*** Official ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4) Thread ***

[ptortore]

Shils,

 

[ptortore]

Apologies for the accidental post above (trigger happy fingers)

Shils,
As far as the cooling goes for the NF4 chip, it does run hot, however I've had success with the Zalman replacement and a SilenX 40mm fan attached to it. It just fits (and doesn't interfere with the Zalman flower GPU cooler on my 6600GT) and it runs a few degrees cooler than the stock fan at full speed did (therefore doesn't hassles my overclocking).
It's also inaudible in comparison, and I'm very happy with the solution.

I can post a couple pics if you like.

 

[Killasta43]

Sigh, it seems I still can't get my NEC DVD Drive to work on this motherboard. I switched the NEC Drive out and put it in my external....and it worked just fine!.....An suggestions on what might me the problem? I have the Drive on cable select...

Thank you,
Justin

 

[Killasta43]

Originally posted by: billdug
:light:Have you try to adjust ' WaitToKillAppTimeout ' and WaitToKillServiceTimeout '

in the registry. default 20000 ms

What are you talking about bill....?

 

[iscsidude]

Originally posted by: Killasta43
Sigh, it seems I still can't get my NEC DVD Drive to work on this motherboard. I switched the NEC Drive out and put it in my external....and it worked just fine!.....An suggestions on what might me the problem? I have the Drive on cable select...

Thank you,
Justin

Justin,
I use two of these drives (ND-3520A) and have had zero problems. I left them configured to master as opposed to changing to cable select. (I don't think Windows supports Cable Select)

In any case, I have used the following:
1ClickDVD
DVD Decryptor
AnyDVD
DVD43
CloneDVD2
Alcohol
CopyToDVD
Super DVD Copy
Super DVD Ripper

All of which are running great!

 

[runestone]

Originally posted by: ptortore
Apologies for the accidental post above (trigger happy fingers)

Shils,
As far as the cooling goes for the NF4 chip, it does run hot, however I've had success with the Zalman replacement and a SilenX 40mm fan attached to it. It just fits (and doesn't interfere with the Zalman flower GPU cooler on my 6600GT) and it runs a few degrees cooler than the stock fan at full speed did (therefore doesn't hassles my overclocking).
It's also inaudible in comparison, and I'm very happy with the solution.

I can post a couple pics if you like.

I'd like to see some pics, and any tips on mounting(new bolts, screws, etc).

 

[tnrdneck]

killasta43
Change to master or remove the jumper all together if thats the only drive on the channel.

 

[tnrdneck]

kilasta43
Also Update you audio drivers.

 

[SenorBiggles]

Originally posted by: P0pinjay
Ok, so I guess my question should then be: Is the optical audio output on the A8N-SLI Deluxe AC3 encoded?

Depends on the source. If your source is games, cd music, mp3s, wavs, etc., then NO. If you're using a dvd program (Power DVD, WinDVD, etc.) that supports SPDIF output or AC3 Filter for use with players supporting directshow AC3 soundtracks, then YES.

 

[ptortore]

Originally posted by: runestone

Originally posted by: ptortore
Apologies for the accidental post above (trigger happy fingers)

Shils,
As far as the cooling goes for the NF4 chip, it does run hot, however I've had success with the Zalman replacement and a SilenX 40mm fan attached to it. It just fits (and doesn't interfere with the Zalman flower GPU cooler on my 6600GT) and it runs a few degrees cooler than the stock fan at full speed did (therefore doesn't hassles my overclocking).
It's also inaudible in comparison, and I'm very happy with the solution.

I can post a couple pics if you like.

I'd like to see some pics, and any tips on mounting(new bolts, screws, etc).

I have some pics here:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/ptortore/

As for tips on mounting, I had to mount the fan on top (on top for me as the Lian Li case has the MB upside down) as some capacitors got in the way.
To attach it to the heatsink, I initially used two paperclips with the idea to change them for something more permanent after I got it working, however they hold fast and it works well, so if I don't have to, I won't change it back. I have no side window so the internal looks factor isn't an issue for me.
I believe it would be possible to use screws if they were only slight larger than the space between the HS fins as the thread could make them self-tapping.

 

[tmchow]

Depends on the source. If your source is games, cd music, mp3s, wavs, etc., then NO. If you're using a dvd program (Power DVD, WinDVD, etc.) that supports SPDIF output or AC3 Filter for use with players supporting directshow AC3 soundtracks, then YES.

I'm totally confused SenorBiggles.. I found this thread over on AVSforums and it coincidentally they are discussing the same thing. They claim that it'll output 5.1 sound? You said that games, cd music, mp3s, etc won't output 5.1 surround and that makes sense since they are 2-channel sources.

But if you are playing DVD video, wouldn't all software players support 5.1 out?

Here is the relevant AVS forum thread:

AVS Forum thread

 

[runestone]

Thanks pt! I am also using a Lian-Li with "upside down" mount.

 

[kayble]

Hi all,

I have attempted to read through the entirety of this thread but gave up after about 20 pages. I'm hainvg a problem with this motherboard which is really confusing me. Firstly herei s my current hardware:

Asus a8n sli deluxe (bios:1004 beta)
maxtor 250gb SATA HD (unsure of model number)
XFX 6800 Ultra Pci-e GFX (model: PVT45FUD)
1Gb Corsair DDR (TWINX1024-3200XLPRO) over 2x 512mb sticks
Antec neo 480 power supply
Pioneer DVD R/W
Pioneer DVD reader
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ w/ stock AMD cooler

And configuration details relevant to the question:

DDR is running at DDR400 in dual channel configuration

GFx card is currently plugged into the blue pci-e x16 socket and the tab selecting between has been set to single graphics card. Incidentally mine was one of those shipped in the multiple gfx card position when the manual said it was single by default.

