Help - need alternative to IT7 Max

[Darkranger]

I'm in need of an alternative to the Abit IT7 Max2 v2. I have had no end of problems with Abit motherboards and have finally given up with them completely. I have now had no less than 4 Abit Max series boards and none of them have worked 100% :disgust:

My set up:
1 x P4 2.53B Nothwood
1 x Corsiar XMS 3200 512MB
1 x 80G WD Caviar SE 8MB cache
2 x 40G Maxtor DiamondMax Plus8 in RAID 0
1 x 40G Maxtor DiamondMax Plus8 Backup removable
1 x Asus V8420 GF4 Ti4200 128MB

Will be O/Cing and as you see from spec I need RAID as well. That was why I chose the MAX boards originally, using the 4 channnel raid so I could have all drives as Master. Tried the Max2 v2 and used two sata > pata converters but could not get drives to work at all (one of the faults on the latest board) - anyone with experience using this, is there anything to be gained ???

A couple of Boards I have shortlisted so far are:

Asus P4PE
Epox 4PEA+

Any suggestions and ppl's own experiences of these board or others most welcome.

Cheers

 

[LastRide]

I have an IT7 Max2 V2 and runs great.What problem you having with it?.The Albatron PX845PE PRO IIS is suppose to be a good mobo.Its luck of the draw I guess with mobo's.Its hard to recommend a board cause you never know how it works on the owners system.You hear good and bad things about all of them.

 

[Darkranger]

I have 3 probs whith this latest board - 1 of the fan headers seems to incorrectly report the attached fan rpm (8594rpm) and casues the BIOS to lock up when ever you enter the 'Health Status' screen. 2 it takes usually 2-3 boot attempts just to enter the BIOS in the first place (get a black screen with flashing cursor at top left when trying to get in). 3 the SATA controller dose not work - at least when I connected a hard driver to it I could'nt get it to detect - but the standard HTP controller worked OK.
Pretty bad I'm sure you'll agree.... I must be well unlucky

Heard the Albatron's are quite good boards but I haven't seen a supplier in the UK ???

 

[LastRide]

I don't know any suppliers in the UK for the albatron.Have you tried updating your bios?.I have my 40mm fan attached to the northbridge and to the chassis fan header on the IT7 and reads 8,438 but I don't get any lockups or cold boots.I never tried the sata yet.

 

[maxSe]

Originally posted by: Darkranger
I have 3 probs whith this latest board - 1 of the fan headers seems to incorrectly report the attached fan rpm (8594rpm) and casues the BIOS to lock up when ever you enter the 'Health Status' screen. 2 it takes usually 2-3 boot attempts just to enter the BIOS in the first place (get a black screen with flashing cursor at top left when trying to get in). 3 the SATA controller dose not work - at least when I connected a hard driver to it I could'nt get it to detect - but the standard HTP controller worked OK.
Pretty bad I'm sure you'll agree.... I must be well unlucky

Heard the Albatron's are quite good boards but I haven't seen a supplier in the UK ???

What's the correct speed of the fan? If it is one of those "extreme" fans, it's never recommended to connect them directly to the board fan header as it draws much more power than normal fans... Have you tried booting it up without this fan attached? There are a few "quirks" with this board... 1. the CPU fan header MUST be connected with a decent speed fan; 2. System shutdown option MUST be set to disabled.. I'm not sure about SATA, as I don't use them... Have you tried connecting all 4 HD's just to PATA?

 

[LastRide]

When you get a cold boot and can't get into the bios.Power off the computer and hold down the insert key on the keyboard and press the power button on the case while holding down insert.Once you hear the beep you can let go and re-enter the bios with delete key.Some people are clearing their CMOs all the time which you don't have to do.You maybe you already know this.

 

[LastRide]

God point maxse about the extreme fan and being connected to the fan header.

 

[Darkranger]

Yep - I tried the latest Bios and a moded one from sudhian which includes the latest HTP 3.01 Bios - but still no good.
You must be lucky with that fan header - this is the second MAX board I have had with this problem and both of them locked up in the BIOS and also crashed the OS when using an app that reads the fan rpm's e.g. Abit's Hardware Doctor...

I gave up trying to fix it - it being RMA'ed

 

[LastRide]

Did you read maxSE post above mine?>Do you have one of those extreme fans hooked up to your CPU fan header and disable CPU shutdown?

 

[Darkranger]

I am using 5 x Enermax 80mm variable speed fans > 1000rpm - 3000rpm.
Tried them all at different speeds on the suspect header but to no avail....

I don't think the BIOS problem is a cold boot issue - the system posts OK, no O/C at this point but hitting DEL just give's me the black screen and flashing cursor - after about the 3rd reset it finally enters the BIOS - wierd one I know, never seen this before ???

 

[Darkranger]

I see both of you are using the ABIT IT7 Max2 V2 and obviously have had a good experience with this board.

Do you think I am giving up on it too easily???

The reason I went for the MAX in the first place was because I have had several Abit boards in the past with no problems at all and I really liked the feature set plus overclocking results ppl where getting with it - it sounded ideal.

Maybe I just hit a really bad batch

 

[maxSe]

Originally posted by: Darkranger
I am using 5 x Enermax 80mm variable speed fans > 1000rpm - 3000rpm.
Tried them all at different speeds on the suspect header but to no avail....

I don't think the BIOS problem is a cold boot issue - the system posts OK, no O/C at this point but hitting DEL just give's me the black screen and flashing cursor - after about the 3rd reset it finally enters the BIOS - wierd one I know, never seen this before ???

Hmm... it *might* be those variable fans... Try connecting them directly to molex connectors of PSU instead of board fan headers (be sure to have one connected to CPU fan though... try to connect a regular fan, if you have one). This is just a theory, but when it boots, it might be doing that since the fan isn't rotating fast enough... I believe the "cold-boot" issue has been addressed with the version 2.

Just out of curiosity, which version2 board do you have? There're 2 (black PCB - which I have, and the "normal" Abit yellow PCB)...

 

[LastRide]

Come to think of it the vaiable fans were causing a problem.Try a regular fan and disable system shutdown as maxSe said.Hope you don't have a bunch of fans connected to the mobo.Put them on the molex's of the power supply.Get the adapter so you can connect them to the 4 pin molex's if need be.

 

[Darkranger]

Thanks for the tips... i will try suggestions with the fan connections, i do have some standard 2500rpm coolermasters nocking around which i can try, also will try just a couple to start with.

My V2 is the Black PCB... is there any difference???