install will not lose data.

you could also do a repair (you'd press Enter, F8, then R), that would reinstall w/o deleting win dir. but that doesn't work 100% of the time.. but it preserves everything, including all programs you installed that put .dlls in win dir (such as office2003)

the 2nd way is deleting win dir and reinstalling. that way you'd have fresh new data, but programs like office2003 would need to be reinstalled.

3rd way is format, but you don't wanna get into that

also, if you were say Zap, and did a delete win dir/reinstall, and still use the same name Zap, it would create Zap.(your-computer-name-here)

like most computer names are Home or something like that, so if you reinstalled and kept the same computer name, it'd create Zap.HOME. and if you did yet another install, i believe its starts at Zap.HOME001 or something like that.

 

[spacejamz]

Originally posted by: Zap
WORKING:
AkumaX
Zap
yukit

NOT WORKING:
bboy
vck6v3
darley
dovac
Octoparrot
Octoparrot's friend

add me to the list of working!!! (I am running rev 1.0 of this board though - got the BF deal from Fry's and just popped in the X2 chip into the MB I got with the 3500+ combo I bought a few months ago). Sold the new MB and the venice on the FS/FT forums...

Running the AMD 1.2.2.2 driver from their site and also ran the MS Hotfix for the dual core issue as well.

My benchies seem pretty low though...

pcpitstop.com score - 1980
3dmark05 - 3616 (way low IMO)...

anyone else want to post their scores?

rig:
ECS Nforce4 A939 rev 1.0
AMD X2 3800
1 GB Dual Channel (probably Corsair Value line)
6800 128 MB PCI-E
2 x 300 WD SATA HD (non-Raid)

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: spacejamz

Originally posted by: Zap
WORKING:
AkumaX
Zap
yukit

NOT WORKING:
bboy
vck6v3
darley
dovac
Octoparrot
Octoparrot's friend

add me to the list of working!!! (I am running rev 1.0 of this board though - got the BF deal from Fry's and just popped in the X2 chip into the MB I got with the 3500+ combo I bought a few months ago). Sold the new MB and the venice on the FS/FT forums...

Running the AMD 1.2.2.2 driver from their site and also ran the MS Hotfix for the dual core issue as well.

My benchies seem pretty low though...

pcpitstop.com score - 1980
3dmark05 - 3616 (way low IMO)...

anyone else want to post their scores?

i still haven't installed the AMD Driver or the MS Dual Core Hotfix. Maybe if I run into problems I'll (eventually) install it.

 

[mestisom]

Hmm my system isnt locking up.. this is what happens..

i set up my mobo n threw in my hd from this comp n windows wont load up!! A blue screen flashes n it reboots right when the windows load screen appears.. anyone have a clue how to fix it?! i hope..

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: mestisom
Hmm my system isnt locking up.. this is what happens..

i set up my mobo n threw in my hd from this comp n windows wont load up!! A blue screen flashes n it reboots right when the windows load screen appears.. anyone have a clue how to fix it?! i hope..

you need to at least reinstall windows or (preferably) format your hdd

 

[mestisom]

Originally posted by: AkumaX

Originally posted by: mestisom
Hmm my system isnt locking up.. this is what happens..

i set up my mobo n threw in my hd from this comp n windows wont load up!! A blue screen flashes n it reboots right when the windows load screen appears.. anyone have a clue how to fix it?! i hope..

you need to at least reinstall windows or (preferably) format your hdd

NoOooOo!!! ack.... o well i guess ill do that after finals.. then i get to enjoy lovely lockups.. Thanks akumax.. we'll see how that goes next week.

 

[darley]

Does anyone have a link to the Microsoft Dual Core Hotfix? I searched the M$ site with no results.

 

[bboy]

Let's get a list of working/non-working USB storage devices. I'll start:

Non-working:
Dazzle 8-in-1 USB 2.0 Card Reader
Atech PRO-Gear XM-4U USB 2.0 Card Reader
Adaptec ACS-100 USB 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure

Working:
???

