First off, let me say that this is my 4'th Gigabyte motherboard, and the first three were great. I wish I could say the same about this mobo. This is by no means a bash Gigabyte thread, just another data point from a K8NS Pro owner having difficulties with this mobo.
This particular computer was being built was for my music studio. If you use computers with music, you know that some of the software is very processor intense, so the Athlon 64 seemed like a good fit, and the K8NS Pro had the early adopter good reviews. Not being built for overclocking, just fast and reliable. Plus, really needed 1G or more RAM.
Initally, my configuration was K8NS Pro, 2X512 Corsair, and Athlon 64/3400, F2 Bios, "fail-safe" Bios config, and a 400W PS. And, the system worked fine for a month.
Nothing changed hardware-wise between system install and the blue screens, ended up trying a reinstall of XP Pro, still got the blue screens. Tried Win 2K Pro, same blue screens and various Windows stop codes.
Then, a string of blue screens. A variety of Windows stop codes, and the analysis pointed to "bad memory". I switched out the Corsair with some Ultra, same problems. Tried some Single-sided RAM (vs. the Double-sided Corsair and Ultra), same problems.
Came across the threads on this forum and other where folks mentioned just using 1 stick of 512, and tried that with the Ultra. Voila, no more blue screens. Tried with 1 stick of Corsair and Kingston, same "success".
To get back to my 1G configuration, I tried all the new Bios, none fixed the issue. As a bonus, F3 wouldn't even recognize my Windows system disk. :-(
Played around the various Bios memory settings, same abysmal results. Used a variety of recommended settings some folks have had luck with, didn't work for me. Thinking maybe I need a special voodoo incantation.
I realize my results are not scientific, any my bias somewhat subjective. However, never had this sort of problem with any other mobo (Asus, Abit, MSI). Nor ever had to do the deep dive into the bowels of the bios with them.
Bottom line for me was I jumped off of good ship Athlon over to a Intel 865PERL/P4-3.4 and that's been rock-steady for almost a solid month. The machine is used daily, and never a blip.
Don't know what to say about this mobo other than caveat emptor.
Tom
This particular computer was being built was for my music studio. If you use computers with music, you know that some of the software is very processor intense, so the Athlon 64 seemed like a good fit, and the K8NS Pro had the early adopter good reviews. Not being built for overclocking, just fast and reliable. Plus, really needed 1G or more RAM.
Initally, my configuration was K8NS Pro, 2X512 Corsair, and Athlon 64/3400, F2 Bios, "fail-safe" Bios config, and a 400W PS. And, the system worked fine for a month.
Nothing changed hardware-wise between system install and the blue screens, ended up trying a reinstall of XP Pro, still got the blue screens. Tried Win 2K Pro, same blue screens and various Windows stop codes.
Then, a string of blue screens. A variety of Windows stop codes, and the analysis pointed to "bad memory". I switched out the Corsair with some Ultra, same problems. Tried some Single-sided RAM (vs. the Double-sided Corsair and Ultra), same problems.
Came across the threads on this forum and other where folks mentioned just using 1 stick of 512, and tried that with the Ultra. Voila, no more blue screens. Tried with 1 stick of Corsair and Kingston, same "success".
To get back to my 1G configuration, I tried all the new Bios, none fixed the issue. As a bonus, F3 wouldn't even recognize my Windows system disk. :-(
Played around the various Bios memory settings, same abysmal results. Used a variety of recommended settings some folks have had luck with, didn't work for me. Thinking maybe I need a special voodoo incantation.
I realize my results are not scientific, any my bias somewhat subjective. However, never had this sort of problem with any other mobo (Asus, Abit, MSI). Nor ever had to do the deep dive into the bowels of the bios with them.
Bottom line for me was I jumped off of good ship Athlon over to a Intel 865PERL/P4-3.4 and that's been rock-steady for almost a solid month. The machine is used daily, and never a blip.
Don't know what to say about this mobo other than caveat emptor.
Tom
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