I recently purchased an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Socket 939 (90 nm) CPU. I've built quite a few systems, so I was a bit baffled when I couldn't get my ABIT AV8 board to even POST while building my latest system. ABIT tech support was completely unresponsive, but the forums have many users saying that the 90nm chips aren't supported. I'm now waiting for an ASUS A8V and have returned the ABIT board after getting no help from ABIT. However, I've seen posts from other forum users that other Socket 939 boards aren't working with the newer 90 nm chips either (MSI and ASUS so far). There aren't many 939 boards out there yet, but has anyone heard any more detail or more official information on this topic?

Maybe you should flash the board to a newer BIOS with a 130nm CPU before installing the newer CPU. I suppose that should be sorted out with newer batches of motherboard already having the proper BIOS out of the box.

The "previews" for the 0.09 Athlon64s do not mention much compatibility problems, go figure.

PS. Welcome to TechSpot. Hope you enjoy your stay.:wave:

Yes, that's exactly the solution posted in ABIT's forums. However, finding a 130 nm chip that someone is willing to loan out is next to impossible. I tried purchasing a new bios chip from biosman.com, but there appears to be no change. I'm not crazy about going through these gyrations for a chip that the board is supposed to be compatible with. ABIT's put me in a bad situation - with no warning. I've built many systems and have had to be creative when using the latest tech, but I don't think it's reasonable for ABIT to expect me to go to these lengths. I'm hoping someone else has had success with their 90 nm chip on a board without having to use a substitute chip to do it.

I received some info from the tech support department from Monarch Computer. They've tested multiple Socket 939 boards and only the ASUS A8V will work out of the box until all the out of date inventory is depleted. I ordered one and it worked great - ASUS has utilities on this board that allows for updating the bios even if the mobo won't POST. Great feature that puts them clearly ahead of the competition for the moment.

Re Av8

I'm not sure we have the exact same problem yet - I don't know what chip you bought. There are so many things that can prevent a succesful boot. The codes you list are not the same as those I received. The LCD codes are listed in the manual and might give you some direction.

Keep in mind that my problem was solely because I purchased one of the newer 90nm Socket 939 chips and the bios on the board was not up to date to handle the chip. The socket 939 chips come in two versions - an older 130 nm variety and a newer 90 nm variety.

Does this still sound like the problem you are experiencing?

Just bought an AV8 and a brand spankin' new 3800+ retail. Haven't even gotten the thing in the mail yet - you guys are scaring the crap outta me!

I would hope that they have sold through their inventory of the older bios by now. You'll know soon! (Is the chip you bought the 90nm variety or 130?

Anyone with an Abit AV8, could you please post you motherboard Revision, the BIOS-version and which AMD64 (90Nm or 130Nm)?
I just received a brandnew AV8 3rd Eye mobo, Version 1.1
Have not yet got a CPU, so don't know what BIOS is on it.
Thanks for the info.

I had a ASUS A8V-EDeluxe Socket 939 (PCle) m/b had many problems with it un-compatible to some hardware (Unusal but true) I changed to a Gigabyte GA-K8NXP SLI & changed Video card to a MSI NX6600GT-TD128E it now goes like a song bird.

Problems with AMD 64 939 - 3000+ or Mobo?

I am Unsure if I am have aproblem with my Motherboard or the CPU. I have a Winfast NF4SK8AA and An AMD 64 939 -3000. But I can't seem to get it to go passed the the ram test in the bios. It seem to lock up and I can't seem to get into the bios? I am Unsure if it's the Motherboard or CPU and I don't have anyone else I know that has the 939 Socket to test the CPU?