UPDATE: Network Transfers with Asus A7V133=Locked Up Machine

[jamesbond007]

Hey guys. I originally posted about having problems with transferring files over a network with Win2k, as it turns out, I, among a few others, found users with the same problem. Apparently, it isn't a problem with the OS. It is a problem with either the motherboard or some hardware conflict. The other people are running Win98, Win98SE, WinMe, and several others are running Win2k. The problem we are expierencing is that the system hardlocks after several seconds of network transfers. It's not the OS, as stated above. NOW, I am beginning to wonder if it is a conflict with the infamous, problem-causing onboard Promise ATA100 controller. Seems like the early BIOSes operate like crap, but after a revision around 1005 or higher, Asus seems to correct most of their problems. A person would think that since the A7V133 is so similar to the A7V, they could almost use the same BIOS and make both of the boards ultra stable, like my running A7Vs. Anyhoo, this problem occurs whether the VIA 4-in-1's are installed or not, so that's not the problem. Also, I've tried all of the Promise controller drivers, and that does not seem to do the trick either. I've installed SP1 on Win2k, as well as the ATA100 HotFix, but the results are the same lockups. This narrows it down to a hardware problem. So, I'm asking you people with A7V133s and a network, HOW ARE YOU DOING IT? Where is your NIC and what kind of NIC are you running? Do you have VIA 4-in-1's installed? If so, what version? Do you have a HDD on your Promise controller? I am clueless as what the problem could be, but my only thoughts is that it's either a NIC location problem or a BIOS problem. The other people are running 1003 and 1003a, and yet it still locks up. Any other clues? I've posted my original post below.

Thanks everyone for your input!
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Ok. I am stumped here. I have a network at home, using a Linksys 5-Port Ethernet Switch, using all Linksys network cards. I have a DSL connection to the web. I have Win2k Pro on all of my machines. They are all 1Ghz+ AMD Machines using either the Asus A7V and Asus A7V133 motherboards. I am currently using BIOS 1006 for the A7V and 1003 for the A7V133. Network transfers are fast as hell! Not that that is bad or anything, but whenever I do large transfers, such as 2GB+, one of my machines freezes. That machine consists of a 1.2Ghz TBird running a 266Mhz bus. (L1 bridges came unlocked on 200Mhz chip...9x133). I have switched the chip back down to its default settings, running 12x100, because I thought it was the FSB change that may have been causing the crash. The system completely locks up whenever I do large transfers. The mouse locks up, as well as the keyboard and any music just loops a .5 second sound. CTRL+DEL doesn't work either. I am currently using VIA 4.29beta drivers, but I have also tried all of the other versions of VIA drivers as well, but it still locks up. Is this a BIOS problem or what? I've never had transfers go so fast. I used to have a Linksys hub, but with this switch, it goes EXTREMELY fast. The lockup occurs after about 300-400MB of data, which goes in about 30-35 seconds. It varies each time. NOW, what the real thing that stumps me is that after it locks up 5-6 times and after rebooting, the files on my C partition get corrupted! When I boot, I get "Invalid System Disk". I have scanned with virus scanners (Norton, McAfee, AVP, etc.) and nothing was found. I am totally lost here. All of the machines are a pretty simple setup, but this 1.2Ghz machine is decked out. The specs are listed below. By the way, it doesn't matter which machine I transfer to on the network. I have a lot of the same/similar components in other A7V systems, but this is a first A7V133 board. A7V worked fine. I am able to surf the Internet forever without any problems on this machine as well.
Any help is greatly appreciated. I've posted this in several topics under the Anandtech forum, so please excuse me there. When I don't do large network transfers, I can run the box days on end without lockups/crashes. Small transfers (<100MB) transfer fine in about 5-7 seconds. I've attempted to FTP the file over as well, but after about 1.5-2GB, the machine locks up! Any input or possible work-arounds are appreciated. I will be CCNA certified in 3 months, so don't worry about using Network terminology if you think it is a network setup.

Thanks!

