MY NEW AMD64 SYSTEM IS RUNNING LIKE A CARPET BEETLE!

[ttimbo75]

Hi all

I recently upgraded my pc from a good old system which had:

gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2
2 x Kingston 512 ddr 400
256meg 6600gt AGP (Xpertvision)
2 x 120 SATA WD HDDS
3000+ Athalon XP
XP PRO

I now have:

a8n-sli deluxe
3500 64 bit CPU
2 x 200 GB WD HDDS
2 x 512 Corsair ddr 400
256meg PCI-E 6600gt (Xpertvision)
XP PRO
All in a sexy Viper case.

I have huge issues with the new system - I cannot download setup progrgams or files from the net properly as they error out when I try to open or run them. I thought this must have been an install issue with XP, so I formatted and started again.... and again .... and again lol!! I also tried defferent ram, as it can also do funny things... no good.

I also notice that although I get great benchmark results, my system is no where near as fast or powerful as my old XP 3000??????? I keep getting 'windows virtual memory is running low' errors, even when ive only got a few explorers and excel open.... this cannot be normal! Something must be wrong surely! I have updated the chipset drivers, and the Bios, this did not help at all.

I have had to network my old trusty laptop so I can download the files I need from the net, then transfer them to my new system to use, because of the downloading issue.

I am at wits end, and im about to cross the road to an Intel system (prepairs to swallow pride) Any help you guys could provide me with would be awesome!

 

[montag451]

Disconnect EVERY UNNECESSARY periph.
ie - sound/nic/optical drives/excess hdd etc etc
Are you using usb kb/mouse?
What psu do you have?
What sp are you using?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

how are you connecting to the internet? NIC ? If so try finding an updated driver for the NIC.

 

[ttimbo75]

Originally posted by: montag451
Disconnect EVERY UNNECESSARY periph.
ie - sound/nic/optical drives/excess hdd etc etc
Are you using usb kb/mouse?
What psu do you have?
What sp are you using?

Hey! I use a logitec chordless keyboard + mouse, creative sound blaster with the live drive IR (front bay mount) and a leadtec pvr 2000 tv tuner. I have SP2, but ive tried both to be sure. The PSU came with the case - its a 500 watt PSU.

 

[ttimbo75]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
how are you connecting to the internet? NIC ? If so try finding an updated driver for the NIC.

HEy - its an on board dual gigabit system. And I have the lastest drivers.... Damn this is a pain lol! I just want it to work!!!

 

[daveybrat]

Looking at the parts you have, and basing it on quality, i'd say it was your MGE 500Watt power supply that came with your viper case. Never heard of the power supply and the general rule is that power supply that comes with case = junk. Stick with Antec, Enermax, Fortron, and other high quality units!

 

[ttimbo75]

Originally posted by: daveybrat
Looking at the parts you have, and basing it on quality, i'd say it was your MGE 500Watt power supply that came with your viper case. Never heard of the power supply and the general rule is that power supply that comes with case = junk. Stick with Antec, Enermax, Fortron, and other high quality units!

Wow! You really think its the PSU? Just thought that a case that cost this much ($170AU) would have an awesome PSU.....

 

[xtknight]

Run memtest86. Probably a problem with the memory since you have CRC errors with setups. Either that or an odd network problem. TCP/IP though should be 99.9999% reliable.

There is one bug with IE that when you "open" instead of "save", the archives it downloads are always corrupt. Clear the cache to fix that.

I'm puzzled as to why the PSU is blamed so much. The default/generic PSUs aren't that bad. Look at how many Dells and Gateways are still running. It probably wouldn't even start up if that was the problem. It's gone from the most underrated component to the most overrated one in a year.

 

[ttimbo75]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Run memtest86. Probably a problem with the memory since you have CRC errors with setups. Either that or an odd network problem. TCP/IP though should be 99.9999% reliable.

There is one bug with IE that when you "open" instead of "save", the archives it downloads are always corrupt. Clear the cache to fix that.

I'm puzzled as to why the PSU is blamed so much. The default/generic PSUs aren't that bad. Look at how many Dells and Gateways are still running. It probably wouldn't even start up if that was the problem. It's gone from the most underrated component to the most overrated one in a year.

I considered the memory, and tried a completly different type, still the same. I have also tried the open & save in IE, same error. Even some setups from CD will not work. Like my Leadtek winfast PVR drivers will not run... it gets past the setup wizard, then you see a flash of the sedtup status bar, then it dissapears, and nothing installs.

I am going to try memtest now.... see what happens

 

[ttimbo75]

I tried memtest - not a single error!! MAN im getting shi**y!

 

[montag451]

Have you tried what I suggested earlier - about disconnecting everything?
What are the results?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

What install order did you use with all software? Did you install the activearmour software? Did you try both LAN ports? Did you have the SBLive and PVR installed when you started the OS install?

 

[ttimbo75]

montag451 - no, not yet. I have not had time. I will try this later today and post the results.

DAPUNISHER - order was xp, office, MB bundled software, video card drivers (from cd as d'loading didnt work) sound card drivers, nero, XPSP2, Norton system works, d/load all XP + office updates etc etc etc.
I didnt try both lan ports and I did have the SB + PVR in at start of install.

 

[montag451]

Should be
XP
SP
patches for SP
mobo
graphics
sound
Other hw
.......... as you will.

 

[ttimbo75]

Fair enough, ill give that a go. But I need to install the on-board LAN drivers to access the net. What do you suggest? XP, SP, LAN drivers then rest?

