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

[dahuang1]

You're just running 2 sticks, eh? I found 4 sticks can't do 1T. I have 4x512 corsair value @ 200, 3000+ chip at 9x265. I bought the 170 at NE for $115 - thanks for the tip!

 

[ViceFlow]

Hey , i have a trouble with this board

I installed the Magic Flash v2.0 to update the bios so i installed and run the program i flashed in windows restarted and then when windows tries to boot it restarts, i been reading the whole topic i've tried to make a boot cd to update the bios, but it wont works it just keep re starting the system, at some point it seems that is going to load windows but just restarts again, im going pretty crazy here to know what is going on..

Hope u can help me mates!!!!!

 

[cthulhie]

Does anyone have experience running an Opteron 180 with the EP-9NPA+Ultra?

I've just gotten the Opteron in the mail today. When I plugged it in, it didn't boot (not even to the bios), and posted the FF code. I put the old cpu (an Athlon 3700) back in (it worked fine), flashed the bios to the latest version (6.8.11, I think?) and put the new Opteron back in. It still won't boot, but the error code now hangs up on C1 (memory check).

I've tried one memory stick in a few different slots, and it returns the same error. My best guess is that it's actually hanging up, not on a RAM check, but on the L2 cache (which the manual says it checks... sometimes. It's a little vague).

I can give more detail on my system spec and the tests I've done, but it doesn't really seem relevant--keep in mind that I've put the original CPU back in several times and the system works fine. (I'm posting from it now, in fact.) It's kind of hard to believe it's another component.

So I'm really just curious if someone else has gotten an Opteron 180 to work with this board. If anyone has suggestions for things I should try, I'd love to hear them. If this has worked for someone before, I'll just RMA and try again with a different chip. Otherwise, I may have to get a refund and live with my current CPU....

 

[cthulhie]

Just a quick update for historical value (in case prying eyes are looking to do my same upgrade): I RMAed the first chip and got another. It detected the chip immediately and booted flawlessly. I guess the first was just a bad chip.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Ah, good. So this mobo will support dual core.

 

[nwrigley]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Games crash with 4 x 512 but not 2 x 512 RAM (revisited)

In Septemter I put up some posts describing my problem with 4 x 512 Corsair Value RAM. I have an update. Yesterday I removed the 2 sticks I'd added and went back to 2 x 512. Tada! Unreal Tournament 2004 and FEAR Combat run just fine after "downgrading".

However, earlier the RAM had gone for at least three hours and 4.5 passes on Memtest86 without any problems.

So, it definitely looks like it's some sort of issue with the RAM? Could it have been a bad installation on my part? Could it be bad RAM in spite of the Memtest? A problem with my processor's memory controller? Or a problem with the motherboard's RAM slots?

I guess the next test is to swap out the original 2 x 512 sticks and replace them with the new ones and see what happens. If it all runs fine, then take the original two sticks and add them to slots 3 and 4. I have my memory timings set to Auto, so I would presume that the 1T-2T issue issn't a problem.

September's post follows:

-----------------

My problem:

Certain games seem to run for a couple minutes (3-5) and then crash, freezing the system. UT 2004 and FEAR Combat crash, but UT 1999 does not. I have 4 x 512 Corsair Value RAM in an Epox EP-9npa+ Ultra motherboard. Before I upgraded to 2 GB, I had 2 x 512 and everything ran fine. I ran MemTest86 on it (with 4 x 512) for three hours (4.5 passes) and it didn't reveal any errors.

Video card is a Connect3d x800 GTO unlocked to 16 pipes running at stock speed (no need to overclock it yet). I don't suspect it's the culprit since UT 2004 seemed to run fine on it before I added the other two sticks of RAM. CPU is an Opteron 148 (stock 2.2 Ghz) overclocked 25% to 2.75 Ghz.

The RAM was purchased at two different times in two 2 x 512 pairs. I'm pretty certain that I would have installed the first two into the proper slots for dual channel. Is it possible that the two different RAM orders, although the exact same model, aren't completely compatable? If you had 4 sticks instead of 2, would you want to put the matching sticks in different RAM banks than the banks you would put two sticks in for dual channel if you only had two sticks?

Is there anything that I can do to solve this problem without buying new RAM (2 x 1 GB), or will I have to resign myself to simply removing the two new sticks and going with 2 x 512?

Has anyone else dealt with this, and how did you fix it? Might I need to tweak BIOS settings for the RAM?

[Note--I'm putting this under Motherboards since it's an issue that might be specific to nForce 4 Socket 939 motherboards and processors.]

