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

[curran]

Rythan,

I had wondered about the stepping issue since I still haven''t fixed my USB problems. here is my info from CPUZ:

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester
family: F model: B stepping: 1
ext. family: F ext. model: 2B Revision: BH-E4

I'd like to ask a favor from everyone...whether you have the usb freezing issue or not, could you all please post this same info from CPUZ? (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php)

thanks

 

[curran]

By the way, anyone know how to check the stepping of the nForce chipsets?

 

[curran]

ok sorry for all the posts, but this is what cpuz reported for my mobo:

9NPA+SLI
model: 1.x
chipset: Rev. A3
southbridge: nforce4 MCP

 

[RideFree]

*Note* SLI chipset according to
http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=4906

 

[gfngfgf]

CPU-Z information (it's actually identical to curran's, except I have the Ultra, not SLI):

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester
family: F model: B stepping: 1
ext. family: F ext. model: 2B Revision: BH-E4

9NPA+Ultra
model: 1.x
chipset: Rev. A3

 

[Orcishhuman]

Ridefree,

Can we use these drivers, even though they're for X16 ??
BTW: (I don't have the USB crashes)

Athlon 64 3500+ Venice
Family:F Model:F Stepping:2
Ext family:F Ext Model:2F RevisionH-E6


9NPA+ Ultra

Model:1.x
Rev. A3

 

[RideFree]

No USB crashes? "Don't fix what ain't broke."
http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?
<br...odload&name=News&file=article&sid=4906
You're right, article says for the SLI chipset.

 

[Danaite]

so do i i bought a 500W Bluestorm FORTRON PSU and now i don't ahev any probleme with ,my mobo, my issue was fixed by this powerfull PSU

BTW this psu is very quiet !!!!

Fortron Roxxxx

 

[elbyped]

I've just registered here to join the ranks of those running into freezes while connecting to USB 2.0 devices. I'm also using an AMD x2 processor, am I wrong in thinking that the majority of people having the problem are also using AMD dual core systems?

I've contacted EPoX support about the issue, hopefully a driver/bios patch to fix this isn't too far in the future...

 

[curran]

elbyped....welcome to the club. It's a dual core problem almost for sure & isn't limited only to Epox boards, but seems to affect only those w/ NF4 chipsets. A temporary fix if you still want USB 2.0 involves adding the /onecpu switch to the boot.ini file or adding a PCI card. Still no word from Epox, though.

 

[IlluminiX]

This is true.

Epox sent me a VIA USB 2.0 card, and I got the same issue with the freezing as I did with the motherboard's ports. I thought it might just be the VIA chip not agreeing with my system in some other way, so I disabled one of the X2 cores, and everything has been fine. So I would have to conclude that the VIA card has the "same" issue as the motherboard. Some people have said that NEC PCI cards work, so I may try that down the road, if Epox doesn't start making progress.

I emailed Epox a copy of the SN25P O and Y Bioses where the O bios was reported to give people this same exact issue with the freezing, and in the Y bios, people said the problem was gone, so I am hoping Epox can figure out what was changed and see if that can be implemented in the Epox bios. I tried to do some snooping in the BIOSes to see what I could see with CBROM and Modbin6, but neither is particularly user-friendly, and I could see that only a couple of files, namely awardext.bin and awardeyt.bin, were changed in the Y Bios. It didn't appear to be a user-option that was changed as I looked at the SETUP options for each and they appeared to be the same, so my guess is some code was changed.

Guess we'll have to wait to hear from Epox Taiwan, as the US branch doesn't do any of the BIOS stuff, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

IlluminiX

 

[Fallengod]

They actually sent you a usb 2.0 card? Damn. I want one! Im hoping they fix it as well. Im on a single core right now, but planning to be on a dualcore in about a week or two.

 

[IlluminiX]

Even with all the reports of the USB issues, you intend on going to dual core with this motherboard? I honestly don't see a huge difference in most of the things I do on the computer with the dual core, but I really got it because I saw it as an investment towards the future. I decided that I could wait for Vista to come out and AMD's socket M2, but I figured prices would be pretty high when M2 comes out, not just for the processors, but for the motherboards, and DDR2 RAM as well. So if there isn't a huge difference in the processor speed, and the DDR2 RAM doesn't make too too much of a difference, I figured I'd get the X2 now (this was back in October) as my last processor was the XP 1700+. But definitely if I had a single core Athlon 3500+ let's say, I would not upgrade quite yet, as there aren't enough dual core uses just yet, and you might be disappointed when you find yourself with an "archaic" 939pin socket in a couple of months.