I have plugged a molex power line from the psu into the EZ plug socket and also supplied the Gfx card with an independent line from the PSU.

SATA drive is plugged into the Nvidia SATA controller on socket 1.

I'm running Windows XP pro


And now the problem:

Ok.... the long and short of it is I cannot get the motherboard to post unless everytime I power it up I clear the CMOS ram prior to powering it up. If I attempt to change any settings in the Bios and save on exit, the motherboard hangs, display goes dark and monitor goes to standby.

However, if I go into Bios and simply exit and save without saving changes, I am able to reboot and post successfully.

If I simply accept CMOS default settings and boot into windows the system performs flawlessly... really good performance however if I want restart at all I need to shut the machine down, kill the power, reset CMOS then I can power back up successfully.

You may ask how I managed to get windows on in the first instance... well as I described above I had to use the above procedure everytime the installation process wanted to restart.... :roll:


Possible fixed I have already tried:

I have used three different bioses.. 1002, 1003 final and now the 1004 beta and each bios manifested the same symptom.

I have tried the system with nothing plugged in except GFX and one dimm to eliminate power as the problem... no go unfortunatley... same problem.


Has anybody experienced this symptom and found a cure/work around?

With thanks,

John, UK

 

[coyrls]

John,

It sounds like faulty CMOS memory to me. The only thing I can think of apart from RMA is to try swapping out the battery for a new one. Also you could log a technical question via the ASUS web site, they seem to respond within 48 hours.

 

[kayble]

Hi, thanks for the swift reply:

I'm presuming I will RMA the board to my vendor as opposed to Asus?

Anymore suggestions anyone?

 

[SenorBiggles]

Originally posted by: tmchow

Depends on the source. If your source is games, cd music, mp3s, wavs, etc., then NO. If you're using a dvd program (Power DVD, WinDVD, etc.) that supports SPDIF output or AC3 Filter for use with players supporting directshow AC3 soundtracks, then YES.

I'm totally confused SenorBiggles.. I found this thread over on AVSforums and it coincidentally they are discussing the same thing. They claim that it'll output 5.1 sound? You said that games, cd music, mp3s, etc won't output 5.1 surround and that makes sense since they are 2-channel sources.

But if you are playing DVD video, wouldn't all software players support 5.1 out?

Here is the relevant AVS forum thread:

AVS Forum thread

Most new dvd software will support multi-channel encoded audio through spdif. It may require paying for a full version to get that option, depending on the software. My point was that you aren't going to get multi-channel upmixing through the digital outputs with realtek. In order to get 5.1 (or higher) passed out the digital output, you're going to need a multi-channel audio encoded source (Dolby Digital (AC3) or DTS).

 

[coyrls]

John,

I don't know the best RMA route, it depends where you bought the board from and what their policy is I guess. Also I don't know how you'd deal with Asus direct from the UK (I'm in the UK too but I haven't had to do this). As for other suggestions, I suspect you're going to have to wait for the US to wake up!

 

[coyrls]

John,

Probably a silly question, but you have got the 4 pin ATX12V connector plugged in haven't you?

 

[kayble]

Hi yes, forgot to mention that...


atx 4 pin +12v connector is connected to the motherboard

 

[MeatHead88]

I keep having a lock up issue that I can not seem to track down. My machines keeps locking, ussually during heavy disk activity. I've switched power supplies, SATA cables, switched RAM, even tried XP 64bit RC2 so I could try totally different drivers. I've tried all bios versions, currently on 1004.001

I have 2 SATA Maxtor 80 gig Diamond Max 9 in a RAID 0 array off the NVidia RAID controller. I have tried using only one drive with no RAID but the exact same thing happens. Keep in mind these drives have worked flawlessly in my previous Intel RAID 0 Array.

The timing this occurs is the most strange and has been repeatable over the last 2 weeks. Lock ups seems to occur when I'm defragin, or disk speed checking. It aslo occurs when I'm away form the machine, when its more or less idle. But I can play HL2 and DOOM3 for hours with out issue. I can use the machine to surf or download without issue.

I have taken the drives out and connected them to an Intel SATA controller and ran Maxtor's diagnostics on them and low level formated them. It always comes back has successfull with no errors found.

If anyone has Diamond Max 9 80 gig drives working successfully, please respond. I'm trying to figure if it the board to drives that I should swap.

I have noticed the postings regarding Diamond max 10 drives, so I'm leaning towards the drives, but I am also thinking this could be resolved via firmware. Any thoughts?

BTW, XP 64 seems pretty good...

 

[bob661]

Do you have the NCQ feature turned on by chance?

 

[coyrls]

Don't think NCQ is supported on Diamond Max 9 drives (it is on 10).

 

[MeatHead88]

Right, no NCQ on the 9's. The option in greyed out.

 

[RT2]

What is this NCQ option guys? does raptor supports it? or any WD drives? how do i enable it?

thanks!

 

[MeatHead88]

There's 80 pages on it....