Epox 8RDA+ Problems... Any ideas?

[aphex]

This is my first build with this mobo and im not exactally sure what the prob is...

Some of the specs:\
Athlon 2100+
256MB PC2700
WD 80GB 7200rpm
64MB Radeon DDR VIVO

Takes forever and a day to detect IDE Drives (timed it at over 3 minutes).
Wont allow me to boot from CD.
Getting the following error once past post and detect...
"PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable"
"PXE-M0F: Exiting NVIDIA Boot Agent"

Then i get the normal "Disk Boot Failure" that you would get with any new drive.

Any ideas? Im gonna keep lookin around for a fix. Im hoping its just a simple setting thats wrong...

 

[ScrapSilicon]

hmm...same thing herewonder what gives ..:frown:

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: aphex
This is my first build with this mobo and im not exactally sure what the prob is...

Some of the specs:\
Athlon 2100+
256MB PC2700
WD 80GB 7200rpm
64MB Radeon DDR VIVO

Takes forever and a day to detect IDE Drives (timed it at over 3 minutes).
Wont allow me to boot from CD.
Getting the following error once past post and detect...
"PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable"
"PXE-M0F: Exiting NVIDIA Boot Agent"

Then i get the normal "Disk Boot Failure" that you would get with any new drive.

Any ideas? Im gonna keep lookin around for a fix. Im hoping its just a simple setting thats wrong...

Sounds like a simple device isn't correctly plugged in or your boot order is incorrect. Check to make sure your floppy connector is correctly plugged in, my mitsumi doesn't have teeth on only one side, so its easy to get it flip-flopped. Also make sure there is power to all of your IDE devices. Then check your BIOS and make sure your boot order has the CD-ROM drives before any HDD's. Then put your WinXP CD in your drive prior to reboot.

Chiz

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: aphex
This is my first build with this mobo and im not exactally sure what the prob is...

Some of the specs:\
Athlon 2100+
256MB PC2700
WD 80GB 7200rpm
64MB Radeon DDR VIVO

Takes forever and a day to detect IDE Drives (timed it at over 3 minutes).
Wont allow me to boot from CD.
Getting the following error once past post and detect...
"PXE-E61: Media Test Failure, check cable"
"PXE-M0F: Exiting NVIDIA Boot Agent"

Then i get the normal "Disk Boot Failure" that you would get with any new drive.

Any ideas? Im gonna keep lookin around for a fix. Im hoping its just a simple setting thats wrong...

Sounds like a simple device isn't correctly plugged in or your boot order is incorrect. Check to make sure your floppy connector is correctly plugged in, my mitsumi doesn't have teeth on only one side, so its easy to get it flip-flopped. Also make sure there is power to all of your IDE devices. Then check your BIOS and make sure your boot order has the CD-ROM drives before any HDD's. Then put your WinXP CD in your drive prior to reboot.

Chiz

I went as far as to unplug all devices (floppy, cdrw, and dvd) except the hard drive. Its still just as slow, and the boot order has the cdrom before all else.

 

[aphex]

Found this

I unplugged my Hard Drive and tried to boot into the BIOS.

FASTER THAN HELL!

Now to get this thing working.

 

[chizow]

The thing to be careful of is that if you are coming from a different chipset, the Nforce2 boards won't boot to a Windows installation based on the previous installation. The only thing you can do is to repair a current installation with your WinXP or 2K start-up disk. If your drives are properly recognized in your BIOS, then this is the case. Change your boot order to only show CD-ROM in the boot order, turn on boot other device (not even sure this is necessary), and place your WinXP or 2K in the drive and boot from when prompted. Then choose install WinXP/2K, and after it detects an existing installation, perform a repair function. It will then repair/load Nforce drivers which will take some time. Once you get into Windows and it completes the installation, install the latest drivers.