I am not telling you what to do, and if you have the money go right ahead, but that's just my feeling on the issue.

And Epox gave me a USB card that they sell (so imagine it costs them relatively nothing), and plus I am sure they are tired of hearing from me regarding this issue, so they hoped this would quiet me down, but it did not really improve my situation. I am currently actually on one core, because it is stable, and I can use all of my USB 2.0 bandwidth without any freezings!!

IlluminiX

 

[elbyped]

Originally posted by: IlluminiX
Even with all the reports of the USB issues, you intend on going to dual core with this motherboard? I honestly don't see a huge difference in most of the things I do on the computer with the dual core, but I really got it because I saw it as an investment towards the future. I decided that I could wait for Vista to come out and AMD's socket M2, but I figured prices would be pretty high when M2 comes out, not just for the processors, but for the motherboards, and DDR2 RAM as well. So if there isn't a huge difference in the processor speed, and the DDR2 RAM doesn't make too too much of a difference, I figured I'd get the X2 now (this was back in October) as my last processor was the XP 1700+. But definitely if I had a single core Athlon 3500+ let's say, I would not upgrade quite yet, as there aren't enough dual core uses just yet, and you might be disappointed when you find yourself with an "archaic" 939pin socket in a couple of months.

I am not telling you what to do, and if you have the money go right ahead, but that's just my feeling on the issue.

And Epox gave me a USB card that they sell (so imagine it costs them relatively nothing), and plus I am sure they are tired of hearing from me regarding this issue, so they hoped this would quiet me down, but it did not really improve my situation. I am currently actually on one core, because it is stable, and I can use all of my USB 2.0 bandwidth without any freezings!!

IlluminiX

For me at least the dual core 3800+ was at just the price point I was looking for in a processor. For web development it can be a real boon, makes running a database/webserver in the background while editing a much less painfull experience. For the time being reverting to USB 1.0 doesn't really put me at much inconvinence.

That and oblivion will benefit from multiprocessor setups

 

[pucbaldwin]

Just to add my voice to the USB freezing problem.

Built a new system yesterday and it hangs randomly. I was thinking it was a USB issue, but haven't had it long enough to be sure. Issue first appeared when I started using my USB wireless adapter... (sound familiar?)

System below.

AMD x2 3800
Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra Nforce 4
2 x 1Gb Geil Value ram
Leadtech 7800GT

Everything at default at the moment.

Pete

 

[reynrv]

Originally posted by: IlluminiX
This is true.

Epox sent me a VIA USB 2.0 card, and I got the same issue with the freezing as I did with the motherboard's ports. I thought it might just be the VIA chip not agreeing with my system in some other way, so I disabled one of the X2 cores, and everything has been fine. So I would have to conclude that the VIA card has the "same" issue as the motherboard. Some people have said that NEC PCI cards work, so I may try that down the road, if Epox doesn't start making progress.

I emailed Epox a copy of the SN25P O and Y Bioses where the O bios was reported to give people this same exact issue with the freezing, and in the Y bios, people said the problem was gone, so I am hoping Epox can figure out what was changed and see if that can be implemented in the Epox bios. I tried to do some snooping in the BIOSes to see what I could see with CBROM and Modbin6, but neither is particularly user-friendly, and I could see that only a couple of files, namely awardext.bin and awardeyt.bin, were changed in the Y Bios. It didn't appear to be a user-option that was changed as I looked at the SETUP options for each and they appeared to be the same, so my guess is some code was changed.

Guess we'll have to wait to hear from Epox Taiwan, as the US branch doesn't do any of the BIOS stuff, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

IlluminiX

That's interesting. After getting tired of USB lockups, I added a PCI USB2/Firewire card to my setup and switched the onboard ports to USB1.1. The card uses VIA chipsets for both USB2 and Firewire Host controllers. I didnt have any lockups while using USB2 HD's and this card. Wanting to use a PCI-E slot instead, I ordered a USB2 PCI-E card. I removed the devices in windows (all of the usb2 / firewire stuff), removed the PCI VIA card, and added the new PCI-E card. Windows detected it fine (along with reinstalling all of the onboard usb/firewire stuff I removed) and installed the right drivers. It turns out that the PCI-E card had an NEC chipset. No matter which PCI-E slot I tried (of the three), the machine would bluescreen / reboot whenever a usb device was plugged in. Also, it would not boot into windows with any device plugged into the card. I gave up and sent the card back for a refund so now I'm just using the original PCI VIA chipset card. Havent seen any problems with it since. It's just strange that a VIA card wouldnt work for you.

