8RDA+ and Twin Corsair problems

[ChipDeath]

Hi!

Epox 8RDA+, XP1700+ (B)

Got a 512Mb Corsair PC3200 Low Latency Twin pack yesterday, hoping to:
a) get dual channel working
b) get Nice low timings
c) up my FSB to somewhere near 200Mhz.

What I got was:
a) beeping that sounds like a radio-controlled fire engine
b) little LED diagnostic thing reporting 'C1' which apparently means 'memory error' (suprise!)

I had heard that the A7N8X can have problems with the corsair LL stuff, so I would've got non-LL anyway, but they didn't have a twin pack of non-LL stuff...

Anyone know how I can get around this? a newer BIOS maybe? Or do I have no choice but to get it replaced with something else?

I have tried each stick individually, and both dual channel.
I know at least two of the slots are fine, as they had some other stuff in them beforehand (1 stick Corsair PC2700, 1 Stick Crucial PC2100)..

Any ideas?

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:tongue:

 

[Scout]

I think what I've heard is you have to manually set the memory timings... there is something that the BIOS doesn't like about letting the SPD set the timings automatically. Try putting your old memory in, manually set timings, then swap the new stuff in and see if that works.

Good luck!

Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

 

[ChipDeath]

I thought it might be something like that, and I did have a quick go at doing that, and it didn't work - but I wasn't very thorough... I was getting annoyed with having to repeatedly remove my Ti4600 whenever I wanted to install/remove a stick :frown: ...

I'll have another go tonight, and set all the RAM timings as high as possible, then swap the stuff in, and see if it helps. Thanks.

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:tongue:

 

[ChipDeath]

Hmmm.... did some digging on the Epox website, checked out the BIOS updates, and the latest BIOS(8RDA3305.BIN (A100)) for the 8RDA+ says:

Updates in this version:
• Fixed motherboard resource conflict on legacy system
• Fixed unreported memory fail for AK2001 device
• Fixed adapted SCSI array AAC-364 boot fail postcode 8B

Updates included from previous version:
• Fixed instability on C17-A2 chipset (Barton 3000+)
. <blah>
. <blah>
<b>• Solved issue from hanging during post "C1" when OC memory</b>
. <blah>
. <blah>
• Changed Athlon detection for new models and fixed ratio's
• F10 Save CMOS / hang up issue solved

Sounds like I need this BIOS.... so NOW my question is - Are there any problems which I might bump into with this BIOS? has anyone updated to this one OK?
The date listed against this BIOS is 02/04/03 (thats d/m/y to you Americans.... )

[EDIT]
just noticed.... Website said 3305 as above, but ACTUAL version the link downloaded was 3402... also had a look at nforcershq.com (or something)... and it looks like this is what I want, so I'll bite the bullet and flash it tonite...
thanks again....
[/EDIT]

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:tongue: <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ChipDeath on 05/02/03 12:50 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[vk2amv]

The 3405 BIOS seems to be stable. Running it right now. A good source of info BTW is www.8RDAFAQ.com there is a lot of helpful info there.
AREA_51

'It's only when you look at an ant through a magnifying glass on a sunny day that you realise how often they burst into flames'

 

[ChipDeath]

OK. I got the 3402 BIOS, flashed it, and all was peachy, now running my 1700 at 195x11.5 (~2243Mhz) and seems stable.

The problem I NOW have, is that my onboard LAN appears to have died. if I shove a Cable in, the green LED next to the LAN port comes on, so the hardware knows you've attached it to a network, but it just don't work under windows. I tried removing and re-installing the LAN under windows, but no joy. I ended up disabling it in the BIOS, and installing a PCI LAN card I (fortunately) had kicking around.

Oh yeah - before I realised the LAN was dead, it had a 'funny five minutes' and refused to boot past the 'Detecting IDE Drives' in the POST, and I couldn't get into the BIOS or anything - so I assumed it was completely dead, and turned it off, but a couple of hours later, I turned it on again, and it popped up with a message saying the BIOS was corrupt or something, and restored defaults. It's now fine, apart from the LAN thing - which may have been busted beforehand....

so:
a) Have I fried the LAN?
b) Does BIOS 3402 have a bug in it in relation to the LAN?
c) have I now got a unique, slightly corrupt, BIOS?

hmm......


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:tongue:

 

[vk2amv]

a) I thnin k it is unlikely you fried the LAN as itreciginises on a hardware level at least that the network is plugged in.

b) As far as I know there is no bug but I would not discount it. That BIOS version is after all still BETA. It is not a final release.

c) The BIOS would not work at all if there was any curruption. But as I said thatBIOS version is still in BETA stages.

The detecting IDE drives is a strange thing. I did have the same problem but that was because I had my Wastern Digital JB drive set to master with slave instead of single drive. I normaly have a slave drive in there but I removed it and didnt change the setting on the WD drive. It caused that symptom. But overall I have noticed when you get it running the 8RDA+ is one of the top boards out there but it is a very finiky board. It likes everything to be just right or it wont work properly for you. But when it works it is a top board.
AREA_51

'It's only when you look at an ant through a magnifying glass on a sunny day that you realise how often they burst into flames'

 

[ChipDeath]

hmmm.. Being a born fiddler, who simply can't leave things alone, I had to see if I could get a bit more performance out of it, and upped the multiplier still further, to 12.5, resulting in 2438Mhz. I had to up the voltage to get it to post, but it was unstable under windows anyhow... So I reboot, and have the same problem where it doesn't POST past 'detecting IDE drives', and won't let me into the BIOS.... :frown:

So I'm thinking maybe it's some sort of broken Hardware protection - it knows it had problems last time so it won't allow it to boot, but for some reason doesn't allow you to go into the BIOS either...

I'll reset the CMOS later on, and see if I get anywhere with it...

Don't you just love computers?

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