EPoX "EP-9NPA+Ultra" NVIDIA nForce4 ULTRA Chipset Motherboard

[kikis]

Originally posted by: RideFree

Originally posted by: kikis
...The only problem is the very long boot time(2-3 mins) which is really not normal, I think.

I remember having this problem on an installation quite some time back and many systems ago...can't for the life of me remember what the solution was.

Are all devices showing up as "OK" in the Device Manager window?

Everything under Windows appears to be normal. No bangs under device manager. System performance is normal. The only problem really is the long boot time.

 

[kikis]

Originally posted by: sgtdic
one of the main things that affect bootup time is your startup processes. go to run and type in msconfig. go to startup tab and deselect all of the noncritical processes. you can always restart them later when you need them.

This problem will occur right after installing the chipset driver(w/o installing the SW IDE driver). No other app installed. No item under startup items Tab.

 

[Mem]

kikis:I'm wondering if the 2x256mb of ram is holding your system back?

 

[CRNA]

I have been following this tread for some time after discovering the USB problem with a newly aquired USB Drive. By the way the acid test is to defrag the drive which invariably invokes the freeze/BSOD within a few minutes.

The interesting thing is that I have a 4400+ so it is NOT limited to the 3800. Any thoughts.

 

[IlluminiX]

Aww rats! Guess that idea is shot regarding only X2 3800+s being affected... Maybe it was just coincidence that the majority of people posting their issues had X2 3800+'s, or that so many MORE people own the 3800+ over the other models out there.

Still, I would like to see the Errata 123 patched in the next Bios, and I mentioned this to Tony at Epox USA. CRNA - if you wouldn't mind, could you call Epox and just press "0" to speak to an operator and ask for Tony and tell him that it's not only the 3800+ that has issues. I really don't know why they can only reproduce the issue with the 3800+ but that's what Tony said. He also said that the people of Taiwan don't seem to have USB 2.0 devices to test their X2's with, which is nonsense, but I don't think Tony is the problem but rather TW Epox is just plain lazy.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: kikis
Are all devices showing up as "OK" in the Device Manager window?

Everything under Windows appears to be normal. No bangs under device manager. System performance is normal. The only problem really is the long boot time.[/quote]
Two things I would try first...
Disable the USB mouse in the BIOS...
and if that does not work/or is not the answer,
try a PS2 keyboard and mouse if you can.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to come up with the definitive answer that solved this problem when I encountered it.

Having not read every word, Mem or sgtdic or some other reg to this thread may have already said what I just posted. If so (as my kids used to say), sorry.

 

[gfngfgf]

Originally posted by: IlluminiX
*** USB 2.0/ X2 Breakthrough!!! ***

I have the crashing issue, and my X2 3800 is of the Manchester variety (no disable cache).

 

[IlluminiX]

Yeah it was just a thought, but I am glad at least that that rules out that theory and others can be pursued.

 

[tjpark1111]

[/quote]
A8N-SLI Premium

I just assembled this with a 165 OEM from Monarch and have achieved installation Nirvana. Perfect, smooth, flawless installation of XP & all upgrades.
Also, perfect upgrade of BIOS & all nVidia 6.70 drivers.
USB 2, Firewire 800, Gb Network - all work without fault. Also running nVidia Firewall.
All installations and upgrades were flawless i.e error-free.
[/quote]
Yes that seems like an excellent board, but it is ridiculous that I have to pay that much more just for 0 problems, in which even a $50 board should have no problems.... It is a bit out of my budget but if you really say so, then I guess I have to....

 

[imhungry]

I ran into no problems with a couple of these, besides a sound problem, but that was a bad case.

 

[Mem]

A8N-SLI Premium

I just assembled this with a 165 OEM from Monarch and have achieved installation Nirvana. Perfect, smooth, flawless installation of XP & all upgrades.
Also, perfect upgrade of BIOS & all nVidia 6.70 drivers.
USB 2, Firewire 800, Gb Network - all work without fault. Also running nVidia Firewall.
All installations and upgrades were flawless i.e error-free

So am I for half the price ,remember not everybody has USB 2.0 problems.