I've also had this same problem with the same motherboard running the same ram, except wtih 2 sticks of the 512mb Corsair VS. Unreal Tournament 2004 may play fine for 5-15 minutes, but will then crash. Other games are not affected (I don't have FEAR, so can't comment there). I'll let you know if I find something that works. I'm hoping that maybe relaxing the timings will help.

 

[sgtdic]

i have the 4 x 512 and dont have any problems with my ram (corsair vs). i use the factory timings and you have to use 2T. BF2 and fear combat run totally fine. FYI, i also have my 3000 o/c'd to 2.4 and still no issues.

 

[nwrigley]

Originally posted by: sgtdic
i have the 4 x 512 and dont have any problems with my ram (corsair vs). i use the factory timings and you have to use 2T. BF2 and fear combat run totally fine. FYI, i also have my 3000 o/c'd to 2.4 and still no issues.

You mean you have to use 2T because you're running 4 sticks, right? My understanding is that 1T should be ok for 2 sticks.

I lowered the voltage on the ram and the cpu, since the motherboard was giving the ram 2.7volts on auto setting and this ram is rated for 2.5v. I also have the 3000+ but nothing is overclocked. That was volted at 2.5v on auto and I lowered it to 2.4v. This cleared up a lot of other probelms I was having with this system.

Today I was able to play Unreal Tournament 2004 for over an hour before it crashed, giving a "General Protection Fault". I'm still leaning towards this being a memory issue. I wonder if relaxing the timings will clear it up. What should I relax the timings to? It's not something I've done before and this memory is rated for 2.5-3-3-8. Do I just set it on CAS3, leave the rest on auto and let the motherboard take care of it?

I'm pretty satisfied at this point because lowering to normal voltages seems to have fixed the other various problems I am having. As long as UT2004 is the only program that crashes to screen and there aren't any random re-boots in general, then that is acceptable. Also, it is very difficult to test a problem with a game that may not crash until over an hour of game play.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Check out this thread at the Corsair discussion forums. Right now I'm back to my 2 x 512 RAM (game runs just fine). I haven't tried reinstalling the RAM and upping the CPU or Northbridge voltage yet like the RAM Guy said:

http://www.houseofhelp.com/for...hp?p=297358#post297358

 

[WhipperSnapper]

OK, on to the next subject. Now I want to upgrade my single core Opteron 148 to a dual core 4200. I'm using an EPOX BIOS that was released on January 12, 2006. I'd prefer NOT to have to flash the BIOS again because I'm happy with it the way it is now (unless that's what's causing my 4 x 512 RAM problem) and it's always risky. (However, getting those additional RAM speed settings, 150 and 183, is tempting.)

Will my mobo recognize and run the Athlon X2 4200 or will I need to do a BIOS flash? What is the most recent BIOS for this mobo and is it worth the risk to flash to it?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Would an nVidia 7950 GX2 (two 7950 GTs bound together) work on this mobo?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Could someone please link me to the latest, proper motherboard driver for this motherboard? I'm thinking about deleting and cleaning out all of my drivers and starting over with fresh driver installs.

Should I use a (outdated?) driver from Epox's site or should I download the latest nForce4 driver from nVidia?

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

Could someone please link me to the latest, proper motherboard driver for this motherboard? I'm thinking about deleting and cleaning out all of my drivers and starting over with fresh driver installs.

Should I use a (outdated?) driver from Epox's site or should I download the latest nForce4 driver from nVidia?

Download latest chipset drivers from Nvidia,personally I have no problems with this board and Vista x64 (using 4x1GB sticks at 2T auto default setting), very stable motherboard .

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
OK, on to the next subject. Now I want to upgrade my single core Opteron 148 to a dual core 4200. I'm using an EPOX BIOS that was released on January 12, 2006. I'd prefer NOT to have to flash the BIOS again because I'm happy with it the way it is now (unless that's what's causing my 4 x 512 RAM problem) and it's always risky. (However, getting those additional RAM speed settings, 150 and 183, is tempting.)

Will my mobo recognize and run the Athlon X2 4200 or will I need to do a BIOS flash? What is the most recent BIOS for this mobo and is it worth the risk to flash to it?

The January 2006 Bios will already have and recognize your 4200+ cpu,btw when you do a clean install remember to install the AMD dual core driver and Optimiser (if you use WinXP),install driver first and reboot then install Optimizer after.

AMD driver and Optimizer link.


