Most Common Problems With Asus A7N8X?

[LancerEvolution7]

What are the most common problems with the A7N8X?

I'm in the market for a new motherboard. I'm probably going to go nforce2. I'm considering between the Epox 8RDA+ and the Asus A7N8X. There are a lot of posts in the forum regarding problems with the asus. I want to know what's the most common problems with this board and how to fix it.
I've also heard a rumor that all nforce2 mobos have a bios issue that can render the whole motherboard useless. Is this true?

Does anybody know when is KT400a comming out? Will it unlock the thoroughbred core clock like the nforce 2 does?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lancerevolution7 on 03/09/03 05:43 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Teq]

Most common problem with the A7N8X?

Ownership.


Seriously... look at all the crap people are running into... and it's not just here, other hardware forums are filled with it too.


---> <b>Press ALT-F4 for IQ test</b><---

 

[jankphil]

well from what i can tell, their are 2 problems people run into with this board, and it's usually the same thing. Besides the ever well known noob shoving a board in their case, the biggest problem tends to be ram. A lot of people go cheap or overkill on the ram. I hear a lot of problems with PC3500 ram and people getting some no-name sticks of ram. As far as ram goes, spend the extra money and get a PAIRED (they sell them together) Cosair XMS Ram sticks. The other problem i hear from people is overclocking, this can be a mix of many things, but usually cheap ram or pushing the processor over the limits. The mobo is fine if you run it as is. The newest bios are fine and is easy to flash. The board i received was a solid board, no problems here -_-.

"What kind of idiot are you?"
"I don't know, what kinds are there?"

 

[Farkash]

My RMAd ASUS had an issue with memory slots 2 and 3, good memory in those would return errors.

Either way, I heard of more issues with the EPOX board than with this one.

 

[hatimh]

1. Not all A7N8X related posts are problems.
2. Because this motherboard got such a good review, many people are buying it and so the chance of there being more problems is higher.
3. There are so may options which I don't understand on this board, I just need some help and I'm sure many others do too.

So it's not really as bad as it looks.

I have the board, I bought it on Saturday and was up and running within a couple of hours. The board is amazing, solid, stable and is an overclockers dream board, I think.

I bought a 1700+ TBred B and I Sandra is currently reporting xp2600+ @ 1.99 GHz and it's stable in Max Payne. I think I should try 3D mark though.

I have from my old machine PC2100 crucial RAM cl2.5 2*256 MB DIMMS.

Check this out, I have the RAM timings as they come in the BIOS as 5, 2, 2, 2(cas) MEM frequency 159, running stable for the moment no crashes.

Obviously not forgetting the original post, I would just add that to minimise problems, update to the latest BIOS as soon as you can.

Now I have a question, considering the specs and timing I have just shown you, does that seem unbelievable or is that normal?

Thanks and good luck.

-----------------------------------
Don't extract the urine.

 

[rcj187]

I bought a 1700+ TBred B and I Sandra is currently reporting xp2600+ @ 1.99 GHz and it's stable in Max Payne. I think I should try 3D mark though.

2ghz is xp2400+ speed not 2600+. 2600+ run at 2.083ghz for the 166fsb versions or 2.133ghz for the 133fsb version



I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message.

 

[jankphil]

acually i didn't say the board was bad at all, i have the board and i'm running a 2100+ @ 2.25ghz or 2800+ speed stabaly, the board is a dream really. I would recommend it, it's just to many noob ppl go for the board and get 30 doller ram to go with it. That's the main problem that i hear...

"What kind of idiot are you?"
"I don't know, what kinds are there?"

 

[hatimh]

I'll let Sandra know!

Cheers.

-----------------------------------
Don't extract the urine.

 

[NumberCruncher]

I own the "non-deluxe" board and it has worked virtually flawlessly since I got it. I am using dual PC3200 sticks of 256 each, and a XP2400+ (overclocked from 2GHz to 2340MHz) With better cooling I have no doubt I could hit 2500MHz.

My ONLY problem has been that ASUS Probe software (and other 3rd party progs) do not report the correct CPU temp. The BIOS says 70, the Progs say 35. Nobody else seems to be having this prob from what I can find tho...

 

[fiask0]

I have that problem also. It's caused by a faulty temperture sensor on the board. I had to disable the auto-protect shutdown feature if it overheats, cus i couldn't have my system on for over 10 minutes. Don't worry, touch the heatsink, if it isn't EXTREMELY hot to the touch, you're fine... ohh.. if it's not smoking you should be alright also =)

 

[Stormfury]

I'd say ram problems other than that I know of none. I have the board and like it alot. Specially since it saved my cpu from turning into a paper weight.

 

[fiask0]

The people that are having problems with this board, as i've said 129301 times, are putting other crap with it and it just doens't work right. Whether it be a generic 400W power supply, or BigBob's ddr2100 ram, or using really old devices, such as a pci video card on the top of the line motherboard available. They're trying to put pinto parts into a ferrari and expecting it to perform like a ferrari. Another major factor is people not knowing wtf they're doing and when something does go wrong they haven't the slightest clue how to fix it or muchless troubleshoot it. If you're going to build your own computer, and buy a top of the line product, Please make sure you know what you're doing.

 

[ejsmith2]

fiask0 is right.

The problem is "compatibility". But rather than saying "make sure you know what you are doing", it sounds much less elitist to say "make sure your parts are a known good configuration".

Right now, there's a huge video card incompatiblity with this chipset and the KT400's. The 4x AGP Ti4200's don't work with either of them. But the 8x AGP cards will.

Also, pay a little more for the ram you're getting. Geil's "top of the line" stuff is OK (and I mean, the most expensive of their offerings); anything less expensive is overclocked PC2100 or PC2700 or something. The best thing to do here (for a change) is to look on the Asus website, and look at their list of "compatible" PC3200. Amazingly enough, this is a list of the real PC3200 and not the overclocked PC2700 makers.

When I buy a power supply, I always get a 500w or more. The majority of them only put out something between 400 and 450watts, and that's actually what you'll be wanting. Getting a 400w psu that only puts out 350 or less is just running at the edge.

And, I can't stress this one nearly enough. <b><i><font color=red>Ground yourself</font color=red></i></b>. Ground the computer case. if you ground the computer case, you can ground yourself to it. The components aren't <i>quite</i> that sensitive enough, yet, where you need to be grounding yourself 20 feet away.

"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser

 

[ejsmith2]

Double post.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ejsmith2 on 03/12/03 12:25 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[sterlon]

Watch out for this board if you have purchased it. My board ran great for a month and then well lets just say I have a nice door stop. For some reason it just stopped posting and that is it. Good luck if you can keep it alive it is a great board.

OH crap its on fire again

 

[fiask0]

I have an msi ti4200 4x card and it works fine, never had a problem with it.