extremely slow operating asus a7n8x deluxe problems...

[scudiac]

system specs:

asus a7n8x deluxe
athlon xp 1800+
2x256 Corsair cmx256a-3200c2 PC3200 Cas2
Ati Radeon 7500 AGP 64mb DDR
western digital se WD400JB 40gig
liteon cd-rw LTR-48246S (48x/24x/48x)
toshiba 12x dvd-rom SD-M1402

do i need to list anything else?

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I get everything together, plugged in, etc. I boot up and the Asus splash screen is shown, I press tab to bypass it and then hit delete to enter bios. This takes FOREVER. It takes at least one minute or longer to enter the bios upon pressing delete. I've never seen any board take this long to enter the bios. Once in bios, I set everything up: system performance on 'aggressive',cpu speed (not overclocked), memory (2-3-3-6-T1), boot order, etc, etc. Drives all detected fine. I save changes and reboot, computer posts, and I wait for cd-rw and dvd-rom to be detected. This takes forever as well (HD is fine). 30+ seconds at least. Even after all IDE devices are detected, it takes a least one or two minutes to proceed, in which I'm presented with a blinking cursor for about 30 seconds. Finally I'm presented with the normal 'boot from cdrom' prompt. I hear the cd-rw spin up, and start reading, after about 1-2 minutes, I'm finally presented with the "Setup is inspecting your computers hardware configuration...." from the windows xp pro cdrom. After that screen is gone, I have a blank black screen for at least 5 minutes+ (I thought it hung) before I reach the screen where Windows Setup is loading files (the blue one with the grey bar loading the files at the bottom), I press yes to setup windows xp on the drive, and then windows xp reports I have no harddrive connected to my system, even though the bios detects it.

I have seen threads on other boards about users having ultra slow booting problems with this board. None of the threads have provided any solutions though.

I have no idea what is causing this super slow operation. Do I have something set wrong in the bios? Did I miss a connection perhaps? Do I have a faulty device of some sort? I looked up and down the Asus manual, and can't find anything. Same with on the Asus site. Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated.

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Sorry for the length of the post. I tried to be as detailed as possible. Ciao...

 

[mechBgon]

Maybe you put your heatsink on backwards? There is a step cut into one end of the base which is there to clear the solid plastic part of the CPU socket. Also, what heatsink and thermal-interface material are you using? What power supply are you using? Any possibility you got the keyboard plugged into the mouse port by accident...?

 

[scudiac]

heatsink is on correctly. I have a retail athlon xp 1800+ with the retail hsf/thermalpad. Power supply is amd approved 450w from austin. keyboard and mouse are plugged in correctly.

 

[mechBgon]

How is your hard drive jumpered? If it's set to Master, try Single Drive.

 

[mechBgon]

I rummaged up a spec on your PSU. It has about as much actual power as a good name-brand 300W unit (note the identical 3.3V + 5V power ratings of 220W combined). So I wouldn't rule out the PSU as a possible cause yet... it could be having trouble getting all the drives initialized at startup.

Along that line of thinking, try the system with no drives plugged into the IDE controllers or the power supply, and just one memory module, to reduce the electrical load. If it starts working at a normal pace, try adding your hard drive to the mix. If it still behaves, try adding more stuff.

 

[chizow]

Go into the BIOS and disable the splash screen. See what's going on under there. Check to make sure you have all the "fast POST" options selected. Not sure if there is an option to do a memory check, but that'll slow boot up as well. Also, disable SATA jumper on the mobo if you aren't using it, even though that comes later on during POST.

Chiz

 

[scudiac]

I ran the western digital diagnostic utility, it reported no errors (even with media check), but everything seems to be working smoothly now. I am now installing windows xp pro at normal speed. I thought I was going to have to RMA the board! Thanks for your time, have a good night...

 

[mechBgon]

Sweet! Enjoy your new rig

 

[spanky]

doh! i was hoping u would sell me ur mobo

well... enjoy ur nforce2 goodness

 

[scudiac]

winxp sp1 pro installed fine, everything working good and fast!!! thanks again everyone for your time. ciao..!

 

[mechBgon]

LOL @ spankyOO7... I was in line first, darn it!