Note: If you use Vista you won't (and should not) need to install them since it has native dual core support.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

What do you do for a sound chip driver? Just use the Realtek driver from the Epox website (if it will download for you)? Does it conflict with the nVidia nForce4 driver at all?

It's almost impossible to download anything from Epox's website at all now. What a joke! Is Epox more or less going out of business?

 

[teddyv]

removed

 

[trOver]

how did this thread get to be so long? I had this mobo ~3 years ago

 

[perdomot]

I have this mobo paired with an X2 3800+ as my vid server and was wondering how it compares to mobos with newer chipsets. Any advantage to upgrading?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: trOver
how did this thread get to be so long? I had this mobo ~3 years ago

People had lots of issues with it?

BTW--as a follow up to my previous posts about problems with 4 x 512 RAM, it turns out that the solution seems to have been to keep the final RAM speed under 333. Now I have all four sticks installed and I haven't had any problems.

Now if only I could find what I regard as being a reasonable price on a Socket 939 dual core with 2 MB cache on each core. It sucks that the Socket 939 dual core Opterons are vanishing.

 

[bupkus]

My first post in such a long time. I sold my EP-9NPA+Ultra to my nephew over a year ago. It has a 3000+ Venice and tomorrow UPS will be delivering a 4200+ X2 Toledo to my door. I'm going to be doing the installation but I'm wondering which bios I need to install first.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
What do you do for a sound chip driver? Just use the Realtek driver from the Epox website (if it will download for you)? Does it conflict with the nVidia nForce4 driver at all?

It's almost impossible to download anything from Epox's website at all now. What a joke! Is Epox more or less going out of business?

You can get the Realtek driver from Realtek website too,yes looks like Epox are out of business,shame but it happens.

My first post in such a long time. I sold my EP-9NPA+Ultra to my nephew over a year ago. It has a 3000+ Venice and tomorrow UPS will be delivering a 4200+ X2 Toledo to my door. I'm going to be doing the installation but I'm wondering which bios I need to install first.

Should be fine with the shiped BIOS,especially since BIOS support for 4200+ has been out for a few years(BIOS wise).


I know for a fact January 06 BIOS supports 4200+ X2.

Sidenote:I'm still using my Epox board with Vista x64 which works great.

 

[MadScientist]

I thought this thread died. I'm still running my board on a dual OS, Win XP Pro and Vista X64 with my Opty 170.
I agree with Mem, except for no Vista driver support from Logitech for my MX-700 mouse and keyboard, it runs fine with Vista. I'm building a new Intel quad system and thought I'd try out Vista x64 on the Epox MB first.

As Mem stated you can get the latest Realtek audio drivers for XP or Vista at Realtek's site. Link

You can still download the last bios update from Epox's Global English website under Support. The Magic Bios software that came with the MB also still seems to work. I just tried it and it connected to the server and told me I had the latest bios. I used it to flash my bios in Windows, never had a problem with it flashing in Windows.

 

[bupkus]

Originally posted by: MadScientist
You can still download the last bios update from Epox's Global English website under Support. The Magic Bios software that came with the MB also still seems to work. I just tried it and it connected to the server and told me I had the latest bios. I used it to flash my bios in Windows, never had a problem with it flashing in Windows.

As to the issue of BIOS:
A couple weeks ago I downloaded some files from Epox, one of which was a file that upon extraction created--MagicBios_v2.1.
I also downloaded file 9npa811.zip which upon extraction created both:
AWDFLASH.EXE and
9npa811.bin
Now since my 9npa+Ultra was ordered 7/12/2005 and the BIOS that supports X2 is dated 6/29/2005 (without checking with the motherboard since it's not in my possession) I'd bet that it takes more than 13 days for a board to go from BIOS insertion to Newegg's out going stock. Chances are, I'm in need of a BIOS update. So the question is, which one?

The cpu to be installed is a Toledo X2 4200+.

According to the file CPU_APPROVAL_LIST-DEC_06-AMD_K8.PDF the ep-9npa+ultra can use both dual core maximums 4600/4800 for cores Manchester/Toledo respectively with BIOS 2006/8/11. Hence my impression I should probably use the 9npa6811.bin.

If I do, would you suggest the MagicBios_v2.1 and/or 9npa6811.zip?

 

[sgtdic]

I've never had a problem using the Magicbios. I used it several times and I have the latest bios. IMO it works flawlessly. That's what I would suggest.

Looks like you may have taken the last Toledo 4200 because newegg stock is out at the moment.

 

[bupkus]

Is there anything cautionary about the 2006/8/11 bios?

Also, how do you execute the Magic bios?