 

[IlluminiX]

Reynrv

That's pretty interesting. I was thinking of picking up a PCIE USB card but they cost 6x the PCI variety ($60) so I'd rather not since I do have a PCI slot open. The VIA card may have worked for you for a couple of reasons: one may have been that the VIA card was a later revision or just was made by someone else, but I doubt either made the difference. The other could be any IRQ conflicts I have with my card because it shares IRQ 18 with both my video card and my MPEG card, and IRQ 19 with my firewire ports (something that I actually would like to be able to disable in the BIOS), and it uses IRQ 17 on its own. IRQ sharing is something I don't like, and still suspect as a possible source of freezings for the motherboard's ports. Before I installed the VIA card, I did not have any trouble in dual core mode with USB 1.1 enabled even though my MPEG and Video card shared IRQ 18, so it may only be troublesome when the USB card ACTUALLY shares with something else. I don't know if yours shares with something like the video card, but I doubt that can be good. I should also mention that the motherboard's USB devices did NOT share any IRQ's with any other devices, so it may not be entirely IRQ sharing that is at fault.

Just to make matters complicated, I froze last night when idle in single core mode and with my USB adapter plugged in to the VIA card, so the IRQ sharing may really be suspect. Now I plugged the USB adapter back into the motherboard with USB 2.0 enabled and single core just to make sure that that is ok and that my issue is the same as everyone else. Last time I tried single core mode, I didn't freeze, but I don't recall how long I left it in single core mode, so it may not have been long enough.

I definitely was stable with a PCI wireless card and USB 1.1 enabled, and dual core mode so all was good with that, except if I ever get a USB HD, it would be quite slow! Since so many people with Nvidia cards had trouble with the X2 and the 81.XX versions of the drivers, I might do what they did and go back to the 78.XX version to see if that makes any difference. They seemed to freeze mainly in games, but I think I read about a few who froze when idle. The 80 series added dual core "features" which could be to blame in some way, but it still doesn't quite account for my stability in USB 1.1 mode with both cores enabled.

IlluminiX

 

[reynrv]

I believe that I have some IRQ sharing going on as well. I think that my the PCI USB2 host controller uses the same IRQ as my video card (on IRQ 18 I believe). I just wish Epox would figure something out for us.

 

[Mem]

I'll post my IRQs again since most of you know mine is working great even with USB 2.0.

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 3 Communications Port (COM2) OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 11 NVIDIA nForce PCI System Management OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 NVIDIA nForce4 Parallel ATA Controller OK
IRQ 15 NVIDIA nForce4 Parallel ATA Controller OK
IRQ 17 Creative SB Audigy 4 (WDM) OK
IRQ 18 NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT OK
IRQ 19 VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller OK
IRQ 20 NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller OK
IRQ 21 NVIDIA nForce4 Serial ATA Controller OK
IRQ 21 NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator OK
IRQ 22 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller OK
IRQ 23 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller OK

I still don't know why some of you have USB 2.0 problems and others don't .

 

[sgtdic]

i'm trying to remember where that list is. can u tell me?

 

[Mem]

sgtdic: Look in Sytem Tools,then System Info under IRQ's.

 

[curran]

Mem, was just wondering....have you tried a usb wireless adapter, especially under large downloads? After many, many reinstalls of XP my system is working better than it ever has, but it's still not perfect. Hasn't frozen in about a week (although I've rebooted a few times after software installations), even with some decent external HDD usage. However, if I use a 2.0 wireless adapter it will freeze after a while when idle, or much sooner with a large transfer. I seem to rarely get above 100 MB in a download. It has yet to freeze w/ my USB HDD & card reader...knock on wood.

 

[sgtdic]

my irq's all say ok, but my sound card and video card are on irq 18. how do i change this because my sound would lag and freeze my system temporarily while trying to play bf2.

 

[Mem]

curran I only have a 2mb connection for the net so it probably not fast enough for it to show up,however all my USB 2.0 devices like printer,external 7 port USB (NEC chipset)hub ,Lite-On DVD burner USB 2.0 external etc... work fine,never had any freezes.

I do intend to add a USB 2.0 HD down the road.

 

[Mem]

sgtdic: Try moving it to a different pci slot.