my epox 8k7a isn't stable

[tikkiman]

I just got my epox 8k7a with a 1GHz T-bird and it doesn't seem very stable. After playing Tribes 2 for an hour it locks up. The Prime95 torture test locked up after about an hour also. I'm not overclocking anything yet and I've got all my BIOS settings on the Optimized defaults. CPU temp is around 40C. Is anyone else having problems with this motherboard/configuration? I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't be stable, especially without anything overclocked. I also ran 3DMark2001 and got 3055 marks. Seems kinda low as others with similar configurations got closer to 4000. Sandra also gives me slightly lower numbers than the reference 1GHz AMD DDR setup.

Installation was pretty smooth except for this one hiccup. When I was installing Win98SE it would always get to 12% in the detecting plug and play devices stage and then hang. After taking out my Ethernet card(which I am not using) from PCI 4 installation continued fine. This problem might have been because I had PCI 2 & 3 already occupied, maybe?

As far as drivers I'm using the AMD miniport driver that came with the mobo and the VIA Bus master driver which I installed accidentally. Also using Leadtek's drivers for the video card and diamond multimedia's drivers for the Monster Sound.

I checked Epox's website and couldn't find a BIOS update for the 8K7A. Any other suggestions?

Here's the specs:

T-bird 1GHz AXIA 266 FSB (not overclocked yet)
Epox 8K7A
Crucial 256MB 2100 DDR RAM
Leadtek Geforce2 GTS
300W Antec power supply
Fujitsu 17.2GB (I think it's ATA66)
Plextor 8/4/32A
Monster Sound MX300
Global Win FOP32

 

[Technonut]

You may get some helpful info if you were to post your complete system components, how you went about installation, and drivers used.

 

[GundamF91]

maybe u're running Win98 instead of Win2k.

my 8K7A's very stable for 10days now.

 

[tikkiman]

Is this true? Should I be using Win2k instead of Win98?

 

[undercover]

you mean:

"My EpoX 8k7a isn't running stable."

It's all in the setup man. If you skip a step or cut a corner your screwed. Mine f*cking ownz.

 

[GundamF91]

If you have Win2k, then of course use it. If you play games, then they might not ALL run on W2k. Dualboot with W98 like me instead. Very nice, and great to have a backup OS in case you screw one up.

 

[KevinH]

Win98 seems to be the source of instability for quite a few people. On my dual-boot system, I've found that I'm using win98 less and less and 2k more and more.

 

[tjdavis1138]

Did you change the fsb jumper on the motherboard to 133Mhz? If you didn't mess with any jumpers the board comes set at 100Mhz bus.

 

[tikkiman]

I didn't skip any steps, read through the manual point by point. And yes I changed the jumper to 133MHz.

The problem seems to be happening even when I'm not running a program. After a couple hours of windows I get vertical staticy lines on the screen. Sounds like a vid card problem but I was using the same card on my old system a day ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for the replies so far.

 

[tjdavis1138]

Do you have another video card you can try? I remember hearing about problems with the geforce2 cards on the 8k7a, but never paid much attention to them since I have a Radeon.

 

[bdunosk]

Hmm, I have just about the same setup as you, so maybe how I have stuff put together will help?

PCI 1 & 2 are empty, 3 = mx300, 4 = SCSI, 5 = NIC, 6 = winmodem. I'm using leaked 12.40 nVidia drivers, the newest mx300 drivers (can't get them anymore since a3d is gone). Also went and DL'ed the newest AMD miniport driver, and used the VIA 4in1 (but selected not to install the AGP / IDE, and not IDE because I'm completely SCSI).

Have you disabled the on-board sound? There are two options to do so in the BIOS. I'm sorry to hear you're having problems, but I have to say this is the most stable motherboard I've had in a long time. I hope this helps!!

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Does 8k7a still have the PWM incompatible Power Supply problem?

 

[tikkiman]

I was not aware of this problem but (after reading the article) I don't think it was affecting me. My video card will post and it does give me video (I'm using it right now). My problem was windows lockups.

I think I've narrowed my problem down to the power supply. Though I'm using an Antec PSU it appears the 400W PP-403X and not the 300W PP-303X (what I have) Antec is actually approved by AMD. I've already ordered an AMD approved unit so hopefully this will solve all my problems and my 8K7A will be as stable as the rest of you guy's. Thanks for the help everyone.