 

[DerekHeimlich]

I'm having a problem accessing the raid bios utility on this board.

I currently have 2x250GB Maxtor drives hooked up to the SATA 1&2 ports. I've updated to the 12/06/05 bios. I enable raid under the integrated peripherals section of the bios for those two ports.

However, no matter how many times I press F10, I simply cannot access the raid utility to create the array. I feel like I'm missing something obvious but I'm going to need someone to point it out to me. Thanks.

Edit: Solved my own problem. Knew it was something obvious...had to enable IDE boot room..."IDE" threw me off.

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: kikis

Originally posted by: RideFree

Originally posted by: kikis
...The only problem is the very long boot time(2-3 mins) which is really not normal, I think.

I remember having this problem on an installation quite some time back and many systems ago...can't for the life of me remember what the solution was.

Are all devices showing up as "OK" in the Device Manager window?

Everything under Windows appears to be normal. No bangs under device manager. System performance is normal. The only problem really is the long boot time.

I know the solution to the long boot!! Thanks to mem, who cleared this up for me in a different thread. I used it to solve a long-standing boot problem with my friend's Abit board.

Go into device manager and for the sata controller, disable NCQ.. Uncheck that box. It should boot up nice and fast now. Try it.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: Mem

A8N-SLI Premium
So am I for half the price ,remember not everybody has USB 2.0 problems.

Mem,
Don't go getting short of memory on me here...
If you recall, I recommended the EPoX to TJ and in another post in this thread was asked to comment on a "trouble-free" M/B for use with the X2 Opteron.

While I did overcome my USB2.0 problems with the EPoX and passed my experiences along to others, I also did the OEM 165 marriage with the A8N-SLI Premium and posted that comment in this thread (as well as in the A8N-SLI thread).
I'm innocent!

Well, either that or not too guilty.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: tjpark1111
Yes that seems like an excellent board, but it is ridiculous that I have to pay that much more just for 0 problems, in which even a $50 board should have no problems.... It is a bit out of my budget but if you really say so, then I guess I have to....

Originally posted by: imhungry
I ran into no problems with a couple of these, besides a sound problem, but that was a bad case.

TJ,
If you read the customer survey at newegg, all is not Guns and Roses with this combo.
However, as I posted, it is my opinion (humble) that many of problems presented by the users in the newegg forums were self-inflicted.

im,
This does not necessarily include you, just the majority of people at newegg that reported problems with this board in combo with a myriad of parts & pieces...

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: IlluminiX
Yeah it was just a thought, but I am glad at least that that rules out that theory and others can be pursued.

I:light:x,
Try my favorite utility written by Gabriel Topala.
It "displays detailed specs for motherboard, BIOS, CPU, devices, memory, video, disk drives, ports, printers, operating system, installed programs, processes, services, serial numbers (CD keys), users, open files, system uptime, network, network shares, as well as real-time monitors for CPU, memory, page file usage and network traffic. It also displays currently active network connections, passwords hidden behind asterisks, installed codecs, and more. "
SIW - this is a keeper. It also belongs on a memory boot USB stick.
Edited for : It is also a stand-alone program...you don't see many of them these days. i.e. It needs no installation.

 

[cheerful]

Just put together EP-9NPA+Ultra, 3700+ and 1GB dual channel Corsair in an Antec case.

Have a weird problem: If I plug in the system fan, the cold boot would fail. It will continue to beep at about once every 1 or 2 second with code C1. However, if I power down and then power immediately, it will pass that stage with a message warning me that the system is now in SAFE mode and I should go into BIOS to fix cpu frequency. Then everything goes smoothly until next cold boot. If the system fan is not plugged in, then this problem will never occur. Is there any explanation for this problem?

The other thing is that I can't get nVidia monitor to work, saying my BIOS does not support it. Am I missing some driver or got some BIOS setting wrong?

Thanks!