Chiz

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: chizow
The thing to be careful of is that if you are coming from a different chipset, the Nforce2 boards won't boot to a Windows installation based on the previous installation. The only thing you can do is to repair a current installation with your WinXP or 2K start-up disk. If your drives are properly recognized in your BIOS, then this is the case. Change your boot order to only show CD-ROM in the boot order, turn on boot other device (not even sure this is necessary), and place your WinXP or 2K in the drive and boot from when prompted. Then choose install WinXP/2K, and after it detects an existing installation, perform a repair function. It will then repair/load Nforce drivers which will take some time. Once you get into Windows and it completes the installation, install the latest drivers.

Chiz

Everything in the system (except the Video Card) is brand new.

 

[aphex]

Its saying

"Boot from ATAPI CD-ROM :"

But just seems to sit for 10 seconds, then go past it. Ive tried hitting any key while its saying that but nothing seems to work.

 

[aphex]

Setting all drives to cable select fixed all my problems. Thanks for the help...

Now i need to make a non-bootable XP cd, bootable

 

[RideFree]

aphex,
Yeah, WDs can be fussy sometimes especially if they are on a line with anything else...Maxtor, Seagate, IBM, Hitachi, Fuji, CDR, CDRW, DVD-anything to name but a few...

Glad that it got fixed ? also glad you reported what worked. I notice that a lot of probable fixes go unreported back to the forum(s).

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: RideFree
aphex,
Yeah, WDs can be fussy sometimes especially if they are on a line with anything else...Maxtor, Seagate, IBM, Hitachi, Fuji, CDR, CDRW, DVD-anything to name but a few...

Glad that it got fixed ? also glad you reported what worked. I notice that a lot of probable fixes go unreported back to the forum(s).

No prob... Any ideas on the XP Problem?


LINK to newest problem.

 

[MichaelD]

Oh crap, I hope this isn't yet ANOTHER Epox-only problem. I'm still pissed that my 8K5A2+ (NOV02bios) can't boot w/USB mouse/KB enabled. :|

I should NOT have to hit cable select, the fvcking thing should boot if I have my drives jumpered correctly. I haven't gotten my 8RDA+ yet (tomorrow) but this thread does not bode well with me at ALL> :| That just sucks.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Oh crap, I hope this isn't yet ANOTHER Epox-only problem. I'm still pissed that my 8K5A2+ (NOV02bios) can't boot w/USB mouse/KB enabled. :|

I should NOT have to hit cable select, the fvcking thing should boot if I have my drives jumpered correctly. I haven't gotten my 8RDA+ yet (tomorrow) but this thread does not bode well with me at ALL> :| That just sucks.

If you check around the AMD forums i posted above, apparently quite a few people are having this problem.

 

[MichaelD]

I swear I will send the damn thing back and get a P4 and an Intel board. I am so done w/these type of problems. Getting IDE drives detected is a BASIC MOBO FUNCTION>>>>if that doesn't work, you can KEEP that PCI/AGP lock!

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Oh crap, I hope this isn't yet ANOTHER Epox-only problem. I'm still pissed that my 8K5A2+ (NOV02bios) can't boot w/USB mouse/KB enabled. :|

I should NOT have to hit cable select, the fvcking thing should boot if I have my drives jumpered correctly. I haven't gotten my 8RDA+ yet (tomorrow) but this thread does not bode well with me at ALL> :| That just sucks.

If you check around the AMD forums i posted above, apparently quite a few people are having this problem.

Thanks for that link to the AMD forums...that helped...and scared me...but it's a good thing.

 

[aphex]

Now that i got the OS installed, when it boots to XP and says "Applying Computer Settings..." the screen blips, and then the monitor goes into standby. The only way to shut it down is by holding the power button for 5 seconds. Is there something seriously wrong with this mobo?

 

[mechBgon]

Maybe it's defaulting to a refresh rate your monitor doesn't like. Try a Safe-Mode boot and see what it's trying to use.

