HELP needed with new AsusA7A266 Athlon lock ups during gaming!

[MomboJombo]

Hey all...

I've been having problems with my newly built computer and I'm stumped on what to do besides reformatting and seeing if that helps anything. Here's what I have...

HARDWARE:
Asus A7A266MB
Athlon 1.4GHz - 266MHz FSB
256MB DDR memory (one stick)
Sound Blaster Live! Value
Visiontek Geforce2 MX400
Best Data 56K Modem

PROGRAMS/DRIVERS/ETC:
Windows98 2nd Edition
Detonator Driver v. 12.41
Sound Blaster Driver V. 7.11
Directx 8.0
Ali AGP driver v. 1.74
Bios 1.003

I have no conflicts of IRQ or anything like that. My problem starts when I try to play games... Whenever I try to start playing a game, it locks up or reboots itself automatically within 10 minutes or so. I've tried disabling all background programs like any anti-virus programs, Asus Probe, etc...
Nothing works... It ALWAYS locks up! I've tried playing Black & White and it is guaranteed to lock up within 5 minutes... somestimes less. I've tried playing Quake3 Arena and it locks up/reboots itself within 15 minutes. If I'm lucky, I can play it for 20 minutes before it locks up...
I tried sticking in my old Riva TNT2 Ultra and get the same lock up problems... So I'm thinking it might be the whole motherboard/athlon??
do you guys think it's the motherboard? Is it the Athlon? Blame it on Microsoft and Directx 8.0? The Video Card? Sound Blaster Live!? I can't think of anything else to play around with and I'm completely stumped! ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD HELP!

I'm actually thinking about returning everything and going back to using my old computer... (which I don't want to use cause it's slow!)

Please help! I'm hoping there's someone in this forum that can help me with this problem...
Thanks!

Mombojombo

 

[TechKnight]

is your BIOS the newest revision? Might wanna try that. Is the a driver that you're suppose to install similar to the VIA4in1 for VIA chipsets?

 

[Tenere]

I'm having the same problem except I'm using the Asus V8200 Geforce3.

I've run out of ideas and am contemplating getting a different mobo.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'd also like to hear the specs from anyone who is using an A7A266 with a Geforce3 and can play games without freezing/crashing.

Cheers

 

[Stargazer]

This is exactly the same problem I was having with my A7V133A board. Flashing the bios to the newest version fixed it right up... works wonderfully now. If you goto Asus website you can download the bios revision and the utility to flash it.
I found out what is causing the problem though... the bios doesnt properly recongnize the SBLive card. I noticed that when I had it in the Sound Blaster emulation would use IRQ5 like it was supposed to but the SBLive! Series was using IRQ 11, which is the same IRQ as the video card. It doesnt say it is conflicting but if you look at this you will notice the same i am sure. Hence, why it tends to lock up in games. However, after I updated the bios it properly recognized it and assigned IRQ5 to the SBLive Series as well. Check it out, if you look under your Control Panel/System/ you will see what I mean.

 

[MomboJombo]

I'll try to flash with the newest A7A266 BIOS Ver. 1004 and see what happens... I hope it works...
I'm curious if anyone else had these kinds of lock up problems with the A7A266 motherboard? Or what kind of hardware they're running with it...? Thanks for the input stargazer. I'll try it out tonite when I get home.
Tenere: If you try the new BIOS Ver.1004 and it works, please let me know... Thanks!

 

[SLY1]

Tenere here. Same person different logon.

Re flashing the bios. I have already done this and in fact am using Bios 1006.01 (beta) and still lock ups. Re the SBlive5.1 card - I did testing with different drivers from a fresh install with only the Geforce3 in the computer so it can't be anything to do with a sound card IRQ conflict.

Mombo, if you have any luck let me know. I'm going to price some new mobos.

Tenere:|

 

[MomboJombo]

I flashed the BIOS too... I've tried removing the Sound Card and all the drivers too... NADA...
Nothing works! I'm throwing in the towel... =p I'm returning the Motherboard and CPU!

Talk about major stability issues with the motherboard and the trouble I've gone thru for the past week!! I'm going to go conservative and going to build something that's stable and known to have no stability or compatibility issues this time.

Tenere: Good luck with your A7A266...

Mombojombo