 

[cheerful]

To answer my own question, you have to use DIMM solt 1&2 first. I used 3&4 and got C1 with the fan plugged in. Still, that is weird, with and without fan.

 

[Viremia]

Well, I'm hoping Epox can fix the USB 2.0 problem with this motherboard. I got an external HD last week and it locks up any time I try to transfer any big files or many small files. Kinda makes it useless as a backup device.

I have an x2 4400+

 

[cheerful]

Anyone knows a quiet chipset fan? This one is really too loud for me. Thanks!

 

[Mem]

Anyone knows a quiet chipset fan? This one is really too loud for me. Thanks!

I can't hear mine over my 80mm case fans and 7800GT card etc...

 

[IlluminiX]

Is this normal?

I have SMART "disabled" in the BIOS and when loading it shows my harddrives with SMART disabled. But in Windows, if I use Speedfan or other SMART reading programs, I can see ALL of the SMART data.

Shouldn't disabling SMART keep that SMART info from being seen in Windows or does it only stop the BIOS from reporting disk issues on bootup?

This isn't a huge deal except, I want to make sure everything is working as it should. I have seen this happen with all three of my drives, so it isn't just with one harddrive.

 

[Mem]

IlluminiX: yeah that is normal mine is the same.

S.M.A.R.T. is supported by all current hard disks and it allows the early prediction and warning of impending hard disk disasters. You should enable it if you want to use S.M.A.R.T.-aware utilities to monitor the hard disk's condition. Enabling it also allows the monitoring of the hard disk's condition over a network.

While S.M.A.R.T. looks like a really great safety feature, it isn't really that useful or even necessary for most users. For S.M.A.R.T. to work, it is not just a matter of enabling it in the BIOS. You must also keep a S.M.A.R.T.-aware hardware monitoring utility running in the background all the time.

That's quite alright if the hard disk you are using has a spotty reputation and you need advanced warning of any impending failure. However, hard disks these days are mostly reliable enough to make S.M.A.R.T. redundant. Unless you are running mission-critical applications, it is very unlikely that S.M.A.R.T. will be of any use at all.

With that said, S.M.A.R.T. is still useful in providing a modicum of data loss prevention by continuously monitoring hard disks for signs of impending failure. If you have critical or irreplaceable data, you should enable this BIOS feature and use a S.M.A.R.T.-aware hardware monitoring software. Just don't rely completely on it! Back up your data on a CD or DVD!

Please note that even if you do not use any S.M.A.R.T.-aware utility, enabling S.M.A.R.T. in the BIOS uses up some bandwidth because the hard disk will continuously send out data packets. So, if you do not use S.M.A.R.T.-aware utilities or if you do not need that level of real-time reporting, disable HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability for better overall performance.

Some of the newer BIOSes now come with S.M.A.R.T. monitoring support built-in. When you enable HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability, these new BIOSes will automatically check the hard disk's S.M.A.R.T. status at boot-up. However, such a feature has very limited utility as it can only tell you the status of the hard disk at boot-up. Therefore, it is still advisable for you to disable HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability unless you use a proper S.M.A.R.T.-aware monitoring utility.

 

[IlluminiX]

I am not sure that SMART doc, which I have seen before, says that you should still be able to monitor the disk even if you Disable it in the BIOS....

You should enable it if you want to use S.M.A.R.T.-aware utilities to monitor the hard disk's condition... For S.M.A.R.T. to work, it is not just a matter of enabling it in the BIOS. You must also keep a S.M.A.R.T.-aware hardware monitoring utility running in the background all the time...If you have critical or irreplaceable data, you should enable this BIOS feature and use a S.M.A.R.T.-aware hardware monitoring software.

It doesn't seem like disabling SMART should still allow you to monitor SMART in XP. Glad to know it isn't just me, but unless it's normal for other motherboards, I still think that something isn't "right" with the Epox SMART feature.

 

[Fallengod]

Same for me. It still reads some smart stuff with it disabled. I dont see why youre worrying about it heh. Doesnt seem to harm anything.