K8N-DL Nightmares! I've tried 4 different K8N-DL's!

Crimsus

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Jul 26, 2006
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I'm hoping someone has encountered this problem and can help me.

I am building a system using the following:
Asus K8N-DL
AMD Opteron 265
2GB Corsair XMS PC3200 Memory
FireGL v5000 Video Card
Western Digital 80GB Sata2 HD
Western Digital 160GB Sata2 HD
Thermaltake Toughpower 650W Power Supply
Floppy Drive (yes, they still exist)
Sony CDRW Drive

Right now, I get different results depending on the position of the moon and the alignment of the planets, that's the only thing I am sure of. When the system boots, sometimes I can get the system to show the POST information. Other times I can hit delete and the Asus screen says entering setup. The problem is that is AS FAR as the system will go. I've tried booting the system with the floppy as the only device connected. I've tried 5 different keyboards, 2 other X1600 video cards that work fine in other systems, well, you get the picture.

Has anyone had this problem with this motherboard? I've read so many reviews of people who love this motherboard but now that I have RMA'd this thing 3 times, I'm thinking I must be doing something wrong.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

-Crimsus
 

Crimsus

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Yeah, I had another set from a different manufacturer but they didn't work either. Just to be certain, I tested all the memory modules in another system (with a Supermicro dual AMD motherboard) and the memory works fine.

-Crimsus
 

redwolfexr

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Actually trying them in another system doesn't always mean they work with them all. I ran into that one with my old Athlon 1000. I actually had to try three different modules, one was a pull from the old board that was being upgraded.

Hmm, according to the manual you can use one module in slot A1. I would test one module at a time to make sure. Also, it looks like the coler coding is misleading -- first pair goes in slot A1 and A2 even if he colors make you think otherwise.

Also make sure you have an old fashioned speaker attached to the board so you can hear the errors from the Bios at boot.
 

Crimsus

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Yeah, I've tried all that already with no success. The speaker works fine but no voice errors are reported in POST.

Also, I'm not sure what configuration your running, but for a single CPU on this board the channels are actually supposed to be A1+B1 for dual channel memory usage. I tried the A1+A2 and the few times I was able to hit the TAB key fast enough, it reported the memory as 64-bit, not 128-bit. After I moved one module over to B1 instead of A2, the memory was reported as 128-bit.

Sheesh, this motherboard is probably the worst I've ever dealt with, which is a first in my experience with Asus.

-Crimsus
 

redwolfexr

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Actually I am using a M2N32-SLI myself. I just have a general knowledge (and A+ cert) and went to look up the manual at ASUS.

Actually if you aren't getting a voice from the POST thats a problem anyhow. (or you don't have an old-style speaker attached) Another thing you might try is to run it with NO memory to see if you can get the board to properly complain about it. I miss the old long-short beeps myself, many boards had a built in piezo for those.
 

PhoenixKnight

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You did remember to buy registered, ECC memory, correct? I'd also suggest checking the voltage requirements of the RAM vs. the voltage of the DIMM slots. I know the Tyan Tiger K8W's DIMMs does not have enough voltage to run high performance XMS memory and I believe that some other server boards have that same issue. Hope this helps.
 

Crimsus

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Yes, the memory is registered, the voltage requirements are within specs.

Let me politely state that I have done all of the typical troubleshooting steps and a few extras that aren't in the manual or what tech support would suggest.

I took a look at the forums over at Asus Support and it looks like the K8N-DL is a motherboard that is riddled with problems like mine and the support by Asus is lacking.

-Crimsus
 

redwolfexr

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This ones a bit off the wall, did your RMA boards and the original all come from the same vendor? Its possible that there is a bad batch.

Ericsson dates all their radio boards for a very good reason. <eg> (I work on cell base stations)

Dan