 

[spacejamz]

Originally posted by: darley
Does anyone have a link to the Microsoft Dual Core Hotfix? I searched the M$ site with no results.

it is not available on microsoft's site...check out the CPU forums...one of threads has a link to a site that is hosting it...

 

[AkumaX]

Originally posted by: spacejamz

Originally posted by: darley
Does anyone have a link to the Microsoft Dual Core Hotfix? I searched the M$ site with no results.

it is not available on microsoft's site...check out the CPU forums...one of threads has a link to a site that is hosting it...

Download: http://server.counter-strike.net/files/WindowsXP-KB896256-v3-x86-ENU.exe

Then Do: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256 (shortened version below)

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Right-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager, point to New, and then click Key.
3. Type Throttle for the new key name.
4. Right-click Throttle, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type PerfEnablePackageIdle for the value name.
6. Right-click PerfEnablePackageIdle, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 0. Make sure that Hexadecimal is selected in the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, and then click OK.

Note You can type 1 in the Value data box to enable the new performance state policy behavior. (A.K.A. Set it to 1 To make it work, I don't know why they put this confusing line in here: "In the Value data box, type 0". Why would you even want to set it to 0 if you're doing the hack to make it work??)

8. Quit Registry Editor.

 

[JeffForSale]

hey everyone, just wanted the join the group of people who decided to pick up on the frys black friday deal, only to find out the board sucks
better finish typing fast before it locks up again

:frown:

 

[yukit]

It is actually working well enough for me. I am going to keep using the MB till I need to push the CPU a bit more.
I may up the voltage a bit to see if I can get 2.5 GHz stable. Also installed Ubuntu 5.10 amd64.

BTW, I went to Fry's today to pick up a firewire card, saw Fatal1ty (not the MB, the real person) there.

 

[Grisbane]

This is the first computer I've attempted to build so please forgive me if this is a stupid question.

I picked up the Fry's special and seem to be getting the dreaded bsod. I found that there was an improvement if I removed one stick of ram. I've alternated the RAM so it is not an individual module.

Is there an XP or BIOS setting change that will fix the problem? Thanks in advance.

The system specs are:

ECS nforce4a-939
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ X2
ATI Radeon X700
1x512MB Kingston ValueRam - KVR400AK2 installed
1x512MB Kingston ValueRam - KVR400AK2 removed

 

[JeffForSale]

there's still no known fix for this problem :|

 

[AkumaX]

OMG! My first real problem!

On-board sound is really staticky and fuzzy. WTF is up with that??

 

[Zap]

Grisbane try manually lowering the speed of the memory one notch or raising the latencies one notch and see if the problem goes away. Strangely I had an opposite problem. I have a dual channel G.Skill 2GB kit that works at a particular setting on the ECS board, but can't reach that high a setting on my Abit KN8 board.

JeffForSale what problem? Locking up? You need to try narrowing down the problem and if it is indeed the board, then bring it back to Fry's within their 14 day (IIRC) return period to get a replacement. Make sure the replacement is not a previously returned board (indicated by a sticker on it). Some people have opted to just buy a "better" board. That is an option - and yes this board should work no matter how little it cost, but you can either raise or fold - get a return replacement or get an alternate replacement. If you opt to just buy some other brand board, just know that the $279.99 you paid for the CPU (while throwing away the motherboard) is about $40-50 less than the same CPU without motherboard elsewhere.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
On-board sound is really staticky and fuzzy. WTF is up with that??

LOL, that's almost "normal" with onboard sound in a sense. I use onboard sound in my LAN gaming rig and one pair of good headphones will pick up some static and buzzing from HDD/mouse, but using other headphones or regular speakers won't exhibit those anomolies. Why do you think add-in soundcards such as the Audigy are still so popular? "Sound Quality" is one of the reasons - the other being lower CPU utilization.