Incidentally, the "Media Test Failure, check cable" message is the board saying "hey, I don't have a network connection on the NIC" when checking for network boot options. You see that with Intel Pro/100 S's and many other NICs too (I disabled this on my Pro/100 S for faster boot times).

 

[CraigRT]

you wanna know what i just found out tonight?

this is absolutely retarded....
when i am transferring pics from my Kodak digital camera, my keyboard is completely gone.. lights go out... stops working... when the camera is stopped, numlock comes back on and i can use the keyboard again... it's in USB mode. so i am sure it would be different if it was PS/2.. but still.. is that not odd?

and yes, it's an EPoX mainboard.. model EP-4PEA+

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Yield
you wanna know what i just found out tonight?

this is absolutely retarded....
when i am transferring pics from my Kodak digital camera, my keyboard is completely gone.. lights go out... stops working... when the camera is stopped, numlock comes back on and i can use the keyboard again... it's in USB mode. so i am sure it would be different if it was PS/2.. but still.. is that not odd?

and yes, it's an EPoX mainboard.. model EP-4PEA+

!

 

[aphex]

Tryin it now...

 

[aphex]

Yep, that was the problem.

When it booted in safe mode it came up with the error that my ATI Radeon is responsible for the system instability. Should i try and install some drivers off the Epox cd? Or maybe even the ATI cd? It seems to be using the XP drivers, but dosent like them.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I swear I will send the damn thing back and get a P4 and an Intel board. I am so done w/these type of problems. Getting IDE drives detected is a BASIC MOBO FUNCTION>>>>if that doesn't work, you can KEEP that PCI/AGP lock!

You know, that's how i feel too. I swear, no one today can build a f*cking motherboard that works. Brands that were good 5 years ago like abit and asus suck turds now.

I'm thinking about buying an Intel branded motherboard. It's not even about what AMD or Intel platform anymore, I swear these damn Taiwanese companies couldn't build a lot of working motherboards if their lives depended on it.

I bought a used Intel Atlanta LX board and a P2 350 off someone from AT and it works perfectly. Everything worked right the first time I formatted and that's the way it should be.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: OS

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I swear I will send the damn thing back and get a P4 and an Intel board. I am so done w/these type of problems. Getting IDE drives detected is a BASIC MOBO FUNCTION>>>>if that doesn't work, you can KEEP that PCI/AGP lock!

You know, that's how i feel too. I swear, no one today can build a f*cking motherboard that works. Brands that were good 5 years ago like abit and asus suck turds now.

I'm thinking about buying an Intel branded motherboard. It's not even about what AMD or Intel platform anymore, I swear these damn Taiwanese companies couldn't build a lot of working motherboards if their lives depended on it.

I bought a used Intel Atlanta LX board and a P2 350 off someone from AT and it works perfectly. Everything worked right the first time I formatted and that's the way it should be.

LOL, try an Asus A7N266-VM with Win2000 Pro. Ok, there is ONE glitch... when you boot from CD for Setup, the monitor blinks out for two minutes while Win2000 Setup rummages for a video driver it likes, then it pops up at the normal "To set up Windows 2000 now..." screen. Other than that one (which sometimes doesn't happen), it is a very straightforward experience, judging by the ones I've got.

oh, and aphex, how about just setting the refresh rate to something you know your monitor can handle, then booting up and trying other refresh rates? 60Hz is safe...

 

[MichaelD]

I just checked UPS; my 8RDA+ will be delivered tommorow. I'm going to install a fresh copy of W2K SP3 on a BLANK (brand-damn-new) WD 8mb buff 80GB drive. It had better work right, right off the bat. Granted, i am crucifying prematurely here,but with all the bad HD-related experiences w/this board posted here, this hasn't boded well with me in the least.

 

[MichaelD]

I'm getting a wild hair to post a thread about "My ideal Motherboard" and it's got nothing to do with overclocking in the least.