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What's a good mobo that supports Bartons? 8RDA+ is being a *****

P

Parn

Senior member
I got the Epox 8RDA+ which was supposedly a very good mobo, but setting it up has been driving me crazy so far.

I finally got it to post after numerous manipulations, but now, I can't run any driver setup programs in win98, and win xp install gets stuck in the middle.

Anyhow, my question is, what's considered the best mobo for barton's, here at anandtech?
 
Aside from USB 2.0 dying with a 9500 Pro installed, my 8RDA+ has been extremely easy to set up and overclock. I've had no issues with it at all.
 
So if I get A7N8X, I could probably avoid the headaches the 8RDA+ is causing me.
Click to expand...
only if the 8RDA+ is the problem 🙂

sounds kinda like you have some faulty ram... have you tried running memtest86 to make sure its not producing errors?
 
Originally posted by: Boonesmi
So if I get A7N8X, I could probably avoid the headaches the 8RDA+ is causing me.
Click to expand...
only if the 8RDA+ is the problem 🙂

sounds kinda like you have some faulty ram... have you tried running memtest86 to make sure its not producing errors?
Click to expand...
Yup, people here seem to be quick to blame the board first.

My 8RDA+ is working great with my XP2500+ barton.

I did have some minor issues that were caused by my ram. Aggressive timings cause my system not to post. Better ram is in the future.
 
Well, here are the problems I had to go through to get my 8RDA+ to work.

1. During boot, it kept telling me that "BIOS has been flashed or JCLK has been changed. Please make changes in CMOS and save!", although it was the first time booting after making initial CPU clock changes in CMOS. After that, it kept going in that loop, keeping me from booting. I fixed it by flashing the bios to the most recent.

2. The flashing to BIOS kept my system from POSTing, giving me a POST code C1, which indicates something wrong with the memory. The RAM works fine on my other system, and passes memtest. I fixed this, but reseating the CPU (dunno why that fixed it).
Then it gave me the same problem as #1, but messing with jumpers the way instructions tell me that I shouldn't have to, it got fixed.

3. Next, I found that the mobo would give me a "BOOT FAILURE" error message when hooked up with my Sony CD-ROM drive. I was in a situation, since I wanted to install Win XP, but couldn't unless I was able to use the CD-ROM drive along with the HDD. Fixed it by using my CR-RW. 8RDA+ must have incompatibilities with the Sony.

4. Then, even when I set up in BIOS to boot to CDROM only, it just would not boot to CD-ROM. I got around this by using the Win XP startup disks provided by Microsoft.

5. When installing Windows XP, it gave me a long error message/blue screen about the BIOS not being ACPI compliant. I got around it by disabling ACPI during install process.

6. Once in Win XP, my mouse and/or keyboard would not respond after bootup. I fixed this by unplugging the Power LED connector on mobo, as suggested by 8rdafaq.com. It seems to fix it.

7. Now, I am running Win XP, and am installing my common programs to see how stable it will run. It seems like it's working fine, except that none of the case LEDs are lighting up. This seems to be a common problem for many 8rda owners. I can live with that, so that's fine.

8RDA+ was the first board that gave me so much trouble that I considered giving up. And I've been building computers on my own for over 10 years now 😛 Hats off to 8RDA? hehe
 
did you test the ram with memtest on the 8rda? or just on the other board you mentioned?

nforce2 can be picky about ram... so its very possible for on one motherboard for the ram to pass memtest just fine, and still fail on another board



the reason i mentioned the ram again is your problems look very similar to a system thats producing memory errors
 
Well, I haven't had any problems since I've installed Win XP. And the RAM is Crucial PC2700 at DDR333.

So the point is, I've made it work now.
 
My 8RDA+ runs great just as long as I dont shut it off or fool with bios to overclock it, once I get it to 205 FSB and leave it its fine. if I shut it off It will not reboot and I have to reset bios and start all over overclocking it moving up in FSB slow or it will fail, Real POS this board is, Its going in my daughter non overclocked system and I am getting NF7-S My last board was 8KHA+ and that was the best mobo I ever owned no problems at all overclocking it.
 
Alright, this is just an idea, I don't know if it's been fixed or not...

What revision 8RDA+ is it? I know several nforce2 boards, the Epox included, have problems with the crucial pc2700 mem... problems where it'll work right for most things, and then suddenly freak out. Might wanna check into that, or try some more mem. Back when I had my Abit KT7a I had a bad mem stick which was hell, and I didn't notice that it was that until it gave me seg faults on a specific line installing win2k.

Memory issues are always the hardest thing for me to track down.
 
I have 8rda+ and had a few issues with it, but nothing that could not be fixed by looking in different forums and the microsoft site. I treat this as a learning experience even though it took me like a week to work all the kwerks out. Running great now, and feel like i have acomplished something.
If windows hang after initial boot, and you cant access all your programs for about 2 minutes, or you cant access the task bar during those 2 minutes, the problem lies in your start up items and service.

By the way why are you installing Win98, when you have WinXP. Even if it is the home edition, you have your Win98 disk ready when Winxp ask you to insert a previous version just to verify it's an upgrade.


Epox 8rda+
Barton 2500+ @2.11 Ghz
Coolermaster heat pipe w/stock fan at 7000rpm (loud) can anybody say fan controller when winter comes back
512 pc 2700 kingston W/ heat spreader
Geforce fx 5200 128mb ddr
Antec Skl3700mb w/2 120 mm fans
52*24*52 cdrw



 
Originally posted by: pspada
If the case lights are not active, you've got the power led cable backwards.
Click to expand...

That's what one would normally think, but I found out that it's a known issue with 8RDA that there is some weird voltage issue with the board that make it not route enough power to the Power LED pins, and so people have gotten around it by using the turbo LED instead (which also is barely visible).
 
If you gonna get a Nforce2 just make sure it has ULTRA next to it or else you prob won't see the 400Mhz FSB.

If your on a budget. This seems like a pretty good deal. Tho, I'm sure with ECS,MSI etc...etc start releasing mobo with the 748 sis chipset the prices will go even lower....

linky

Have fun with your new chip!!! 🙂 Don't forget to buy some fast 333 crucial ram to make sure your performance is up to spec.


And make sure to get a good Heat Sync and FAN for that chip!

Review for the board. Came from japan and the pics are kinda shaky but. You get the point... I'm almost ready to buy one just to get a review for the US people. How hard can it be??? Pathetic one has to resort to this level for a stinky review...

http://www.geocities.co.jp/SiliconValley-SanJose/3735/ <---Not linked cause geocites sucks and well, the page could go down at any second.
 
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