Specs: Hardware
-------------------------------
Asus A7V133 motherboard with BIOS 1003
AMD 1.2Ghz CPU, originally 200Mhz bus, but running 266Mhz (9x133). (Came unlocked)
512MB Crucial Memory (2x256MB) PC133, CAS2, Timings: 2,2,2
Asus V7700 Deluxe AGP (nVidia GeForce2 GTS DDR 32MB)
SBLive! Platinum 5.1 /DTT3500
Linksys NIC (Version 4) @200Mbps
Motorola PCI 56k modem (DSL backup, never had to use it though )
Kenwood 72x CDROM (DMA Enabled)
HP 8x4x32x CDRW (DMA Enabled)
Pioneer 105S Slot-Load DVDROM (DMA Enabled)
Zip250 Internal
Seagate 30GB ATA66 HDD (UDMA4) - On Promise ATA100 Controller
3.5&quot; Floppy
MS Optical Explorer Mouse (USB)
MS IntelliType Pro Keyboard (USB)

Specs: Software
-------------------------------
Win2k Pro (No SP1)
VIA 4-in-1 4.29Betas (Take Care of SCSI HDD Recognition)
SBLive! Drivers (SBLive Emulation enabled w/ no probs)
nVidia 6.5 Reference Drivers
Linksys NIC v.4 Drivers
Motorola Modem Drivers
Iomega Software Drivers

 

[Dulanic]

A NIC can take up alot of bandwith... when it shares IRQ with something it can cause problems. When I put my NIC in PCI2 which shares with the Promise Controller I got HD Read Errors whenever I did big transfers.... because it was hitting both the NIC and HD at the same time with high bandwith requests....

I moved my NIC to PCI4 and it works 100% ok.. PCI4 shares with PC5 and USB... so if you put your NIC in PCI4 dont put anything big in PCI5... I have a modem in PCI5.

 

[jamesbond007]

Kewl, but my NIC is already in Slot 4 Nothing is in slot 5. There's a new 1004 Final BIOS out now for the A7V133, and I am going to try that tomorrow night. I work tonight and don't have much time to fuss with the machine if problems arise. Plus, maybe someone else with balls will try it too and post the results. In fact, I am going to start a new topic right now on that!!!I have got to get my hands on that RD1 BIOS Backup chip. I think that's the name anyways. Looks pretty damn sweet, and if you got an Asus motherboard, expect a crapload of BIOS updates, and I really don't like the fact of how 'dangerous' flashing a BIOS is too. I swear my heart beat goes up to like 10,000bpm when I flash. Better to be safe than sorry. I wonder if you can buy a new Award BIOS from Asus or where you could get your hands on one??? Any ideas?

 

[hclarkjr]

007 here is another forum for you try for some help, this site is dedicated to A7V's link

 

[Dulanic]

<< I have got to get my hands on that RD1 BIOS Backup chip >>



Yup thats it... we reviewed it over at TweakMax a short while ago.

 

[jamesbond007]

Heheh. You should send me one. In fact, I should get 5 of them, one for each Asus motherboard I got. Considering all of the A7Vs are stable, I guess I don't need 5, but rather only 1. $30 is a small price to pay for a corrupted $150+ motherboard!!!

 

[Dulanic]

I still need one myself!

 

[bRuiner]

/me cries.

Everything i've tried doesn't work. new promise drivers, new (but not the brand brand new) bios...

Perhaps IBM 45gig deskstars just dont work quite right with a7v133 :-(

 

[Dulanic]

<< me cries.

Everything i've tried doesn't work. new promise drivers, new (but not the brand brand new) bios...

Perhaps IBM 45gig deskstars just dont work quite right with a7v133 :-( >>



You should tell us your problem and maybe I can help

 

[djchemistry]

Perhaps IBM 45gig deskstars just dont work quite right with a7v133 :-(

I'm running a 45gb IBM deskstar on my promise controller without any problems at all. I don't think there's a hardware incompatibility. Perhaps you've not set the jumper to ATA100? or enabled boot from ATA100 in the bios?

 

[bRuiner]

Lemme go repost my old messages describing the problem... basically its the same as jamespond.

HD works great normally. But when trying to transfer large files thru a home network (linksys 4port dsl router) it hangs/crashes.

::: Repost :::

Sounds like I have encountered the same problem, here is my setup. The &quot;problem machine&quot; is the brand new 1.2 gig tbird, asus a7v133 with via 4in1 4.28 drivers. I have an SMC 10/100 nic card.
It is plugged into the linksys 4 port dsl router along with 2 other machines. The other machines are pentiums on BX type motherboards. All three are running win98se.