Oh and by the way - do you think I should pull out all cards like SB live and PVR, and put them in and install them one at a time, rather than having them all present at install of XP?

 

[Captante]

If you continue having problems, I'd have to start thinking its a bad motherboard & its time for an RMA... while the PSU is VERY important & generic units are just about always crap, your system isn't so power-hungry that I think its your problem... give it one more try & if it fails again either return the mb to the vendor you got it from or RMA it to Asus for a replacment unit before trying again.

 

[INM8]

I dont have a fix for your other issues, but i think i may know why you are getting corrupted downloads. Did you by any chance install the nvidia active armour during chipset installation. If you did, uninstall it (it should be called "Nvidia Forceware Network Acess Manager" in the add\remove programs thing).

I recently built a new system with the a8m premium, and an x2 4400+ and i am having major performance problems too, but not using active armour, and switching to the marvell yukon ethernet controller (try using the other nic) fixed my corrupted download issues. I am actually pretty disappointed with my system at the moment. I upgraded from a six year old 1ghz p3, and my performance in games isnt that much better. The amount of stuffing around you have to do to get these nforce systems working together is ridiculess. Intel desktop CPU's may be rubbish at the moment, but their stable chipsets are enough to get me onboard.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: ttimbo75
Fair enough, ill give that a go. But I need to install the on-board LAN drivers to access the net. What do you suggest? XP, SP, LAN drivers then rest?

Oh and by the way - do you think I should pull out all cards like SB live and PVR, and put them in and install them one at a time, rather than having them all present at install of XP?

XP-SP-chipset drivers including the nV LAN *but leave the ActiveArmour software and nV SW IDE drivers out-vid card drivers-windows updates. I'd stop there until the other PCI cards are added and drivers and software for them loaded.

pull out all cards like SB live and PVR, and put them in and install them one at a time, rather than having them all present at install of XP?

Definitely would do that. I'd disable the on-board sound in the bios too. While in the bios I'd give everything a good once over and be certain the settings are all kosher.

You do have a router between you and the net too right? If not I wouldn't connect cable/dsl until you have at least the SP2 firewall active.

 

[Captante]

I have to disagree about problems with A64 systems in genral... I've built quite a few & with the exception of one failed Epox MB they were all fine... I've never used the A8N though & I have heard about a lot of issues with that particular board, which is very strange because Asus has historically been one on the best MB companies stability wise... I've had good luck with Epox (despite one failure), DFI & the best results with MSI.

 

[nealh]

XP-SP-chipset drivers including the nV LAN *but leave the ActiveArmour software and nV SW IDE drivers out-vid card drivers-windows updates.

This maybe a huge issue....make sure you do not use the Nvidia active armour huge problesm for so many people..also ditch the nvidia ide drivers and stick with MS ide drivers..unless the HDD are SATA..then MS drivers are big time suck

I see no issue with SB live card being installed at XP install...but make sure onboard audio is off

also make sure to disable items not need or used in BIOS..for example..no usb keyboard, disable it etc

also check your memory settings..set to auto and look at them..I had huge issue with my overclock being stable at one memory speed (I ran my ram 250mhz@3-3-3-7-1t no issues but when i moved to my opteron 165 237@3-3-3-7-1t would fail prime 95...but dropping to 3-3-3-8-1t is 15hrs dual prime 95...I never thought this would be an issue

 

[ttimbo75]

wow guys. Thanks so much for all your help. I am going to re format and try again tomorrow, with all these ideas under my belt, I am sure I will get somewhere. It is so great to have communities like this dedicated to help with no strings attached. My faith in the human race is restored!!! Ok, ill shut the fu*k up now! Thanks again all, and next post will hopefully be **FIXED!!**

 

[BlueFlamme]

I am building my christmas computer and am getting the same error. The error in question is:

The contents of this file cannot be unpacked. The executable you are attempting to run has been corrupted. Please obtain another copy of this file, verify it's integrity, and try again.

At first I thought it was the eVGA drivers I was using since it wouldn't let me install the new ones from the web (after I installed the mobo drivers from disk). But once I started trying the ones from nVidia I noticed it wasn't letting me run any downloaded files.

Using add/remove I uninstalled everything except Windows Patches, still didn't work. Went through device manager and set the PATA back to default. Finally I decided to use my old HD which of course is now giving me an Inaccessible Boot Device error since I hadn't prepped that OS for the new hardware.

If I can't get around this boot device error on my old HD, I'm going to try downloading to my second comp and copying the files over to see if they'll execute.

Keep up the info so we can hammer out this crap and get our new setups rolling!

 

[ronopp]

WAHOOOO..... Thats was the fix gents!!!!!

Go to Add/Remove programs and uninstall the "Nvidia network access program"

ALL is well with my puter now!! Off to do some benchies!!!
I ws directed here from another thread I styarted and just want to let you know the fix!!!!

 

[montag451]

Nice one

 

[BlueFlamme]

Originally posted by: ronopp
WAHOOOO..... Thats was the fix gents!!!!!

Go to Add/Remove programs and uninstall the "Nvidia network access program"

ALL is well with my puter now!! Off to do some benchies!!!

Congrats! Didn't seem to work on mine, but I might have overlooked something in the device manager (maybe I should re-install then uninstall since the first time I only partially uninstalled the firewall trash, then did a full uninstall /shrug)

Just waiting for my chkdsk to finish on my old HD, if that doesn't fix it I'll see if that solution will work for me as well.

BTW, are you using the drivers from the companys website (ASUS/eVGA in your case) or from nVidias website? (which is better?)