The ASUS A7N8X-X / A7N8X / A7N8X Deluxe Thread

A7N8X-VM/400

I know this is a kind of different animal, but most people that get it have severe stability issues with the onboard video. The fix for this (besides buying the really expensive RAM or a seperate video card) is go to the asus website and download bios 1002. When you install it, go into the bios and disable Auto Pre Charge. That should fix the problem and save you an RMA...
 
Only the A7N8X-E Deluxe with the Wifi card. The different reviews out there do not really take the time to try out that card so there isn't much info (performance-wise) on the matter.

Maybe someone here with the Wifi card would like to input his experiences.:)
 
I have this board & I'm having trouble trouble since I bought some new memory.

I bought 3 peices of Kingston KVR400X64C3A/512 as it says it's compatible with my motherboard.

http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/con...sp?SysID=+13239+&distributor=0&submit1=Search

I put all 3 peices in & was getting the blue screen of death (memory dump) very often.

I tried the different peices in different slots & still had the same problems (to check the problem wasn't with the memory).

Then I pulled out the peice from slot 1 (black) & left the other 2 peices in the blue slots (2 & 3).

This works fine, so I switched the memory around again (just using the 2 blue slots) to check the problem wasn't with the memory & still works fine.

As I understand it when you have the same memory in the blue slots its running in dual channel mode & when you have memory in all 3 slots (3 peices of the same 512MB) it isn't running in dual channel mode.
(It says it's running dual channel mode when i boot up my PC)

But I want to use the 3 peices of 512MB & I don't mind not running in dual channel mode.

Any ideas on what I can do?
 
You're still running in DualChannel mode when you have all three slots populated. That's one of the "bugs" that was ironed out from the nForce1 chipset which would switch back to single channel if all three slots were populated.

For optimal performance, they recommend using the same amount of memory on both channels which means the amount on Slot 1 & 2 should be equal to the amount of memory on Slot 3. For example, if you have 2x 256mb on Slot 1 & 2, you should install a 512mb module on Slot 3 thus having 512mb of memory on each channel (the first channel is composed of Slot1 & 2).

As for the memory problem, try setting the timings manually instead of leaving them on SPD settings (set Tras to any value from 9 to 11 for best performance in DualChannel).

BTW which version of the board do you have ? As you can see there are quite a few & not all of them have a DualChannel memory controller.

PS. Welcome to TechSpot. Hope you enjoy your stay.:wave:
 
Thanks I'll take a look at those settings.
I have the A7N8X Deluxe model & I flashed the bios with the latest version last week (don't think it helped though)

One thing I didn't do, don't know if this would help?
I have the latest NForce2 driver fro the ASUS site but I see a newer one on the nvidia site. Would it help if I used that newer version, or is this nothing to do with it?

Thanks a lot for your help? :)
 
Well there's a section dedicated to the nForce drivers in this very thread (a few posts above).

The latest ASUS drivers are based off the 2.45 nVidia drivers so it might be a good idea to get the newer ones from nVidia.:)
 
As for the memory problem, try setting the timings manually instead of leaving them on SPD settings (set Tras to any value from 9 to 11 for best performance in DualChannel).
Click to expand...

So will this help even if I'm not running it in Dual Channel mode?
I want to use all 3 peices of 512MB so it won't be running in Dual Chennel mode.
Have I got that right?


I'll probably give the new nforce drivers a try.
Thanks again mate! :)
 
Like I said, you are still running in Dual Channel mode with all three memory slots populated so yes that setting could definitly give you some extra performance.:)
 
OK, I went into the BIOS to change the Tras setting.
I know I can change things from Auto to Manual, but I couldn't really see what part I'm supposed to change to 'to between 9 - 11 for best performance'

Here's a ss of my Bios
mem.jpg


Could you help me out please, I don't have a clue with this type of thing :blush:
 
Set Memory Timings to [User Defined], then set them each to the following :

Code: 
[list][*]SDRAM Active Precharge Delay -> 9/11
[*]SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay -> 3
[*]SDRAM RAS Precharge Delay -> 3
[*]SDRAM CAS Latency -> 3[/list]

The C3 in KVR400X64C3A/512 means the modules are meant to run at 3 for Cas latency. You can maybe get it to run at 2.5 once things are stable enough, but try to get it to work at stock speeds first.;)

I'm still looking for the proper voltage for these modules though. It might be that 2.5 isn't enough. I'll get back to you on that.
 
6in1 card reader problem solved?

Hey there,

Thanx for all your great inputs in this thread. It has been usefull so far.

I noticed that my motherboard (a7n8x-x) apparently has known problems with card readers. I have a 6in1 from apacer (http://www.apacer.com/apacer_english/product_html/embedded_card_reader20.asp)


The card reader does not function properly and I was wondering if a fix has been found... any ideas?

[EDIT] Sorry I forgot to include my system specs. I filled them in so nicely on the personal page I figured that is how you would get them.. but I guess it is easier to just paste them here...
WinXP Pro SP1 +updates, AMD Athlon XP 2500+, Asus A7N8X-X, 2x256 DDR400 Infineon, 128MB Geforce FX5200 Ultra, WD 120G, WD 30G, Ben-Q DW822A, Liteon 12x cdrw, apacer 6in1 usb card reader
[END EDIT]

Jay
 
Originally posted by Didou
I take it you've tried these drivers -> ftp://ftp.abit.com.tw/pub/download/drivers/usb2/U2v2_1_2_1.exe
Click to expand...