If i try to transfer files TO the a7v133 machine, the copying file window freezes, and that machine's (usb)mouse freezes. I can occasionally ctrl-alt-delete out of it, but somtimes it requires a hard boot.

The 2 &quot;older&quot; machines can transfer files to each other with no problems.

::: Repost :::

Hrm... perhaps a jumper on the IBM drive isn't set to ata100? But would it function normally (i.e. i can boot up with it fine) otherwise? I don't know why this would only effect home network transfers... downloading things from the internet isn't a problem.

bRuiner

 

[jamesbond007]

I fixed it!!!!! WahooooO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hell yeah! I moved my NIC to slot 1, and I've already transfered over 15GB of files without a lockup! Speeds stay high too! Gosh, don't ya just feel damn good when you've solved a problem? ESPECIALLY when it involves data corruption!!!!????? Muhahahaha.

 

[bRuiner]

Hrm... but pci1 shares irq with the AGP... so it might be fine with transfering all this stuff.... but playing an online game like unrealtournament with a nice 5k a second stream + tons of use for the agp card might be bad....

hrm..

i'll definitly give it a try tho! at least i might be able to copy all our mp3s off the old machine...


(any other thoughts?)

bRuiner

 

[Dulanic]

<< Hrm... but pci1 shares irq with the AGP... so it might be fine with transfering all this stuff.... but playing an online game like unrealtournament with a nice 5k a second stream + tons of use for the agp card might be bad.... >>



Games dont transfer enough data.... now maybe if you tried transfering 1GB and play a game then you might have some slowdowns.

 

[bRuiner]

Well... add this to the Faq someone, its confirmed.

Nic in pci5 causes this problem. SBlive is in pci 3. tried to put nic in PCI2 but that conflicts with ata100 promise drivers. So put it on PCI1, right next to the vid card, works flawlessly.


I guess i shoulda tried pci4, but oh well, not changing it now that it works..

Hard drive home network problems? Move nic to pci1. Lame motherboard compatibility problem i guess.


Thanks for posting the workaround jamespond!


bRuiner

 

[Dulanic]

<< Hard drive home network problems? Move nic to pci1. Lame motherboard compatibility problem i guess. >>



Any MB can have these problems. Its part of the problem using a 10 year old IRQ system. With new MBs there is so much integrated that you just run out of IRQs. Unfortunetely KT133(A) only has 5 IRQ busmaster channels to share between all PCI slots, extra IDE controllers, USB, AGP, and anything else onboard. Some chipsets are slightly better and have 6 instead of 5.

 

[cjhrph]

My NIC is in slot 3. It is a 3Com905 that REFUSES to share in any other slot. Ive got the live in slot 2, sharing with the promise. I have the system up for 3 weeks and its been rock solid and fast as hell.

 

[jamesbond007]

Ok. All of my cards are in the following slots:
PCI 1: Linksys NIC
PCI 2: Empty
PCI 3: 56K Backup Modem
PCI 4: SBLive! Platinum 5.1
PCI 5: 2-Port Onboard USB Adapter Card

Everything is rock solid now, even network transfers. My AGP performance is still ultra high. No slowdowns at all. This may help some of you out. Has anyone heard of any incompatiblities with a Hauppage WinTV Theater card and AMD CPUs? I've read ONCE in forum where a guy experienced that and ended up going for an Intel CPU instead of AMD. Any comments or suggestions? I can't find anymore info on that. Do you guys think I'd have capturing problems if I were to put it in PCI slot 2?

Thanks.

 

[SCSIfreek]

Here is my setup for the A7V133:

slot1: 3Com NIC
slot2: Empty
slot3: Adaptec AHA2490U2W
slot4: SB live Platinum
slot5: Monitor Fan slot (Empty)

**The only thing that i dont like about VIA is the slot sharing or IRQ management. My Old Intel BX board was Rock solid with all slots fill -- Also noticed on the A7v133, Win2K does not pickup the 3Com NIC driver by itself i had to load it up manually On the old Intel BX board everything was pickup Automatic. No sharing problems on the Bx board was I just lucky?

With the keyboard turn-on buttom gone and now IRQ problems Damn!!!! i Miss my Old BX board.


--SCSI