Another poor guy with an A7N8X

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as noted in the thread name, I am the pround new owner of an asus a7n8x-e deluxe motherboard, and I have some questions, because I know you guys here on techspot have had a lot of experience with these boards.

first, I am wondering how exactly to get "dual-channel" ram to work exactly, I didnt see anything in the manual. Do you have to se something in the bios? What slots do I put the ram in? both blue?

Second, I got a few errors during installation that, after looking up the BSOD error numbers, lead me to believe one of my ram modules might have something wrong with it. I was just wondering if there was a utility out there that I could use to maybe test the ram or something? I would like not to be out of commission sending good ram back to newegg if there is a way to find out here at home if its garbage. both appear to work in the system info screen.

Third, I cant seem to get to the internet (I am on another comp now). When I look on the LAN that the cable is in, there is a yellow light. Isnt it supposed to be green? I cannot connect to my network either. I ran the network setup wizard; no results. THe lower LAN port does not light up at all when I put the cable in there. Whats up with that?

And here's what happend during the install:
Installing windows was a pain, because the damn thing kept crashing with the BSOD, *or* an error would halt installation saying it couldnt copy a file to the drive. Some of the errors suggested updating the bios, (didnt do yet) disabling cashes (done by default) and replacing my video drivers (well.. I was installing WinXP so I dont think that was it) But I looked up some of the errors and they said there might have been problems with the NTFS file system or the hardware; Ram specifically. I thought maybe I had them in the wrong configuration, so I moved the Ram into both the blue slots and then installation seemed to go fine until the very end when I got another BSOD with some Page Fault error, which again made me think I have the ram in there wrong or the stuff is faulty, see above... now everything seems to be okay, installation restarted but when I got to windows it said the system had recovered from a serious error. I dont understand what caused all that, and I dont know if there may be something wrong with the way I have the board set up or what? any thoughts?

Sorry I know thats a lot, but I am trying hard to get this thing up and running and I seem to keep coming into problems on my own.

this is what I have so far:

Asus A7N8X-e Deluxe Motherboard
2 512mb corsair Ram (value pak :blush: )
AthlonXP 3200
Ati 8500 64mb Video card
2 HDDs , 200GB & 80GB, both maxtor
Standard DVD & CD-RW

No, really ...thats it. :p ...stop laughing!
I probably wont be able to check back until this evening, but any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Sorry, phan, I didnt know bas.... was a bad word :darth: seriously

Also, I got the LAN working. Forgot to install the drivers first. d'oh!
 
Try memtest to check your ram. If you get errors test each stick individually, (take one out, test remaining, if no errors test the stick you took out by itself.)
I don't know which are for dc on that mobo. Some use side by side, some use every other. Usually the pairs are the same color.
 
Check the Asus site and see if there are any brands of memory they reccomend or say to avoid. My second system has an nForce 2 chipset board and I have the same problems you're describing if I use Corsair RAM and a Radeon video card. Also go into the BIOS and make sure the RAM timmings are set correctly.
 
well I ran memtest, and it tells me that there are errors, but only when I have two sticks of ram in there.

If I only have one stick in at a time, then I get no errors.

Also, my system reboots randomly and my programs keep crashing... :mad:

I am using corsair ram, ddr400, which is supported, according to asus

??
 
Answer #1

dual channel place ram in dimm A1 and dimm B1 it is also on page 2-9 in user guide..


Answer#2
memory test 86 will test your ram you can find it Here


Answer #3 you need to install the marville gigbit lan driver what you basically have are two lan connections the marval is a better one to use after you install marville driver.. This driver is on the driver disk.

Most of the problems can be corrected with a rescue of xp then you will not have the BSOD i dont know if you did this or not some times you do other times you do not I did not have too when I placed mine in.
 
tbrunt3, two of the three things you suggested he already posted that he did.




DaedalusMachina, are your two sticks of ram the same size, speed, and latency?
 
Actually, I saw in the booklet that the ram configuration I am using is compatable with dual channel, but what I was not sure about was if there was something you had to set in the BIOS to make it run dual channel, or if the motherboard just does it automatically, because I didn't see anything in the BIOS that was specifically labeled "single or dual-channel." Then again, I miss things sometimes :eek:

Both of the ram modules came from the same Corsair "dual-channel" package, so I am certain they are compatable.

I have done a few more tests here, and I am thinking about starting a new thread. I got microsoft's "windows memory diagnostic" ram testing utility and ran it, getting some strange results.

I have tested the Corsair ram separatly, getting errors on the first pass every time. So, I took the Infineon ram from my wife's computer and tested it in mine, and there were no errors reported. I expected as much, but here's where things get wierd.

I then took my two Corsair and tested them, separatly then together, in her computer and there were no errors reported. Whats going on?
 
DaedalusMachina said:
Actually, I saw in the booklet that the ram configuration I am using is compatable with dual channel, but what I was not sure about was if there was something you had to set in the BIOS to make it run dual channel, or if the motherboard just does it automatically, because I didn't see anything in the BIOS that was specifically labeled "single or dual-channel." Then again, I miss things sometimes :eek:
There is nothing you set in the BIOS execpt SPD it is just where you place the ram at it is automatic to get dual channel .. I did not see that you solved your lan problem sorry! Also let me get this stright did you test the ram in all the possible dual channel combos? DIMM A1- DIMM B1 as well as DIMM A2-DIMM B1 and get the same results .
 
Thanks, Phantasm. sorry again, I'll be more careful to be G-rated for all countries

dont worry about it, tbrunt3. I don't mind redundant answers as much as unanswered questions ;)

what does spd even do? is it better than auto? it is not necessary for dual-c then?

I notice you have the same board, tbrunt3, except OC. I have heard a lot of people have problems with this board. what do you think, is it user error, or incorrect OC maybe? I wonder if I made the right decision in buying it, but I have some friends who recommended it highly; they said its hella stable even without OC. Some of the things I've seen while searching for answers to questions I've had say otherwise. Maybe when I have some money to blow on cooling and possible burned out parts I will try it; with this board its an option.

So where is the QVL memory list for this board? I looked in the docs and on the asus site and didnt see anything. I googled and got a bunch of vendor links. :(
Anyone know?
 
This board is actually the caddy of the socket "A" never had a problem with mine what so ever I run the oc chip becuse I have a Barton 2500XP that has a open overclock wich are pretty rare I plan on getting a 3200xp ASAP as soon as finaces allow it .Good thing about this board is it increased benchmarks some over my other board .The one I have is Revison 2.0 with the latest bios wich are 12.13 I am running Kingston Hyper-X ram at 2.5 -3-3-7 Asus really dont like Kingston but I have never had a problem with it besides this is what I used on my other board.If your cosiar ram is not working I suggest some Giel .

As for SPD permits auto detection of the ram . I hope this helps you some
 
I had a similar issue with the A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo from ASUS. It seems as though for some reason the board does not like the RAM running at 100%. I changed the SPD to the next lower option (83% I believe) and I no longer get the constant rebooting and the crashing of programs.

I bought the Mushkin 3200 dual channel enabled 2x1GB kit.

I ran MemTest and no problems came up.

I am honestly not sure what the SPD does, but I assume it is basically the speed of the RAM.

I hope that helps.
 
I have had that mobo for over 2 years now, running a xp2500 unlocked barton at 3200 since day one. Never had a problem. Am also using 2 x 512mb sticks of corsair gaming ram, again no problems since day one.
Lol, not bragging, just letting you know that overclocking and using corsair ram hasn't upset my system at all.

tbrunt3, why get a 3200, you can't OC that any more than the 2500 @ 3200.
 
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