Yes, I did try that, but the light on the drive stays orange, while it should of course be green. It starts off as green, but as soon as the windows is loaded (and I guess loads a bunch of drivers with it) the light turns to orange to warn me somethnig is wrong.

On the other hand, my usbstick/mp3player does work, and so do my CF cards. THe problem is that I don't have any of the other media, so I don't know if this is working. The usb doesn't seem too fast though, and I did have troubles with sd cards when I tried one from a friend.

I don't know if I am worrying about an orange light for nothing?
 
Well maybe the card switches to orange when you do not have any media connected to it.

I had a card reader for a while & used to upload data to a SD card. It worked fine without having to install anything special after SP1.
 
perhaps, I don't know.. the interface with the nforce2 chips, the usb headers and the apacer thingy is strange though. I guess the best thing to do is to plug it into another usb2.0 motherboard and see what it does then...

of course i only know one other person who has usb2.0 motherboard and he has the same as me ;)

Ok well, i'll fiddle... I guess the answer to my original question about fixes, is : no, there is not yet a good fix (the abit one for some perhaps..)

thanx anyways
 
OK, I tried setiting it at 9, 10 & 11 but still got the blue screen of death (although not as frequently as before).

I ran memtest. I left it on for over 21 hours & then read on their site that it keeps cycling so I turned it off after nearly 22 hours :blush:

I don't really unstand what it's saying. Maybe it will make more sense to you?

memtest.jpg


Does it mean my memory is faulty or not?
I'm guesing not as they work fine when I don't use any in slot 1 (just use it in 2 & 3) & I've switched them around & all seem fine when used it slots 2 & 3.

I'm pretty dissapointed as I bought the Kingston memory because it says it's compatible with my board :(
 
The last thing you could check is running a memtest while having memory on Slot 1 & 2 or even on Slot 1 by itself. If you get errors it might be a faulty memory slot.

BTW you seem to be running an old version of memtest.
Also make sure you configure memtest to run an extended test. It tests the memory in a more thorough manner.
 
Hi,

Brand spanking new to the forum. I have specs that are very very similar to yours.

WinXP, AMD Athlon XP 2800+, Asus A7N8X 2x512 DDR400 Kingston KVR400X64C3A/512, 128MB Sapphire Radeon 9600XT, WD 80G. Thermaltake Wingo Xaser V case. Thermaltake 420W Purepower PSU

As this was the first time I put a computer together.. I've been largely dependant on the helpful advice of those that came before me. It was very helpful and I finally got my system put together after a while. I got XP installed and all was fine, but then noticed random reboots and program exits due to bad memory. It would especially love to exit programs during times of graphical chaos on the screen (FPS when the action heats up) which was really annoying..

After researching a bit. I noticed that nothing really worked until I set the FSB and the mem to be clocked at same speed. I also changed the cpu frequency and the mem frequency to be both at 166 Mhz and changed the system to run in aggressive mode. I just did this last night and my comp didn't crash once the whole night even after running the benchmark 3DMark test. I will run memtest tonight to see if I can get the thing to crash.

I have mem installed into channels 1 & 3.

My main question is: Is the A7N8x board compatible with Kingston KVR400X64C3A/512 memory?

I've been searching the forums and have been hearing conflicting messages. What is extra discouraging is that ASUS support pages don't explicitly state that this memory is compatible (but rather another model) that seems to have problems too.

Can anyone shed light? I have 2 days left from the store to return this mem to exchange it..

Thanks in advance for your help!!
 
Originally posted by Gurg

My main question is: Is the A7N8x board compatible with Kingston KVR400X64C3A/512 memory?

Thanks in advance for your help!!
Click to expand...

I have this RAM & have been having big trouble.

I can run 2 pieces no problem (I'm runing it in slots) 2 & 3.
But I have 3 pieces of it & when I put all 3 in my PC crashes frequently.
I'm still trying to sort it out so I can use all 3 pieces :confused:
 
I have that exact same RAM and have had issues with it as well. I just took back my RAM too :(. Oh well.

So would it make a difference if it was C25 model RAM? If so I guess I might have to trade up.
 
Rahabib,

can I ask what memory you ended up going with? I have been negotiating with my computer store and they said that I could use KingMax generic memory.. but I would like to do mild overclocking with my machine and am sure that that will just not do. After haggling with their RMA dept for a while, they asked me to run memtest some more.. and to see if there is a defect with the modules.

If I find something.. I'll let everyone know. I'll probably post a pic or something.. of the errors I'm seeing. Thanks!

Thanks!
 
So everyone,

I ran Memtest86+ for about 2 hrs and during the 2nd pass on test 5 the errors started to show. I took the memory back and exchanged it for some Cosair valueram as it was the same price as the Kingston ram. Ran memtest in extended mode for about 13 hrs with no errors at all.

I'm leaning more towards incompatibility of the Kingston RAM with the ASUS board vs. a true memory error as the technician in the store tested my memory with a MSI board with the same processor that I had and didn't find any problems.

Hope that helps anyone experiencing the same problem I did. In general.. pretty disappointed with Kingston and the ASUS board for both being so picky given both are very mainstream products.

Regards,
 
I updated the Ram post with the serial number of the Kingston ram that seems to be giving problems.

FOOOD seems to be having problems only when all 3 memory slots are populated though. So I cannot say if it's completely incompatible or only under certain circumstances.
 

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